History’s kind view of the veteran miner’s leader: he achieved nothing.
By the early 1990’s Arthur Scargill, veteran union leader and enemy of Margaret Thatcher, was something of a defeated war horse. Appearing on the BBC’s weekly political discussion show, ‘Question Time’ he answered according to his left wing creed with all his usual passion, but everyone knew he was a preacher without a congregation. Britain had moved on – to happily make money without coal. At the end of the programme the panel was asked what Arthur Scargill had achieved. A flattering question for anyone. One of the replies though was not so flattering. This was from William Waldegrave, an Eton educated Tory. His answer was blunt: ‘nothing’.
And Waldegrave was right.
Arthur Scargill the only son of of a communist miner from Barnsley, leader of the whole NUM, and the nationwide miner’s strike of 1984-1985, and latterly the founder of the extreme left wing the Socialist Labour Party has achieved nothing, apart from spreading poverty, a lot of hate, and false hope.
His demands for higher wages for his workers sped up the decline of an uneconomic industry and when the inevitable pit closures were announced, without a proper ballot, Scargill in Stalinist style (he admires the Soviet dictator) ordered a national strike. This caused severe hardship for the striking families, with hunger literally forcing many back to work. Known as ‘scabs’ those breaking the strike engendered ferocious hatred and divided communities and families. Nottingham miner Neil Greatrex broke away from Scargill’s NUM and then his father did not speak to him for six years. Twenty years later he talked of how grown men would cry with fear at having to cross Scargill’s picket lines to earn a living for their families. Scargill’s strike even caused murder. On November 30th, 1984 David Wilkie, a taxi driver was killed when two miners when two miners dropped a block of concrete on his car as it was carrying a miner wanting to work.
In the end all that Scargill offered his miners was false hope, the fantasy that the only obstacle stopping them enjoying a permanent job and a good standard of living was the greed of the evil capitalist operating the mines. Thankfully Margaret Thatcher’s government refused to subsidize an unprofitable business for the few at the expense of the many, stood up to Scargill, and with careful planning defeated the strike. And thankfully most miners adjusted to economic reality and moved on.
But not Arthur Scargill. When Tony Blair eventually made the Labour Party electable by ridding the party of its absurd clause 4 demanding that the state nationalize the means of production, Scargill left the Labour Party and founded his own. Initially he attracted a lot of hardened left wingers under his banner, but soon, as always happens with extremist groups, bitter in fighting broke out as Scargill literally vetoed any member he did not view as being ‘loyal’. The party developed all the characteristics of an African dictatorship and now is virtually defunct.
William Waldegrave was being kind when he said that Arthur Scargill had achieved nothing. His impact on thousands of ordinary lives has been wholly negative. And there is a simple reason for this: his assessment on all the major questions of life are wrong. He does not believe that God exists; he is an environmentalist as regards human nature, give man pleasant surroundings and he will be pleasant; and he believes the state knows better than the individual. On all three counts he is wrong. There is something greater than man; man’s problems are ultimately internal, not external; and wherever the state has been given too much power, there has been excessive cruelty.
Hopefully in his older years Arthur Scargill will reflect on how his actions harmed many people, and will have the humility to say sorry.
Tom Hawksley
By the early 1990’s Arthur Scargill, veteran union leader and enemy of Margaret Thatcher, was something of a defeated war horse. Appearing on the BBC’s weekly political discussion show, ‘Question Time’ he answered according to his left wing creed with all his usual passion, but everyone knew he was a preacher without a congregation. Britain had moved on – to happily make money without coal. At the end of the programme the panel was asked what Arthur Scargill had achieved. A flattering question for anyone. One of the replies though was not so flattering. This was from William Waldegrave, an Eton educated Tory. His answer was blunt: ‘nothing’.
And Waldegrave was right.
Arthur Scargill the only son of of a communist miner from Barnsley, leader of the whole NUM, and the nationwide miner’s strike of 1984-1985, and latterly the founder of the extreme left wing the Socialist Labour Party has achieved nothing, apart from spreading poverty, a lot of hate, and false hope.
His demands for higher wages for his workers sped up the decline of an uneconomic industry and when the inevitable pit closures were announced, without a proper ballot, Scargill in Stalinist style (he admires the Soviet dictator) ordered a national strike. This caused severe hardship for the striking families, with hunger literally forcing many back to work. Known as ‘scabs’ those breaking the strike engendered ferocious hatred and divided communities and families. Nottingham miner Neil Greatrex broke away from Scargill’s NUM and then his father did not speak to him for six years. Twenty years later he talked of how grown men would cry with fear at having to cross Scargill’s picket lines to earn a living for their families. Scargill’s strike even caused murder. On November 30th, 1984 David Wilkie, a taxi driver was killed when two miners when two miners dropped a block of concrete on his car as it was carrying a miner wanting to work.
In the end all that Scargill offered his miners was false hope, the fantasy that the only obstacle stopping them enjoying a permanent job and a good standard of living was the greed of the evil capitalist operating the mines. Thankfully Margaret Thatcher’s government refused to subsidize an unprofitable business for the few at the expense of the many, stood up to Scargill, and with careful planning defeated the strike. And thankfully most miners adjusted to economic reality and moved on.
But not Arthur Scargill. When Tony Blair eventually made the Labour Party electable by ridding the party of its absurd clause 4 demanding that the state nationalize the means of production, Scargill left the Labour Party and founded his own. Initially he attracted a lot of hardened left wingers under his banner, but soon, as always happens with extremist groups, bitter in fighting broke out as Scargill literally vetoed any member he did not view as being ‘loyal’. The party developed all the characteristics of an African dictatorship and now is virtually defunct.
William Waldegrave was being kind when he said that Arthur Scargill had achieved nothing. His impact on thousands of ordinary lives has been wholly negative. And there is a simple reason for this: his assessment on all the major questions of life are wrong. He does not believe that God exists; he is an environmentalist as regards human nature, give man pleasant surroundings and he will be pleasant; and he believes the state knows better than the individual. On all three counts he is wrong. There is something greater than man; man’s problems are ultimately internal, not external; and wherever the state has been given too much power, there has been excessive cruelty.
Hopefully in his older years Arthur Scargill will reflect on how his actions harmed many people, and will have the humility to say sorry.
Tom Hawksley
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