Strikes as a Barometer of Post-War Modernisation: the Case of British Coal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15584/rss.2025.18.5Keywords:
coal mining industry, miners’ strikes, post-war Britain, nationalization, National Coal Board (NCB), National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), wage disputes, inflation, industrial relations, trade unionism, state intervention, labor history, energy policy, productivity, community solidarityAbstract
This article investigates the miners’ strikes in post-war Britain during the 1940s and 1950s, analyzing the interaction between economic pressures, state intervention and trade union militancy. It begins by exploring the central paradox of the British coal industry: coal remained essential for national reconstruction and energy security, yet the sector suffered from chronic underinvestment, outdated infrastructure and hazardous working conditions. The study outlines the wartime context of labor control under the Essential Work Order, followed by post-war austerity and the 1947 nationalization under the National Coal Board (NCB). It then examines the major strikes of 1950–1951 and 1955, highlighting the growing frustrations caused by wage restraint, inflation and management inefficiency. The article traces the National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM) shift from moderate negotiation to a more assertive, at times unofficial, industrial strategy. It also evaluates contrasting governmental responses from Labour and Conservative administrations. Beyond the economic dimension, the article considers how media discourse shaped public perceptions of miners and how industrial conflict reinforced traditions of solidarity within mining communities. It concludes that these strikes were part of a broader struggle over class power, the legitimacy of state economic planning and the limits of the post-war social settlement, foreshadowing intensified industrial conflict in the 1960s and 1970s.
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