Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:27:05.104Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘That rather sinful city of London’: the coal miner, the city and the country in the British cultural imagination, c. 1969–2014

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2019

Jörg Arnold
Jörg Arnold*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The article proceeds from the observation that in the contemporary British cultural imagination, the figure of the coal miner tends to be presented as the embodiment of anti-urban and organicist qualities that in continental Europe are more commonly associated with the peasantry. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Raymond Williams, the article traces the genealogy of this ‘structure of feeling’ back to the time of the miners’ strike of 1984/85 and further back in the 1970s. It argues that the ‘ruralized’ miner was one imaginary in a complex power struggle over the ‘real’ identity of miners that was waged between the industry and the state, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the National Coal Board (NCB), and, crucially, inside the NUM itself. ‘Ruralization’ was most vigorously promoted by union militants who sought to displace an alternative vision, championed jointly by the Coal Board and union moderates, which had situated miners firmly at the heart of industrial modernity. It was only in the wake of the defeat of the miners in the 1984/85 strike, and during the subsequent cultural reworking of this strike, that this structure finally gained dominance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 47 , Special Issue 2: The de-industrializing city in the UK and Germany: conceptual approaches and empirical findings in comparative perspective , May 2020 , pp. 292 - 310
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

I would like to thank Tobias Becker, Dean Blackburn, Roberta Cimino, Shane Ewen, Sonja Levsen and the anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

References

1 Mumford, L., The City in History: Its Origins, its Transformations, and its Prospects (London, 1961), 446Google Scholar.

2 Mumford, L., Technics and Civilization (London, 1934), 153–4Google Scholar.

3 Mumford, L., The Culture of Cities (London, 1938), 152Google Scholar. It should be noted that Mumford took care to distinguish between the denunciation of the environment in which the miners lived and passing judgment on the miners themselves. As he put it in the same chapter: ‘Perhaps as compensation, the most debased urban environments sometimes stimulated the most valiant efforts at change: Were not the miners, more than once, the leaders in revolutionary unionism – and in Europe did they not provide out of their own membership great choral societies?’

4 ‘But the rewards of mining may be sudden, and they may bear little relation, particularly in the early stages of the industry, either to the technical ability of the miner or the amount of labour he has expended.’ Mumford, Technics and Civilization, 67.

5 Mumford, City in History, 451.

6 On the historical dimension of the positioning of the working class in Britain, see Savage, M. et al. , Social Class in the Twenty-First Century (London, 2015), 27–8Google Scholar.

7 Williams, R., Marxism and Literature (Oxford and New York, 1977), 132Google Scholar.

8 Ibid., 121.

9 Ibid., 121–7.

10 Williams, R., The Country and the City (London, 1973)Google Scholar.

11 Ibid., 290.

12 Dirksmeier, P., ‘Providing places for structures of feeling and hierarchical complementarity in urban theory: re-reading Williams’ The Country and the City’, Urban Studies, 53 (2015), 884–98CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 892.

13 Similar processes of ruralization underpin the two iconic feature films on the miners of the New Labour years, Brassed Off (Dir.: Mark Herman, 1996) and Billy Elliot (Dir.: Stephen Daldry, 2000).

14 On the historical episode itself, see Kelliher, D., ‘Solidarity and sexuality: lesbians and gays support the miners’, History Workshop Journal, 77 (2014), 241–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also Joannou, M., ‘The miners’ strike and me: a very personal response to Pride’, Women: A Cultural Review, 27 (2016), 107–12Google Scholar; Robinson, L., Gay Men and the Left in Post-War Britain: How the Personal Got Political (Manchester and New York, 2007), 164–9Google Scholar.

15 Pride – Official Launch Trailer (2014), www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsFY0wHpR5o, accessed 18 Apr. 2018.

16 B. O'Neill, ‘This gay-friendly makeover of the miners’ strike is deeply patronising’, http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk, accessed 21 Oct. 2015.

17 On the news coverage surrounding the closure of the last commercial deep-coal mine in Dec. 2015, see Arnold, J., ‘“Like being on death row”: Britain and the end of coal, c. 1970 to the present’, Contemporary British History, 32 (2018), 1–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 Vall, N., and, ‘Bohemians “pitmen painters” in north-east England, 1930–1970’, Visual Culture in Britain, 5 (2004), 1–21Google Scholar; Mitchell, J., to, ‘“Farewell ‘Cotia’”: the English folk revival, the pit elegy, and the nationalisation of British coal, 1947–1970’, Twentieth Century British History, 25 (2014), 585–601CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the Ashington group itself, see Feaver, W., Pitmen Painters. The Ashington Group 1934–1984 (Manchester, 1993)Google Scholar.

19 J. Sullivan and R. Heaton, ‘The charge’ (1987), http://newmodelarmy.org/index.php/the-music/lyrics/247-the-charge, accessed 18 Apr. 2018.

