Introduction

The dramatic revival in the fortunes of the coal-mining industry in 1973 understandably excited considerable public attention. ¹ Throughout the 1960s the coal-mining industry had, in a very real sense, been “fighting for survival”. Coal consumption had fallen by almost 30 per cent between 1959 and 1969, while the number of men employed in the industry had declined by a staggering 55 to 60 per cent. The central question concerning the coal-mining industry in the 1960s had been how the contraction of the industry could be achieved with the minimum adverse social consequences.