0:00:15 > 0:00:16Apart from memories and museums,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20hardly anything remains in Wales of our once-great coal mining industry.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Most of our pits have been flattened and grassed over.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29But 30 years ago, pits like this one, right across Britain,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32witnessed a titanic struggle to stay open.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36For an entire year, 150,000 miners and their families
0:00:36 > 0:00:38held out against a government
0:00:38 > 0:00:42led by Margaret Thatcher, determined to shrink the industry
0:00:42 > 0:00:45and to crush the power of the National Union of Mineworkers.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50It was a watershed moment in the history of post-war Britain.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55I was heavily involved at the centre of the strike
0:00:55 > 0:00:57and in this film, I want to tell the inside story
0:00:57 > 0:00:59of that 12-month battle.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01It was a bitter conflict,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04which was symbolised by the leading warriors on each side -
0:01:04 > 0:01:09Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and NUM President Arthur Scargill.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Their unbending opposition to each other was echoed
0:01:12 > 0:01:14among their officers and troops.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20We could not have a group of politically-motivated
0:01:20 > 0:01:23industrial workers holding the country to ransom.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27We could either roll over and let them kick us to death,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30or we had to stand up and fight.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32APPLAUSE
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Day after day, for a whole year, I saw close up the heroism
0:01:35 > 0:01:40and the anger of men and women who sustained the strike, often
0:01:40 > 0:01:44in the face of massive pressure from the forces of the State.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48There were men coming into my office, just down the road in Swansea,
0:01:48 > 0:01:49in tears.
0:01:49 > 0:01:50In tears.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55Their houses were being repossessed, their marriages were breaking up...
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Nobody who grew up in mining communities could fail to be
0:02:00 > 0:02:03moved by these experiences.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06But I do want to raise some awkward questions...
0:02:06 > 0:02:09About the problem of trying to sustain a national strike
0:02:09 > 0:02:12when there hadn't been a national ballot.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17About a flawed national leadership that sometimes seemed to be absent.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19About the logic and wisdom of demanding
0:02:19 > 0:02:23a huge increase in coal production when it was clear
0:02:23 > 0:02:27that the key markets for coal were already in steep decline.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30Not all of my friends from the strike will agree with me
0:02:30 > 0:02:32when we talk about this.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37But they'll always be my friends. From an epic struggle that failed.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52For 21 years, until 2010, I was MP for Pontypridd,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55here in the heart of the South Wales coalfield.
0:02:55 > 0:02:56And for a chunk of that time,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59I was a Minister in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06But in my long-haired militant days, I'd been a student activist
0:03:06 > 0:03:08and then an academic.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11By 1984, I was working here in Pontypridd
0:03:11 > 0:03:15for the South Wales area of the National Union of Mineworkers.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19I was a research officer, providing material for the executive.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Especially for the area president, Emlyn Williams.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25APPLAUSE
0:03:25 > 0:03:29In the political climate created by Mrs Thatcher's Conservatives,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33you didn't need to be a prophet to see the storm clouds gathering
0:03:33 > 0:03:34over the coalfield.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37The storm hit us in March 1984.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42The strike was brought on by the announcement of 20 pit closures and
0:03:42 > 0:03:44a massive reduction in coal output.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46The announcement was made by Ian MacGregor,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48the chairman of the National Coal Board.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53We knew him as Mrs Thatcher's hit man - the boss who had delivered
0:03:53 > 0:03:56huge job cuts in the British Steel Corporation.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59We had no doubt that he intended exactly the same thing
0:03:59 > 0:04:02for the coal industry and we were determined that we were
0:04:02 > 0:04:05going to defend our jobs and our communities.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13At the beginning of the strike there were 170 collieries across Britain,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17with almost 200,000 working miners.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22The recently released Cabinet papers for 1984 reveal that the
0:04:22 > 0:04:26Conservative Government and Ian MacGregor secretly intended
0:04:26 > 0:04:30to close 70 of these pits as quickly as possible.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34So, Scargill was right, people say. Though the truth is
0:04:34 > 0:04:37we all knew that the hit list was much bigger
0:04:37 > 0:04:40than the 20 pits that were announced.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44But in South Wales there were serious misgivings
0:04:44 > 0:04:46about our chances of success.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49An uncertainty about the wisdom of using strike action.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51To understand why,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55you have to go back into the story of the previous decade.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59The miners were the bogeymen of Conservative governments
0:04:59 > 0:05:03because of their successful strikes in the 1970s.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08And then in 1981, they forced Mrs Thatcher's first major U-turn,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12facing down a proposal to close 23 pits across Britain.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16It was a defeat never to be forgotten by a Prime Minister
0:05:16 > 0:05:21who was determined to fight another day and this time, to win.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25But it's important to remember that pit closures had been
0:05:25 > 0:05:28common for 30 years before the 1980s.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33And it was often hard to get solidarity from other miners
0:05:33 > 0:05:35when you were trying to save a pit.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38In Wales, there was a famous example of colliery closure
0:05:38 > 0:05:42in the year immediately before the strike.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44This used to be the Lewis Merthyr pit.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47It's now the Rhondda Heritage Park.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50In 1983 it was occupied by its workforce
0:05:50 > 0:05:52in the battle to keep it open.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55The South Wales miners appealed for help to their brothers
0:05:55 > 0:05:59in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the northern coalfields.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01The fact that that help didn't materialise
0:06:01 > 0:06:05was to have consequences months later when,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09on the 5th March 1984, strikes broke out in Yorkshire
0:06:09 > 0:06:12over the closure of its Cottonwood Colliery.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16Within a week, a strike was rolling across the country
0:06:16 > 0:06:20in opposition to what were called the MacGregor closures.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25At the start of the strike, NUM members in South Wales
0:06:25 > 0:06:27were reluctant to come out.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30In a vote taken on the first weekend,
0:06:30 > 0:06:3318 out of 28 pits voted against the strike.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38But Emlyn Williams believed that this area vote
0:06:38 > 0:06:40could be turned around.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43I'm sure that the South Wales miners will respond
0:06:43 > 0:06:46because we are not talking about Yorkshire,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49we are talking about the MacGregor plan to annihilate
0:06:49 > 0:06:53at least a third of the South Wales coalfields within 12 months.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58But most of the men Emlyn represented had no real confidence
0:06:58 > 0:07:02about going into a strike without miners across the British coalfields
0:07:02 > 0:07:05voting for it in a national ballot.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09We work on Monday, but we will not go through any pickets.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11None whatsoever.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14- What was the mood of the meeting? - We want a national ballot.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18To relive how we changed the mood in South Wales,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21I'm meeting up with two NUM comrades from the time.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24The well-known activist Tyrone O'Sullivan
0:07:24 > 0:07:28and the South Wales vice president in 1984, Terry Thomas.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32If ever there was an example that the power of the unions
0:07:32 > 0:07:34is the members of the unions themselves.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38Because when the first meetings took place, in general
0:07:38 > 0:07:41it was the union officials that were
0:07:41 > 0:07:43talking at meetings and speaking to the men.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46But after that, when the decision went by,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49as you say, the majority of lodges, not to strike...
0:07:51 > 0:07:56Then when the ordinary miners themselves went out to speak to them
0:07:56 > 0:08:00in the coming days, the decisions were changed.
