Kelliher, Diarmaid (2017) Solidarity, Class and Labour Agency: Mapping Networks of Support Between London and the Coalfields During the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike
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Kelliher, Diarmaid (2017) Solidarity, class and labour agency: mapping networks of support between London and the coalfields during the 1984-5 miners’ strike. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/8030/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] SOLIDARITY, CLASS AND LABOUR AGENCY: MAPPING NETWORKS OF SUPPORT BETWEEN LONDON AND THE COALFIELDS DURING THE 1984-5 MINERS’ STRIKE Diarmaid Kelliher Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Geographical and Earth Sciences College of Science and Engineering University of Glasgow March 2017 Abstract From March 1984 to March 1985, over 150,000 British coal miners walked out on strike in protest at plans for widespread closures in the industry. Alongside the strike developed a large and diverse support movement, both within Britain and internationally. This thesis focuses on the solidarity campaign in London, a city far from the heartlands of the coal industry. The support movement outside of the coalfield areas has been relatively understudied in the years since the dispute, and this thesis is a contribution to recuperating this important history. The four central empirical chapters are organised thematically. The first explores relationships developed between London and the coalfields from the late 1960s, arguing that the support of 1984-5 must be rooted in ongoing mutual relationships of solidarity. The second describes the diverse spaces and sites in which the support movement was enacted, and how distinct tactics such as twinning and forms of politicised mobility reduced the distance between London and mining areas, enabling the development of personal relationships across space. The third focuses on the weaknesses of the support movement, working-class opposition to the strike, and the relationship between this absence of solidarity and the anti-union rhetoric of elites. In the fourth empirical chapter, I emphasise how the intersecting politics of class, race, gender and sexuality were raised through the miners’ strike solidarity movement, and the forging of new relationships across spatial and social boundaries. Through a study of the miners’ support movement, this thesis makes a number of central theoretical contributions. It is concerned firstly with developing an account of translocal solidarity as a generative relationship that can construct connections across social and geographical boundaries, and develop new political theories and practices. Secondly, I argue for an intersectional approach to class as a way of rejecting simplistic divisions between the politics of class, gender, sexuality and race. In particular, I highlight intersectionality as a historical process whereby relationships of solidarity across space inform a politics that is simultaneously able to recognise differences and develop commonalities. Thirdly, I emphasise how translocal networks of solidarity contribute to relational constructions of place, but that such an understanding is not inimical to a deep, historically rooted local development of class. Fourthly, I argue that a spatially and temporally dynamic understanding of the construction of cultures of mutual solidarity can contribute significantly to how we think about labour agency. Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 1 Author’s declaration............................................................................................................... 2 Abbreviations and acronyms.................................................................................................. 3 Chapter 1 Introduction: Translocal solidarity and the 1984-5 miners’ strike .................... 5 Chapter 2 Solidarity, class and labour agency ................................................................. 14 Chapter 3 The miners’ strike in the archive: tracing networks of translocal solidarity ... 41 Chapter 4 Constructing a culture of solidarity: London and the coalfields in the long 1970s .................................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 5 Contested spaces and networks of solidarity ................................................... 80 Chapter 6 Uneven geographies of solidarity .................................................................. 109 Chapter 7 Generative solidarity and the refiguring of class: gender, race and sexuality in the miners’ support movement ........................................................................................... 143 Chapter 8 Conclusion: Solidarity and the legacies of the 1980s .................................... 177 Appendix: Archives and research libraries consulted ........................................................ 189 References .......................................................................................................................... 191 Acknowledgements Thanks firstly to my supervisors David Featherstone and Andrew Cumbers. Their continued enthusiasm for this research has given me renewed energy repeatedly over the years. They have been very generous with their time, knowledge and ideas. It has been extremely enjoyable and rewarding to work with them. The department at Glasgow more generally has been a welcoming and interesting place to do my PhD. I have spent considerable time in archives and libraries in various parts of Britain in the past few years. I would like to thank all the staff that directly or indirectly helped me, without which this research would have been impossible. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the PhD has been meeting lots of people and talking geography, history, politics, film and everything else. I can’t list everyone, but I would like to acknowledge those people that I have organised events, talks, seminars or conference panels with: Hannah Awcock, Ewan Gibbs, Catherine Grant, Paul Griffin, Hannah Ismael, Ada Okoye, Di Parkin, David Selway, and Rob Waters. Extra-special thanks to my radical history comrades Tank Green and Luca Lapolla, who have been a lot of fun to organise events with and great friends as well. Frequent travel between London and Glasgow has had the benefit of allowing me to see considerably more of my family in Newcastle. Thanks to my parents Antoinette and Joe, my sister Róisín, brother Matthew, and Scout the Staffy, whose support has been invaluable. Finally, particular thanks to Kim Bonnar who has had to listen to me talking about the miners’ strike far more than is reasonable. For all your support, which has made this PhD feel considerably more manageable, I am very grateful. 1 Author’s declaration I declare that except where explicit reference is made to the contribution of others, this thesis is the result of my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree at the University of Glasgow or any other institution. Diarmaid Kelliher 2 Abbreviations and acronyms Asian Youth Movement (AYM) Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT) Black Delegation to the Mining Communities (BDMC) Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA) Colliery Officials and Staffs Area (COSA) Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU) Gay Liberation Front (GLF) General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union (GMBATU) Government Communications Headquarter (GCHQ) Greater London Association of Trades Councils (GLATC) Greater London Council (GLC) Hall-Carpenter Archives (HCA) History from below (HfB) Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) Lesbians Against Pit Closures (LAPC) Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) Mineworkers’ Defence Committee (MDC) National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS) National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO) National Coal Board (NCB) National Graphical Association (NGA) National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) National Union of Seamen (NUS) Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) Socialist Workers Party (SWP) Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT 82) Southall Black Sisters (SBS) South East Regional Council of the Trades Union Congress (SERTUC) South Wales Miners’ Library (SWML) 3 Trades Union Congress (TUC) Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) Troops Out Movement (TOM) Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) Women Against Pit Closures (WAPC) Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) 4 Chapter 1 Introduction: Translocal solidarity and the 1984-5 miners’ strike In March 1984, over 150,000 coal miners walked out on strike in protest against plans for widespread closures in the nationalised industry, only returning to work after twelve months. Ultimately unsuccessful, it was arguably the most significant