The closing of the U.K.’s last deep-pit coal mine signalled an end to an industry that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution in Britain and propel it to become a dominating power in world commerce. British coal warmed homes and fueled trains that criss-crossed the country. And because that coal also powered the oceangoing vessels that replaced windjammers with faster, more reliable propulsion, it was an era in which Britannia ruled the waves.
In a procession led by a man dressed as The Grim Reaper, more than 2,000 people commemorated the closing of the Kellingley Colliery mine (shown) at Beal in North Yorkshire by marching about a mile from the town hall in Knottingley (in West Yorkshire) to a rally at the Kellingley Miners’ Welfare Club. Though several of the miners had requested that there be no observance of the closing because of the extreme sadness of the event, those who preferred the march eventually won.
But just what caused this economic tragedy that has taken away the livelihoods of so many miners and their families? Numerous news reports point to several factors: government subsidies to greener energy sources, not enough government subsidies for coal mining, lack of government support for cleaner burning technologies for coal, and burdensome environmental laws and regulations. Together, these known factors constitute a taffy-pull of economic reasons for the death of an industry that is worthy of evaluation.
But there is one attributed reason that is in fact not correct. Britain’s deep-pit coal mining industry is not the victim of free market economics, as some have claimed. The aforementioned government subsidies and regulations demonstrate clearly anything but a free market.
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The European Union began as an innocent-sounding agreement for coal and steel production. The May 10, 1950 Wall Street Journal’s front-page article entitled “France Proposed Pooling of Europe’s Coal and Steel to Preserve Peace” stated:
As a first move, French Foreign Minister Schuman said his country would offer immediately to join its Lorraine and Saar Basin output with that of Germany’s Ruhr Valley. This decision followed conferences in Paris Monday with Secretary of State Acheson.
More details were listed in an article on page three: Under the French plan, a joint commission would be set up to harmonize production and distribution, including exports, as well as prices and labor conditions.
Such a plan was anything but a free market.
It should also be noted that what was described as a French plan included input from many foreign sources, including the U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson, a member of the one-world-promoting Council on Foreign Relations.
The coal and steel agreement soon morphed into the Common Market and the European Economic Community (EEC), on its way to becoming the European Union (EU). When Britain joined the EEC on January 1, 1973, the front-page story in the Times of London reported, “The Prime Minister [Edward Heath] spoke of the exciting prospects for higher living standards and greater stability in international trade.” The British people themselves, however, were hardly the impetus for England joining the EEC, as the article explained:
An opinion poll taken on the eve of entry indicated that Britons are almost equally divided about becoming Europeans. Thirty-eight per cent were happy at the prospect, 39 per cent were unhappy, and 23 per cent were “don’t knows.”
The British coal miners at Kellingley Colliery and other mines may take little solace in knowing their jobs were lost by politicians who promoted “free trade” agreements that were actually not about free trade at all.
Globalists, socialists, and communists are promoting regional blocs that will destroy the natonal sovereignty of member nations. Their ultimate goal is to merge the regions into a world government. Americans should strongly resist the Obama administration’s efforts to entangle our country in “free trade” agreements with Pacific Rim nations and the European Union.
Photo of mine: Paul Glazzard
