Arthur Scargill
I was listening to a TRIP interview with Nicola Sturgeon and she spoke about how the miners strike against Thatcher was influential on her growing up. It made me wonder about the union leader Arthur Scargill, so I checked and found to my surprise he is still alive. He is 87.
It is worth reflecting in what a hard core communist he was. In recent years he become active in the Stalin society and said he is sick of people who criticise Stalin (hey he only killed a million or so workers). He was also an enemy of Poland’s solidarity movement as it was seeking to overthrow a socialist state.
His party membership was:
- Young Communist League 1955 – 1962
- Labour 1962 – 1996
- Socialist Labour Party, Leader 1996 – 2024 and Deputy Leader since
His stance during the famous strike was that no mine ever should close – even if it ran out of coal!!
It later transpired that he received one million pounds from the Soviet Union and also money from Libya. It was meant to go to help the strikers but it was found some of the money went on improvements to his bungalow. He also demanded the NUM fund a London flat for him until he died, and then to pay for it for his widow.
Such a lovely fellow.