The booming coal industry of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the main reason behind the creation of modern south Wales and its miners were central to shaping the economics, politics and society of south Wales during the twentieth century. This book explores the history of these miners between 1964 and 1985, covering the concerted run-down of the coal industry under the Wilson government, the growth of miners’ resistance, and the eventual defeat of the epic strike of 1984-5. Their interactions with the wider trade union movement and society during these years meant the miners were amongst the most important strategically-located sections of the British workforce during this time. The South Wales Miners is the first full-length academic study of the miners and their union in the later twentieth century, in a tumultuous period of crisis and struggle.

The core of this full length history is the momentous period from the General Strike of 1926 to the nationalization of the mines in January 1947 ... To the treatment of the post Second World War period the authors have added a final chapter assessing the achievements and the problems of the nationalized industry, as well as the role of the miners in the upsurge of industrial militancy that characterized the sixties and seventies." In South Wales Miners' Federation became the South Wales area of the NUM.

A scholarly analysis of social, political and industrial change in the working-class mining communities of North Wales, 1945-1996, comprising an appreciation of the miner's quest for self-identity and the contribution of trade union activities to changing the face of 20th century British politics. 14 black-and-white photographs.

In this very personal history, Hywel Francis has a unique insight into both individual experiences and the national politics of the strike. A new chapter in this re-issued book shows that the Welsh miners were in a unique position to forge an alliance with the Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners Group, as represented in the film Pride.

This title discusses Welsh miners, American coal, and the construction of ethnic identity. In 1890, more than 100,000 Welsh-born immigrants resided in the United States. The majority of them were skilled labourers from the coal mines of Wales who had been recruited by American mining companies.

A photographic history of mining in South Wales

In The Women and Men of 1926 Sue Bruley recounts the social history of the mining communities in south Wales during the 1926 lockout. Relying on hitherto unpublished oral testimony as well as other archival material, Bruley investigates how households coped with the lockout and assesses the impact that it had on gender relations. Individual chapters consider topics such as school canteens, miners' lodges, recreational activities, picketing, and politics.