0:08:00 > 0:08:01It altered the decision.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06Tyrone, you were a lodge official, what did you do to get people out,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09to make them join the strike?
0:08:09 > 0:08:11I phoned you up, Kim. I said, "Look, Kim, I don't know where every
0:08:11 > 0:08:14"pit is in the coalfield, I could do with some maps and plans.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18"Could I meet you up in Hirwaun?"
0:08:18 > 0:08:20So what we did, I phoned the other lodges up,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22got the seven lodges to turn up. You came along.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25You said, "Look, here are the maps and plans.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27"I can get you to these pits."
0:08:27 > 0:08:29So I said, "Right, that's where we are.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32"Let's go back to our communities and fill the buses."
0:08:32 > 0:08:34My first pit was Maesteg.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37One of the things that we were proudest of
0:08:37 > 0:08:40was the fact that we were the most democratic of trade unions.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45- And yet, here we were, the three of us, in a way...- Yeah.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48..doing something which was outside of the rules of that union.
0:08:48 > 0:08:55- No, it wasn't.- Listen, I went and picketed pits on the Monday morning
0:08:55 > 0:08:58even though the South Wales area clearly was against taking
0:08:58 > 0:09:01strike action. That's undemocratic, isn't it?
0:09:01 > 0:09:03We changed the rules.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05There was to be no more national ballots.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08We had changed that within our own union.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Democratically, through conferences.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14We no longer needed national ballots.
0:09:14 > 0:09:15Terry's the expert on that
0:09:15 > 0:09:18because he sat through all of the legal procedures.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20You went to the High Court
0:09:20 > 0:09:23to hear Lord Justice Scott make a ruling of it.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26He was part of the establishment.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30He was very supportive of the Thatcher Government
0:09:30 > 0:09:32and as far as I'm concerned,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35he couldn't find a way of saying that that strike was illegal.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38And that sums it up for me.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41We had the NUM rule book saying it was legal.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44We had the High Court judge up in the Old Bailey saying it was legal.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46What more can you want than that?
0:09:46 > 0:09:49I've got no doubt it was used as a negative against us,
0:09:49 > 0:09:50why didn't we have a national ballot?
0:09:50 > 0:09:52From the constitution, we were right.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55But you could not risk it because you had this huge
0:09:55 > 0:09:58position in Leicester and the white-collar workers. No, no.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01It would've been lovely to have had, Kim.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03But we just couldn't have won it.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Whatever doubts that existed in South Wales prior to the strike,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15the traditions of union solidarity galvanised the workforce into action
0:10:15 > 0:10:17once it was under way.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19THEY CHANT
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Spring 1984 was full of headlong activity
0:10:22 > 0:10:26as we organised Welsh miners to picket in other areas,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28particularly in the English Midlands,
0:10:28 > 0:10:33where the majority of miners were refusing to join the strike.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36That's all I'm asking you. Come out with us, boys.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38If you all come out together we could win the bloody fight.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41We don't believe in the strike.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44- Why not?- It's undemocratic.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47How many times have we had a vote on pit closures?
0:10:48 > 0:10:50It was a major operation.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54It was my job to mobilise 4,000 - 5,000 pickets who travelled
0:10:54 > 0:10:58all over England and put pressure on power stations and working mines.
0:11:00 > 0:11:06We went flat out, trying to force an early resolution of the strike.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09The Conservative Government had passed an employment act
0:11:09 > 0:11:11to restrict picketing activity.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13We were constantly defying it,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16especially when we picketed other industries.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19It could be cloak and dagger stuff.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23We learned quickly how to avoid police roadblocks by using
0:11:23 > 0:11:27remote mountain-top roads and back lanes.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29The police couldn't cover them all.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34But in bad weather, and keeping the use of headlights to a minimum,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36sometimes it made for dangerous driving.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41There were times when the police managed to block off all
0:11:41 > 0:11:43routes to pits.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46But that didn't stop up either.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48We'd gather in the darkness before dawn,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51and make our way silently up through the forests
0:11:51 > 0:11:56and over the high moorland on foot to avoid the roadblocks.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01# Here we go, here we go, here we go
0:12:01 > 0:12:03# Here we go, here we go... #
0:12:03 > 0:12:05Of course, there was exhilaration in all of this.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09But there were already disturbing signs that this strike might go
0:12:09 > 0:12:12terribly wrong and exact terrible human cost.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16On the front line of the strike in Nottinghamshire
0:12:16 > 0:12:18and the rest of the Midlands,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22picketing miners were hurling abuse and rocks at working miners.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25The workforce was disastrously divided,
0:12:25 > 0:12:28fighting itself instead of its opponents.
0:12:28 > 0:12:29THEY BLEAT LIKE SHEEP
0:12:29 > 0:12:32The people at this bloody colliery are going to
0:12:32 > 0:12:33sell your youngsters' jobs out.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36They're looking for redundancy, all right?
0:12:36 > 0:12:38And they'll bloody sell you out, every one of them will.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42INDISTINCT SHOUTS
0:12:43 > 0:12:49In May 1984 I wrote a document for the NUM leaders in Pontypridd.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53I said that there was a lack of strategic focus in the way
0:12:53 > 0:12:56the strike was being led by Arthur Scargill and his lieutenants
0:12:56 > 0:12:59based in the national headquarters in Sheffield.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03I started to question the emphasis on the
0:13:03 > 0:13:05mass picketing of working collieries.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09And many of us believed that Scargill's all or nothing approach
0:13:09 > 0:13:12of no pit closures was clearly absurd
0:13:12 > 0:13:16given the condition of many ageing pits.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21As national president of this union, I'll tell you the terms.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24No pit closures. No manpower reductions.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26CHEERING
0:13:26 > 0:13:28The South Wales leadership
0:13:28 > 0:13:31and its magnificent members across the coalfield
0:13:31 > 0:13:35knew that our only chance of winning was to starve the power stations
0:13:35 > 0:13:38and the steelworks of coal.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41It meant that we had to build special alliances with
0:13:41 > 0:13:44workers in power stations like this one at Aberthaw.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47And, of course, on the railways, in the dockyards,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49and in the steelworks.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53But these careful approaches to other industrial workers
0:13:53 > 0:13:57were blocked by Mr Scargill and his deputies.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01They were content to let the pithead battles run.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06And all the while, the huge stockpiles of coal were being
0:14:06 > 0:14:10shipped into the power stations and the electricity kept flowing.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12I was desperately worried
0:14:12 > 0:14:17after almost three months of strike action, that the huge sacrifices
0:14:17 > 0:14:20made by the miners and their families would come to nothing
0:14:20 > 0:14:24if we didn't have clear objectives beyond appearing to be waging
0:14:24 > 0:14:28televised medieval battles against the forces
0:14:28 > 0:14:31of Mrs Thatcher's Government.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35I was not alone in having these anxieties.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Maerdy in the Rhondda was one of the great centres of strike activity.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41But even here,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45there were doubts about the strategic leadership of the strike.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Ivor England was the secretary of the NUM lodge,
0:14:50 > 0:14:54and I meet up with him on the site of the former Mardy pit.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57I had great reservations.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01One of the reservations was that the older miners weren't happy
0:15:01 > 0:15:05about engaging in a struggle that they didn't know
0:15:05 > 0:15:07how the hell to get out of.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Particularly with Arthur Scargill at the helm.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14- You recommended this guy. - Yes, indeed.
