‘When All Hell Breaks Loose’: Striking on the British Coalfields 1984-85

Strikes are complicated phenomena, and the miners’ strike that began in 1984 is no exception. Its complexity defies simple generalisations. It has changed the lives of many people and its consequences are still being experienced after 30 years. It is, however, possible to evaluate. In doing so it is useful to remember the words of Warner and Low (1947:1) who wrote of ‘the great busting-open’ that a strike involves, ‘when all hell breaks loose’ and people do their best and worst and when ‘the powerful forces which organise and control human society are revealed’. In a strike things appear more markedly for what they are. So clear did they become for one young miner in Durham that he expressed the view, quite forcibly, that ‘we could do with one of these every two years and then people would really see what this system is like’.¹