Arthur Horner

Arthur Horner (1894-1968) was a miners'' leader from the 1926 general strike until his retirement as general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1959. During his life, he contributed in essential ways to the development of social democracy in Britain and to trade unionism as a whole. But it was his warmth, good humour and enthusiasm which made ''little Arthur'', as he was affectionately known by his union colleagues, really memorable.

Coming from a working-class family and being forced by poverty to leave school at eleven, Horner devoted his life to the struggle for socialism. He was a committed communist, but was also able to exercise effective leadership in a major trade union committed to social democratic principles, playing a key role in the social democratic settlement after the Second World War. Horner played a crucial role in the fight for a national mineworkers'' union and the development of the National Coal Board; was a champion of the Republicans in Spain; was imprisoned several times for his views; and was in constant demand as a speaker.

This biography documents admirably the major contribution Horner made to trade unionism, and to the creation of a social democratic commonwealth in postwar Britain.