Merseyside Miners Support Groups 1984/5

Paul Cosgrove interviewed by Ritchie Hunter 24.01.05

The Miners strike had already been on for a few months. I was working in the Post office. On my way home one evening I saw four or five young miners from Staffordshire. I put them in touch with Kirkby Unemployed Centre, which had a long been involved in supporting various groups of workers, in various disputes, right the way through from the NGA dispute in Warrington to local occupations.

Because of this tradition a group to run the support was a natural process. We set up links primarily with Littleton pit in Staffordshire, but also with Mardy (in North Wales) as well.

It was really well organised – we were blessed with having good organisers such as Tony Boyle. A typical weekend would be, Friday evening leafleting an area telling people we were coming round on Sunday asking for donations or something towards the dispute.

The reception we got was exceptional. The miners were involved as well. These were young miners in their early twenties and they had never witnessed this type of solidarity. They would go away with food and donations, but also feeling that morally they weren’t isolated. The support shown wasn’t just from ‘Dyed in the Wool’ trade unionists, it was from pensioners, young people, couples, and from people who were unemployed and had very little themselves.
One old woman said: “have you got a bag? Well come in here.” And she had three tea chests full of loose tea. Don’t know where she got them from. It was amazing. She poured loads of this raw tea into our bags.

When we visited the pits we had linked up with, the aggression of the police was an ‘eye opener’ for some people. We had no sooner climbed out of vehicles than we were chased or assaulted.

One of the most adventurous things we were involved in was a walk from Liverpool to Leeds along the canal – 127 miles. It raised about £2,000, which, at the time, was a lot of money. The support groups in these areas used our action as a catalyst to keep their own campaign going.
There were meetings all along the way; crossing the divide, despite accents. We didn’t just stay at people’s houses. In one meeting in Burnley, you had young and old miners currently affected, and old miners who considered the young miners not to be miners at all.

The level of activity was quite intensive. It was rather like a battle were groups would organise in their own area and come together for a regional meeting or a national demonstration.

What it proved was that people who traditionally are not involved in the labour movement can come together if the organisation is there. They can show solidarity without being over committed to party politics. Here they were involved in a political campaign, and they knew it, without a commitment to the politics.

Often we get a bit embarrassed and think that the general public are not interested in something like that, and they are. Most people, given the option would get involved.

That level of solidarity shown – not just by Merseyside, but nationally, has never been harnessed since, and there have been several disputes that have raised the possibility of generating that support, but those involved have not gone out and tried to engage it. We all seem to organise around our own thing without trying to extend it.

At the end of the dispute there was a horrible feeling. We went down to Littleton, getting up at 3am. The miners marched back to the pit, and we were part of that, but had to stay at the gate. It was a terrible thing to see. All the miners that scabbed it were there watching them coming in. We did hear afterwards that there was ‘fisty cuffs’, because it was very emotional with pent up anger. Ultimately it was like they were watching their own death. These people who were sneering at those that had had the bottle to stick it out were watching their own funeral cortege – it was their body going in.

The Tories invested so much money into smashing the NUM. Maybe a lot of people were down hearted after that and thought that if the miners were defeated then what chance have we got and this principle has played on people’s psyche. Also labour laws have been used far more effectively.