TV portraits of the Miners' strike of 1984/5 stressed the violence of the pickets and responsible policing. This book challenges those images, looks at the impact of the strike on participants, and reflects on ongoing controversies and community pride.
The book is organised into three parts. In early chapters participants look back. So, Peter Smith speaks of his honest determination not to become a 'professional sacked miner' and Sian James tells of her excitement and pride at her community's defence of a valued way of life. Political controversies are examined: Was the strike the result of careful planning (on the part of the Thatcher Government, and/or the NUM)? How and why were striking miners, at Orgreave in June 1984, injured, arrested and vilified? Why were miners determined not to be 'constitutionalized' or balloted out of their jobs? How did the BBC and ITV misrepresent police action and show miners as 'out of control'? Why did miners in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and elsewhere support, or oppose, the strike? The final section examines enduring issues especially the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.
Is a more critical assessment of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher long overdue? Why is miners' history and heritage - as seen in the Durham Miners' Gala - so fondly celebrated?
Edited by:
David Allsop,
Carol Stephenson,
David Wray
Imprint: The Merlin Press Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780850367300
ISBN 10: 0850367301
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 01 July 2017
Audience:
College/higher education
,
General/trade
,
Further / Higher Education
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents:Glossary Introduction: Carol Stephenson.Part 1. The People.Chapter 1: A young miners view of the strike, 30 years on. Ian Lavery.Chapter 2. I am Woman, I am Strong! Barbara Jackson.Chapter 3. From the Picket Line to the Palace of Westminster. Sian James.Chapter 4. I Never Went Back. Peter SmithChapter 5. Echoes of the Strike. Esther Johnson and Debbie Ballin.Part 2. The Controversies. Chapter 6. We shall not be constitutionalized out of a defence of our jobs. David Allsop and David Wray. Chapter 7: An Open and Shut Case? Reappraising 'Conspiracy' and 'Cock-up' Theories of the 1984-5 Miners' Strike. David Waddington Chapter 8. 'Iron Hand': Representations and Ramifications of the 'Battle of Orgreave.' David Waddington Chapter 9: The Minority Report: Being on Strike in Nottinghamshire. David Allsop with Eric Eaton and Keith Stanley. Part 3. Ongoing issues.Chapter 10. The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign: the pursuit of justice. Granville Williams.Chapter 11: Solidarity Forever or the End of an Era? Unions and the strike. John StirlingChapter 12: The Gala that Would Not Die: Memory and heritage in the post-industrial mining communities of County Durham. Carol Stephenson & David Wray.Appendix: NUM rules.
Dr. David Allsop is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. Dr. Carol Stephenson is a Principle Lecturer in Sociology at Northumbria University. David Wray is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire. Among the men and women contributors are an MP, a former MP, several academics and many former miners.
Reviews for Justice Denied: Friends, Foes and the Miners' Strike
.. . to assemble a collection such as this one more than thirty years after the strike ended is itself a remarkable feat, as is the artful combination of personal narrative with scholarly contextualization. --Labour History Review This is an especially timely book written by former miners and radical academic research activists the majority of whom were participants during the 1984-85 miners' strike in Britain. It is particularly welcome today as calls intensify for a public enquiry into the policing of picketing at Orgreave. Not only is it a marvellous account of the bravery of the men and women and their allies during one of the longest industrial strikes in British history, it is also testimony to the resilience of mining communities in the face of state repression. --Professor Paul Stewart, University of Strathclyde
