Twenty Years On! The Great Miners Strike in Historical and International Perspective.
A conference held on Saturday 1st November 2003,
at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet St, London, WC1
Keynote speaker: Professor Vic Allen.
Author of The Militancy of British Miners
March 2004 marked the twentieth anniversary of the start of the 1984/5 British miners strike, one of the great labour struggles of the second half of the twentieth century.
This conference seeked to mark the event by placing miners strikes and mining trade unionism in an historical and international perspective. It not only examined the British miners strikes of 1972, 1974 and 1984/5, but also related these conflicts to the longer history of coal-mining in Britain and attempted to put these epic labour struggles into an international perspective.
Papers presented
- Vic Allen: "The Mobilisation of British Miners 1967-1987: a personal insight."
- "The 1984/5 miners strike impact on unofficial strikes." Gregor Gall
- "The British Communist Party and the Great Miners' Strike: visible splits and hidden fractures." Richard Cross
- "1972: The Miners' Greatest Victory: The Limits and Potential of Industrial and Political Strategy." Ralph Darlington
- "Were there alternatives? Movements from below in the Scottish coalfield, the Communist Party, and the development of Thatcherism, 1981-1985." Simon Pirani and Terry Brotherston
- "The 1941 Miners Strike in Northern France - from a dispute over soap to armed resistance." Steve Cushion
- "Germinal's Forbears: Some fictional representations of nineteenth century French miners." Ian Birchall
- "Supporting the miners: a new analysis of the archives of a Lancashire miners' support group in the 1984-85 strike." David Beale
- "From resurgence to decimation-1969 - 2003: Thoughts on miners' resistance and defeats." Dave Douglass
- "Beyond Class compromise: Zambian Copper Miners and New Radicalism in the Neo-liberal era." Grace-Edward Galabuzi
- "1987: South Africa's Great Miners Strike." Peter Alexander
- "Workplace protest and popular politics on the Durham coalfield, 1844-1869." John Flanagan
At the end of the conference, from 4pm onwards, the LSHG in conjunction with Andrew Burgin presented an exhibition on the 1984/5 strike, at the Aquarium Gallery in Woburn Walk, Euston.