The consensus since the miners' strike ended in March has been overwhelming: it was a disaster, most of all for the miners themselves. It is irresistible, in the interests of fairness at least, to look at the possibility that that verdict is wrong. Let us suppose - as Arthur Scargill invites us to - that it was forced upon them: that, as he also claims, it was a victory.

LRB 21 November 1985 | PDF Download