Anthony's Literary Lens

Tag: miner

  • The UK miners’ strike of 1984–85

    The UK miners’ strike of 1984–85

    Statue at Cardiff Bay

    The Miners’ Strike: Thatcher’s War on Britain’s Backbone

    The miners’ strike of 1984–85 was more than a labour dispute—it was a defining battle in Britain’s socio-political history, pitting the working class against the iron will of Margaret Thatcher. What started as a fight to save coal jobs turned into a bruising war of attrition that reshaped the nation. 

    Strong Worker

    Thatcher’s government framed the strike as a necessary showdown against union power. Her target was the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and its leader, Arthur Scargill. For her, defeating the miners was about cementing a free-market economy unshackled from militant unionism. But for the miners, the strike was about survival—defending communities built on coal and livelihoods handed down for generations. 

    The strike was brutal. Police clashed with picketers in scenes reminiscent of civil war. Families faced hunger, hardship, and the fracturing of entire towns. The government stockpiled coal and deployed police forces as though miners were an internal enemy. Meanwhile, the NUM leadership failed to call a national ballot, fracturing the movement and alienating public support. 

    When the strike collapsed after a year, Thatcher had won—but at what cost? The coal industry was gutted, and with it, the social fabric of mining towns. Entire communities were abandoned to unemployment and decay. Once-thriving villages became ghost towns as young people fled in search of work, leaving behind fractured families and a profound sense of betrayal. 

    Today, many former mining areas are still grappling with the fallout. Decades later, unemployment, poverty, and poor health are entrenched in places where coal once fueled the economy. Drug abuse, mental health struggles, and a lingering sense of hopelessness plague some of these communities. People who lived through the strike recall it as a time of deep division—not just between miners and the government, but within their own families, as desperation forced people to make impossible choices. 

    For some, the scars remain visible: empty streets, derelict buildings, and the absence of the industry that once united and sustained entire towns. Thatcher’s victory symbolised the triumph of neoliberalism, but it also left a generation of workers and their families to shoulder the burden of its consequences. 

    The miners’ strike wasn’t just a defeat for labour; it was a death knell for solidarity in the face of growing economic inequality. The echoes of that struggle still resonate, a stark reminder of the cost of ideological warfare against the working class—and the communities it continues to hollow out.

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  • A Miner Thing

    A Miner Thing

    As a miner, or collier I should say, I stand here as part of the “Pit to Port” sculpture, symbolising the vital link between the Welsh coal industry and the Cardiff docks. I am proud to represent the hardworking men and women who spent their lives extracting coal from the depths of the Welsh earth.

    From Pit to Port
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    For over a century, the Welsh coal industry was a driving force behind the country’s economy, providing employment for hundreds of thousands of people and producing millions of tons of coal each year. This coal was transported to the ports of South Wales, including Cardiff, where it was loaded onto ships and sent all over the world.

    Welsh anthracite was considered the best coal in the world due to its superior quality, bright flame, long-lasting burn, and low smoke and ash levels. It was exported worldwide for use in heating and energy. The Welsh coal industry was built on this high-quality product and remains a source of pride for the Welsh people.

    Cardiff docks were a major destination for the coal we mined, and the city’s prosperity was built on the back of our industry. It was the vision of the 3rd Marquess of Bute, John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, that transformed the docks into a thriving hub of commerce. Lord Bute invested heavily in the docks, building new docks and upgrading existing ones, and his efforts were instrumental in establishing Cardiff as one of the largest coal-exporting ports in the world.

    Although the decline of the Welsh coal industry and the Cardiff docks in the latter half of the 20th century brought great challenges to our communities, I am proud to be remembered through this sculpture as a symbol of our collective history and heritage. The “Pit to Port” statue is a tribute to the miners and dock workers who worked tirelessly to extract coal and transport it to the world, and it serves as a reminder of the important role that our industry played in the development of Wales and its people.

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