Police systematically assaulted miners at Orgreave (Picture: John Sturrock)
If you get the chance, catch the One Year! Photographs from the Miners’ Strike 1984-85 Exhibition at the Four Corners Gallery in east London.
The year-long strike was initiated by Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government and its defeat, 40 years ago, fundamentally changed Britain. It led to privatisation, the loss of good jobs, the aggressive development of anti-union laws and the trashing of the welfare state.
The photographs in the exhibition, a number of which first appeared in the pages of Socialist Worker in 1984 and 85, give a glimpse of the scale of the struggle. And they show the brutality of the police and the enormous support that the miners had across Britain.
The photographs are exhibited alongside posters, vinyl records, plates and publications from the dispute. If you were around during the strike, you will have some of these in your attic or cellar. If not, they add an interesting counterpoint to the photographs.
The gallery deserves praise for hosting the exhibition. The Miners’ Strike was the most significant and longest running civil conflict in Britain since Second World War. But this is only the second exhibition devoted to it in 40 years.
The first was curated for the 30th anniversary of the strike, to coincide with the release of the film Still the Enemy Within.
If this new exhibition whets your appetite, then read The Great Strike, a definitive account of the dispute that has just been republished. And make sure you catch the marvelous new documentary, Strike—An Uncivil War, which is now available on Netflix.
One Year! Photographs from the Miners’ Strike 1984-85, Four Corners Gallery, 121 Roman Road, London E2 0QN
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