"This union will not accept a situation where pits are closed for any reason other than exhaustion. We will not accept that the government has the right to impose its will on us to the point of destroying our industry, our communities, and our livelihoods. We are not just fighting for wages. We are fighting for the very survival of our communities. Every pit that closes takes with it not just jobs but schools, shops, clubs, and the social fabric that holds mining villages together. The government calls this economic necessity. I call it class war."

Arthur Scargill, address to the National Union of Mineworkers annual conference, Sheffield, July 1984. The miners' strike had begun in March 1984 and would continue until March 1985.