"We've still got the union and we'll stick together"
file in other unions should fight for the same. It's the same with the Labour Party. I intend to join the Labour Party when I go back.
Q. Why?
L.J. Because that party should be working for us, and during the strike I've realised that it isn't, and something ought to be done about it. It's no good just
Shortly after the miners' strike had been called off two miners' wives from
Lancashire, undaunted by their twelve months of hard struggle, arrived in
France to celebrate International Women's Day and to campaign on behalf of miners sacked or imprisoned during the dispute. Miners wives have been generally recognised as the backbone of the strike and now they have been the first to show their willingness to carry on the fight. On March
9, over 5,000 wives marched in Chesterfield to celebrate International
Women's Day. Many declared their intention to continue meeting in the communities and at a national level.
Judith Baker spoke to Lorraine Johnson, the secretary of Bold miners' wives group and Jean Murrie, the chairperson of the Skelmersdale wives group about the prospects for the future and their balance sheet of the
Question. Do you think the outcome of the strike was a victory for Margaret
Thatcher and the government?
Lorraine Johnson.
It is neither a defeat nor a victory. If the miners had gone back without a union, that would have been a victory for Thatcher.
But we still have the union and it will stick together.
For example, I don't think Nottingham really want to split off and it's important that we all stay together.
Spencer union (1), and that was forced to come back into the national union.
The point is the struggle is not over yet.
There's more to come from McGregor yet.
Some men weren't happy with the way
But I think in the they had to go back.
end we had to go in order to stop Thatcher getting an all-out victory.
Yes, but on the first day they went back at Bold, they were only there for an hour and a half, and they came out
They all marched in together. They refused to go on the Coal Board buses.
They said, if it takes us all day to get there we're going in together.' They went
We went home and were
'phoning each other up because we really didn't know what to do with ourselves.
At 12.30 my husband 'phoned up to say that one lad had been suspended for picking coal and they had all walked out.
Also apparently women canteen staff who had scabbed during the strike had locked themselves in the toilets. The girls who had been on strike had got rather angry. I heard stories of cups and plates flying around.
I think the men were out to prove that they've still got some fight left in them.
Q. Who do you blame for the outcome of the strike? How do you think you could've won in other words?
J.M. What we needed was leadership from the TUC. Instead of giving it us, they seemed to be afraid of the government. The rank and file supported us. Thatcher really did not calculate on the support we were getting from the general public. But with the dockers the support was there, they were just bribed back to work.
Yes, if the leadership had been strong enough we could've had a general strike.
Q. But what are the prospects then for the future? How can you change the leadership?
L.J. People have become more active in their unions. In our union, we've got the leadership we want, and the rank and criticising from the outside.
J.M. Yes, a lot of us are going to join the Labour Party. Me and four of my friends are all going to join together.
L.J. A lot of people are going to join - miners, miners' wives, supporters — so we won't be on our own. That is the thing about the strike - so many people have got involved in politics who never were before, especially young people and the women.
Q. What do you intend to do now to keep the miners' wives groups going?
L.J. We will be involved in the campaigns of the NUM, but also we want to get involved in other women's struggles. At the moment we've got the teachers on strike nationally and the hospital workers in our area. They're mainly women so we will want to support them.
J.M. I think we should be allowed to join the NUM myself, after what we've done.
During the strike we linked up with Greenham Common women. I went down there for a weekend to stay, and after Easter I'm going to stay for a week. We are going to build for the international day at Greenham called for September 5.
Would you call yourselves feminists? What in your view is a feminist?
L.J. After all this I would call myself a feminist because I don't like being told
I am, because I want to control my own body. I had eight children, and my husband didn't believe in sterilsation. Why shouldn't I decide what I do with my own body? Why should you have to explain to men, to doctors or to anyone else, why you want to do something.?
There was a strike in the social services in St Helens [a townin Lancashire] because one bloke leaked information
Bold miners' wives with (right) Lorraine Johnson (D.R.)
10 about one of his clients, who was trying to get an abortion, to one of the pro-life
We supported the strike. I think there should be free abortion. There should be more nurseries for under-fives so that women can go out to work.
This strike has taught me a lot. It's made me more responsible - it's taught me not to rely on men.
J.M. This strike has let the government know that miners will fight and that people wont just lie down and let the government walk all over them. 1. After the 1926 strike the Nottingham area of the union led a break-away to form the so-called Spencer union.
International Viewpoint 25 March 1985