The mood was electric as almost all of Birmingham’s 40,000 engineering workers went on strike, and some 10,000 marched on Saltley Gate. They joined 2,000 miners at the gates. The 1,000 police on duty were simply overwhelmed.
“At first there were only ten of us, then twenty, fifty, five hundred and finally ten thousand”, reported Bob McKee outside the gates. “That is how the picketing built up outside Saltley coke depot.” He continued, “men from Dunlops, British Leyland, Rover, Drop Forge, GEC, etc. were there. Birmingham industry was at a standstill and ten thousand people flooded the square outside the depot, stopping the movement of traffic. The police closed the gates for the day. Victory was ours. I cannot describe to you the feeling of joy, relief and solidarity that descended over all of us there. Leaflets I brought to hand out were taken out of my hands in bundles by total strangers, who distributed them for me – it was like what Petrograd 1917 must have been!”[3]
Arthur Scargill also described what happened:
Some of the lads… were a bit dispirited… And then over the hill came a banner and I’ve never seen in my life as many people following a banner. As far as the eye could see it was just a mass of people marching towards Saltley… Our lads were jumping in the air with emotion – fantastic situation… I started to chant… ‘Close the Gates! Close the Gates! And it was taken up, just like a football crowd.
With no alternative, the Chief Constable of Birmingham ordered the gates of the depot closed. It was to be a turning point. By 14 February fuel supplies were so low that many industries were forced onto a three-day week. The Tory government took fright at the scale of the movement. Reginald Maudling, the Home Secretary, was later asked why he had not used troops to assist the police. In reply he said, “I remember asking them one single question: ‘If they had been sent in, should they have gone in with rifles loaded or unloaded?’ Either course could have been disastrous.”
He informed the Tory Cabinet:
Its enforced closure represents a victory for violence against the lawful activities of the gas board and the coal merchants. This provides disturbing evidence of the ease with which, by assembling large crowds, militants could flout the law with impunity because of the risk that attempts to enforce it would provoke disorder on a large scale.
Alarmed, the government took fright and rapidly established a Court of Inquiry under Lord Wilberforce to settle the dispute. The Inquiry finished its hearings on a Wednesday, wrote its report on Thursday and published its findings on Friday. Setting what must be a speed record for such a body, they declared the miners a “special case”. Finally, the strike was called off after the NUM executive voted by 14 to 11 to suspend picketing when the Wilberforce Inquiry (“we believe the mineworkers at this particular time have a just case for special treatment”) recommended a sizeable pay award of 20 per cent. “Even then further concessions were exacted by the NUM in Downing Street talks before a settlement was concluded”, stated cabinet minister Willie Whitelaw.[4] Heath was against the ropes and forced to give in. The miners had broken through the government’s pay policy. The miners, with fringe benefits, gained a 21 per cent increase in total, with £4.50 for face workers, £5.00 for surface workers and £6.00 for underground workers, a minimum of £34.50, £23.00 and £25.00 respectively. A whole host of other concessions on overtime rates, subsidized transport, and shift payments were also conceded.
“Inside and outside the Conservative Party”, relates Whitelaw, “the defeat was seen as a humiliation for the Government.”[5] The Times, the classic organ of big business gave its view on behalf of the ruling class.
Every prime minister since Sir Winston Churchill had normally exerted a pressure to settle wage disputes rather than face the consequences of national strikes… Mr Heath has been working in exactly the opposite way. Unpalatable as the view may be, the cost of this coal strike so far and its likely future cost if it is settled as a result of the Wilberforce report is only a fraction of the damage that would have been done if there had not been a real determination to resist wage inflation. There really is no way of fighting wage inflation without being prepared to face major and damaging strikes.[6]
This stark conclusion of The Times, the naked truth as it were, graphically revealed that the employers and their “strong” government had declared war on the trade unions. This fact was not due to the character of Edward Heath, which, as events proved was rather weak, but stemmed from the parlous state of British capitalism and the need to defend the interests of the ruling class.
Although a significant victory for the miners, if the strike had continued the union could have achieved its full claim. Nevertheless, the miners fought with courage and determination after 20-odd years of broken promises from governments and union leaders. After the 1972 strike, the policy of hard-faced Toryism was in ruins. They had completely miscalculated the determination of the miners and the solidarity of the rest of the working class. The victory was an inspiration to other sections of workers, who were also being pushed to the forefront to defend their conditions.
The miners had revived a fighting tradition that was to set the tone in forthcoming industrial disputes. The mass picketing, above all of the power stations, was an important feature of the miners’ victory. It was an example that other sections would emulate. For many workers, and especially the miners, the 1972 strike was an historic turning point and proved a just reward for the humiliating defeat of 1926.