This paper sets out an analysis of the determination of the character of the 1984–1985 miners' strike. This character is to be understood in terms of the continuities between the strike and preceding developments in terms of (1) the reorganisation of the British coal industry, (2) wider patterns of change in the economic and social structure of the coalfields, and (3) active and self-conscious political organisation, especially within the National Union of Mineworkers and left political parties. By means of a detailed analysis of the South Wales coalfield, the highly differentiated regional character of these developments is demonstrated.
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