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The secret life of us: 1984, the miners' strike and the place of biography in writing history ‘from below’

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 19; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13507486.2012.719009

1469-8293

Daryl Leeworthy,

Canadian Identity and History

Abstract This article adds to the growing literature on 1980s Britain and the 1984–5 miners' strike. Its purpose is to demonstrate the role of oral history and biography in the writing of more personalised narratives about national events. Throughout the oral testimony that underpins the article, speakers made conscious connections with the past whether through folk memories of earlier industrial action or by building links between their own lives and those of their parents and grandparents during the 1926 miners' lockout. Respondents saw themselves as part of the collective story of both their own family and the community in which they lived. Their sense of biography provided a means of understanding and relating the events that had engulfed their lives for over a year and which, for that generation of people, still defines their life story today. Keywords: miners' strikebiographyoral historyWalescommunity Notes 1. CitationWilliams, When Was Wales?, 298. 2. CitationNasaw, 'Introduction,' 573. 3. CitationAllen and Chase, 'Britain: 1750–1900,' 87. 4. CitationArnot, The Miners: Years of Struggle, 541. 5. CitationThompson, 'Homage to Tom Maguire,' 276–8. 6. CitationWilliams, ed., Merthyr Politics: The Making of a Working-Class Tradition. 7. CitationSmith, In the Frame: Memory in Society, Wales 1910 to 2010, 157. 8. This passage draws on CitationHopkin, 'Llafur: Labour History Society and People's Remembrancer, 1970–2009,' 129–46. 9. The history of this project is relayed in its final report published in 1974. CitationWilliams ed., The South Wales Coalfield History Research Project: Final Report. 10. The key text in the field remains CitationThompson, Voice of the Past: Oral History. For a recent appraisal of the theoretical questions surrounding the practice of oral-history research see CitationAbrams, Oral History Theory. 11. CitationFrancis and Smith, The Fed: A History of the South Wales Miners in the Twentieth Century; CitationFrancis, Miners Against Fascism: Wales and the Spanish Civil War; CitationFrancis, History on our Side: Wales and the 1984–85 Miners' Strike; CitationBruley, The Women and Men of 1926: A Gender and Social History of the General Strike and Miners' Lockout in South Wales; CitationMcIlroy, Campbell, and Gildart, eds., Industrial Politics and the 1926 Lockout: The Struggle for Dignity; CitationCurtis, The South Wales Miners, 1964–1985; CitationMorgan, Stand By Your Man: Women and the Miners' Strike 1984–85 in South Wales. 12. Bruley, Women and Men, 8. 13. CitationPortelli, 'The Peculiarities of Oral History,' 99. 14. Abrams, Oral History Theory, 53. 15. Thompson, Voice of the Past, 9. 16. Abrams, Oral History Theory, 1. 17. A sense of the development of this first wave of oral-history testimony and subsequent projects can be gleaned from the annual reports of the Miners' Library. These are held at the South Wales Miners' Library, Swansea, and I am grateful to the Librarian, Sian Williams, for making them available to me. 18. This draws on information provided by Sian Williams and the South Wales Coalfield Collection Catalogue: http://www.swan.ac.uk/swcc/ [Accessed 16 October 2011]. 19. Much of the history of the 1980s has been written by journalists with a few notable exceptions. Of the former, the best examples are: CitationTurner, Rejoice, Rejoice! Britain in the 1980s and CitationBeckett and Hencke, Marching to the Fault Line: The Miners' Strike and the Battle for Industrial Britain. For a more academic treatment see CitationVinen, Thatcher's Britain: The Politics and Social Upheaval of the 1980s. Wales in the 1980s is dealt with in CitationJohnes, Wales Since 1939. On the challenges of writing contemporary history see CitationJohnes, 'On Writing Contemporary History,' 20–31. 