Introduction.

Without doubt, the series of miners' strikes in the 1970s that culminated in the strike of 1984-5 were the most dramatic industrial disputes in post-war Britain. As the 'winter of discontent' became the defining catchphrase for an era of militancy, so the miners' defeat appeared to bring that to a close. A conference sponsored by Capital & Class and held at Northumbria University in 2004 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the strike had all the possibilities of being a wake, but ended as a celebration. The conference was a unique collaboration between the NUM, women's support groups, community activists and academics, timed to coincide with the Durham Miners' Gala--a celebration of trade unionism and communities. Each of these strands is represented in this very special edition of Capital & Class, which presents a realistic assessment of the strike and of the devastated communities left behind in the wake of the Thatcher government's vicious attack on the union, its members and the communities they served. This special issue also reflects the spirit of the women and men who fought together in the strike, and who now fight to rebuild their communities.

Ann Suddick's thoughtful and resounding introductory text reflects on the 2004 conference and recalls, largely through the words of the women themselves, their hopes and activities and the way the strike changed lives and continues to change them. Ian Lavery's first-hand account of his experiences as a striking miner are a timely reminder of the State's mobilisation in order to deal with dissent and prevent effective industrial action, but he also takes us into a future in which the NUM retains a central role in mining communities. Stephen Cavalier's short piece demonstrates that the State acted in the courts as well as on the streets, and challenged the NUM at every turn, with implications that remain with us. Ralph Darlington's article will provoke disagreement and argument, as well as support for his central thesis that the dispute might even have been won had the lessons of the 1970s strikes been carried forward. Benjamin Franks takes us into a very different and overlooked area of the strike. The miners attracted support from across the political Left, but their strike also challenged organisations and individuals to question their own responses, and this is illustrated in Franks's detailed account of the relationship between anarchists and the strike. David Beale's paper on miners' support groups provides a detailed account of their activity, and takes us further into what becomes a key theme for other articles: the relationship between the NUM, its supporters and the communities in which they are embedded.

John Stirling takes us into the post-strike debates about unions and communities by reviewing the responses to the massive decline in union membership--a theme taken up by Ian Fitzgerald and Peter O'Brien in a different way, in their Behind the News piece. Stifling argues that workplace organisation remains critical for union renewal, but that community unionism is a key catalyst for change.

David Allsop, one of the Nottingham miners who went on strike at the time, takes up the issue of the workplace with his analysis of resilience, focusing on a pit at which the sidelining of the NUM is failing, and where it has effectively overtaken the UDM as the voice of the remaining miners. Carol Stephenson and David Wray--the latter also an ex-striking miner--and Dave Waddington take us from the coal face to the community in their articles. Stephenson and Wray take the 2004 Durham Miners' Gala, attended by more than 50,000 trade unionists and people from coalfield communities in the week of the conference, as a starting point to demonstrate the vitality of mining communities, and what they call 'emotional regeneration through community action'. Waddington's study of Warsop Vale deals with the devastation brought upon a local community following the closure of a pit, and the problems facing the community in developing a response that expresses their hopes and desires. Mave Mundy and Monica Shaw review the post-strike picture through the eyes of women interviewed at the time of the strike, who are still coming to terms with an action that changed their lives.

We hope that this edition provides accounts of the enduring power of workers to organise their unions and themselves in the face of the hostility of the State and the indifference of many of those assigned to 'help' devastated communities. The conference and this special edition are neither a wake nor an exercise in nostalgia but, we hope, a lucid and realistic account of aspects of the strike and its aftermath, and a celebration of working men and women rebuilding their own lives and their communities.

The editorial team