0:15:14 > 0:15:15And, of course, you know...
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Reservations, yeah.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20I went around campaigning for him all over the place.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22So we're both guilty men, in that sense.
0:15:22 > 0:15:28Yes, yes. When Arthur came along, he said, compromise - you cannot.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Consultation is out.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35Consultation between them and us doesn't work.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39There's got to be a way that the miners' union is strong,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43is going to fight, is going to fight against ALL pit closures.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47It's going to fight...regardless of what THEY say,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49pit closures have got to be fought.
0:15:49 > 0:15:55That was an unreal situation. There was a feeling amongst all the men,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58"We're going too far on this. We cannot win them all."
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Not all miners were in favour. There were miners breaking away here,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05there were miners breaking away there,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08there were people happy to go to work, there were South Wales
0:16:08 > 0:16:11miners and Yorkshire miners who were opposing them on the picket line,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13shouting and screaming as they said.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16There was people starting to say, "This is going too far now.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19"You're actually challenging Government."
0:16:22 > 0:16:26It's time to step out of the closely-knit world of the coalfield
0:16:26 > 0:16:30and turn to the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher.
0:16:30 > 0:16:36She had led her party to victory at elections in 1979 and 1983,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40and was fervently committed to breaking the power of the unions
0:16:40 > 0:16:42and shrinking the public sector.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46Throughout the strike, her cabinet was meeting on a war footing,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49monitoring events and driving forward the offensive
0:16:49 > 0:16:51against the miners.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54I'm meeting with Michael Heseltine
0:16:54 > 0:16:57who was a key figure in that Thatcher Cabinet.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Lord Heseltine, in 1984...
0:17:01 > 0:17:06we had the impression very much in the coalfields that this
0:17:06 > 0:17:08action by the Government,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12the announcement of the closure list, the reduction in coal output,
0:17:12 > 0:17:17was revenge really for the strikes of 1972 and 1974.
0:17:17 > 0:17:18Is that true?
0:17:18 > 0:17:22HE CHUCKLES I think what you say is true, that's what you felt.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26But, of course, it's a complete misreading of history.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29It wasn't a question of revenge or anything of that sort.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32It was sucking the lifeblood out of the British economy.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36You can argue about whose fault it was, but it had to be addressed.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39You couldn't accept that sections of society were above the law.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45Was the NUM a special case? Was it especially politically motivated?
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Certainly, it was. But it also was regarded as a difficult place
0:17:49 > 0:17:52because it had the economy by the stranglehold.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57The ability to bring the country's economy to a standstill
0:17:57 > 0:18:00was absolutely within the hands of a tiny number
0:18:00 > 0:18:03of politically-motivated miners.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07The subsidy to the coalmines that came from the Government,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11from the public purse, amounted to almost £1 billion
0:18:11 > 0:18:14by the start of the strike in 1984.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Was that the main driver within the Government to do
0:18:18 > 0:18:20something about this?
0:18:20 > 0:18:23No. No. It was the issue of who governs. The rule of law.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26And it's quite wrong to see this as a phenomenon
0:18:26 > 0:18:28of the Conservative Government.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31This was a problem for all post-war governments.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34It's an astonishingly frank answer from Michael Heseltine
0:18:34 > 0:18:38about his government's carefully prepared confrontation
0:18:38 > 0:18:40with the miners.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44The police force was prepared and there were huge amounts of coal
0:18:44 > 0:18:47piled up in the stockyards around the country.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50The Conservatives were absolutely determined not to be
0:18:50 > 0:18:54outflanked by the miners, as they had been in 1981.
0:18:54 > 0:18:59INDISTINCT SHOUTS That was the essence of the strategy.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03That if Scargill is going to fight this battle,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07it's got to be fought at a time of our choosing and not his.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11And by the time the strike began in '84,
0:19:11 > 0:19:16every pit had huge piles of surface coal.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20Every power station had huge piles of coal.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25There was no way that Arthur Scargill would have voluntarily chosen
0:19:25 > 0:19:27to fight on those conditions at that time,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30particularly with the mild weather coming.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34One of the first things that the Thatcher Government did
0:19:34 > 0:19:37was to start changing the law on picketing,
0:19:37 > 0:19:42in order to counteract the effectiveness of flying pickets, for example.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Was this part of a wider programme about tackling trade union power?
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Certainly. Let us have no doubt about it.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52This was an issue that had to be gripped.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57We could not have a group of politically-motivated,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01and they were heavily motivated, industrial workers
0:20:01 > 0:20:03holding the country to ransom.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09The development of the law to curb trade union power
0:20:09 > 0:20:11was a central tenet of Mrs Thatcher's governments.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15And in fairness, the laws were never dismantled
0:20:15 > 0:20:17by the Labour governments in which I served.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Mr President, what we have seen in this country is
0:20:22 > 0:20:28the emergence of an organised revolutionary minority
0:20:28 > 0:20:32who are prepared to exploit industrial disputes,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36but whose real aim is the breakdown of law and order
0:20:36 > 0:20:40and the destruction of democratic parliamentary government.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Michael Heseltine was never the harshest face
0:20:44 > 0:20:46of Thatcherite ideology.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51But talking to him reminds you again of the massive power of the State.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Especially over state-controlled industries.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57This time the Tories were ready for the miners
0:20:57 > 0:21:01and for a struggle that was to be the climax of their campaign
0:21:01 > 0:21:03against union power.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07In the summer of 1984, it was clear that we were in for a long haul
0:21:07 > 0:21:11in a strike that was to be the longest lasting
0:21:11 > 0:21:16and most painful since the legendary events of 1926.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22The general strike of 1926 is the only other industrial action
0:21:22 > 0:21:24in the 20th century to compare with the miners' strike
0:21:24 > 0:21:27for length and hardship.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35And, like in the soup kitchens of 1926, women were
0:21:35 > 0:21:39crucial in providing support to hard-pressed striking families.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42But this was a different age
0:21:42 > 0:21:44with more women in work
0:21:44 > 0:21:48and with women from Wales active in a number of political causes.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54In this strike, women would join the picket lines, confront the police,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58and evade surveillance by security forces.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03I've come to the impressive Dove Community Workshop and Cafe
0:22:03 > 0:22:05at Banwen in the Dulais Valley,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07high up in the west of the coalfield,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10where I'm meeting Mair Francis and Christine Powell
0:22:10 > 0:22:13to reflect on the powerful change in women's roles.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17I think most of the people that were active in the support group
0:22:17 > 0:22:19realised that they couldn't succeed
0:22:19 > 0:22:21unless they had the support of the women.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Not just in the background providing food or... In some areas there were
0:22:26 > 0:22:27soup kitchens.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30We didn't want that. We wanted the women to be involved,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33to make decisions alongside the men.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35And you made contact, of course,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37with people from all kinds of backgrounds, didn't you?