20. Thatcher, 'Speech to 1922 Committee, 19 July 1984.' Available online: http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105563 [Accessed 16 October 2011]. 21. Felton, '56,000 Miners to Strike,' The Times, 6 March 1984, 1; Felton, 'Miners' Leaders will back all Areas that Strike,' The Times, 9 March 1984, 1. 22. Clement and Jones, 'Welsh Revolt over Strike widens Split among Miners,' The Times, 12 March 1984, 1. 23. CitationFrancis and Rees, '"No Surrender in the Valleys": The 1984–85 Miners' Strike in South Wales,' 43. 24. 'Interview with Des Dutfield 6 March 1986,' South Wales Miners' Library, Swansea: AUD/465. The South Wales Miners' Library holds 33 such interviews conducted across South Wales in the aftermath of the strike. 25. Cited in CitationFrancis and Rees, 'No Surrender,' 49. 26. The wider post-war history of the North Wales coalfield can be found in: CitationGildart, The North Wales Miners: A Fragile Unity, 1945–1996. See also CitationHowell, 'The 1984–85 Miners' Strike in North Wales,' 67–98. 27. 'Unknown Point of Ayr miner interviewed by David Howell,' in Howell, 'Miners' Strike in North Wales,' 76. 28. Wrexham Leader, 23 March 1984. 29. 'BBC Radio Clwyd Documentary on Miners' Strike,' March 1985, http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/sites/your_films/pages/minersstrike.shtml [Accessed 23 October 2011]. 30. CitationThompson, ed., Glo: Strike, 19. 31. Swain, 'Letter, 18 April 1985.' located in Bert Pearce (Welsh Communist Party) Papers: WS 3/15. 32. Francis and Rees, 'No Surrender,' 63. 33. CitationWelsh Council of Civil and Politic Liberties & National Union of Mine Workers, Striking Back, 39. 34. Scabbing is the subject of a sensitive and pioneering article which tackles head-on the mythology of the scab. CitationBurge, 'In Search of Harry Blount: Scabbing between the Wars in one South Wales Community,' 58–69. 35. 'Interview with Eric Davies, 17 May 1986,' cited in Francis and Rees, 'No Surrender,' 64. 36. Cited in Francis, 'First Reflections on the 1984–85 Miners' Strike,' unpublished paper, March 1985, located in Bert Pearce Papers, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth: WS 3/14, file 2 of 2. 37. CitationO'Sullivan, Tower of Strength: The Story of Tyrone O'Sullivan and Tower Colliery. 38. CitationEdwards, History of the South Wales Miners' Federation: Volume I, vii. The second volume was never published: it exists, in proofs, at Nuffield College Library in Oxford. 39. 'Letter dated January 1985.' Located in Bert Pearce (Welsh Communist Party) Papers, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth: WS 3/15. The emphasis is my own. 40. CitationGilbert, Class, Community, and Collective Action: Social Change in Two British Coalfields, 1850–1926; CitationGier-Viskovatoff and Porter, 'Women of the British Coalfields on Strike in 1926 and 1984: Documenting Lives Using Oral History and Photography,' 199–230. 41. Gilbert, Class, 1. 42. Gier-Viskovatoff and Porter, 'Women of the British Coalfields,' 226. 43. CitationFrancis and Smith, The Fed, xv. 44. On this theme see CitationThomas, 'The End of History as We Know It: Gwyn A. Williams as a Television Historian,' 5–20; CitationSmith, 'Gwyn A. Williams, 1925–1995,' 318–26. 45. The Dragon Has Two Tongues: Where to Begin? Directed by Colin Thomas. Cardiff: HTV, 1985. 46. The Dragon Has Two Tongues: The Death of Wales? Directed by Colin Thomas. Cardiff: HTV, 1985. For a sense of Maerdy's radical leanings see CitationMacintyre, Little Moscows: Communism and Working-Class Militancy in Inter-war Britain. 47. 'Interview with Dai Smith, 30 March 2010.' Notes in Author Possession. 48. Davalle, 'Weekend Choice,' The Times, 17 March 1984, 6. 