ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effect on the NUM of the fall in demand for coal in 1957 as the energy market changed and the coal substitution policies put in place between 1951 and 1955 began to work. Initially this decline was thought to be temporary, the result of a cyclical recession, but it soon became clear the changes were structural and for the first time since 1947 pits closed on economic grounds. This provoked a debate in the NUM about how it should respond to this new situation: lobbying and pressure group politics or industrial action? The latter was ruled out of the question and as the Macmillan government rejected the NUM's policy, the only hope was the election of a Labour government. The NUM believed that Labour government of 1964 was committed to creating a 200m ton industry. They were to be disappointed.
