Mick Mcgahey

[ynnafymmi]

On the 25th anniversary of Mr McGaheys death there are a lot of people wanting to recognise him for what he did for the working class up here in Scotland.A monument of some kind perhaps.I would subscribe to that.Anyone else have their views on Mr McGahey.A real charismatic character of his times.

[ToraToraTora]

Sorry Ynnafymmi, we agree on some things, not this. He was a communist who was worse than Scargill, he'd have happily seen UK emerged into the Soviet Union. 5C to the core I'm afraid.

[naomi24]

I've never heard of him.

[ynnafymmi]

@17.24.He was Scargills worst enemy 3T.He despised Scargill with a vengeance.McGahey was a real pragmatist 3T.Scargill was a left-wing fascist.McGahey was a left-wing socialist.A big difference.

[ToraToraTora]

Well Scargill may have been the wrong kind of anti British lefty firebrand for him but they had a lot in common. His father was instrumental in the 1926 general strike and the apple did not fall far frm the tree. Him and his union buddies were running riot in the 60s and 70s. Many thought the rot cold not be stopped. We were really the sick man of Europe. I thank god(and I'm an athiest) that in 1979 cometh the hour cometh the Iron Lady.  I have nothing but contempt for unions as a result of what they did.

[ynnafymmi]

As i said earlier McGahey was first and foremost a pragmatist.He despised what Thatcher and Scargill did to the working class of this country.But he especially hated Scargill for destroying the trade unions and the trade union movement in this country.

[Buenchico]

There are, of course, already some memorials to McGahey:
https://www.newworker.org/ncpcentral/pitwheels.html

[fripfrip]

Why not really  go to town and open a new coal mine in his honour,everyone's a winner,COAL NOT DOLE.

[Neveracrossword]

Is there really 'a lot of people wanting to recognise him'?  I've seen no mention of this anywhere, but perhaps I've missed something?

[douglas9401]

Maybe a plaque, somehow showing an entire nation sighing as he appears on the evening news back in the day.

[New Judge]

I'm with Tora 100%.

A dreadful character who made me want to put my boot through the TV screen every time he appeared. Unfortunately I couldn't do that as I would not have been able to afford a new one. Mrs NJ and I were working six days a week to keep our heads above water, all the time wondering what lot be out on strike tomorrow.

 I hold nothing but contempt for his like - all the union "Barons" who believed it was their God given right to hold this country to ransom.

[anneasquith]

Nj. Had you lost the ability to turn your  tv off . ?

[maggiebee]

Some information for anyone who is interested.

theguardian.com/news/1998/feb/01/guardianobituaries2

[New Judge]

"Nj. Had you lost the ability to turn your  tv off . ?"

Unfortunately, Anne, when Mr McGahey and his ilk appeared on the telly it was usually during the news. We had to keep abreast of what was going on to find out whether we would be able to get a train to work the next day, whether our dustbins might be emptied and whether any power cuts were likely whilst we were getting ready to go to work at 6am the next morning. 

Some people had these and other more pressing problems besides, such as whether they would be able to get to a hospital appointment or if the bodies of their recently deceased relatives were to be dealt with by cemetery and crematorium staff. So unfortunately one had to watch teh news to see what special arrangements you might have to make just to conduct your day's appointments. 

It was not a pleasant time for people who were simply going about their business and trying to make their way in life. To have to watch the likes of Scargill, McGahey, Weighell and the rest pontificating on the TV about the terrible trials and  tribulations their poor oppressed members were having to endure simply rubbed salt into the wound. 

[Peter Pedant]

I recollect Mick MCG as being more of a doctrinaire communist than Scargill

wholesale re-nationalisations which will immediately result in a marxist paradise

his affiliation is CPGB ( CP of GB communist party of Great Britain) Marxist not exactly freedom loving and kissy-kissy

[Peter Pedant]

foo yeah - 

a statue of him kneeling and EATING coal and quoting lenin

those who do not work, do  not  eat...

[New Judge]

Yes Peter, Mr McGahey was an unadulterated Communist. 

His father was a founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and the boy Mick soon followed.

[ynnafymmi]

Methinks if Mick had been leader of the miners back in 1984 instead of Scargill(who most people regard as a Tory plant),then the outcome would have been a bit more amicable.Too late now.Over and out.