The pamphlet, The Miners' Conflict with the Mineowners, was written in support of the miners. John Thomas gave a lecture at the South Wales Miners' Library in 1974, as the Coalfield Project was coming to an end.
This extract deals with the government’s plan regarding decontrolling the coal mines. A highly contentious issue which encompassed potential future regulation and the setting of wage protocols, which was becoming rapidly more urgent.
(Pages 14-17)
‘Triple Alliance, South Wales Section'. Minutes from South Wales Miners’ Federation Council Meeting, Miners' Office Cardiff, April 12th 1921.
(Page 44)
The pamphlet consists of a discussion on the role of wages and the price of coal in relation to the events of the 1921 lock-out. The narrative describes in detail how the Government and Coal Owners’ plan would impact different coal producing areas and individual collieries. An emphasis is placed upon the question of why these two organisations were so adverse to treating the coal industry as a single homogenous unit.
