Routledge Revivals: The Enemy Within (1986): Pit Villages and the Miners' Strike of 1984-5

First published in 1986, this book challenges the notion that the miners’ strike of 1984-5 was ‘Scargill’s Strike’. It shows some of the ways in which the strike, though nominally directed from above, was determined from below by multitudinous and often contradictory pressures — the lodge, the village and the home. The focus is essentially logical and gives particular attention to family economy, kin networks and intergenerational solidarity. At the same time it is concerned with the mentality of the strike — its ruling fears and passions. The first-hand testimonies that comprise the book attest to the attachment to ‘traditional ways’ as well as the potency of the influences corroding them.