These strikes swept the country following the Conservative government’s support of plans to close 20 coal pits.
Under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, measures detailed in the Ridley Plan (or Ridley Report), were employed to defeat the strike. The 1977 report detailed a strategy to “provoke a battle” against trade unions in a “non-vulnerable industry”. This was in order for the government to win and discourage future strike action.
"The Establishment made sure we paid the price"
The miners were not the ideal enemy but Thatcher counteracted the strikes through stockpiling coal, anti-union legislation, and police intervention. Around 11,000 miners were arrested, with 8,000 prosecuted - 487 arrests were made in Durham.
Alan Mardghum, the general secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association, spoke to the Morning Star about the consequences of the strike defeat. “We lost that strike, and once we did, we paid the price. The Establishment made sure we paid the price. It was a warning to the whole working class.”
The University of Oxford said that whilst some former miners returned to work in new professions, the consequences of the strikes led to “rapid privatisation of nationalised industries” and a “steady increase in social inequality”.
Mardghum also pointed out that divisions within the working class were paramount to Thatcher’s victory over the miners, with many having to choose between continuing to strike and starvation. He says immigration panic is one of many examples of this in the modern day. “It’s always the people at the bottom of the pile who get blamed for the ills of the country”, he said.
"Scarred by the legacy of the past"
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust said areas remained “scarred by the legacy of the past”, in an article written by the BBC.
The exhibition at Durham Cathedral, titled “Solidarity Forever: Banners of the Durham Mining Community”, is available to visit until the 7th November.