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Tell me about some of those, Chris.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Gays and lesbians supported the miners in London.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44You've got to remember this is 1984,
0:22:44 > 0:22:48a lot of the boys around here still had '70s sideboards,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51longish hair, and men were men and women were glad.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54And then the first time they came down
0:22:54 > 0:22:56and it got through the valley...
0:22:56 > 0:22:58"All these gays are coming down!"
0:22:58 > 0:23:01But it was funny. The attitudes that changed after that
0:23:01 > 0:23:05because those guys were standing on the underground platforms in London
0:23:05 > 0:23:09and rattling buckets for the miners in the middle of London.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13- MEGAPHONE:- 'The miners' struggle is their struggle...'
0:23:13 > 0:23:17Across the coalfields, women's groups were feeding
0:23:17 > 0:23:19and sustaining families.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22The Dulais women alone fed 1,000 families throughout
0:23:22 > 0:23:24the year-long strike.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28It was a major operation, partly funded by other sympathetic unions.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33They put the money directly into the local shop in the village
0:23:33 > 0:23:36- and a lot of the food came from there.- And then with Tesco.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Bread from the bakery.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42This Austin Metro's got 269 loaves of bread in it.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45And 269 pints of milk.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48And so you distributed this food out to the distribution centres...
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Yeah, and then the parcels were made up.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53- Then the parcels were made up. - Which included the Valley Star.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Which was the publication that was produced every week...
0:23:57 > 0:23:59- You published that?- Yes.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Which was all the information about what was taking place.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07So if there was a march or rally or some morale-boosting occasion,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10- that's how you'd let people know that it was on?- Yes.
0:24:10 > 0:24:11Some things, yes.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14But some things... we went on a sponsored swim.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17- How do you mean?- A sponsored swim was code for a picket.
0:24:17 > 0:24:23Oh, I see. Brilliant. So this was to foil MI5 and the local police?
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Well, it was the funny clicks that were on my telephone every time
0:24:26 > 0:24:28I picked it up or put it down. Put it that way.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32So we went... It was nothing to be picked up at 4:30 in the morning
0:24:32 > 0:24:34to go on a "sponsored swim."
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Right. Yes. That must have been very interesting for the eavesdroppers.
0:24:38 > 0:24:39Yes.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Well, tell me now about the way you reached out from collecting
0:24:44 > 0:24:46and distributing food,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50creating what became called "an alternative welfare state."
0:24:50 > 0:24:54When did you start moving on to women being on picket lines
0:24:54 > 0:24:57with the men, with the striking miners?
0:24:57 > 0:25:00The first picket, it was a demonstration I went on
0:25:00 > 0:25:04when our friend Mrs Thatcher was coming to address
0:25:04 > 0:25:08the Welsh Conservative Party in Porthcawl.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12That's the famous occasion when the eggs were thrown at her
0:25:12 > 0:25:13and they went on her dress.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18PEOPLE JEERING
0:25:18 > 0:25:26It was the first experience I've had of the atmosphere of a mob.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30I wouldn't say we were a mob,
0:25:30 > 0:25:36but I could see how atmosphere can change, you know, herd behaviour.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40We were all having a laugh and chatting away with the policemen,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44and then obviously something came down the line that she was coming.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49And as one, the language altered, shall we say?
0:25:49 > 0:25:51LOUD JEERING
0:25:54 > 0:25:57That was my first experience of that and I shall never forget.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59I can feel that feeling now.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02# ..Alone
0:26:02 > 0:26:10# You'll never walk alone... #
0:26:11 > 0:26:14The inspirational work of women is an unforgettable memory
0:26:14 > 0:26:16from the strike.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20But we still have to remember that this was a strike that failed.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25I'm heading north to Yorkshire, which was the power base
0:26:25 > 0:26:28of the NUM's president Arthur Scargill
0:26:28 > 0:26:32and the scene of bitter conflicts in that angry summer of 1984.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37But on the way, I'm passing through the Northeast Wales coalfield,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41where the mood was very different from my home patch in South Wales.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44There were only two pits in this coalfield -
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Point of Ayr and Bersham.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50But they were both sharply divided over the question of holding
0:26:50 > 0:26:51a national ballot.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Coming here to the site of the Bersham Colliery
0:26:57 > 0:27:00brings back uncomfortable memories of the harsh
0:27:00 > 0:27:02divisions between miners.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06The 1984 strike was a battle for survival.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10The future of thousands of jobs were at stake.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15Unsurprisingly, attitudes hardened with the passing of the months.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20And there's no doubt that there were people in this area who suffered
0:27:20 > 0:27:24real hatred because of their positions on the strike.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28The miners' leaders were struggling to hold the workforce together
0:27:28 > 0:27:31and were accused of not pushing a hard enough line.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34And miners who called for a national ballot were vilified.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41But there's no doubt that the most bitter scenes of conflict between
0:27:41 > 0:27:46miners were seen in the tense border areas between South Yorkshire
0:27:46 > 0:27:47and Nottinghamshire.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50This was the key coalfield for deciding the course
0:27:50 > 0:27:52and outcome of the strike.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56The most notorious battle of the strike was at a coking plant
0:27:56 > 0:27:59serving the steel industry.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04The events at Orgreave near Sheffield on June 18th, 1984
0:28:04 > 0:28:08loom large in the history of the strike.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13This used to be an open-cast mine
0:28:13 > 0:28:15as well as the site of the coking plant.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19But it's now been much redeveloped. Perhaps a symbol of the way
0:28:19 > 0:28:23in which the mining industry and the strike are slipping out
0:28:23 > 0:28:25of popular memory.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30But on the 18th June, 1984, this was a medieval battlefield,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34where around 8,000 miners were herded into an arena
0:28:34 > 0:28:37of confrontation by 4,500 police,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41including a large contingent of mounted police.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Miners have always expressed their surprise that they weren't
0:28:45 > 0:28:47turned away by the police that day, as they had been
0:28:47 > 0:28:49so often during the strike.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Instead, they were allowed to congregate near the coking plant
0:28:52 > 0:28:55before being ushered into a large field,
0:28:55 > 0:28:58where the police were massed at the bottom.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00It was clearly a trap.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04INDISTINCT SHOUTS 'Watch it, watch it.'
0:29:06 > 0:29:09The police operation on the day involved officers
0:29:09 > 0:29:11from forces around the country
0:29:11 > 0:29:14who were drafted in to help handle the pickets.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18This had been a major innovation of the Conservative Government.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21Nationally directed deployment of the police to counteract
0:29:21 > 0:29:24so-called flying pickets.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27INDISTINCT SHOUTS
0:29:32 > 0:29:36In the vicious skirmishes and charges, dozens of people,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39both miners and officers, were injured.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46The clashes led to more than 90 people being arrested.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53There was a complete collapse in the prosecutions for riot
0:29:53 > 0:29:55against 95 miners
0:29:55 > 0:29:57and the South Yorkshire Police had to pay out
0:29:57 > 0:30:01£425,000 to the miners who sued them.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05What's more, the South Yorkshire Police referred itself
0:30:05 > 0:30:09to the Police Complaints Commission in 2012
0:30:09 > 0:30:14after a BBC documentary alleged that certain police officers
0:30:14 > 0:30:17had colluded in writing their court statements.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21It all left a bitter taste in the mouths of miners and their families.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27But whatever disgraceful behaviour occurred that day
0:30:27 > 0:30:30on the part of the forces of the State,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33there are still big questions to ask about the leadership of the strike.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38To do this, I've come to the current NUM headquarters,
0:30:38 > 0:30:42which is housed in this lovely old Yorkshire area building.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47It's a place full of ghosts
0:30:47 > 0:30:50where the general secretary Chris Kitchen and his colleagues
0:30:50 > 0:30:55look after only 1,000 members across five British pits.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59That's compared with almost 200,000 members at the time of the strike.
