Abstract
This chapter uses two case studies to explore community support from retailers during protracted industrial disputes: the 1984/1985 British Miners’ Strike and the 1951 New Zealand Waterfront Lockout. Across separate but connected societies, the consistency of retailer support in working-class communities demonstrates the socially embedded nature of their business. Credit, donations and access to business premises all demonstrate the interrelated social and economic relationships between retailers and their communities, and the moral understanding that framed those relationships.
Throughout the 1984/1985 Miners’ Strike, the Morrisons supermarket in Staveley, Derbyshire donated food to the strike centre to be distributed to striking miners. Historians of working-class retail (and industrial disputes) in the early 20th century have often noted the importance of support from food retailers in working-class areas during strikes and lockouts. This example suggests that the practice of support continued into the later decades of the 20th century, even though food retailing in working-class communities changed dramatically. Retail support during industrial disputes will be explored using two case studies: the 1984/1985 British Miners’ Strike and the 1951 New Zealand.