Arthur Scargill

From the collection of

North East Film Archive

The North East Film Archive, based at Teesside University, save and celebrate the screen heritage of the North East of England. At the heart of their collection are films made by, and for, local people, reflecting and representing the communities, places and distinctive identity of the region. Together with their sister archive in Yorkshire they form the Yorkshire and North East Film Archive, a unique pan-regional resource with over 75,000 moving image artefacts, part of York St John University. They unlock the collections for artists, academics, curators, programmers, researchers, and producers to reveal compelling stories from the vaults. www.yfanefa.com

Arthur Scargill

At the height of the 1984-85 Miners' Strike, Arthur Scargill discusses the dispute as well as policing and representation in the media.

In November 1984, filmmaker Stewart MacKinnon sat down with Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers, at the Union's headquarters in Sheffield to discuss the ongoing Miners' Strike. More than three months still lay ahead until the dispute finally ended on the 3rd March, 1985, but the fight had already been long, hard, and bitter. Scargill speaks frankly about the tools that were being used by the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher to erode the civil liberties and rights of many miners and their wives making the reality of Britain in 1984 an 'Orwellian nightmare.' Scargill is scathing of the police for the tactics and violence used against lawful protestors as well as the kind of police harassment that, before the strike, would befall only those in Black and Asian communities. He is also contemptuous of the media who reflected time and time again only the views of the establishment against the Union. However, while the strike will eventually lead to defeat, Scargill sees the positives that comes from the dispute, both in the birth of a new kind of 'political awaking' for many men and women, and the support the union had received from overseas and within the British Black and Asian communities.

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Miners' Strike in the North East

The 1984-85 Miners' Strike seen from the point-of-view of both men and women fighting together to protect a way of life.

These unseen films, produced and collected by Gateshead-based independent production company Trade Films, look at the fight of the miners during and shortly after the 1984-85 Miners' Strike. While many focus on the traditional male-orientated side of the dispute, several take a different approach by focusing their attention on the wives, mothers and daughters of miners, who fought just as hard as the men to protect jobs and a way of life. Trade Films was founded in 1982, and specialised in political documentaries and TV productions with an emphasis on industry in the North East and the trade union movement.

28 videos in this collection

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Ann Lilburn

  • Whittle Colliery
  • 1984
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Arthur Scargill

  • Sheffield
  • 1984
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I Have Never Done Anything Like This Before (Tape 1)

  • Boldon Colliery
  • 1984
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I Have Never Done Anything Like This Before (Tape 2)

  • Westminster
  • 1984
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Joan Barnes and Friends [Easington Free Café - Durham]

  • Easington
  • 1984
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Westoe N.U.M. March Back

  • Westoe
  • 1984
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NEEB Demo

  • Sunderland
  • 1984
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NEEB Demo

  • Sunderland
  • 1984
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NEEB Demo

  • Gateshead
  • 1984
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NEEB Demo

  • Gateshead
  • 1984
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NEEB Demo

  • Gateshead
  • 1984
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Durham Rally 1984

  • Durham
  • 1984
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Durham Rally 1984

  • Durham
  • 1984
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Durham Rally 1984

  • Durham
  • 1984
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Durham Rally 1984

  • Durham
  • 1984
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Durham Rally 1984

  • Durham
  • 1984
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Durham Rally 1984

  • Wheatley Hill
  • 1984
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Durham Rally 1984

  • Durham
  • 1984
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The Last Days of Bearpark Colliery

  • Bearpark
  • 1984
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Labouring under the Law

  • Westminster
  • 1983
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Works Convenor: Jim Murray in Conversation with Hilary Wainwright

  • Scotswood
  • 1985
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Tom Sawyer: Organising the Public Sector

  • Newcastle upon Tyne
  • 1983
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A Remarkable Family in a Remarkable Village

  • Chopwell
  • 1984
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The General Strike

  • Chopwell
  • 1984
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On the Blacklist

  • Chopwell
  • 1984
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Positions of Influence

  • Chopwell
  • 1984
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Harriet Vyse

  • Sunderland
  • 1984
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Tyneside Centenary Mayday 1990

  • Gateshead
  • 1990
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