Product Description

The 1984 Miners’ strike was one of the defining moments in modern British history. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was determined to transform Britain and break the power of the Unions. On March 5, steered by the leader of the NUM, Arthur Scargill, the miners decided to protest the closures and called for industrial action. Over the next eleven months, Britain would be dragged to the precipice of civil war as violence and resentment spilled out along the picket lines and on the streets. Thatcher was convinced to the end that the government might fall. However, the final defeat of the protest would mark the end of a way of life for hundreds of thousands as Attlee’s vision of a welfare state, trade unions and strong government was replaced by Thatcher’s Britain. In Marching to the Fault Line leading journalists Francis Beckett and David Hencke have unrivalled access to key government and union players at the heart of the story; they have also uncovered material that the powerful would have liked to remain secret., including ‘dirty tricks’ and secret payments, jaw dropping incompetence, back biting, and double dealing. From Downing Street to the picket lines, this book will reveal the true story behind the strike. Praise for The Blairs and their Court ‘Hugely entertaining.’ Roy Hattersley ‘A fascinating book.’ Daily Mail ‘An exceptional and well-researched piece of work.’ Tribune ‘A fascinating read.’ TES

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #163944 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 420 pages

Review
`A lively, popular and informed account of the strike' --BBC History Magazine

The first attempt since its immediate aftermath to offer a full account of the strike itself. . . . [breaks] some useful new ground by exploiting the Freedom of Information Act and winkled out cabinet papers and Coal Board minutes to throw light on behind-the-scenes government manoeuvring. --The Guardian

'An accurate historical account of the political significance of [the NUM s] struggle ... It demonstrates in fine detail how a political party can wreak vengeance on a large important workforce from villages and small communities and their families - Ian Gibson MP, Total Politics magazine 'Well researched, full of vital insights and written with a sense of pace that does justice to the tragic drama.' --Neil Kinnock

Meticulously researched . . the roles of Thatcher and Scargill and the striking miners themselves are questioned in a deeper way than ever before, and a secret history of espionage and dirty tricks is revealed. --Waterstone's Books Quarterly

Only the dogmatic partisans of Margaret Thatcher or Arthur Scargill will find serious fault with [this] account of the bitterly divided struggle. --Times Literary Supplement

Review
`Meticulously researched . . the roles of Thatcher and Scargill and the striking miners themselves are questioned in a deeper way than ever before, and a secret history of espionage and dirty tricks is revealed.

Review
`A fascinating read'

Customer Reviews

Flawed account
This book does contain some interesting new material about the 84/85 miners strike. However that's as far as it goes in living up to its reviews. Other than that it is another book about the 84/85 strike that puts the blame for its defeat at the door of miners leader Arthur Scargill. To underline this argument the authors line up the likes of ex labour party leader Neil (now Lord) Kinnock. They throw in a couple of ex National Union of Mineworkers research officers along with a few Trade Union leaders. These people give us at times an interesting insight at what was happening inside the NUM leadership & at government level. However for the most part they are used to paint a negative picture of Scargills role. I found the book to be contradictory in its arguments....for e.g. some of their material shows that at times the government & coal board did fear that coal stocks would run out. This could have forced the government to settle on favourable terms to the NUM. Yet the book goes on to proclaim the strike was doomed from the outset. The book concludes by backing Kinnock's shameful claim that the tactics of Scargill & the striking miners kept the Tory government in power until 1997.I would recommend 'The Enemy Within' by Seamus Milne & the 'The Great Strike' by Alex Callincos & Mike Simons. Both these books reflect the voice of the men & women involved on the ground, something missing from this account.

