ABSTRACT
The British Mineworkers' union combines perhaps the highest degree of regional administrative autonomy in Britain - a carry-over from a pre viously federal f o r m - w i t h national decision-making on industrial and political policy. The decision-making processes have entailed a high level of electoral opposition over a prolonged period of time, and have resulted in important posts being shared among different political tendencies, a pattern which has persisted into the 1970s. We will show how the distribu tion and regulation of power in the Mineworkers have resulted in another important exception to the iron law of oligarchy. The explanation will primarily be in terms of formal organisational factors rather than a by passing of the official structure. It will focus on the last two presidential elections particularly, in 1960 and 1971, as well as the two general secretaryship elections of 1959 and 1968.
