The title of Lonely Tower’s film about the 1984/5 Miners Strike, ‘Defiant’, directed by Marie Gardiner and Mark Thorburn, immediately sets the tone for this carefully constructed and painstakingly researched documentary. Several years in the making, it is a truly impressive labour of love, telling a deeply human story about a very cruel and vindictive political act. Margaret Thatcher and her hatchet man Ian MacGregor set out to destroy not just the coal industry but also the tight-knit communities that had grown up around the pits, and beyond that to neuter the wider trade union movement. At face value, it looked like a fight between the government and the NUM, but it soon became clear that if the Tories could beat the mineworkers then they could set about emasculating the entire organised labour movement. Forty years on trade union membership is down, anti union laws have been strengthened and the gig economy is rampant. But something still lives on in Durham and it is the spirit of defiance and a continuing sense of pride most notably witnessed at the annual Miners Gala locally known as the Big Meeting which has seen a huge revival in recent years.
Watching archive film footage from 40 odd years ago, knowing what we now know, brings a lump to the throat. Union reps worked hard to bring everyone on board to support the strike, and the communities, especially the women, rose to the challenge. But the government’s tactics were dirty and underhand, involving financial pressure and state-sanctioned violence which came to a head at Orgreave. The film includes interviews with those who organised, those who were attacked by mounted riot police and police dogs, those who fed the hungry families and those who were left to pick up the pieces in the aftermath. The images are brutal and the testimonies raw even decades on. Several interviewees choke back the tears as they remember dreadful hardship and heroes long since passed.
Photographer, Keith Pattison, (who was coincidentally also working as a documentary photographer for my arts organisation at the time) was sent by the late Lucy Milton (aka Fairley) of Artists Agency to cover the strike. The resulting black and white iconic images are deeply unsettling. Pattison is one of the many people interviewed by the filmmakers in this retrospective. Others include former mineworkers and the children of striking miners, notably Stephen Guy, who is now the Chair of Durham Miners Association and Lynn Gibson, a stalwart behind several important heritage projects, including Durham Mining Museum, the Women’s Banner Group and its offspring National Women’s Action for Positive Change.
An attack on the working class
The film opens to the voice of Arthur Scargill, urging his members to protect their jobs and their pay, whilst black and white archive film of miners changing shift flickers past. Then a woman’s voice cuts in, unmistakably that of Heather Wood who led the women’s fightback. She references the ominous signs that made her realise this would be no ordinary dispute but an attack on the entire working class as symbolised by the mining communities.
Alan Mardghum, a former miner and current secretary of Durham Miners Association, lays out the options which were open to him and his trade union comrades at the outset.
“Who do you believe?” he says, echoing the lyrics of the Florence Reece song, ‘Which side are you on?’ which is included in the soundtrack as sung by Bill Elliott. “Who’s got your interests at heart?” Mardghum continues, and it clearly was not the bosses, the government, big business, the state or the mainstream media which largely portrayed trade union leaders as undemocratic, and framed the strike as a war, even editing footage to make it appear that striking miners initiated picket-line violence.
Ray Hudson, historian and Emeritus Professor of Geography at Durham University, clearly sets out the economic background to the coal industry which saw the immense growth of the Durham coalfield from the 1850s onwards with more than 300 operational pits at the peak of production in 1913, with railways crisscrossing the county whose boundaries extended from the Tyne to the Tees. The subsequent drive to maximise production and minimise costs saw complex seams and deep reserves frozen, many later falling to open-cast operations, a controversial process which relied less on man-power, helping to fuel rising unemployment. Oxford academic Robert Gildea further develops this theme referencing the import of cheap coal in favour of domestic production.
The documentary includes a cameo appearance from Billy Bragg and considerable footage of the late Dave Temple, a former colliery electrician who was instrumental in winning support for the strike at Murton, and multiple clips of Alan Cummings, a former lodge secretary for Easington Colliery. Cummings has subsequently been a key figure in the campaign to preserve the heritage of the Durham coal industry, including the Big Meeting and Redhills. This film goes some way to helping achieve that goal. There are plenty of amusing anecdotes, especially from miner’s wife Juliana Heron who abandoned domestic duties to focus on community organising, and iconic footage of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners whose solidarity is now legendary and continues to hold fast within a relationship of reciprocity, as witnessed at this year’s recent Durham Pride in the face of Reform UK’s spiteful defunding and continuing homophobic rhetoric.
A recurring theme in the documentary is the need for justice. Rob Crute, now a Labour Councillor for Blackhalls and Hesledens, notes the scandalous sell off the colliery housing stock. Meanwhile, Mary Stafford references alternative models of just energy transition in Germany and other countries that could have been replicated in the UK. Alan Mardghum talks about the rise of racism which plagues former coalfield communities who have fallen prey to anti-migrant rhetoric. As Heather Wood says, the battle for equality, solidarity, and community continues.
The production of ‘Defiant’ was proudly supported by Redhills and received its premiere in the historic Pitmen’s Parliament at the beginning of July, playing to a packed house. It is now being screened at numerous community venues across the region with more and more dates being added. You can check the tour schedule here.
Despite huge numbers turning out to this year’s Big Meeting, this annual event continues to be in a precarious situation. You can support the Gala by becoming a ‘marra’ or friend – details here.
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