Book Review: The Great Labour Unrest: Rank-and-File Movements and Political Change in the Durham Coalfield by Lewis H. Mates

Abstract

Lewis H. Mates The Great Labour Unrest: Rank-and-File Movements and Political Change in the Durham Coalfield, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016; 311 pp.: ISBN 9780719090684, 75[pounds sterling] (hbk) Lewis H. Mates has written, exactly as his title suggests, a detailed account of the politics of miners in the Durham coalfield in the years immediately preceding the First World War. The largely chronological chapters follow the emergence of labour (and Labour) politics in the coalfield during a short but significant historical period, as competing ideologies fought for the support of the miners and the power to shape their union, the Durham Miners' Association (DMA). In doing so, Mates seeks to integrate a descriptive historical case study with challenges to existing analyses and an attempt to assess the significance of the various ideological strands competing in the union's development. The first chapter explores the relevant existing literature with a particular focus on syndicalism, with Mates noting the re-emergence of interest in the subject in the 1970s. He also argues for the significance of agency and 'bottom-up' histories. Methodologically, he argues for the importance of the local press with its often very detailed accounts of controversies and the miners' Lodge (union branch) meetings, books and minutes. The early chapters root the miners of Durham and their nascent union organization within the locally entwined traditions of both Methodism and Liberalism. These are shown to be of critical importance in shaping a union pragmatism that links pay and coal prices to ideologies of partnership expressed institutionally through conciliation procedures. Chapter 2 seeks to situate the analysis in terms of the 'boom years' (1906-1909) for company profits alongside a DMA membership of 71% in 1900 with an estimated 100% organization (including some smaller unions) of all miners by 1913. In this context, it is perhaps unsurprising that employers and miners were able to reach agreements although not necessarily without strikes and disputes. However, the next two chapters locate the Durham coalfield in national events as Parliamentary legislation begins to derail local agreements in relation to both hours of work and minimum wages. Mates sets out the complexity of the disputes that arose as different underground trades, surface workers and different collieries benefitted or otherwise from new shift arrangements or levels of pay. Mates highlights this in discussion of a national strike that only narrowly gains the two thirds majority it needed in Durham in the face of competing political positions. This is played out alongside developments within mining unionism itself as the national Federation assumes increasing importance and, politically, the syndicalism of the South Wales miners becomes influential. Mate's chronology takes us through the final chapters towards the foundation of the Labour Party and, again, the ideological tendencies that challenge each other for dominance among rank-and-file miners, their local pit Lodges and the DMA itself. In each of the chapters, Mates uses different leaders and activists to personify the political positions. Individuals such as George Harvey, William House, Jack Lawson and John Wilson populate the pages to personify different political positions and illustrate the campaigning activities that permeate Mate's case study. …