Marching to the Fault Line
This review is by George Galloway MP. I am an Honorary Member of the National Union of Mineworkers (South Wales Area:Maerdy Lodge)and was an active supporter of the Miners Strike from it's first day to the last. I was a personal friend of NUM Vice President Michael McGahey from the mid 1970s until his death. I scarcely know Arthur Scargill personally.
A better title for this book would be "Dancing on the Miners' Grave". It is little more than a piece of historical strikebreaking and its authors should be ashamed of themselves. I am particularly outraged at the authors' attempt to draft the late Mr McGahey as a scab, attributing to him comments about Mr Scargill and about his conduct of the strike which he never once divulged to me - his friend - but appears to have done to self-serving actors in this drama. Worse, the authors' with no living reference to rely on,praise Mr McGahey for attempting to strike a deal with the Thatcher government "behind (Scargill's)back" which means behind the back of the NUM.This is foul falshood and if the authors are believed constitutes the besmirching of the reputation of a great fighter for the working class. McGahey would never have done such a thing which would have been a reversal of all his instincts and training and a stain on his unimpeachable record.I had hundreds of hours of conversations with Michael McGahey before during and after the Miners Strike. At NO time did he ever insult Mr Scargill - in fact on the night he introduced me to Scargill in the Salutation Hotel Perth almost thirty years ago he gave ME a lengthy and patient talking to about MY reservations about Scargill.
McGahey, until the day he died, never resiled from his role in the leadership of the strike, nor compromised the unity of its leading figures.
To rely on discredited and self-interested critics of the strike like Kevin Barron MP and Lord Kinnock to suggest otherwise is shameful.
The Miners Strike of 1984/85 remains the most heroic defence of the rights of working people since the 1920s. The Miners were right. Their Union was right. Its leaders were right. The Miners were defeated because the labour movement failed to come sufficiently to their aid.Those who failed to do so are the very sources for this despicable book. The Miners defeat pressaged the defeat of trades unionism in Britain in general. Something I remember both McGahey and Scargill saying clearly at the time. This book isn't even worthy of being tossed in a pickets brazier.

The more they learn the less they understand
This is an attempt by two journalists to add to the understanding of the strike and it is a step forward. It confirms 'secret' deals done by Kinnock, The UDM with the NCB and even McGahey with Whitelaw. It gives us access to key documents so goes beyond spin of the time. To be fair the authors wanted to speak to Scargill but he refused. They also make clear they do not think Scargill just a fool, p249. It also reads better than The Times snobbish offering or even 'Loss Without Limit' which is seen as the definitive work.

Where it fails is the usual lack of empathy with miners and Scargill. As usual with outsiders it applies 'common sense' without context or cultural understanding e.g. you don't just tell tens of thousands of spontaneous strikers to go back to work and wait for the ballot papers! Like many it concludes that Scargill should have taken one of the deals on offer so it could at least look like victory. In other words a betrayal dressed as victory. That would have been truly egotistical of Scargill. To tell miners a review procedure was in place that was worthless and protected nobody would have fooled nobody. Another example of the authors lack of empathy is their sympathising with Gavin Lightman QC in asking why Scargill hid secret accounts from the rest of the NUM Executive. At least Lightman was ignorant about Joe Gormley having been a Special Branch informer! Let me spell it out gentlemen, Scargill couldn't trust anybody. Its well known there were MI5 agents and SB informers around so he didn't broadcast it lest it get seized. Funny that eh?

As for Scargill himeslf, yes he was vain and egotistical, like all big time people, union leaders, politicians, actors etc. The leaders of ordinary men and women had to be as strong and confident as those they opposed since those they opposed had the state and media carrying them along. One things for sure, Scargill scared Thatcher and the establishment in a way 'sensible' Kinnock and Willis or any number of anti capitalist riots simply did not.

This book has actually reinforced my belief in Scargill in a strange way in that I always rolled my eyes at Scargills declaration that the strike was a victory. However Ken Capstick sums up that point perfectly on p247. In short when a more powerful enemy wants to break you there is dignity in fighting back, win or lose. The meek inherit nothing. Scargill knew the union movement was about to be hit by the Thatcher juggernaut and like the bravest in a team stepped forward to take the fight to the enemy and asked his side to follow but... Anyone streetwise knew that Thatcher could not be wheeled and dealed with. Look what happened to the naive Notts men who had a letter thanking them from the lady herself and were assured they had bright futures.

As for the personal stuff, leave the gossip to the Daily Mail harpies. Scargill is not a lonely old man, he has been seen out and about with his grandchildren at an Arsenal match and a store opening in Barnsley so we can assume he is friendly with his daughter! The tiresome comparison with a WW1 general is plain wrong since WW1 generals did not lead from the front or get hospitalised. They were many miles behind their men in chateaus. A bit like Eric Hammond and John Lyons incidentally.

So with hindsight and key documents proving the review procedure and promises offered by the NCB were worthless and confirmation that state informers were around these authors still ask the same cliched questions. 10 out of 10 for fresh research gentlemen, 2 out of 10 for new answers.

What is really needed is a comprehensive book by an insider or journo with greater understanding, step forward Seumas Milne, Dave Douglass or Arthur himself. Why he has written and said so little is beyond me, he is 71 after all. If he or his friends read this I suggest he gets a move on.