49. 'Interview with Dai Smith, 30 March 2010.' 50. 'Keep Mining in Maesteg.' Leaflet located in Bert Pearce (Welsh Communist Party) Papers, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth: WS 3/1. 51. Francis, 'Coming to Terms with Defeat: Recent Responses to Change in the British Coalfields with Particular Reference to South Wales,' unpublished paper, November 1986, 7. Copy consulted located in Bert Pearce Papers, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth: WS 3/14, file 1 of 2. 52. Johnson, 'How Bleak is my Valley,' Manchester Guardian, 5 February 1988, 21. 53. 'Steve,' Mardy: Last Pit in the Rhondda. Directed Chris Curling. BBC Bristol, 8 July 1984. 54. News At Ten. ITN for ITV, 15 November 1985. 55. 'Pam,' Mardy: Last Pit in the Rhondda. 56. Evans, 'Speech Delivered to London-Wales Congress in Support of Mining Communities, March 1985,' 3. Located in South Wales Women's Support Groups Papers, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth: File 1. 57. 'Coal Not Dole: Notts Women Strike Back,' 1. Nottingham: privately published, 1985. Copy consulted located in Bert Pearce Papers, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth: WS 3/14, file 2 of 2. Collections such as this were often based on oral testimony that was later transcribed. 58. 'Barbara,' Mardy: Last Pit in the Rhondda. 59. 'Peter Stead contribution,' The Clash: A Visit to Cwmaman. Written & Presented by Patrick Hannan, BBC Radio Wales, 30 September 2004. 60. For a sense of Wales in the last 25 years see Johnes, Wales Since 1939. On the broader issues of working-class decline in the last generation see CitationJones, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class; CitationMason, Live Working or Die Fighting: How the Working Class Went Global. 61. CitationMiller, You Can't Kill the Spirit: Women in a Welsh Mining Valley. 62. 'Interview with Margaret Donovan, 5 November 1986,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/503. This evidence accords with that gathered by Steffan Morgan in the course of his research. Morgan, Stand By Your Man, 63. 63. 'Interview with Margaret Donovan, 5 November 1986,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/503. This evidence accords with that gathered by Steffan Morgan in the course of his research. Morgan, Stand By Your Man, 63 64. Striking Back, 46. 65. CitationBeddoe, Out of the Shadows: A History of Women in Twentieth-Century Wales, 164. 66. 'Striking Tales: A Miner's Wife,' BBC Wales, 9 March 2004. Available Online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3440845.stm [accessed: 26 October 2011]. 67. Jones, 'Women's Role in the Miners' Strike, 25 Years On,' Western Mail, 7 March 2009. 68. 'Barbara,' Mardy: Last Pit in the Rhondda. 69. 'Pam,' ibid. £6.50 is the equivalent of around £16 in 2010 prices. 70. CitationPhillips, Women and the Miners' Lockout: The Story of the Women's Committee for the Relief of the Miners' Wives and Children, 11. 71. CitationAndrews, A Woman's Work Is Never Done, 1956. 72. 'NUM Discussion Class (Blaengwynfi), 26 November 1985,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/506. 73. 'NUM Discussion Class (Blaengwynfi), 26 November 1985,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/506 74. CitationFrancis, 'The Law, Oral Tradition, and the Mining Community,' 267–71. 75. 'NUM Discussion Class (Blaengwynfi), 26 November 1985.' 76. 'NUM Discussion Class (Blaengwynfi), 26 November 1985.' 77. This can be observed in the interviews conducted by Rebecca Elizabeth Davies during the course of her PhD research with Leanne Wood, a Plaid Cymru member of the Welsh Assembly, who was 11 years old at the time of the strike. CitationDavies, 'Not Supporting But Leading': The Involvement of the Women of the South Wales Coalfield in the 1984–1985 Miners' Strike, 210. 78. CitationEvans, Hudson, and Smith, 'Women & the Miners: It's a Whole Way of Life,' 14. 