By the time Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, the Conservatives had been planning to weaken the trade unions for years. Earlier in the seventies, the unions had beaten the Tories but, as this new documentary from Owen Gower shows, things did not go so well in the eighties when they targeted the most powerful union, the National Union of Mineworkers.
Still the Enemy Within speaks to various mine workers who went on strike in 1984, including the aptly named Norman Strike. The film talks about us scabs too, of course. The endearing term was given to miners who continued to work through the strike and Nottinghamshire miners, on the most part, voted to go to work - this was unfortunately one of the big reasons for the strikes eventual failure, as we produced 25% of the UK’s coal at that time, so stopping our production would have made a much bigger impact. The Notts miners were fed the lie that their jobs would be safe, though, which of course was not the case, as the county’s last remaining pit, Thoresby Colliery, is set to close in 2015 – in 1992 there were still thirteen, seven of which were closed in that year.
The police – 3000 of which were brought into Nottinghamshire to stop the picketing of Notts mines – were almost militarised by the Tories for this task of crushing the unions and the miners and they were definitely given free reign to do whatever they wanted to these strikers. Some scenes from photos and video footage are horrifically violent, more shocking because it wasn’t happening in some distant past or some far off dictatorship – it was happening right here, in our so called democratic and civilised Britain.
Despite the loss to Thatcherism, and its continued enforcement in the UK, there was plenty to be positive about within the events of the year long strike. The commitment and sacrifice of the miners and their families was astounding, as well as the unity of the strikers. It is also great to see how so many non-miners helped – from soup kitchens been set up for the families who went without wages for so long, to the support that came from the likes of students and the gay and lesbian community (the latter story of which has been recently dramatised in Pride).
After explaining that he would do exactly the same thing again, despite the strike costing him his job and his marriage, Norman says: “We were right. We lost, but we were right.” The fact that coal as an energy source should not be happening on such a scale is, perhaps, a different argument, for the fact remains that 40% of UK electricity is still generated by the stuff and 80% of that is imported. Perhaps I am naive, though – how would the rich get richer if they had to pay all those wages to British workers?
They may have won. They may still be winning. However, as miner Paul Symonds wisely states in the film, “The future’s still up for grabs.”
Still the Enemy Within will be showing at Broadway Cinema between Saturday 27 and Wednesday 31 December 2014. It is also currently released on DVD.
Still the Enemy Within official site
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