0:30:59 > 0:31:04Chris was a 17-year-old picketing foot soldier in 1984.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08What does he think now of the leadership of the strike?
0:31:08 > 0:31:11I think, looking back in hindsight,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14there was very little room to manoeuvre
0:31:14 > 0:31:16for the union and the leaders at the time.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19I think it was orchestrated,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22the timing wasn't of the NUM's choice,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25I think we were backed into a corner.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28We could either roll over and let them kick us to death
0:31:28 > 0:31:31or we had to stand up and fight.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33As a trade unionist,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36you'll know that trade unionism is always about compromise.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39You've got to give and take, and you come out with the best deal you can,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42but the 1984 strike started
0:31:42 > 0:31:45with the demand that there be no closures.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48I mean, that was the wrong way to start it, wasn't it?
0:31:48 > 0:31:53I think the sticking point was on the economic grounds.
0:31:53 > 0:31:55The Government dug its heels in and said,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58"If a pit's losing money, it has to shut."
0:31:58 > 0:32:01The reality of mining is that a pit can lose money one year.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04It might lose money two or three years on the trot,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07but like any other business where you've got different outlets,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11if you've got some that's losing money and some that's making money,
0:32:11 > 0:32:15as long as overall you're breaking even or making money,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18and, let's not forget, you were still retaining employment,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21you were still getting good paid jobs
0:32:21 > 0:32:22and keeping the communities alive.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27In the Cabinet papers that were released in January,
0:32:27 > 0:32:32it's very interesting that the focus of most of the discussion
0:32:32 > 0:32:36at Cabinet level was about Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire
0:32:36 > 0:32:40and Derbyshire, because this was the great centre, wasn't it,
0:32:40 > 0:32:44of all of the problems that the Government saw,
0:32:44 > 0:32:46of mass picketing and so on?
0:32:46 > 0:32:49What did it feel like, living here then?
0:32:49 > 0:32:52It felt like you were living in a police state.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54I mean, living in a mining village
0:32:54 > 0:32:57with most people on strike,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00the amount of police presence,
0:33:00 > 0:33:02trying to get about the country,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04especially as the strike progressed
0:33:04 > 0:33:07and obviously they gathered intelligence
0:33:07 > 0:33:11and knew your registration number and the make and model of your car.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14You were treated like a criminal and told where you can and can't go
0:33:14 > 0:33:17in a country that's supposed to be a democratic country,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20where everybody's got freedom of speech and freedom of movement.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22By the early summer of 1984,
0:33:22 > 0:33:26I was very worried and very upset
0:33:26 > 0:33:29at the sight of these battles that were taking place every morning,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33where one group of miners were screaming and yelling
0:33:33 > 0:33:36at other groups of miners who where going to work.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38There was terrible division there.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41It seemed to me that that wasn't what trade union was about.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45It wasn't what the trade union was about that I'd grown up with.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49I think the way that the mass picketing evolved during the strike
0:33:49 > 0:33:53was a direct consequence of how the picket lines were policed.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56The first picket lines I started going on,
0:33:56 > 0:34:00you'd got policemen in normal uniform
0:34:00 > 0:34:02that linked hands.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06And you'd got the ability that, you know,
0:34:06 > 0:34:09you could get to talk to the strike-breakers
0:34:09 > 0:34:12to put your argument forward, whether they listened to it or not.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Then the police presence started to build up.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18Then we had the riot shields there. Instead of being confronted with
0:34:18 > 0:34:21a line of policemen that were linking arms,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24you were confronted with a row of Perspex
0:34:24 > 0:34:28and the police officers behind were truncheon in hand,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31ready to bob you on the head over the top.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35When men, exhausted by the strike,
0:34:35 > 0:34:37eventually started going back to work
0:34:37 > 0:34:41after many months, I was alarmed by the hardline attitude
0:34:41 > 0:34:43that called them scabs.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46But Chris Kitchen is quite clear in his view.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49My personal feeling is quite simple.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52If you cross a picket line, you're a scab.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55I can't...
0:34:55 > 0:34:59honestly say that I can judge somebody
0:34:59 > 0:35:02who wasn't in the same circumstances as me -
0:35:02 > 0:35:06single, living at home,
0:35:06 > 0:35:08with no bills and family relying on him,
0:35:08 > 0:35:11then, as far as I'm concerned,
0:35:11 > 0:35:14if I managed to stop out, then so should they.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17I don't take that hardline view
0:35:17 > 0:35:20with people who were married with kids and families,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22but a scab is a scab, and the definition of a scab
0:35:22 > 0:35:25is somebody that crosses a picket line.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Talking to Chris brought home to me
0:35:29 > 0:35:32the scale of the conflict in South Yorkshire
0:35:32 > 0:35:36and the passionate commitment that people had for the strike.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41But it also reminded me how easy it was for a biased media
0:35:41 > 0:35:46to present events like the Battle of Orgreave in June 1984
0:35:46 > 0:35:50as the riotous disorder of a rabble.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59In all of this noise and confrontation,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02it was possible to lose a grip on the arguments
0:36:02 > 0:36:05that underpinned the NUM's actions in the strike.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08The social argument was about the damaging effects
0:36:08 > 0:36:11of pit closures on communities.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16The economic argument, based on the 1970s plan for coal,
0:36:16 > 0:36:20was that you needed a major coal industry to power a country
0:36:20 > 0:36:24that had been held over an oil barrel in the 1970s
0:36:24 > 0:36:27and which could not trust the safety of nuclear energy.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30'The distinguished economist Huw Beynon
0:36:30 > 0:36:33'was very active during the strike
0:36:33 > 0:36:35'and he could see all round the disastrous decline
0:36:35 > 0:36:38'in the market for coal.'
0:36:38 > 0:36:41It's clear that the plan for coal was quite an optimistic one
0:36:41 > 0:36:44based upon a huge hike in oil prices
0:36:44 > 0:36:46through the Gulf States
0:36:46 > 0:36:50and an assumption about manufacturing expansion
0:36:50 > 0:36:52and also about domestic use of electricity,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55and, of course, several things became unhinged on that,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59particularly after '79, when big manufacturing started to close down,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02big energy users started to close down,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04so the steel market became squeezed,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07the industrial market became squeezed,
0:37:07 > 0:37:10the demand for electricity declined
0:37:10 > 0:37:14and there became alternative sources of electricity production.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18In the run up to the miners' strike in 1984,
0:37:18 > 0:37:20and during the strike,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23we were going around the country making the case for coal -
0:37:23 > 0:37:26actually, the case for expanding coal production -
0:37:26 > 0:37:29at a time of declining markets.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32I mean, do you think we were deluded doing that?
