the myth of workers' control arthur scargill

Written authorization is required for the purchase of tea and coffee. That's what I believe". The View from No. When you have a missing image on your site you may see a box on your page with with a red X where the image is missing. On the appointment of Ian MacGregor as head of the NCB in 1983, Scargill stated, "The policies of this government are clear to destroy the coal industry and the NUM". However, if it had gone the other way the Yorkshire area would have come out and other areas would have to decide whether to give support. He used the NUM for his own advancement, and ended up thinking he was bigger than the Union and everything else. The Guardian. The same nationalism explains why Arthur Scargill, alongside his industrial militancy, supports a not-at-all-militant programme of import controls, withdrawal from the EEC, and siege economy. Accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3815426/. The Anatomy of Thatcherism. "Analysing the British miners' strike of 19845.". The strike was called under Rule 41 of the NUM rule book, which said that local strikes can be made official by the National Executive without a ballot. Ian White talks exclusively to Arthur Scargill, 84, on 50th anniversary of the Battle of Saltley Gate in Birmingham . How the Miners Strike Could Have Won. Socialist Worker (Britain). One source described them as the iron ladies of the coal fields[17]. of Leeds [u.a.] Therefore, the fact that Scargill didnt call a National Ballot was irrelevant[11] as Tony Benn says, but the fact that Scargill authorised violent tactics that reduced public sympathy and misjudged situations may have been a factor in the failure of the miners strike. In the event, it turned out to be the exact blueprint that the government followed[21]. Scargill was often accompanied by his then wife Anne Harper to speak at picket lines and to media appearances; Harper was simultaneously involved in founding and leading the National Women Against Pit Closures movement. Yet Arthur Scargill clearly sees class struggle as just British workers versus British bosses. Andrew Marrs view on why the Miners strike failed is much more convincing as it gives credit to Scargills leadership skills while also saying not even he would be able to persuade every part of the industry to strike showing that Marr believes that Scargill was the best man for the job. [60][61], London Assembly elections (entire London city). : A Review of Literature on the 1984/5 Miners' Strike.". Notice that the CaSe is important in this example. This event is held every year at the Barnsley Headquarters of the NUM and acquired particular poignancy that year as it coincided with the 30th anniversary of the strike. RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d Tony Benn opposes Evans view by saying the extent of the support in the NUM as a whole was evidenced by the overwhelming majority of miners who remained on strike until it ended in 1985[14]. All work is written to order. London: Vintage Books, 2008. January 26. Arthur Scargill. The movement faced a huge confrontation from the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, and the union was eventually defeated. The motto, An injury to one is an injury to all, applies world-wide. "Goodbye to all that? On the other hand, the Marxist/Left Wing view suggests that the strike was part of Thatchers wider attack on political consensus and suggest that the miners could have won the strike had it not been for the concerted, illegal government campaign to smash the miners union, something they had been planning for some time. Margaret Thatcher. [32] An internal NUM report by Gavin Lightman QC found that Scargill had used some of the Libyan money to pay for improvements to his bungalow but not to pay off his mortgage (as had been alleged),[33] and stated that Scargill's failure to make a full report on the Soviet money donated for the Welsh miners was "a remarkable breach of duty" and that he should repay the money back to the NUM. Arthur Scargill: We Could Surrender or Stand and Fight. The Guardian. // He had been a Communist and retained strong Marxist views and a penchant for denouncing anyone who disagreed with him as a traitor Scargill had indeed been elected by a vast margin and he set about turning the NUM's once moderate executive into a reliably militant group By adopting a position that no pits should be closed on economic grounds, even if the coal was exhausted more investment would always find more coal, and from his point of view, the losses were irrelevant he made sure confrontation would not be avoided. Yet he still gives credit to Thatcher and her government for their actions during the strike which legitimises his view. Can you add one ? Was this national or local? [11] Benn, Tony. Accessed October 12, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Benn. . He was a destructive force, in the Labour Party, and in the NUM. Darlington, "There is no alternative: Exploring the options in the 1984-5 miners' strike. [52], The Guardian in February 2014 said that Scargill had become a recluse. The Truth of Nacods Shameful Sell-out. The Guardian. [7], Scargill became involved in the Yorkshire Left, a group of left-wing activists involved in the Yorkshire region of the NUM, its largest region. [he fails to see that] the working class is a world class. This view is supported to some extent by Labour minister Tony Benn, one of Thatchers fiercest critics, and historian, Seumas Milne who argued that the governments extensive preparations and actions during the strike led to its failure in 1984. London: Pan Books, an Imprint of Pan Macmillan, 2017. Without them the power stations, even with the mix of nuclear and oil and the careful stockpiling, might have begun to run short and