Tag: miners

Here We Go! Forty years on from the outbreak of the Great Strike

Forty years ago today British miners began industrial action in what became the longest and most bitter strike of the twentieth century. Here Brian Parkin, a former Research Officer for the National Union of Mineworkers, gives a brief introduction to this pivotal strike.

Tyrone O’Sullivan: the gentle giant of the last deep coal mine in South Wales

On the afternoon of 27 May Tyrone O’Sullivan of Tower Colliery died peacefully at home, in his garden, aged 77. Here Brian Parkin pays tribute to a friend and comrade, who through a combination of fire and gentle persuasion, led a community of mining families into a fight to save the last deep coal mine in South Wales.
activists mill around barricades and other access-prevention materials, while in the distance there are lines of police, police vans and cranes.

Lützerath: solidarity with climate activists under attack

Climate activists fight to stop the destruction of a German village and the expansion of German coal.

A Kestral for a Knave: fifty years on

Barry Hines's book A Kestrel for a Knave, which became the film Kes, was published fifty years ago this year, but it remains as relevant as ever.

“Buried alive by the National Coal Board”: the fiftieth anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster...

At 9:15am on Friday 21 October 1966, a colliery spoil tip collapsed, and slid down the mountainside onto the mining village of Aberfan in South Wales.

Orgreave June 1984: police conspiracy and repression swept under the rug

After 32 years the miners at Orgreave are being denied an inquiry by Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Brian Parkin finds that his hatred of the Tories and their police and 'justice' system just improves with age. Home secretary...
Kellingley miners' banner

Kellingley: two days in the death of three centuries of coal mining

On Friday 18 December the last shift at the last colliery in the UK cut its last tonnes of coal. Brian Parkin, former research officer for the National Union of Mineworkers, was at the...

Miners Shot Down – remembering the Marikana Massacre

Miners Shot Down, an award-winning documentary, brilliantly reveals how government, police and big business work hand-in-glove to suppress class struggle, writes Colin Revolting.

From democracy to neoliberalism – from Poland to Ukraine

Following recent waves of labour struggles in Poland, Jan Ladzinski reflects on the contradictions of movements for democracy that result in neoliberal reforms and suggests possible lessons from the Polish experience for Ukraine. This is...

Dear Love of Comrades: The politics of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners

The film Pride tells the story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. It's an extraordinary and inspiring achievement for a mainstream movie. For almost a year in 1984-5, over 100,000 miners were on...