79. 'Interview with Alan Stevenson, 11 May 1986,' Birmingham City Library & Archive, Birmingham: Paul Mackney Papers, MS1591/D/1/3/7. 80. 'Interview with Newbridge Miners: Howard,' in Newport West Labour Party Young Socialists' Bulletin, October 1984. Copy consulted: Welsh Political Ephemera Collection Box 116, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth: C 3/10. 81. This is apparent in all-male discussion groups recorded after the strike. See, for example, 'NUM Discussion Group, 6 April 1988,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/554; 'NUM Discussion Class, 1985,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/498. 82. 'NUM Discussion Class, 1985,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/498. 83. Mardy: Last Pit in the Rhondda. Directed Chris Curling. BBC Bristol, 8 July 1984. 84. 'Interview with Alun Jones, 10 August 1986,' Birmingham City Library & Archive, Birmingham: Paul Mackney Papers, MS1591/D/1/3/4. 85. Striking Back, 183. 86. 'Interview with Lodge Committee, St John's Colliery, 6 August 1984,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/579; 'Interview with group at Abertillery Miners' Institute, 16 August 1984,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/582; 'Interview with Maerdy Lodge Committee, 5 August 1984,' South Wales Miners' Library, AUD/589; 'Interview with Garw Lodge Committee, 6 August 1984,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/593; 'Interview with Phil White, 11 September 1984,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/608; 'Interview with Philip James, 9 December 1985,' South Wales Miners' Library: AUD/610. The memoirs of former miner Ian Isaac reflect similarly on this point. CitationIsaac, When We Were Miners, 73–4. 87. For comparison with earlier strikes see CitationMorgan, Conflict and Order: The Police and Labour Disputes in England and Wales, 1900–1939, 1987. 88. Striking Back, 98–102. 89. For wider discussion of popular culture in the South Wales Valleys see CitationJames, Popular Culture and Working-Class Taste in Britain 1930–39: A Round of Cheap Diversions?; CitationRose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes. 90. CitationShail, Stanley Baker: A Life in Film. 91. 'Diary: Birmingham and the Miners' Strike, 1984–85,' 16 March 1984 entry, Birmingham City Library & Archive, Birmingham: Paul Mackney Papers, MS1591/D/1/2. 92. 'Interview with Alan Stevenson, 11 May 1986'; 'Interview with Alun Jones, 10 August 1986.' 93. CitationTabili, 'Race is a Relationship, and Not a Thing,' 125–30; CitationGilroy, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation. 94. 'Interview with Bobby Potts, 11 May 1986,' Birmingham City Library & Archive, Birmingham: Paul Mackney Papers, MS1591/D/1/3/5. 95. CitationLittle, Negroes in Britain: A Study of Racial Relations in English Society, 218. 96. 'Interview with Bobby Potts, 11 May 1986.' 97. >'Interview with Bobby Potts, 11 May 1986.' 98. 'Diary: Birmingham and the Miners' Strike, 1984–85,' 17 March, 22 March, 31 March 1984 entries. 99. On the theme of working-class masculinity see CitationBeavan, Leisure, Citizenship and Working-Class Men in Britain, 1850–1945, 2005; CitationTosh, 'What Should Historians do with Masculinity? Reflections on Nineteenth-Century Britain,' 179–202; CitationBrooke, 'Gender and Working-Class Identity in Britain during the 1950s,' 773–95; CitationCook, 'Twentieth-Century Masculinities,' 127–35. 100. 'Diary: Birmingham and the Miners' Strike, 1984–85,' 3 April entry. 101. 'Interview with Rob James, 11 May 1986,' Birmingham City Library & Archive, Birmingham: Paul Mackney Papers, MS1591/D/1/3/5. 102. Morris, 'The Gleision Mine Accident is a particularly Welsh Tragedy,' Guardian, 16 September 2011. For a sensitive, academic treatment of Aberfan see CitationMcLean and Johnes, Aberfan: Government and Disasters.