Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill
Arthur Scargill is a British trade unionist and politician who was president of the National Union of Mineworkersfrom 1982 to 2002. Joining the NUM at the age of 19 in 1957, he became one of its leading activists in the late 1960s. In 1973, he was instrumental in organising the miners' strike that toppled Edward Heath's Conservative government in March 1974...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth11 January 1938
Arthur Scargill quotes about
leadership party europe
The trouble with the Labour Party leadership and the trade union leadership, they're quite willing to applaud millions on the streets of the Philippines or in Eastern Europe, without understanding the need to also produce millions of people on the streets of Britain.
coal-miners underestimate economic
All too often miners, and indeed other trade unionists, underestimate the economic strength they have.
party giving support
The trade unions and the Labour Party... failed miserably. Instead of giving concrete support, and calling upon workers to take industrial action, they did nothing.
party cutting views
You may see the emergence of a new political party from the body of the trade union movement which represents a very clear-cut socialist alternative policy and which gives expression to the views of the trade union movement in parliament.
struggle winning opportunity
The labour movement had the best opportunity in 50 years to transform not merely an industrial situation and win an important battle for workers in struggle, but an opportunity to change the government of the day.
law people parliament
Parliament itself would not exist in its present form had people not defied the law.
running vote mayors
I wouldn't vote for Ken Livingstone if he were running for mayor of Toytown.
recovery government years
We will pave the way for a transformation and roll back the years of Thatcherism...We will turn economic ruin into economic recovery, and above all pave the way for a General Election to elect a Labour Government.
achieve idealism idealist
I have never been an idealist - that implies you aren't going to achieve something.
party people gone
Contrast that with the call of the Liberal Democrats in April, when they were prepared to call upon the British people to participate in a 24-hour strike. It shows how far to the right the Labour Party's gone.
direct-action people important
Yet what you need is not marches, demonstrations, rallies or wide associations, all of them are important. What you need is direct action. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we'll begin to change things.
father masters stills
My father still reads the dictionairy every day. He says your life depends on your power to master words
fool want strikes
Only a fool wants a confrontation and only a fool wants a strike.
alternatives matter investment
If youve got an industry where youve got massive investment, it doesnt matter whether you bring in alternative supplies. You still lose the money on that industry.