TUC general secretary PAUL NOWAK speaks to the Morning Star’s Berny Torre about the increasing frustration the trade union movement feels at a government that promised change, but has been too slow to bring it about
Recollections of the Miners’ Strike: roadblocks and arrests
In the first of four extracts from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staff HILARY CAVE recalls challenging police intimidation during the miners’ strike, exposing how the full machinery of state was deployed against the working class
Police move to make arrests in the centre of London as pitmen and their families gathered outside Parliament for a mass lobby of MPs.
DIANE ABBOTT exposes the misconceptions, rumours and downright lies perpetrated around immigration issues
With 12,000 fewer teachers since 2010 and dwindling resources, Scotland’s schools desperately need investment to support diverse learners rather than empty promises from politicians, writes ANDREA BRADLEY
Reversing outsourcing is the pre-election promise the government must honour, says Unison general secretary CHRISTINA McANEA
EMAN ABU ZAYED reminisces about the perilous time her family and neighbours endured in northern Gaza and how they were forced, in fear of their lives, to flee south
The EIS president who defended Marxist politics in the 1980s fought Thatcherite educational policies while organising Teachers for Peace rallies and ensuring Morning Star circulation in Scotland’s pit villages and factories, writes JOHN FOSTER
FORTY years on Hilary Cave offers her recollections of the 1984 miners’ strike from her vantage point as a member of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) headquarters staff. Her official responsibilities as head of education vanished as she assumed all manner of organisational tasks including the organisation of mass rallies and demonstrations throughout the country.
The opening chapter recounts a confrontation between the author, accompanied by NUM chief executive Roger Windsor, on the way to a meeting with a police operations chief, and a police roadblock intent on stopping miners from moving around the county.
Characteristically she refused to bow to police intimidation, or let them know she was on her way to meet their boss, challenged them to arrest her and forced them to abandon their pretence and let her pass.
More from this author
by Hilary Cave
In the last of four extracts from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staffer HILARY CAVE recalls the 1985 campaign in the Nottinghamshire coalfield against the breakaway unions who went on to sabotage the great strike
In the third extract from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staffer HILARY CAVE recounts how women throughout the striking coalfields showed their mettle when the going got tough
In the second extract from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staffer HILARY CAVE recounts the bitter struggle to provide sustenance for strikers’ families, and the invidious role of David Willetts – now in the House of Lords