the government would have been in deep trouble[43] Therefore, showing that the lack of support from the Nottinghamshire miners was a more important factor in the failure of the Miners strike than government preparations. He stepped down from leadership of the NUM at the end of July 2002, to become the honorary president. Margaret Thatcher. Campbell, Adrian, and Malcolm Warner. Many of us started in the 1950s in the Young Communist League. [53] Following Margaret Thatcher's death in April 2013, ITN made Scargill several offers for a five-minute interview, with the final offer reaching 16,000, but Scargill refused all the offers and did not speak to any media organisation. Arthur Scargill and Peggy Kahn. Peter, Gibbon. After the miners' strike in 1984, there were accusations that Arthur Scargill had misappropriated National Union of Mineworkers funds and that money which sh. The Myth of Control: Created by Mikail Chowdhury, Sana Soni. Page 316, [3] Harris, Robert. These days he only gets to speak at the crankiest of Stalinist events. Page 164. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! He did not take the Eleven-Plus exam and went to Worsbrough Dale School (now called the Elmhirst School). This included Norman Tebbits radical reforms[39] as put by Tony Benn, who was newly elected to the mining seat and a clear supporter of the 1984-85 Miners strike[40]. However, the people that argue this are clear Thatcherites such as Shirley Letwin, John Campbell and even Thatcher herself who blamed Scargill for the violence at the picket line mass pickets led by Arthur Scargill forced the closure of the Saltley Coke Depot in Birmingham[44] contradicting this, Seumas Milne who takes a clear Marxist view that the standard fairy tale, still routinely recycled by media and politicians alike, has it that Scargill called the action in spring in a classic example of his poor generalship and tactical sense[45]. The miners also failed to gain the support of the dock workers in strike effort. of the other candidates claimed that they were given very little time to prepare. However, another reason that many people blame Scargill for the downfall of the miners is due to the fact that Scargill authorised the flying picket strategy in order to stop miners going to work. Although he never worked at Barrow Colliery in his home village, he was involved in the politics of the branch, where the membership was much more left-wing than in the conservative Woolley Colliery. Looking for a flexible role? His mother, Alice (ne Pickering), was a professional cook. var Logger = new EconBiz.Logger(); the myth of workers' control arthur scargill the myth of workers' control arthur scargill on October 1, 2021 on October 1, 2021 The issue of Scargills leadership is argued as the main reason that the miners strike failed. Accessed October 12, 2018. : A Review of Literature on the 1984/5 Miners' Strike. His comments followed a question in the Commons from Labour MP Lisa Nandy, who said the miners and their families deserved an apology for the mine closures. Page 317. You've been found out. [31] Campbell, John. As for the EEC/EU, his anti- stance was in keeping with Labour Party Policy. "It's so hypocritical it's unreal," he said. A miner at the age of 18, he was a member (1955-62) of the Young Communist League before joining the Labour Party.In 1981, Scargill became president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).His attempt to confront Margaret Thatcher's programme of pit closures and anti-union legislation led to a miner's strike (1984-85). Page 341. Page 340. National Archives: Margaret Thatcher Wanted to Crush Power of Trade Unions. The Guardian. Kim Howells discusses how Neil Kinnock argued that real power lay at the ballot box[4]. [15] However, Scargill's statements in the years after becoming NUM president divided left-wing opinion with his support of the Soviet Union, most notably when he refused to support the TUC's positions on the Solidarity union in Poland or on the Soviet shooting down of the Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Arrow, 1994. If your blog is showing the wrong domain name in links, redirecting to another site, or is missing images and style, these are all usually related to the same problem: you have the wrong domain name configured in your WordPress blog. London: Pan Books, an Imprint of Pan Macmillan, 2017. Soup kitchens were set up to save miners and their families from starvation in nearly every small village[18]. The Enemy Within: M15, Maxwell and the Scargill Affair. This article about a political figure is a stub. This sparked an individual ballot of members, in the autumn of 1984, whereby the ballot obtained an 80% plus vote for strike action, a decision which, if implemented, would have been sufficient to save pits and jobs, and win the dispute which had been brought by the National Coal Board[35]. His post-1985 decision to try and build a political organisation the so-called Socialist Labour Party turned out to be a disaster and created nothing more than a pathetic, personal bandwagon which spluttered briefly before the wheels fell off. Historian, John Campbell, described the battle at Orgreave; They were beaten back by even greater numbers of mounted and heavily armoured police[41]. He was succeeded by Ian Lavery. [39] Benn, Tony. Page 317. Milne explains how the strike was a last-ditch fight to defend jobs, mining communities and the NUM itself against a government prepared to bring into play unlimited resources and its entire panoply of coercive powers as and where necessary to break the union and its backbone of support[22]. However, Wakefield also mentions the betrayal he felt by the Nottinghamshire miners who continued to work by saying The lads are in good spirits even if the majority of scabs are working. //