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Blackleg Miner

2,664 views · Published 1 August 2011 · 1:53 · Indexed 18 October 2026

Channel: Proletarian TV · 2011 · Music

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BLACKLEG MINER

Dave and Doreen East perform "Blackleg Miner" at the CPGB-ML's international BBQ to celebrate the 58th anniversary both of the DPRK's victory in the fatherland liberation war (25 June 1950 -- 27 July 1953), which marked the first defeat of US imperialism; and the storming of the Moncada barracks by Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro in July 26, 1953, that signaled the start of the Cuban revolution.

Seghill Mine was the principle employer in Seaton Delaval, a coal-mining village north of Newcastle-upon-tyne, in the North-East of England, and the scene of fierce strikes in the 1860s.

"Blackleg" refers to the colour of the strike-breaker's legs -- who were still mining coal, and therefore still covered in coal-dust -- while the other miners were striking to defend their livelihood in a life-and-death struggle.

Blackleg is a term that had as much meaning to miners of the North-East collieries in and around Durham in the late 1800s as the term "scab" had for the striking miners led by Arthur Scargill in 1984.

A song that roamed far from its native Durham and comes from the fierce emotions towards the strike-breakers, heard in coal mines as far away as Nova Scotia. This is one of the finest of the industrial ballads that came out of the close-knit communities of the mining towns. Other variants tell of "the best-dressed man of Seghill" being hunted like a hare on the moor, stripped of his clothes and his tools thrown down the pit shaft.

Speeches:
Harpal Brar:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrY83sD1d9s
Sol Chong Jang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZeAd5oFomM
Mohammad Hassan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TJZP0p5NcM
Keith Bennett: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBdqo6G937c
Ranjeet Brar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwgDekJTVvc

Music:
Blackleg Miner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnH2LTipUac

More at:
www.cpgb-ml.org

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