Why did the general strike of 1926 take place?
77 years ago an earthquake shook the very foundations of British capitalism this was the general strike of 1926 it took place because of numerous reasons of which I am going to explain a few in detail. The aim of this essay is that there are numerous reasons and many years to affect the out come of the general strike there are long term and short term causes as well.
One of the reasons that I am going to explore is that the war was a long term cause and an important factor in the general strike because before the war there was industrial unrest because the miners were having to do long hours with not much pay and during the war the mines were changed to nationalisation so the miners were receiving more pay and wanted to stay with nationalisation, the economic consequences of the war lead to less money being paid per tonne of coal being produced making it harder to earn money in the business, with all the exports becoming more expensive and mass unemployment a lot of people during the war went hungry and because coal mining was such a dangerous job (on average 2 people a day died) so the miners thought that because they were risking their lives they were they should get a higher pay, these factors contributed to the strike by building tension between the miners and mine owners and other businesses because of the rise in export prices. The trade unions contributed and supported strike action because they believed that they had special rights such as higher wages and threatened a general strike along with Labour for the first time in 1920, months later in 1921 the confrontation was to come to a head when the government said it was stopping its control over the mines, the coal owners immediately announced drastic wage cuts, but the miners federation rejected it and the miners were locked out on March 31, the events in 1921 were like a prologue of the events that would happen 5 years later, the triple Alliance agreed to join the miners fight in April, however then the miners federations secretary said that a compromise was possible through local bargaining, this was rejected by his boss but then used by other union leaders as an excuse to back out, the strike notices were withdrawn, and April 15 became known as BLACK FRIDAY, the miners were isolated after a battle lasting 3 months they were defeated and wages were cut by 10 - 40% almost everywhere, the defeat of the miners had a big impact on other workers. After the crippling blow in 1921 a boom in mining in 1923 following the French occupation of the Ruhr meant an increase in wages and a fall in unemployment. In 1924 when the French withdrew from the Ruhr saw German coal back on the market and British exports slump. In April 1925 a return to the gold standard at pre-war parity with the dollar this meant overvaluing of the pound by 10%, the bosses of industry would have to make this up over valuation by cutting cost, the cuts would be in workers wages and not bosses profits, as usual the mine owners were first to announce pay cuts. Black Friday had not been forgotten and since March the miners had been trying to organise a new Triple Alliance with nothing yet finalised the miners turned for support to the full general council of the TUC it placed itself without qualification and unreservedly at the disposal of the miners federation, other industrial unions were joining the triple alliance, it was clear that what happen to the miners could happen to other industries if they didn't back down. It was clear that a lot of tension brewing the two sides and Baldwin tried to buy some time by giving the miners a 9 month subsidy to maintain the miners previous agreement while an enquiry into the mining industry took place and this was not the first time and every time the findings had never been to the liking of governments or coal owners, most advised a nationalisation of some sort but Baldwin & Co. weren't interested they only wanted to buy time so they could be better prepared for an all out confrontation. The ramshackle emergency supply and transport committee set up by Lloyd George in 1919 and beefed up in preparation for a fight at the time of Black Friday in1921 was reorganised, built up and joined by a volunteer body, the organisation for the maintenance of supplies, the OMS were an unsavoury bunch including the fascists. By now unemployment had risen and union membership had fallen from 8.25 million in 1920 to 5.25 million, the union leaders had neither the desire nor the will to fight. The publication of the Samuel report, the findings of the government enquiry, was their great hope, the report damned the coal owners but stopped short of calling for nationalisation as earlier reports had done, instead it called for wage cuts. The national minority immediately condemned the report; they convened a national conference of action in London on March 21, which represented hundreds of thousands if not a million workers. Cook stuck by the miners position, he used this famous slogan "Not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay", the TUC leaders however saw the Samuel report as a way out, the coal owners posted notices saying that all employment on the current conditions would end on April 30. The TUC's industrial committee asked to speak to the Prime Minister desperate to find a way to avoid conflict. On the afternoon of April 30 the bosses announced their proposal of a return to the minimum of 1921, a 13% pay cut and an 8-hour day.
