Call for miners’ memorial 20 years after death of union leader

Now, two decades after his death from emphysema – a condition regularly linked with the dust and harsh working conditions of the pits – the North Lanarkshire-born communist and trade unionist known for his passionate speeches, razor-sharp tongue and unshakeable integrity has inspired calls for a new national monument to honour generations of Scottish miners. 

The plea was made at Holyrood yesterday by a dwindling number of former miners who gathered on the 20th anniversary of McGahey’s death. 

One, Pat Egan, paid tribute to him and said: “Mick will be remembered by the miners as a pillar of working-class communities in Scotland and we want to see that his legacy, and the legacy of the mining communities, lives on.

“We are calling on the Scottish Government to continue this tradition by having a national memorial in the Parliament to those who helped build Scotland, literally, from the ground up.”

McGahey was Scottish president and national vice president of the National Union of Mineworkers when pit workers found themselves at fierce loggerheads with industry bosses intent on closing collieries, and a Conservative government determined to crack down on what they regarded as militant and disruptive unions.  

Vice President Mick McGahey and President Arthur Scargill of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) with Labour politician Tony Benn (centre) at a rally in London during the miners' strike on June 27.

Along with miners’ leader Arthur Scargill – to whom he stayed steadfastly loyal on the surface in spite of behind-the-scenes differences – McGahey played a key role in the bitter 1984-85 dispute, which saw families and communities divided and an estimated 500 Scottish colliery workers arrested. 

However long before that, he campaigned tirelessly for pit workers’ rights, and was instrumental in improving the wellbeing of thousands labouring in harsh, filthy and unhealthy colliery conditions. 

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He fought successfully for the introduction of laundry services and baths for miners, and battled for better pay during a series of 1970s miners’ strikes. 

But it was the bitter 1984-85 strike that saw him dubbed “Red Mick McGahey” and placed in a tricky position of acting on behalf of his members and avoiding the risk of placing Ravenscraig steel workers’ in jeopardy by starving the plant of vital coke needed for the furnace.

According to James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, who has campaigned for a room in the Scottish Parliament to be named after McGahey, he had the powerful presence of a natural born leader backed by fierce intellect. 

Police horses move in on pickets as coal lorries enter Ravenscraig, 1984

“One of the early political events I attended was during the 1984/85 miners’ strike, and I was lucky to share a platform with him,” says Kelly, who has campaigned to have a room at the Scottish Parliament named in McGahey’s honour.

“It was fascinating to hear him speak at close quarters. Although he could be passionate and fiery, he was also very logical. 

“He put the case as to why the miners were on strike, why the mines should be kept open and he put a strong economic case forward. 

“So although he was a strong speaker, he also had a good grasp of his facts and was able to argue logically. His intellectual vigour came across in his speeches and there was great depth to him.  He had a great presence and was a natural leader.”

McGahey was born in Shotts in 1925 and raised in Cambuslang at a time when Scotland’s 426 pits employed 92,000 miners and fuelled the nation’s hard industry. 

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By the time he died, however, just one colliery remained, at Castle Bridge, within the Longannet complex, with just 900 miners. It, too, is now long gone.

McGahey had communism and a fierce determination to improve workers’ rights flowing in his DNA – his father James was one of the founding fathers of the Communist Party of Great Britain. 

He became a full-time union official in 1966 and earned almost legendary status among coalfield workers for his oratory and authority.  But his communist sympathies and links to the Soviet Union – secret Soviet cash helped fund the Communist Party of Great Britain – placed him under the spotlight of 
MI5. 

Spies were said to have bugged his calls over a 15-year period, however their efforts were said to be thwarted by McGahey’s sometimes impenetrable Lanarkshire accent. 

A Policeman arrests a miner (left) whilst another Policeman escorts an injured miner away during picket line scuffles at Bilston Glen Mine during the Miners Strike in 1984.

Away from the smoky rooms where trade union negotiations took place and the media spotlight that dubbed him a Marxist, the father of three was said to enjoy the poems of Robert Burns, and have a deep compassion for the well-being of others that saw him regularly attend the funerals of fellow miners and ensure widows and children were supported.

His courtesy to others’ feelings went so far as seeing him avoiding writing his memoirs. “I would have to be factual about men still alive like Arthur Scargill and Albert Wheeler (the head of the National Coal Board in Scotland at the time of the miners’ strike),” he said. “They are human beings and have wives and families!”

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Despite the scale of the coal industry in Scotland and an estimated 15,000 fatalities linked to it, there is no national monument to coal workers.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We recognise the contribution made by Mick McGahey and we wish the best for the commemoration event taking place. Any proposals for a memorial at Holyrood would be a matter for the Scottish Parliament.”