Mick McGahey

Michael "Mick" McGahey (29 May 1925 – 30 January 1999) was a Scottish miners' leader and lifelong Communist, with a distinctive gravelly voice. He described himself as "a product of my class and my movement".

His father, John McGahey, was working in the mines at Shotts, North Lanarkshire when Mick was born. John was a founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and took an active part in the 1926 General Strike. Perhaps because of this, the family had to move to Cambuslang in search of work, and it was here that Mick went to school.

He started work at age 14 at the Gateside Colliery, and continued to work as a miner for the next 25 years. He followed his father into the Communist Party and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), remaining a member of both the Communist Party, until its dissolution in 1990, and the NUM, all his life. He was an implacable defender of both and supported the 1956 invasion of Hungary, seeing the then Soviet Union as a beacon of hope for humanity.

He became chairman of the local branch of his union when he was only eighteen and thereafter progressed through its echelons, though never quite reaching the national presidency. He was elected to the Scottish Executive of the NUM in 1958, becoming president of the Scottish area in 1967. He was regarded as a highly competent operator but his strongly militant line was opposed by others in the Union. He was defeated in the 1971 elections for National President by Joe Gormley.

McGahey was, however, elected National Vice-President of the NUM in 1972. He made similar progress in the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), being elected to its Executive in 1971. He remained a member until the CPGB dissolved in 1991 and then joined its successor in Scotland, the Communist Party of Scotland. He was reportedly the subject of phone tapping by the UK security service MI5 whose transcribers found him difficult to understand because of his accent and the effects of alcohol consumption.

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