20 P. Johnson, ‘The coal war: Scargill's leading the miners on a charge as futile as the Light Brigade's’, Daily Mail, 7 Mar. 1984, 6.

21 Interview by the author with Justin Sullivan, lead singer of New Model Army, 14 Dec. 2013.

22 See Dworkin, D., Cultural Marxism in Postwar Britain (Durham, NC, and London, 1997), 10–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 See also Gibbon, P. and Steyne, D., Thurcroft: A Village and the Miners’ Strike (Nottingham, 1986)Google Scholar.

24 Bishopsgate Institute, The Raphael Samuel Archive (BI/TRSA), RS4/250, Raphael Samuel, ‘“The enemy within”. Pit villages during the strike of 1984–5’ (undated).

25 Samuel, R., Bloomfield, B. and Boanas, G. (eds.), The Enemy Within: Pit Villages and the Miners’ Strike of 1984–5 (London, 1986), 22Google Scholar.

26 See Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, F. and Tomlinson, N., ‘National women against pit closures: gender, trade unionism and community activism in the miners’ strike 1984/85’, Contemporary British History, 32 (2018), 78–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 80–1.

27 BI/TRSA, RS4/250, J. McCrindle to R. Samuel, 11 Jun. 1986.

28 BI/TRSA, RS4/250, B. Campbell to R. Samuel, undated.

29 B. Campbell, ‘Politics old & new’, New Statesman, 8 Mar. 1985, 22–5, at 24.

30 B. Anderson, ‘Dangerous wives’, Sunday Telegraph, 18 Jan. 1987.

31 Phillips, J., ‘The meanings of coal community in Britain since 1947’, Contemporary British History, 32 (2018), 39–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

32 Dennis, N., Henriques, F. and Slaughter, C., Coal Is Our Life: An Analysis of a Yorkshire Mining Community (London, 1956)Google Scholar; Lockwood, D., ‘Sources of variation in working-class images of society’, Sociological Review, 14 (1966), 16–31CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a careful contextualization, see Strangleman, T., ‘Mining a productive seam? The coal industry, community and sociology’, Contemporary British History, 32 (2018), 18–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 For a brief sketch of Cook's life and career, see Desmarais, R.H. and Saville, J., entry ‘Cook, Arthur James’, Bellamy, J.M. and Saville, J. (eds.), Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol. III (London and Basingstoke, 1976), 38–49Google Scholar; Francis, H., entry ‘Cook, Arthur James’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), online edition (Oxford, 2018)Google Scholar.

34 Desmarais and Saville, ‘Cook’, 39.

35 Swansea University, South Wales Coalfield Collection, AUD/126: interview with Scargill, Arthur, no date [1979–82].

36 London Broadcasting Company / Independent Radio News (LBC / IRN), ‘Down to earth’, http://bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio/lbc/index.php/segment/0031800070001, at 17:57, accessed 28 Aug. 2018.

37 J. Gormley, ‘Open letter to Lord Robens’, The Miner, Sep. 1970. See also ‘Time we got off our knees’, The Miner, Jun. 1970; ‘This time we mean business’, Coal News, Sep. 1970. For a brief sketch of Gormley's life and career, see P. Routledge, ‘Gormley, Joseph’, ODNB (online edition), accessed 19 Apr. 2018.

38 NUM, Annual Reports and Proceedings for the Year 1982 (London, no date [1983]), 337–47, at 337.

39 NCB, Get It All Together as a Skilled Miner!, produced by Colbear Advertising Ltd in conjunction with NCB Public Relations Department (London, no date [c. 1975]).

40 Douglass, D. and Krieger, J., A Miner's Life (London et al., 1983)Google Scholar. See also Douglass, D., ‘“Worms of the earth”: the miners’ own story’, in Samuel, R. (ed.), People's History and Socialist Theory (London, 1981), 61–7Google Scholar, at 61.

41 Douglass and Krieger, Miner's Life, 13.

42 ‘One of Britain's best’, Coal News, Mar. 1972.

43 Orwell, G., The Road to Wigan Pier (London, 2001), 15Google Scholar.

44 Coal News, Aug. 1972, 8–9.

45 ‘It's a great life for a girl at the top’, Coal News, Apr. 1973.

46 Memories of the Coal Queens, compiled by A. Bradley and R. Hudson, National Coal Mining for England Publications 11 (Overton, 2010).

47 Coal Industry Social Welfare Organization (CISWO), Annual Reports and Accounts for 1977 (London [1978]), 12–16; CISWO, Annual Reports and Accounts for 1978 (London [1979]), 14–16; CISWO, Annual Reports and Accounts for 1979 (London [1980]), 14–16.

