In 1984-85, the National Union of Mineworkers led a labor strike as a protest against the government shutting down coal mines. The Thatcher government sent in police to break up the picket lines, and refused emergency welfare payments to dependents of those on strike. The strikers found an unlikely ally in Britain’s gay and lesbian population, which banded together to raise money for the strikers, to the tune of thousands of pounds. And that’s the subject of the new movie Pride, which is in limited released in the U.S. Despite the serious and sometimes violent subject matter, the film is a comedy, and has excellent reviews.
In an article at The Guardian about how the movie came about, you can see a 23-minute documentary about the events of the film. The filmmakers and the real-life participants that inspired the movie talk about the movie in this video. -via Metafilter, where’ll you’ll find many more links.
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Hmm, now I don't know where I got that; it might have said longest coal strike. Anyway, I'll edit that.
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It certainly wasn't the longest dispute or strike in British history. Grunwick, for example, was longer by far. Depending whether you count it or not, Burston School at around 25 years was longer still.
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