0:37:32 > 0:37:36There was still a case to be made for retaining coal production in Britain.
0:37:36 > 0:37:42I think we realised, and certainly the pits realised,
0:37:42 > 0:37:45that we were in a difficult situation
0:37:45 > 0:37:48because everywhere around them, pits were closing.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Not only pits were closing. I was in the Northeast,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53and everything else was closing!
0:37:53 > 0:37:55So I think delusion is the wrong word, really.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59It was a very, very difficult situation for people to deal with.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01The strike changes everything.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Without a strike, there's negotiation, discussion,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08disagreement. When you've got a strike, everything changes
0:38:08 > 0:38:11because it becomes about power.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14It becomes about power and how it's going to be settled.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18So if the coal miners all drifted back to work,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20there'll be no settlement...
0:38:20 > 0:38:23This is the logic of the whole thing.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26So if they starve them back, there'll be no settlement,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28which is what happened.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Talking to Huw Beynon reminds me
0:38:32 > 0:38:35of the massive loss of industrial employment
0:38:35 > 0:38:40that had accelerated in the early years of Mrs Thatcher's governments.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44In some ways, the coal jobs were only the final nail in the coffin
0:38:44 > 0:38:46of heavy industry.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48But in the year of the strike,
0:38:48 > 0:38:51our focus was just on keeping going
0:38:51 > 0:38:55and getting something solid for the miners.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59August 1984 brought a huge challenge to us
0:38:59 > 0:39:01in the South Wales NUM.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04We had been heavily picketing the steelworks
0:39:04 > 0:39:07and docks here in Port Talbot. We tried to control
0:39:07 > 0:39:11everything that moved in and out of this huge industrial complex
0:39:11 > 0:39:14to increase the impact of the strike.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19# This Government had an idea
0:39:19 > 0:39:21# And Parliament made it law
0:39:21 > 0:39:24# Seems like it's illegal
0:39:24 > 0:39:27# To fight for the union any more
0:39:27 > 0:39:30# And which side are you on, boys?
0:39:30 > 0:39:32# Which side are you on? #
0:39:32 > 0:39:36But the so-called secondary picketing of other industries
0:39:36 > 0:39:39had been made illegal by Conservative Government laws.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43And these laws also empowered the courts
0:39:43 > 0:39:45so seize our union funds
0:39:45 > 0:39:48if we persisted in this illegal picketing.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52It meant that the money that we needed
0:39:52 > 0:39:55in order to keep the picketing going
0:39:55 > 0:39:57and to sustain striking families
0:39:57 > 0:39:59was frozen in the banks.
0:39:59 > 0:40:05In other words, we couldn't get our hands on our own union funds.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09But we carried on with our actions,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12especially our efforts to disrupt and sabotage
0:40:12 > 0:40:15the protected lorry convoys
0:40:15 > 0:40:17endlessly trundling along the M4
0:40:17 > 0:40:20and keeping steel output going.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23The Government had come to arrangements
0:40:23 > 0:40:25with private road hauliers
0:40:25 > 0:40:29so that there'd be no disruption to steel production.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33Blocking the convoys of lorries led us into considerable danger,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37particularly at the Magor exit from the motorway in Gwent.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Day after day, the biggest road convoys seen in this country
0:40:42 > 0:40:45in peacetime roared up off the motorway,
0:40:45 > 0:40:49delivering coal and iron ore from the Port Talbot docks
0:40:49 > 0:40:51to the steelworks at Llanwern.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54Every day, with their arms linked,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57the police would hold us back as we surged forward,
0:40:57 > 0:40:59trying to stop the convoy.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02It was a violent and dangerous business.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04The lorry owners were paid big money
0:41:04 > 0:41:06and we learned very quickly
0:41:06 > 0:41:08that human bodies weren't designed
0:41:08 > 0:41:13to stop 30 tonnes of steel rolling along a highway at speed,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15guarded by the police.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18SHOUTING
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Sometimes we succeeded in delaying the convoy,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24but we never stopped it for long.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27And the very sight of it heading east and west along the M4
0:41:27 > 0:41:30became a potent symbol of the Government's determination
0:41:30 > 0:41:33to win at all costs.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39But it wasn't all darkness and danger.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42The Chartist march of the 1830s was resoundingly restaged
0:41:42 > 0:41:46as a miners' protest through the Gwent Valleys.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49And there was an extraordinary occupation
0:41:49 > 0:41:52of the wonderful transporter bridge in Newport.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Stories were circulating that the wharves close to here
0:41:55 > 0:41:58were being used to offload barges
0:41:58 > 0:42:01of imported coal intended for the blast furnaces
0:42:01 > 0:42:04at the nearby Llanwern steelworks.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08Our plan was to seize that gondola, that steel platform,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11and stop it midstream, suspended over the river,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14so that nothing could sail in or out.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17When a team of specially chosen miners
0:42:17 > 0:42:20from the valleys to the north of Newport
0:42:20 > 0:42:22seized the bridge's control room,
0:42:22 > 0:42:24all hell broke lose.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27MEGAPHONE: You're committing a criminal conspiracy
0:42:27 > 0:42:29in taking over this bridge.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32If you don't disperse, you'll all be arrested.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35A column of police charged the metal stairs
0:42:35 > 0:42:37that led up to the control room.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39At the front,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42the police threw an oil barrel back over their shoulders
0:42:42 > 0:42:46and it landed on the heads of their colleagues below.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Now, at the trial of the miners who'd seized the control room,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54the police argued that it was the miners who'd thrown the barrel.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57But, in fact, there was a film, a news film,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59and when it was shown to the court, the judge said,
0:42:59 > 0:43:03"I want that news film guarded very carefully by the court.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06"I don't want the police to have it because this is vital evidence."
0:43:06 > 0:43:12Later on, the prosecution dropped that charge against the miners.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20November 1984 was a hard and bitter month
0:43:20 > 0:43:23in the story of the strike.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25From the start of the month,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28there was an increase in miners returning to work
0:43:28 > 0:43:30though the numbers were still very small in Wales
0:43:30 > 0:43:32and remained so until the end.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34One of the pits struggling to hold the line
0:43:34 > 0:43:38was Cynheidre in the west of the coalfield.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41I'm meeting up with the former lodge chairman Tony Ciano
0:43:41 > 0:43:43and the secretary, Gareth Gower,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47and it's clear that the memory of scabs going back to work
0:43:47 > 0:43:49still rankles with them.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54I remember the day they had the first wage packet.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58And they were going out on the coach and waving their pay packets.
0:43:58 > 0:44:03- The working miners were waving their pay packets at the pickets?- Yes.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06They weren't actually working. They wouldn't go underground.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09They were just playing about on the surface.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11Now, as autumn went into winter,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15we heard from some people that the union was clinging onto the strike
0:44:15 > 0:44:18by its fingernails. Was that what it was like in Cynheidre?
0:44:18 > 0:44:22I don't think we were clinging by our fingernails.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24We had drips and drabs,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27but I think - me and Gareth were talking about it earlier -
0:44:27 > 0:44:31up until Christmas, I don't think we had more than 50...
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Gareth?
