Clockwise from left: 'The enemies within', 1986 [Library shelfmark: HP1.87.629], 'Coal not dole', 2005 [Library shelfmark: QP1.206.1470L], 'The battle for Orgreave', 1986 [Library shelfmark: HP1.86.1788], 'Strike: Thatcher, Scargill and the miners', 1985 [Library shelfmark: Q3.85.1451], 'Scargill the Stalinist', 1984 [Library shelfmark: QP1.85.753].
The miners' strike was a painful industrial dispute which ran from 1984 until 1985. Almost 200,000 coal miners went on strike to protest against proposed pit closures announced by the National Coal Board. A wealth of items about the strike are available in the Library collections.
'The enemies within' book offers the perspective of the dispute from Ian MacGregor, the then chairman of the National Coal Board. Other items consider the socialist beliefs and motivations of the then President of the National Union of Mineworkers, Arthur Scargill, and his dealings with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Memories of the strike from the miners themselves are captured in the publication 'Coal not dole'. 'The battle for Orgreave' recounts the violent confrontation between striking miners and police as the strikers picketed to prevent coal reaching the British Steel Corporation plant in Orgreave, South Yorkshire.
For more about the miners' strike, see also:
Further 1980s videos and essays are available in our 1980s retrospective 'Back to the future: 1979-1989' website.