I was a Loyal to the Last Notts Striking Miner. I used to play the Daddy what did you do in the Strike tape in the car as loud as I could, with the windows down. Then watch the scabs walk past with their heads down.

98 years ago labourist leaders made the wrong choice

“Daddy, what did you do in the strike?” by Ewan MacColl It was in the year of '84 shit really hit the fan, When 'Mac the Knife' MacGregor, Maggie Thatcher's hatchet-man, Said: “We’ll have to close another twenty pits to meet the plan, And dump another thirty thousand miners”. Daddy, were you in the first of the first? Did you tell the NCB to do its worst? Or did you save your lily liver, Sell the union down the river? A scab, a blackleg, one forever cursed. When Arthur Scargill heard the news, he cried: “This Yankee slob Is a gift from Cowboy Reagan and is here to steal our jobs, Do an axe-job on the union for the crummy Thatcher mob, But we'll show him what it means to be a miner”. Daddy, did you man the picket-line? Did you fight to save the future of the mines? Or did you take the wrong direction, Did you squeal for police protection, Did you let 'em see your India-rubber spine? When the Yorkshire lads came out on strike, they cried: “It's evident The only way to stop MacGregor and the government, Is to bring the lads out everywhere, from Scotland down to Kent, And we'll show 'em what it means to be a miner”. Daddy, did you march at the head? Did you stand there on the picket-line unfed? Or did you sell your mates to have A fortnight on the Costa Brava, Did you choose a two-week holiday instead? Well, the battle it is joined at last, the forces they are massed, On their side the press, the telly, all the weapons of their class, Plus MacGregor and his blacklegs, but we'll never let 'em pass, The NUM's the weapon of the miners. Daddy, what did you do in the strike? Did you scab and let your workmates wage the fight? How the neighbours stood and booed us, Said we had the stink of Judas, Daddy, what did you do in the strike?

"If only the NUM hadn't Arthur Scargill at their head" is a common refrain. To a degree, yes, but Arthur was right all along. From the very start, the Tories were planning to close nearly all the pits and "dump another 30,000 miners" as the lyrics confirm, through foul or fair means - foul being the case. More like 60,000, actually. In short, Mother Theresa as NUM President would have made no difference to the "crummy Thatcher mob". Bless all of those fine men, and their womenfolk, who "manned the picket-lines unfed".

My grandad was forever blacklisted from printing shops after the printing strikes. All Scabs are Bastards

Yes my daddy did strike. Yes my daddy did man the picket line too. ♥️

From the Scottish coal field & in particular Cowdenbeath central Workshops we did our bit & 36 years on I still feel it.

What a beautiful woman

What did you do in the war Ewan? "I deserted". True. He never wrote a song about it though.

✊✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

Working Men and Women of all lands Unite.

Great

do you have any other songs of this tape? such as 'holy joe from scabsville'?

Hello, I'd like to use this footage in a small documentary concerning the May Day weekend in Glasgow. Let me know if this is okay, will give full credit if requested! Thanks. Daniel.