How far was the conservative government responsible for the outbreak of the General Strike in 1926? (40 Marks)

It could be argued that the conservative government was responsible for the General Strike in 1926 to some extent. However, the Coal Owners were equally responsible. The problem was the conditions of the British Coal Industry. The working conditions in British mines never improved in the early 1920s. The amenities such as pit-head baths were in short in supply, and safety precautions were appalling, as can be judged by injury and death rates in the pits. From 1922 to 1924, over 3,603 miners died and 597,193 were injured. These conditions were appalling. The fall in prices resulting from the 1925 Dawes Plan that, among other things, allowed Germany to re-enter the international coal market by exporting "free coal" to France and Italy as part of their reparations for the First World War, whereupon the demand for the British coal plummeted. The heavy domestic use of coal in the First World War meant that rich seams were depleted. Britain exported less coal in the war than it would have done in peacetime, allowing other countries to fill the gap. The United States, Poland and Germany and their strong coal industries benefited in particular. In 1925 the industry was running at a loss, and at the end of June 1925 the owners insisted on wage cuts and longer hours. Mine owners wanted to normalise profits even during times of economic instability — which often took the form of wage reductions for miners in their employ. Coupled with the prospect of longer working hours, the industry was thrown into disarray. This even angered the miners more.  The Samuel report of 1926 gave some hope to the miners for better working conditions however; even this was crushed when the report also recommended that the government subsidy should be withdrawn and that the miners' wages should be reduced to 10 per cent to save the industry's profitability. Negotiations began at a very slow pace. Representatives of the owners and the miners met two weeks after the publication of the Samuel report. Neither side would accept the report’s recommendations. The owners would not talk of reorganization. Moreover they insisted on local as opposed to national wage agreements and insisted longer working hours. For their part, the union leaders nor did the miners accepted the wage cuts and longer working hours. The colliery owners adopted an extreme position and refused compromise.

Further, the Trades Union Congress’s leader Ernest Bevin wanted to achieve better pay and conditions by reasoned argument not confrontation could be said to be responsible for the outbreak in 1926 to an extent. Some trade unions at this time believed that strike action was the most effective way of bringing about changes in society. We could argue this on the foundations that they brought the country to a standstill when they proclaimed their ‘national’ strike which began on 1st may causing prices to rise and workers not being able to communicate with their work even though there was work to do. Also the TUC was said to have been detached from the miners as they seemed to be more worried about defending themselves than worrying about the demands of the miners causing them to go on strike. We could argue that the TUC was more into achieving moderate changes and wanted to negotiate with the government however the miners wanted actual change and decided to do it by themselves as the TUC didn’t seem to be achieving what they wanted initially causing the miners to go on strike.    

Lastly, mine leaders may also be accountable for the general strike of 1926. This can be argued on the basis that they refused the Samuel enquiry and its recommendations. Furthermore, they did not accept the wage cuts that were suggested and also they stopped any attempt to improve the mining industry as they were not looking at it from a long term perspective. Also the industrial relations in the mining industry were really poor making it strikes prone. In addition A.J. Cook an ex-preacher who was a member of the communist party was described as ‘an inspired idiot’ who became intoxicated with words when making a speech so that he hardly knew what he had just said or was about to say next. This would be a trigger to the strike as the miners would argue that if the leaders are so unaware and are not going to do anything about conditions and amenities then they would need to so something to raise awareness and achieve what they wanted through projecting a voice; strikes.

After looking at all the factors, we could say that each factor played an important part in the outbreak of the General Strike 1926; however I think the most important factor that was responsible to a large extent for the General Strike in 1926. People may argue that mine owners were largely responsible because they introduced wage cuts and long working hours however, government is more responsible here because the conservative government was in power and they could possibly stop the mine owners. It could be argued that mine owners introduced all these to save their coal industry and possibly save the miner from being unemployed if the coal industries do not work in competition of the other countries so In conclusion I think conservative government were more responsible than any other factors because, at the end of the day at that time they were in power and they could possibly look after the miners problems as well as the problems of coal-industry. They even refused to accept Samuel commission report that made the miners upset.