Abstract
Politics in Labour's heartlands—the coalfield Constituency Labour Parties—have rarely been examined. This article shows that the image of miners dominating CLPs is mistaken and since 1945 the weakness of the miners in grassroots politics has increased. The miners' role in grassroots politics is explored via three themes: the political consequences of one-party dominance, the problems encountered by the Yorkshire miners in maintaining their political influence, and the reassertion of miners' political influence since 1979.
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