It may be a hundred years since the General Strike, but the words have such a resonance in labour history that it comes as something of a shock to realise that it lasted only nine days. Also, as Alan Fowler reminded the audience at Hebden Bridge Local History Society, it remains a unique event. That action in May 1926, when workers from different industries were called out in solidarity with the coal miners, was never repeated.
Alan has spent his working life teaching Economic and Social History, so was able to put the events of the strike into a wider context. The immediate trigger was a lock out of the workers in coal mines, but it was shaped by events and decisions far away from the pits.
War had brought full employment but was followed by instability, with a boom in the very speculative stock exchange followed by depression and a decision to deflate the economy. The postwar settlement saw the rest of the world catching up with industrialisation, closing down some of the export markets England had relied on.
A crucial decision was made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, (Winston Churchill, freshly back in the Conservative Party) to return the UK to the gold standard, a mistake that massively over-valued the pound. The English economy was weakened as the US gained power as the greatest creditor nation.
Coal mines returned to private ownership, and collective bargaining by miners on a national basis was ended. But the owners did act together, proposing to cut the wages and extend the hours worked.
The labour movement had been growing in power and influence, with membership of trades unions quadrupling from 1910 to 1920, from 2 million to 8 million. Half the labour force of England belonged to a Union, so when the miners defiantly called for ‘not a minute on the day; not a penny off the pay’, and the TUC gave its support to the miners, there must have been some expectation of success. There was also considerable alarm, with a shadow of communism and constitutional crisis.
After the miners were locked out on May 3rd the TUC called the General Strike, still believing that they had the strength to negotiate and reach a compromise. Different sectors were to be called out in sequence, with some of the first strikes being in transport. Newspaper editorials emphasised the threat, and there was a movement to organise volunteers (especially University graduates and women) to step into the roles of transport workers. There might have been a spirit of jollity, but there were also accidents, and a threat of violence with convoys of food lorries accompanied by tanks. By May 12th it was called off.
The miners continued in their struggle for another six months until forced back to work on savage terms. There was never another general strike, but despite the apparent humiliation of trade unionism, sympathy for the miners remained and in the General Election of 1929 Labour was the largest party.
The movement had shown solidarity, but there had been no gains for the miners.