48 NUM Archives, Barnsley, box Arthur Scargill, speeches 1981 – early 1982, folder 81: presidential campaign: ‘Presidential Campaign’, Oct. 1981.

49 A. Scargill and P. Kahn, ‘The case for conflict’, New Society, 7 Jan. 1982, 7–10.

50 Taylor, A., The NUM and British Politics, vol. II: 1969–1995 (Aldershot, 2005), 122–33Google Scholar.

51 LBC / IRN, ‘Down to earth’, at 21:00.

52 Joe Gormley, ‘My message to the miners: think – before you destroy what we have built up’, Daily Express, 13 Jan. 1982.

53 ‘Joe's rich seam’, Yorkshire Miner, Feb. 1982. See also V. Allen, ‘Last words on President Gormley’, Derbyshire Miner, Sep./Oct. 1981.

54 Yorkshire Miner, Feb. 1982.

55 NUM, Annual Reports and Proceedings 1982, 364–76.

56 See the official letter by the NUM to six architectural firms stipulating the requirements of the new headquarters. NUM Archives, Barnsley, box New HQ: Architects, Design, Sculptors: L. Daly to architects, ‘NUM National Headquarters’, 27 Oct. 1982.

57 NUM, Annual Reports and Proceedings 1982, 365.

58 Ibid., 366.

59 Ibid., 367–8.

60 Ibid., 368.

61 Ibid., 374.

62 Ibid., 376.

63 Daly became a national figure with the publication of his pamphlet The Miners and the Nation (Glasgow, 1968). See also Davies, M., ‘“Among ordinary people”: New Left involvement in working-class political mobilisation’, History Workshop Journal, 86 (2018), 133–59Google Scholar.

64 Allen, V.L., The Militancy of British Miners (Shipley, 1981), 156Google Scholar.

65 E.P. Thompson, ‘A special case’, New Society, 24 Feb. 1972, 402–4, at 404. See also the verdict by L. Goldman in the ODNB entry on Daly: Goldman, L., ‘Daly, Lawrence’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2013)Google Scholar: ‘Daly's astute leadership of the NUM in 1972 was his finest achievement.’

66 Letter to Lawrence Daly, 11 Oct. 1969, Modern Records Centre, L. Daly papers, MSS.302/3/5.

67 Undated autobiographical sketch, Modern Records Centre, L. Daly papers, MSS.302/5/8.

68 Samuel, Bloomfield and Boanas (eds.), Enemy Within, 24.

69 On the long-term effects of closures on coalfield communities, see Foden, M., Fothergill, S. and Gore, T., The State of the Coalfields: Economic and Social Conditions in the Former Mining Communities of England, Scotland and Wales (Sheffield, 2014)Google Scholar. On the problems and discursive construction of the ‘inner city’, see Kefford, A., ‘Disruption, destruction and the creation of “the inner cities”: the impact of urban renewal on industry, 1945–1980’, Urban History, 44 (2017), 492–515CrossRefGoogle Scholar; the contribution by Otto Saumarez Smith in this issue.

70 Margaret Thatcher Foundation, Press Conference in York, 26 Sep. 1984, www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105510, accessed 28 Jan. 2019.

71 A. Sherman, ‘How Scargill is betraying Marx’, Times, 21 Aug. 1984.

72 Massey, D. and Wainwright, H., ‘Beyond the coalfields: the work of the miners’ support groups’, in Beynon, H. (ed.), Digging Deeper: Issues in the Miners’ Strike (London, 1984), 149–67Google Scholar, here 151.

73 Figures according to D. Kelliher, ‘Solidarity, class and labour agency: mapping networks of support between London and the coalfields during the 1984–85 miners’ strike’, University of Glasgow Ph.D. thesis, 2017, 8.

74 Samuel, Bloomfield and Boanas (eds.), Enemy Within, 33.

75 Kelliher, ‘Solidarity, class and labour agency’; idem, ‘Constructing a culture of solidarity: London and the British coalfields in the long 1970s’, Antipode, 49/1 (2016), 106–24; idem and D. Featherstone (eds.), London and the 1984–5 Miners’ Strike (no date).

76 NUM National Headquarters, 27 Oct. 1982, in NUM Offices Barnsley, box New HQ, Architects, Design, Solicitors.

77 NUM, Annual Reports and Proceedings for the Year 1983 (London, [1984]), 118.

78 NUM, Annual Reports and Proceedings for the Year 1989 (London, [1990]), 204. See also NUM, Annual Reports and Proceedings for the Year 1987 (London, [1988]), 277. See also O. Hatherley, A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain (London and New York, 2010), 104–5.

79 NUM, Annual Reports and Proceedings for the Year 1984 (London, [1985]), AR 7.

80 A history of the ways in which the miners’ strike has been memorialized remains to be written, but see my paper on ‘The missing link – de-industrialisation, memory and the left behind’ (unpublished manuscript).