0:44:33 > 0:44:34If that. ..men back in work.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38Now, I remember a story about telegraph poles being used
0:44:38 > 0:44:43to block the way for miners who wanted to return to work.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47We couldn't stop them going to their work, to the colliery,
0:44:47 > 0:44:49we tried to hinder them the best we could.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52So one particular day, we decided to meet them.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54There was a gang of us there
0:44:54 > 0:44:58and we were all going along. All of a sudden,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01there were telegraph poles at the side of the road.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05So, we were walking along and somebody had the bright idea -
0:45:05 > 0:45:08"If you put these across the road maybe we could stop the scabs
0:45:08 > 0:45:10"coming through."
0:45:10 > 0:45:13And their escorts... So, not me...
0:45:13 > 0:45:15But I know the people involved -
0:45:15 > 0:45:18they put the telegraph poles across the road...
0:45:18 > 0:45:23and the next thing a chap... and bang, straight into it.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26Of course, they took me into Llanelli - the police station...
0:45:26 > 0:45:29- To the police station? - To the police station.
0:45:29 > 0:45:30I was there for God knows how long.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34And were there many people who would come to you
0:45:34 > 0:45:38who were clearly suffering hardship at the time?
0:45:38 > 0:45:40There were... Yes.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44We had a death in Pontyates, if I remember.
0:45:44 > 0:45:49And I remember going up to Pontypridd to get them a burial.
0:45:49 > 0:45:50Yes.
0:45:50 > 0:45:53The family couldn't afford to bury them?
0:45:53 > 0:45:55- No.- No. - They couldn't afford the funeral...
0:45:55 > 0:46:01- so it was the South Wales Miners that paid for the funeral.- Yeah.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Of course, you know, the Government at the time...
0:46:04 > 0:46:07saw it fit that they weren't going to pay us any benefit,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10so the only benefit we were having were the children
0:46:10 > 0:46:13and the women in the house if they weren't working.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17No single man was having a penny. And they were suffering.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24The suffering of miners and their families made worse by the loss
0:46:24 > 0:46:27of benefits was raising the level of anger and bitterness in
0:46:27 > 0:46:32November 1984, now eight months into the strike.
0:46:32 > 0:46:37You could feel the mood darkening all around you.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42But for the national leaders of the NUM it was different.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45They were being carried shoulder high from rally to rally.
0:46:45 > 0:46:51There was a great rally here, in Aberavon, near the steelworks.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55And Arthur Scargill, Peter Heathfield and Mick McGahey...
0:46:55 > 0:47:00they told an adoring audience that never again would
0:47:00 > 0:47:05they allow the union to be betrayed as it had been betrayed back in 1926
0:47:05 > 0:47:09by the TUC and by other unions. It was madness because
0:47:09 > 0:47:14we needed the TUC support, we needed the support of other unions.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19And, all the while, things were becoming more and more difficult...
0:47:19 > 0:47:22for people in the coalfields.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25The November 13th rally at the Afan Lido Leisure Centre
0:47:25 > 0:47:27was a frenzied event.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29I remember, particularly, the moment when Norman Willis,
0:47:29 > 0:47:34the general secretary of the TUC, condemned picket-line violence.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37Violence creates more violence.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42And out of that extra violence...
0:47:43 > 0:47:46..is built, not solidarity...
0:47:46 > 0:47:49but despair and defeatism.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52DISSENT BOOING
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Amongst the boos, a hangman's noose was let down from the gantry above.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59It may have been a bad joke, but I found it deeply disturbing.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04Then came the reply from Scargill, which was perfectly judged
0:48:04 > 0:48:07to stir up his audience.
0:48:07 > 0:48:12I am not prepared to condemn the actions of my members
0:48:12 > 0:48:15whose only crime is fighting for the right to work,
0:48:15 > 0:48:20fighting to save their pits, their jobs and the mining communities.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22CHEERING
0:48:22 > 0:48:24I'm privileged to lead you. I salute you.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28The miners united will never be defeated!
0:48:28 > 0:48:30CHEERING
0:48:32 > 0:48:36The climate of the strike was becoming more heated and dangerous.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40This is when the biggest tragedy of the strike in Wales happened.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48Along this Heads of the Valleys Road that runs along the northern rim
0:48:48 > 0:48:51of the South Wales coalfield, an employee of a taxi firm
0:48:51 > 0:48:55was driving a working miner to Merthyr Vale Colliery
0:48:55 > 0:48:56early one morning.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01The driver's name was David Wilkie and he was killed when he was hit
0:49:01 > 0:49:05by a concrete block pushed over the parapet of a bridge
0:49:05 > 0:49:07by two young, striking miners.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23I don't believe those two young miners intended to kill anyone.
0:49:23 > 0:49:28But it was a tragedy that marked the darkest day of the whole strike.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Above all, it was a tragedy for Mr Wilkie's family.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35It blighted the lives of the two young men who killed him
0:49:35 > 0:49:38and who received long prison sentences.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41It undermined public support for the miners and their families
0:49:41 > 0:49:45who had already been on strike for eight, long, painful months.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50It was a terrible moment that haunted this coalfield from
0:49:50 > 0:49:52that day forward.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55MUSIC: "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade
0:49:57 > 0:50:01There was a welcome shift of focus in December 1984
0:50:01 > 0:50:06as the NUM and the support groups in Wales made plans to give the best
0:50:06 > 0:50:09Christmas possible to the families of striking miners.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Amazing things were achieved with toys and turkeys being
0:50:15 > 0:50:18funded by support groups from places like Hampshire
0:50:18 > 0:50:20and by other trade unions.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23And there were even gifts received from as far afield as Sweden
0:50:23 > 0:50:25and Italy.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36But the magic of Christmas soon disappeared...
0:50:36 > 0:50:39this was a winter without power cuts, the power stations
0:50:39 > 0:50:41were able to keep going.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47And across Britain miners were steadily drifting back to work
0:50:47 > 0:50:50with no prospect of a negotiated end to the strike in sight.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54Terry Thomas remembers the bitter
0:50:54 > 0:50:56and tragic final months very clearly.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01There were men coming into my office in tears.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04Their houses were being repossessed.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06Their marriages were breaking up.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09There was one came - the wedding of his daughter had been planned
0:51:09 > 0:51:13for a long, long time, even before the strike started -
0:51:13 > 0:51:17that had gone. And he was crying in the office to me.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20Not because he didn't believe...
0:51:20 > 0:51:21in the strike.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25Not because he didn't believe that we should defend our industry and
0:51:25 > 0:51:30defend our communities, but because he didn't have anything else to give.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33He had given all he had to give.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36And the question I posed at national level...
0:51:38 > 0:51:39..what happens...
0:51:40 > 0:51:44..when more than 50% of the members of the NUM have gone back to work?
0:51:44 > 0:51:46Who, then, do we represent?
0:51:47 > 0:51:50And the answer that I received...
0:51:50 > 0:51:52from the national president -
0:51:52 > 0:51:54"The hard core will stay out."
0:51:54 > 0:51:57No money. I'm up to my neck in debt.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59And I want to pay it off.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02But this lodge did vote on Saturday to continue the strike.
