Ballad Of '84

Come gather round me people and I'll sing to you a song

About a famous battle that went on for so long

It's a tale of grief and courage of pain and bravery

One of the finest pages written in our history

We all know songs that tell of workers' struggles long ago

Of UCS, Tolpuddle, Shrewsbury, Pentonville and so I'm here

To sing to you the praises of the women and the men

Who dared the might of Tory spite the future to defend

Twas in March of 1984 the gauntlet was thrown down

When MacGregor told the NUM, "These pits are closing down"

"Och, get on your bike, MacGregor", the miners' answer came

"We fought the Board in 74 and we'll fight you once again"

From S Wales across to Yorkshire, from Scotland down to Kent

The miners showed the NCB that what they said, they meant

Except the scabs who sold their future out to Thatcher and her gang

And turned traitor to their class, their names forever damned

In Fleet Street and in Downing Street, a wondrous sight was seen

New-found converts to democracy soon all began to scream

"You can't strike without a ballot", well-fed mouths were heard to bleat,

"You won't ballot us out of our jobs, we're voting with our feet"

Soon armies of blue uniforms were marching through the land

With horses, dogs and riot shields and truncheons in both hands

But the miners took on everything the government could throw

And went back again to battle on with shouts of "Here we go!"

The battle wasn't only only by courageous mining men

For the women joined the struggle fighting side by side with them

In every area of battle women hurried to the fight

At rallies and at meetings and out on the picket lines

And in support groups up and down the land our comrades rallied round

The cry went up "They Shall Not Starve" and cash and food were found

To keep the miners and their families in solidarity

And show the world the working class would never bow the knee

Let's pause here to remember the men who gave their lives

Joe Green and David Jones were killed in fighting for their rights

But their courage and their sacrifice we never will forget

And we won't forget the reason, too, they met an early death

For the strikebreakers in uniforms were many thousand strong

And any picket who was in the way was battered to the ground

With police vans driving into them and truncheons on the head

It's just a bloody miracle that hundreds more aren't dead

So here's to Arthur Scargill, Heathfield and McGahey too

Who led the strike together in defence of me and you

And Malcolm Pitt and Davie Hamilton and the rest of them as well

Who were torn from home and family and locked in prison cells

But the battle will go on until the working class has won

For the right to work and decent lives belongs to everyone

We'll go forward now in unity, let's share the miners' load

There can only be one answer - socialism, here we go!