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Special Report (12/26/2024)

In this special we discuss the 1984-85 UK Miners Strike (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984%E2%80%931985_United_Kingdom_miners%27_strike) which took place 40 years ago. That year was the year I was born. That winter my parents took me with them when they went to bring Christmas presents to the Miners children in Wales.

This special gives an overview of some of the coverage from the Socialist Press month by month during the strike for a very brief overview of events. My parents also both share the experience of visiting the Miners children. We end with a recipe (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1005633704916943&set=a.455473069933012) and also sprinkle in a couple great working-class carols from Emmett Doyle (https://edoylemusic.weebly.com/)

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LINKS TO ITEMS DISCUSSED IN THIS SPECIAL:

Miners Strike - TV-am feature - 7th March 1984: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq8m0syu2N4

Socialist Action (Mar 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-action-uk/049-mar-16-1984-SA-UK.pdf

Now Rest Us All We Working Folk: https://soundcloud.com/user-310458959/now-rest-us-all-we-working?in=user-310458959/sets/radical-christmas-carols

Workers Hammer (Mar 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/workers-power-uk/Workers%20Power%20no52-Mar84.pdf

Trade Union Revolutionary Opposition (April 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.hightide/rcpb-miners.pdf

Step Up the Mass Struggles of the Workers for Their Rights and Against the Capitalist Exploiters!
May Day Statement of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)
May 1, 1984: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.hightide/rcpb-may-84.htm

Tony Cliff - Miners after three months – a crisis of leadership (9 June 1984): https://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1984/06/miners.html

SPartacists Britain (July 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/spartacist-uk/059_1984_07_british-spart.pdf

The Leninist (August 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/britain/periodicals/the-leninist/The%20Leninist%20n11.pdf

Workers Socialist Review - Magazine of the Workers Socialist League (Autumn 1984): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/wsl/WSR4-editorial.htm

This is Class War: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-organiser-uk/n198-September-27-1984-so.pdf

Miners' strike 1984: Why UK miners walked out and how it ended: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-68244762

Renew the Offensive: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/workers-power-uk/Workers%20Power%20no66-Nov84.pdf

Socialist Action (Dec 21 1984) (CHRISTMAS on PAGE 10): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/socialist-action-uk/083-dec-21-1984-SA-UK.pdf

Miners Message to Thatcher: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/militant/1985/734-01-02-1985.pdf

Anarchy, Defeat and the Miners (Page 6): https://freedomnews.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Freedom-1985-03.pdf

Molotovs! (tune of "Jingle Bells"): https://soundcloud.com/user-310458959/molotovs-tune-of-jingle-bells?in=user-310458959/sets/radical-christmas-carols

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OTHER READINGS:

Alex Callinicos & Mike Simons - The Great Strike (1985): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/callinicos/1985/miners/index.html

John Saville - An Open Conspiracy - Conservative Politics and the Miners’ Strike 1984-5: https://www.marxists.org/archive/saville/1985/08/miners.htm

Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) - Protracted Struggle and the Working Class: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.secondwave/cpb-protracted.htm

Jack Robertson - 25 years after the Great Miners’ Strike: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape//isj2/2010/isj2-126/robertson.html

Dave Hayes - Thirty years on: the Socialist Workers Party and the Great Miners’ Strike: https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj2/2014/isj2-142/hayes.html