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Gavin Hawkton is a PhD student and teacher in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow. His research is examining news media coverage of the miners' strike 1984-85.
A new series explores the painful realities of the miners’ strike through the eyes of those directly involved. But it ignores the crux of the strike — Thatcher’s determination to crush the organised working class.
By December 1984, Britain’s miners had been on strike for nine months – but local and international solidarity brought them everything from turkeys to children’s toys, and stopped even Thatcher from crushing their festive spirit.
In the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike, Thatcher weaponised hunger to force striking workers back to work. What she didn’t expect was workers in pit communities and beyond mobilising to organise an alternative welfare state.
The Battle of Orgreave saw miners violently attacked by mounted police. But the press told a different story, designed to demonise the strike – and convince ordinary people that trade unions were their enemy.