It is hard for veteran socialists amongst us to believe that March brings us to the fortieth anniversary of the start of the Miners’ strike when Thatcher sought to close Cortonwood. What followed was the Great Strike which defined and framed the political development of so many of us. You can watch the Labour Left Podcast on the anniversary of the strike on You Tube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6OoOmRsNNbCsHy_vtJ-Dl4KuHLIoOpI1&si=tNCdaXmXm7sbTCom
The Labour Left Podcast is marking the strike anniversary with Mike Jackson the co-founder and secretary of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. Mike Jackson is an excellent guest to take us through the political, cultural and industrial legacy of the strike.
Join us for a long form interview with Mike in which we explore Mark Ashton’s legacy, compare Kinnock and Starmer, re-examine the awful Clause 28, consider the importance of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign today and share our deep-seated loathing of Margaret Thatcher.
Many readers will recall how Mike Jackson was portrayed so well by Joe Gilgun in the iconic film Pride. Back in 2014 I attended the film with one of my daughters and a gang of their teenage friends. As we left the film it became clear that the consensus was that the film was fantastic but then one of them turned to me and asked pointedly “…but did it really happen?” Now ten years later, I have interviewed Mike Jackson because his Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners story is part of our labour movement history and the story needs to be remembered and told again and again to new generations so they know it really happened. Not only did it happen but if we fight together, we can make big change happen again.
Click here to watch it on https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6OoOmRsNNbCsHy_vtJ-Dl4KuHLIoOpI1&si=tNCdaXmXm7sbTCom and you can also listen to it on all your favourite podcast platforms such as Amazon, Audible, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify etc
Bryn Griffiths is the host of Labour Hubs spin off the Labour Left podcast which he produces with Luke Robinson the podcast editor. They are both activists in the labour movement, Momentum and The World Transformed in North Essex. Bryn writes regularly for Labour Hub. You can find all the episodes of the Labour left Podcast here Bryn Griffiths will be speaking at a University of Sussex, UNITE and Sussex UCU event on Wednesday 20 March to consider How Sussex Supported the Miners.
