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The Shadow of the Mine:Coal and the End of Industrial Britain
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It is forty years since the Miners’ Strike against Thatcher’s shutdown of the coal industry. The Shadow of the Mine tells the story of King Coal in its heyday, the heroics and betrayals of 1984–85, and what happened to mining communities after the last pits closed. This new edition includes a Postscript looking back on the Miners’ Strike and at just transitions to clean energy and the state of the Labour Party in the 2020s.
No one personified the age of industry more than the miners. Coal was central to the British economy, powering its factories and railways. It carried political weight, too. Defeat in 1984–85 foretold the death of a way of life. Soon tens of thousands were cast onto an unforgiving labour market or incapacity benefits. The lingering sense of abandonment in these areas is difficult to overstate. As one former miner puts it, people feel like ‘kites without a wind’. Yet British electoral politics revolves around the coalfield constituencies that lent their votes to the Conservatives in 2019.
Huw Beynon and Ray Hudson draw on decades of research to chronicle these momentous changes through the words of the people who lived through them.
Reviews
A powerful study of tumultuous political events steeped in knowledge of the coalfields. Essential reading for all those who care about the future – and hence the past – of working-class politics.
After defeat by Thatcher, the pits were levelled and the Miners' Welfare Halls, their social and intellectual centres, vanished. With carefully controlled passion, this book indicts such ruthless disregard for the values of care and association.
The best book I’ve read in a very long time, a brilliantly ambitious survey
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Drawing on decades of research ... [The Shadow of the Mine] is a moving account of 150 years of coalfield history ... By tracing the "deep story" of the marginalisation of Britain’s coalfields, it aims to understand the continuing exclusion of working-class people in deindustrialised areas from political and social life.
, Antipode -
The Shadow of the Mine reminds us why this spirit [of solidarity and collectivism] has lived on in the coalfields, in spite of people feeling a sense of political betrayal going back decades ... enlightening.
, Guardian -
Refreshing and necessary ... [The Shadow of the Mine] explains in loving, careful detail why working people’s relationship with Labour in former industrial communities ... had become complex and ultimately soured.
, Red Pepper -
Beynon and Hudson ... write with authority and respect of the former mining communities of Britain.
, Financial Times -
Starmer and his allies in Renaissance would do better to pick up a copy of The Shadow of the Mine ... As Beynon and Hudson make clear, the succession of defeats inflicted on the trade unions over the last four decades has brought about the gradual fragmentation of old loyalties.
, Tribune -
A solid account of the history of the coalfields in Durham and South Wales and the impact of deindustrialisation and closure upon them.
, Labour Hub -
A brave book ... anyone interested in the transformation that has reshaped Britain’s former coalfields should read The Shadow of the Mine.
, Jacobin -
Considered, comprehensive and insightful ... a book that deserves the widest distribution
, Morning Star -
Elegiac ... [The Shadow of the Mine] provides essential economic and social context for both the Leave vote in 2016 and the consequent collapse of the so-called 'Red Wall'.
, Tribune -
The work of two outstanding 'organic intellectuals' of the very communities they are giving voice to ... Anyone who wants to go beyond the 'Red Wall' platitudes of British politics ought to start with The Shadow of the Mine.
Spokesman -
Excellent
, New Statesman -
Superb and timely ... full of lessons and insights for today
, New Socialist