0:52:02 > 0:52:03Yes, it was 111 to 80.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09But I said before that meeting I'd decided that I would go back to work
0:52:09 > 0:52:11and there's a lot more of us with me.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15The rank and file executive and elected officials
0:52:15 > 0:52:20of the South Wales Miners showed extraordinary courage and leadership
0:52:20 > 0:52:23in late February, early March of 1985.
0:52:23 > 0:52:28By then, thousands of miners across all of the coalfields
0:52:28 > 0:52:31had abandoned the strike and were returning to work.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35In the face of this - the NUM president, Arthur Scargill,
0:52:35 > 0:52:40and his chief lieutenants seemed incapable of doing anything
0:52:40 > 0:52:43other than urging the miners who were still on strike
0:52:43 > 0:52:50to stand firm. Only South Wales with 90% of its miners still on strike
0:52:50 > 0:52:56had the courage and determination to step in and fill that vacuum.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00On St David's Day, 1985
0:53:00 > 0:53:02the South Wales area passed
0:53:02 > 0:53:05a resolution for a return to work without a settlement,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08which its delegates then had to present to a national conference
0:53:08 > 0:53:13in London, two days later. It was a bitter event.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15CLAMOUR AND SHOUTING
0:53:15 > 0:53:18After coming down from that rostrum
0:53:18 > 0:53:20and moving a resolution for a return to work...
0:53:20 > 0:53:25which the conference supported, the conference voted in favour
0:53:25 > 0:53:28of the South Wales' recommendation that we return to work...
0:53:28 > 0:53:32to march out of that conference, to be spat at,
0:53:32 > 0:53:35kicked and called "scabs"
0:53:35 > 0:53:38after leading the strike for a whole 12 months...
0:53:38 > 0:53:43that was the definition of the mob... the mob that was outside.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46SHOUTING
0:53:48 > 0:53:52March 5th saw the entire coalfield return to work.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56- BAND PLAYS - Some of the most famous scenes in Wales took place
0:53:56 > 0:54:00at the Mardy Colliery, where a brass band led a huge procession of
0:54:00 > 0:54:03miners, their families and supporters.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05CHEERING
0:54:05 > 0:54:10We marched up the road and I'm playing trombone in the front.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15I played in the local colliery band. We marched, or walked up the road
0:54:15 > 0:54:18and that was the end of the miners' strike.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23It was a highly-emotional event.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27But we were staring into a future of mass pit closures,
0:54:27 > 0:54:29a process that was always on the cards,
0:54:29 > 0:54:33but which might have been made worse by the strike itself.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38Heavy industry largely disappeared in Wales.
0:54:38 > 0:54:44But were we right in the strike when we said that the communities would disappear too?
0:54:44 > 0:54:48The people of the coalfield were convinced that this would be
0:54:48 > 0:54:51the case - close a pit, kill a community.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56I mean, let's be honest, a lot of us... Who's going to buy our houses?
0:54:56 > 0:54:59Nobody is going to give us a half what the houses are worth now
0:54:59 > 0:55:03cos we've done them up. No, cos there's no money in the valley.
0:55:03 > 0:55:08Close this pit, they may as well flood the valley cos there's nothing there,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11nothing at all. It wouldn't surprise me to know they want to flood
0:55:11 > 0:55:15the valley because take the pit away, and I'm telling you,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18they may as well make a reservoir out of it cos there's nothing.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22But I think we have to remember that by the 1980s
0:55:22 > 0:55:26very few communities were actually dependent on work in the mines.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30You have to ask how big an impact there's been across
0:55:30 > 0:55:34the whole of South Wales from the loss of 20,000 coal jobs
0:55:34 > 0:55:37and the closure of 22 pits in the 1980s alone.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42But many are convinced that there's been a disastrous decline
0:55:42 > 0:55:43in the quality of employment,
0:55:43 > 0:55:47which was once provided by coal and steel.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52There have been some very negative impacts of the absence of that
0:55:52 > 0:55:56kind of work, I think. Particularly the unemployment rate of young boys.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59That's the brilliance of those industries that they took
0:55:59 > 0:56:01unskilled boys from school
0:56:01 > 0:56:03and they trained them and developed
0:56:03 > 0:56:08them and the rest of it. And in the surveys that were done
0:56:08 > 0:56:10showed that people who went into other jobs
0:56:10 > 0:56:13would largely go into jobs that were £100 a week less, really.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15I was talking with someone up in Blaenau the other day and they said,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18"What's Blaenau like now?" And I said, "Well,
0:56:18 > 0:56:21"there's all the shops closed and there's nothing for the kids to do."
0:56:21 > 0:56:22They just...
0:56:22 > 0:56:26And people complain that they're walking round the streets, well, what else can they do?
0:56:26 > 0:56:30But I'm struck by the way communities have adapted.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33And one of the strongest examples of tenacious survival
0:56:33 > 0:56:36has been the Dove Workshop in Banwen.
0:56:36 > 0:56:39We knew that we couldn't do it on our own.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42We'd have to work in partnership with other providers.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44Like the university, the colleges...
0:56:44 > 0:56:48the Workers' Educational Association, the local authority
0:56:48 > 0:56:50and we learnt all that from the strike.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52We thought, "Well, it worked in the strike"
0:56:52 > 0:56:57and so we can transfer those experiences to setting up
0:56:57 > 0:57:00a workshop for women and women it was for
0:57:00 > 0:57:03and women were going to run it and make the decisions.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06It's now become a social enterprise,
0:57:06 > 0:57:09which meets the needs of everybody in the community -
0:57:09 > 0:57:11men, women and children.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16Making this film has brought back to me vivid memories
0:57:16 > 0:57:18of the passionate commitment with which so many
0:57:18 > 0:57:22extraordinary men and women defended their jobs and their communities
0:57:22 > 0:57:2430 years ago.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26It many ways it's futile now to try
0:57:26 > 0:57:29and argue about what might have happened to the coal industry
0:57:29 > 0:57:33had the Government and Arthur Scargill been more prepared
0:57:33 > 0:57:36to negotiate and to compromise.
0:57:37 > 0:57:42The big truth is Margaret Thatcher had taken enormous care in choosing
0:57:42 > 0:57:46the right moment to take on the miners in the late winter of 1984.
0:57:46 > 0:57:51Because this was a political battle, one designed to destroy
0:57:51 > 0:57:54the excessive power of trade unions
0:57:54 > 0:57:59and whose outcome has never been overturned by Labour governments.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02There would have been neither freedom nor order in Britain if we'd
0:58:02 > 0:58:04given in to violence.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07There'd have been no hope for any prosperous industry
0:58:07 > 0:58:10if people had gone on strike, really, for bigger and bigger
0:58:10 > 0:58:13subsidies from the taxpayer.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17As for us on the miners' side we were sucked into a confrontation
0:58:17 > 0:58:22with the State that, despite the most mighty and heroic
0:58:22 > 0:58:26resistance by men and women across coalfields like South Wales,
0:58:26 > 0:58:28we were never going to win.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31The miners' strike had changed British history.
0:58:31 > 0:58:35The once mighty coal industry shrank into insignificance.
0:58:35 > 0:58:38And the whole of the trade union movement
0:58:38 > 0:58:40reeled from the hammer blow.
0:58:40 > 0:58:43In many ways, it has never recovered.