More than Just a Memory: Some Political Implications of Women's Involvement in the Miners’ Strike, 1984–85

Abstract

Jean McCrindle is treasurer of Women Against Pit Closures. In November 1985 Sheila Rowbotham interviewed her on the process through which women became involved in the strike, the impact of this on miners and the trade union officials, and the specific problems of a movement in support of a mainly men's strike which also expresses the autonomous needs of the women. Jean McCrindle reflects on the socialist-feminist politics she brought into her support of the miners’ strike, the interaction, sometimes highly suspicious, sometimes enthusiastic, between the women in the coalfields and feminism, and the implications of the experience for socialism.