The Great Miners' Strike of 1984/5 (Part 1)
Added 2021-08-18 13:36:10 +0000 UTCIn this three-part episode, we look at one of the most significant work stoppages of the modern era: the UK Miners' strike of 1984-1985. In this first episode, we survey the political economy leading up to these stunning events and what the Miners' strike teaches us on the state of declining imperialist powers.
Comments
Really interesting; I'm looking forward to the next two parts. To my shame I don't really know very much about the 1984/85 Miners' Strike, and that's despite growing up in South Yorkshire. Granted not in a former mining town, but these were not far away. Alex is right though, the most poverty stricken areas nearby are former mining towns. Whilst listening I was very much reminded (in a good way) of Alex's Marxist History of World War II, which if I recall correctly took a few hundred years detour via the English Civil War. I really appreciate that your willing to take the time to take the long view of history, and don't simply examine these pivotal historical events in isolation. If this was more common perhaps we would have less myth making around Thatcher and Tony Blair...which I will admit before the Corbyn era I was very much taken in by these myths. If you are ever inclined to do so, I think there would be some benefit to re-visiting WWII in the podcast, as the YouTube series was marred by technical issues, and I think some content was lost entirely.
Blodwyn
2021-08-24 09:28:49 +0000 UTCThanks Dean. It’s a hard truth to swallow but it’s necessary to understand the next steps.
William Mckay
2021-08-19 01:21:31 +0000 UTCAnother great episode. I particularly like your exploration of the left viewing the pre-Thatcher era with intense reactionary nostalgia. It's a rosy image painted by a petit-bourgeois left to a working-class that rightly doesn't recognise the fanciful illusions paraded before them. Any enduring concessions awarded to the working-class were the consequence of a reasonably potent trade union movement and the external challenge posed by the USSR. The left marvel at a supposedly golden age of capitalism (and conflate it with "socialism") and promote an image of a society that is neither possible nor desirable to return to. It exposes a left without some elementary understandings in political economy and neatly demonstrates why they have been in terminal decline for decades, unable to rebuild a working class social base despite multiple fertile opportunities, instead passing their time indulging in all manner of limited and short-sighted opportunism.
Dean
2021-08-19 01:11:45 +0000 UTC
