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Mick McGahey | |
|---|---|
 Memorial to Mick McGahey, King George V Park,Bonnyrigg, Midlothian | |
| Born | Michael McGahey (1925-05-29)29 May 1925 |
| Died | 30 January 1999(1999-01-30) (aged 73) |
| Nationality | Scottish/Northern Irish |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Occupation(s) | Miner, trade union leader |
| Organization | National Union of Mineworkers |
| Known for | Life long communist activist and trade union leader |
| Political party | Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) |
| Spouse | Catherine Young (wife) |
| Father | John McGahey |
Michael McGahey (29 May 1925 – 30 January 1999) was a Scottish miners' leader and communist. He had a distinctive gravelly voice, and described himself as "a product of my class and my movement".
His father, John McGahey, worked in the mines atShotts,North Lanarkshire when Mick was born. John was a founder member of theCommunist Party of Great Britain[1] and took an active part in the 1926General Strike. The family moved toCambuslang in search of work, and it was here that McGahey went to school.
McGahey started work at age 14 at the Gateside Colliery, and continued to work as a miner for the next 25 years. He followed his father into the Communist Party and theNational Union of Mineworkers (NUM), remaining a member of both the Communist Party, until its dissolution in 1990, and the NUM, all his life.
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He became chairman of the local branch of his union when he was only eighteen and thereafter progressed through its echelons, though never quite reaching the national presidency. He was elected to the Scottish Executive of theNUM in 1958, becoming president of the Scottish area in 1967. He was regarded as a highly competent operator but his strongly militant line was opposed by others in the Union. He was defeated in the 1971 elections for National President byJoe Gormley.[1]
McGahey was, however, elected National Vice-president of the NUM in 1972. He made similar progress in the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), being elected to its Executive in 1971. He remained a member until the CPGB dissolved in 1991 and then joined its successor in Scotland, theCommunist Party of Scotland. From 1970 onwards he was the subject of phone tapping by the UK security serviceMI5, whose transcribers found him difficult to understand because of his accent and the effects of alcohol consumption.[2]: 677
He came to the attention of the public during theminers strikes of 1972 and1974. He later claimed these were purely industrial disputes, made political by Prime Minister,Edward Heath. Nevertheless, he took a characteristically militant line, opposing some of the tactics of Gormley, accusing him of "ballotisis" and swearing he would not be "constitutionalised" out of a national strike. Gormley, it was later claimed, postponed his own retirement until 1981, by which time McGahey was over 55, too old by union rules to stand for president.
He played a smaller role (mostly on Scottish affairs) during the1984–1985 miners' strike, as he was nearing retirement. He opposed the holding of a national ballot and favoured letting regions make their own decisions on whether to strike.[3] He saw the appointment ofIan MacGregor as chair of the National Coal Board as a "declaration of war".[4] James Cowan, then deputy chairman of the NCB, claims that McGahey warned him to retire in 1983 and protect his health, as he feared that a "bloody" strike was inevitable with the appointment of Ian MacGregor and that there would be conflict between different regions in the NUM.[5]
According toChristopher Andrew'sThe Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, surveillance by MI5 on McGahey during the 1984–85 miners' strike found that he was "extremely angry and embarrassed" about Scargill's links with the Libyan government, but that he was "happy to take part, with Scargill and other NUM leaders, in contacts with Soviet representatives".[6]
After the strike, McGahey became more critical ofArthur Scargill and argued against the growing concentration of power within the NUM in the national leadership at the expense of regional areas.[7] He expressed regret on the use of violent picketing in Nottinghamshire and the divisions that this caused amongst mineworkers, saying:
McGahey continuously insisted that the NUM find a way to reconcile with theUnion of Democratic Mineworkers (a Midlands-based breakaway from the NUM). Scargill referred to this insistence as a "tragedy that people from the far north should pontificate about what we should be doing to win back members for the NUM."[9]
On the death ofIan MacGregor (chair of the National Coal Board during the 1984–85 strike), McGahey said, "It's no loss to people of my ilk. MacGregor was a vicious, anti-trades unionist, anti-working class person, recruited by the Tory government quite deliberately for the purpose of destroying trade unionism in the mining industry. I will not suffer any grief, not will I in any way cry over the loss ofIan MacGregor."[10]
He married Catherine Young in 1954 with whom he had two daughters and a son.
A heavy smoker for most of his life, McGahey suffered in later years from chronicemphysema andpneumoconiosis.[11]
A significant memorial, in the form of mine workings, stands to him at the east end of Cambuslang Main Street and there have been calls in theScottish Parliament for a more national memorial.
On 28 April 2006, inBonnyrigg, ex-UNISON general secretaryRodney Bickerstaffe unveiled a memorial to mark the 10th Anniversary of McGahey's address to theMidlothian TUC Worker's Memorial Day event inGeorge V Park. McGahey's son was present.
Bickerstaffe described McGahey as a "working class hero" who never lost touch with his roots and socialist values. He listed some of McGahey's sayings which were just as relevant today. "We are a movement not a monument", he quoted as a reminder of the need to continue to move and to fight on, and finished by saying "We know the reasons why Michael never became NUM President, but whether he had stayed as a steward or a delegate he would still have had a major impact on the movement".
| Trade union offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of theScottish Area of the National Union of Mineworkers 1967–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Vice-President of theNational Union of Mineworkers 1972–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Irene Swann | Chairman of theCommunist Party of Great Britain 1974–1978 | Succeeded by Ron Halverson |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
