Trade Unionism - The General Strike of 1926 Flashcards
Reasons for the General Strike - Economic depression
Economic depression – gov returned to the gold standard in 1925 – this reduced the value of the pound which decreased exports such as coal
Reasons for the General Strike - Fear of Communism
Fear of communism – in 1924, a fake letter, known as the ‘Zinoviev Letter’ which linked the Lab Party to the Russian CP, led to the downfall of MacDonald’s Lab gov – the British people were opposed to supporting TUs’ demands since they were socialist
Reasons for the General Strike - Confidence in TUs
Confidence in the TUC – in summer 1925, the TUC supported a dispute between approximately 150,000 textile workers against employers who were reducing wages – the Yorkshire Factory Times declared that the wage retreat had ‘been stopped’, showing the victorious attitude of the TUC
Events of the General Strike - What happened in 1921, what were they advocating by 1925, and what was TU membership at?
In 1921, the TUC formed a General Council as an executive committee, staffed by paid members – by 1925, they were advocating a strong industrial alliance to lead all TUC unions into sympathy strikes if a member union was attacked, and avoid the failure of Black Friday from happening again – TU membership was 5.5 million in 1925, so the TUC was widely supported
Events of the General Strike - What did the coal mine owners do in 1925?
The same year, coal mine owners declared a plan to abolish the national minimum wage, cut wages by 10-25%, and maintain profit levels no matter how low wages
Events of the General Strike - What did the TUC commit to as a result of the coal mine owners’ actions, and what did the gov do to stop this?
The TUC committed to a sympathy strike – to avoid this, Stanley Baldwin’s Con gov funded the mine owners with a 9 month subsidy to protect wages while a Royal Commission investigated – the TUC proclaimed this temporary measure as a victory and named it ‘Red Friday’
Events of the General Strike - What happened in April 1926
The coal subsidy ran out on 30th April 1926 – the TUs, confident in their recent victories, had no plans on how to support the miners, should a strike be necessary – James Thomas, who chaired the TUC committee dealing with the issue, believed that the gov would seek a peaceful solution – when the gov had used the time to prepare financially, consider economic options for mining and to win a propaganda war – the Home Sec commented in a meeting ‘is England to be governed by Parliament and the Cabinet or by a handful or TU leaders?’
Events of the General Strike - What did the Samuel Commission recommend and what happened as a result of these, and what was the significance of the Daily Mail?
The Samuel Commission recommended the reduction of wages, and on the 1st of May, employers cut wages, employers cut wages – the TUC General Council took responsibility to negotiate for the miners – after brief discussions, using Thomas as a mediator, Baldwin’s gov stopped negotiating when the Daily Mail refused to print a pro-gov editorial which labelled the miners as ‘revolutionary’ – although the TUC apologised for the Daily Mail, the negotiations ended and a general strike was called to start at 23:59 on the 3rd of May 1926
Events of the General Strike - Why was there confusion over who should strike and what happened?
From the start, there was confusion over who should strike – the TUC had limited control – the General Council decided that only ‘one group’ unions, about 3 million workers like printers and railwaymen, should join the strike – other workers such as textile workers, in ‘group two’ unions, should wait to see if they were needed, but in the end they joined the strike without being asked – what occurred was therefore a large scale, nine-day strike general strike in which workers in many trades across Britain went on strike in support of the miners
Events of the General Strike - What happened by the 6th of May?
By 6th of May, there was fighting between police and strikers in London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, followed by other cities a day later – as a result, the gov recalled the army to London
How did the General Strike end - What happened on the 7th of May?
On 7th May, Sir Herbert Samuel of the Commission offered to help the TUC end the strike – the TUC negotiating committee agreed a set of proposals with Samuel, without consulting the miners federation
How did the General Strike end - What were the proposals that the TUC agreed to?
These were a National Wages Board to be established, a minimum wage for miners, workers forced out of mining work to be offered alternative employment, wages subsidies to continue during negotiations
How did the General Strike end - What would these proposals require from the miners?
Samuel made clear that these proposals would require miners to accept reductions in wages – the TUC agreed but the miners’ federation refused
How did the General Strike end - What happened on the 11th of May?
On the 11th of May the TUC General Committee agreed to accept the proposals – the next day it informed Baldwin that the General Strike was over – the TUC reps attempted to gain a guarantee that the strikers would not be victimised, but Baldwin refused to agree to this
