The next meeting of the Manchester Class Struggle Forum will take place on the subject of The Great Miners' Strike of 1984-85, 'Spikeymike' shall be providing a lead-off.
The miners' strike of 84-85 was the last great example of open class warfare in the United Kingdom, some parts of Yorkshire were turned into a police state, solidarity was sent to the miners from across the world, yet the experience was still a bitter defeat for the working class.
A short introduction shall be given, followed by plenty of time for discussion.
Suggested reading
NB - the reading below is not essential for the discussion, but is suggested for background
Outside and Against the Unions - Wildcat
Argues that far from helping workers, the NUM actually acted as a barrier to the miners' struggle.
The Miners Strike - Communist Bulletin Group/Wildcat
Pamphlet produced during the strike.
After the Miners Strike - CBG/Wildcat
A 'balance sheet' of the strike.
Pit Sense – or No Sense?
Mike's review of Dave Douglass' book.
1926-1985: So Near - So Far - a selective history of the British miners
Long, collaborative text.
For those who tire of reading, watch Dave Douglass discuss the strike at the CPGB's summer school.
The forum will take place at 7.00pm, on Wednesday 22nd September at the Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester
Comments
Tomorrow!
Tomorrow!
An earlier thread about this
An earlier thread about this said you might be putting up a recording of the conference on the internet. Has this been done? or is it going to be? - and if so, can you send a link?
Asked the above over a week
Asked the above over a week ago - any answer?
Samotnaf, Sorry no one has
Samotnaf,
Sorry no one has responded.
Some Audio recordings of our Forums have been made and at least the last available to those registered on our network which may also be available here soon if our comrade with the skills can sort it.
However, as I pointed out in my post on the announcements thread you might be disapointed!
I unfortunately completely mistimed the whole thing and spent far too much time on the descriptive stuff (which you are familiar with) and little on analysis/conclusions which also left only a very short time for discussion (it not being a 'conference' but only a short discussion slot).
I'm a bit annoyed with myself over this though the turnout for what I considered an important struggle was anyway fairly low.
"...the turnout for what I
"...the turnout for what I considered an important struggle was anyway fairly low"
Don't forget, you're talking about events of 25 years ago. To the young, it's a lifetime ago and irrelevant.
As for me, I even remember 1976 so well - no, not the Damned and the Pistols, the glorious summer!
But at that time, if someone had mentioned the Suez Crisis and its importance in signposting the end of British imperial power (only 20 years earlier in 1956), I'd have seen their words as having the relevance to me of the 1381 Poll Tax!
Then again...
Spikymike: Quote: Some Audio
Spikymike:
Not too urgent - just wanted to make sure that I'd be able to hear it when I needed to (ie when i start again on a re-write of the 'so near - so far' text for a hard copy version, which is not priority at the moment).
As for the low turnout - have to agree with LBird to a certain extent. I guess the essential need is for theory, practice, discussion and action against present misery, and the history of the miners' struggle is only going to be one point of connection to it, and a pretty small point for most people nowadays. If you had a meeting about the history of schoolkids' struggles (including the schoolkids who went on strike during the miners' strike) in Dover today you'd probably get a lot more people coming.
Personally, even with a couple of friends pushing me to write the 'so near - so far' text, i had to really struggle to convince myself it was worthwhile, by making it relevant for me. History is always made in the present - so i guess unless there's a big advance in social movements in the UK soon and you very clearly link the contradictions of such a possible resurgence to some of the contradictions that led to the defeat of the miners, the miners' struggle is always going to seem like some peculiar obsession of those from another generation, rather like Spain became for the older generation of anarchists. But, having said that, the Americans into publishing a hard copy version of the text are half my age, some more. I'd guess that, post-Greece, there's an increase in interest that's starting to make past struggles more pertinent.
As for Suez - remember it well - my dad ranting against Eden and against the USSR about the invasion of Hungary, but being 6 at the time, got it slightly mixed up - thought Britain was bombing Budapest and was wondering when the Hungarians were going to retaliate and start bombing London ( 11 years, and even longer, after the end of WWII, there used to still be bombsites in London on which we'd play - so the idea of bombing London was very much in kids' minds).
MP3 should be able to
MP3 should be able to download, here - http://www.mediafire.com/?c4g2da6t87us0fp