The Causes of the British General Strike 1926
During the First World War, Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, talked of creating a country “fit for heroes to live in”. Also many politicians promised that conditions would improve for the working class, because they realised that it was possible that a lot of workingmen would be reluctant to fight.
After the First World War, soldiers realised that Britain was still a very unjust society. Politicians told them that they would have to be patient, because it would take time before they could carry out the reforms that they had promised. However as time went on, things got worse rather than better.
Coal mining had always been a very dangerous job. In the three years from 1922 to 1924, 597194 miners were injured. However this figure doesn’t take into account the miners that were affected by long term ill health due to working down in the dirty and uncomfortable mines. Although coal mining created huge profits, workers received very low wages, and the conditions were very bad. The miners felt they were being treated very unfairly.
A massive 40% of miners of military age had joined the armed forces during the war. Even before the First World War, miners had been campaigning for improvements in they’re working conditions and there pay, as they were so bad, so after the war, miners returned to the mines with high hopes for the future. Therefore they were particularly disappointed and upset that the politicians had not done the things they said they would. Miners who had carried on working in the mines during the First World War enjoyed many improvements in their work. This was mainly because; the government took over control of the mines. Wages were increased and standardized. Before the war wages depended on how cheap and easy there work was at each individual mine, therefore wages varied from mine to mine. Most miners hoped that all mines would remain nationalized after the war, however in 1921 Lloyd George allowed the mines to go back into private ownership. This was because the royal Commission couldn’t agree on a suitable solution to the problems in the coal-mining industry. Most members agreed that mines being nationalized would be the best idea however; to the Miners Commissions frustration Lloyd George refused to nationalize the mines.