Responses to the Nationalisation of Coal
A research project centred around the findings of a Mass Observation survey from 1948
Some background to the coal mining industry in the UK
Prior to the Second World War, the coal industry in Britain was controlled by the Mines Department via the Board of Trade, with the hundreds of mines throughout the country owned by various companies and individuals with differing approaches. In Wales, these included businesses such as Cambrian Combine, who gobbled up several other smaller coal companies during the early part of the Twentieth Century and clashed with their thousands of miners in disputes over pay. Prominent Welsh individuals also made names for themselves, such as William Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr, a shrewd entrepreneur who helped build local schools, chapels and hospitals, whilst also resisting the growth of trade unions and presiding over the Senghenydd Colliery disaster of 1913.
In England, dire conditions within the coal mines became apparent as early as 1838 following the Huskar Colliery disaster, near Barnsley, when a stream overflowed into a ventilation shaft and killed 26 children who were working in the mine. Queen Victoria was moved to order an inquiry, which eventually led to the Mines Acts of 1842, which legally prevented women and girls of any age from working in mines, and also boys under the age of 10. In practice, however, many families were so impoverished that they could not afford to stop sending females underground, leading to mass breaking of the law in many areas.
Several factors contributed to a debate surrounding the proposed nationalisation of coal. These included unsafe working conditions for coal miners and the fact that many reported poor health due to their work in the industry, wage stagnation compared to other sectors, and declining productivity which was of particular concern to the British government as it sought to compete with other economic powerhouses around the world.
The decision to nationalise the coal industry
The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act of 1946 which brought coal mining in the United Kingdom into state hands. It happened as a result of the election of the Labour government in 1945, as per their party manifesto and their long standing commitment to 'Clause IV' of their political constitution which sought to bring numerous industries under public ownership.
What is Mass Observation?
"An archive of everyday life, thought and feeling in Britain" - MO Online
The Mass Observation project originally ran from 1937 until the early 1950's and consisted of untrained volunteers keeping diaries and participating in open-ended questionnaires. It also involved focussed surveys on behalf of the government, including one conducted by the National Coal Board in 1948 into what miners and their families thought of the nationalisation of the industry. This project will largely focus on that survey, the original copies of which can be seen in some of the sections below.
The survey was divided into two parts.
1. A direct questionnaire covering such topics as satisfaction or dissatisfaction with jobs, wages, workers' welfare, strikes, main grumbles etc. 50 miners and 50 miners' wives were interviewed on the above points.
2. Contact between miners and investigators who were not known to be working for mass observation or on any official enquiry, but who appeared in the district simply as visitors.
This part of the survey documents the concerns of the miners that the replacement of wooden support beams with steel ones. The main worry is that, historically, when wooden beams begin to fail, they make a creaking noise which warns workers prior to collapse, whereas steel ones simply fail without warning.
The survey states that there is generally more positive reactions to nationalisation than negative. The most striking part of this section of the survey is that some of the coal miners feel that the previous owners of the mines are still wielding some form of influence
This section highlights that miners are unhappy that too many new positions have been created for "officials". The report doesn't say for sure whether the new roles are "real or supposed".
The suspicion that there are too many managerial positions within the public sector still persists to this day amongst employees and service users.
In this section, one coal miner complains about the apparent £20,000 a year pay packet of one of the officials from the National Coal Board. The report alludes to this information coming from gossip amongst the workers.
I highly recommend looking more generally at the Mass Observation Online archives. This project has focussed on one particular survey, but the archives hold lots more information on the coal industry, such as diary entries by miners and their families.
The National Archives website contains many primary resources in relation to coal mining.
For USW students there are books on the shelves at Treforest, such as Coal Mining in Wales by Thomas W. Gerwyn and A History of Coal Mining in Great Britain by Galloway and Lindsay.
The National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.
The Waterfront Museum in Swansea.