Another longer term factor was that the economic situation of the mining industry was dropping considerably; this played another important role in leading up to the General Strike. In the 1900s Britain’s wealth was based upon trade and export of industrial goods- it had previously been a very strong country economically; however by 1914 it no longer was as other countries had begun to develop their industries. This affected the mining industry badly, since it had formerly been one of Britain’s leading industries. Coal was no longer in very high demand since new fuels and materials such as oil and gases were becoming available consequently an excessive quantity of coal was being produced. This caused the price of coal to drop dramatically; so many wages had to be reduced. Not only this but British coal was extremely uncompetitive since the methods used by their companies were old-fashioned. By 1927 only 25% of British coal was extracted by machinery compared to 80% of Ruhr coal, this proves that the British coal industry was falling behind in the competitive stakes. This also caused a decrease in the amount of coal being exported hence the value of coal also dropped considerably. Prices dropped from £4 per prices played a major part in causing the General Strike. If any one of these had been prevented, for example if the coal industry had used more up-to-date methods, then there would have been no reason for the coal prices and wages to drop. Coal prices fell from £4 in 1920 to £2.50 per ton in 1923, export prices declined even more rapidly- from £5 in 1920 to £1 in 1921. The events which led to the reduction of wages of the workers to be dropped led to them going on strike. For this reason this may be the most important long-term factor since it led to the miner’s being locked out the mines because they were not happy with their wages and this is what led other industries to strike in support.
Black Friday was another long-term cause of the General Strike; on Friday 15th April 1921 the miners went on strike and asked the NUR and NTWF, who formed the Triple Alliance with them, to strike with them. However, the other members of the Triple Alliance refused to join them. The miner’s were forced to continue work again with the same seven hour shifts, but in some cases for half the pay. During the war coal mines had been nationalised- workers were content with their wages and the conditions they were working in and were under a false illusion this is how the industry would continue to be run. However, in 1921 they were handed back to private ownership ruining these illusions and caused the miners to strike. Black Friday shows that the miners had been unhappy with the pay they had been receiving for a long time before 1927, so they were very likely to strike again in an attempt to gain higher wages. It also shows there had been a history of poor relations between miners and their employers- this was not the only time that they had previously gone on strike. The workers were dissatisfied with the mines they worked in being privately owned and wanted the industry to become nationalised again as they had seen this as much more fair. Black Friday was not so much a very important factor leading to the General Strike, but a warning an event such as this would occur. If the miners had been given what it was they wanted at this point in time then the strike could very easily have been prevented.
Government policy was a short term factor which helped lead to the General Strike, which was particularly significant. The government realised the risky conditions many miners were working in and tried to help end them, however they did not succeed. They firstly subsidised the coal industry with £10 million per year for a total of four years, believing this would prime the pump and by the time this period was over coal prices would have risen. However the prices fell further. Their second attempt was to introduce the pound back onto the Gold Standard to improve Britain’s international trading position. However this was unsuccessful and almost disastrous since it meant the pound was overvalued on the foreign market hence the goods were overpriced and therefore less competitive. With the goods becoming even less competitive than they already were, with the foreign industries expanding, the General Strike was becoming almost inevitable. Although the subsidy was a fairly good idea it was misplaced and was not enough on its own to help the coal industry. The Gold Standard however caused more difficulty and was of hardly any use, if the Government had not introduced it then it is liable the strike could have been averted. For this reason the Government policies were of great consequence.
Another short term cause of equal importance were the further wage cuts in 1925, mine owners announced hours would be increasing yet wages would be falling. Mine owners had always shared a difference in opinion with the workers on how their wages should be worked out- mine workers wanted them to be determined by each pit, whereas workers wanted a national pay level. During the war a national pay level had been decided on and now it was going to be written off. All of the good work which had been done during the period mines had been nationalised, such as fair wages and conditions, were being undone and obviously the miners were discontent with this decision. They wanted to strike again to win back the conditions which had been lost, and now other unions were more sympathetic since their wages had already been decreased significantly. It is probable that at this point strike was now practically inevitable because their wages had continued to decrease the miners were pushed to strike and other unions were now supporting them. If the mine owners had backed down and kept the current wages then the General Strike could have been prevented, although the miners were not totally happy with their conditions. The wage cuts were a particularly important factor in the events leading up to the strike.
People began to realise a strike was coming and on 31st July 1925, which become known as ‘’Red Friday’’, Stanley Baldwin set up a royal commission, the Samuel Report- these were short term causes of the strike. The Samuel Report was simply set up to stall time before the strike, which was now inevitable. The Samuel Report decided the subsidy should be stopped and miners’ wages lowered, however the conditions in the mines must be improved and since too much coal was currently being produced miners should not work longer hours. The report was fair and balanced but each side refused to accept since it did not meet all of their requirements, therefore a stalemate has been produced and neither side would back down. The owners ignored the report reduced wages more than the 10% advised and lengthened hours, prices were cut dramatically- a miner in Durham would have his wages cut by 92p. The miners refused to accept this and replied saying ‘not a penny off the day, not a minute on the day’. Even at this point if enough had been done the strike could have been prevented if one side backed down. The owners could have given the miners what they wanted, but they would not do this for fear of syndicalism, which some union leaders, such as A J Cook, were influenced by since they were strong socialists. The miners could have accepted the conditions but they were stubborn and refused to compromise. The Samuel Report being disregarded was an essential point in the events leading to the General Strike; if it had been taken into account then both sides would have been more content and a strike would have been averted.
The events on the 1st and 2nd May were the trigger causes of the General Strike, the first of these events was on the 1st of May when the miners got locked out of their mines by the owners. This meant over a million men were out of work. Even at this point if the two sides had agreed to negotiate then the strike could have been stopped. The miners appealed to the TUC for support, a union leaders meeting was held and it was decided that on 3rd of May a national strike would be held and 3 million more men would come out of work. They also agreed to try and resolve the situation by negotiating with the government. If the negotiation had gone successfully then the strike would have been prevented, so this factor was important in leading to the strike but not the most important.
The final trigger cause was on the 2nd of May when the Daily Mail refused to publish an anti-union article hence leading the government to call off the negotiations, although they had almost reached an agreement to prevent the strike. This was the most important factor leading to the strike because at any other point the strike could have been prevented however after this event the strike was most definitely inevitable.
In conclusion there were many factors leading to the General Strike and they were all equally important as each other. If any one of the events had not happened the strike would have been prevented, there were many points where it could have been prevented. It was only after the Government had called off the negotiations that the strike became inevitable, perhaps making this the principal cause of the strike and the Government the group ultimately to blame. However, all four groups involved in the strike share part of the blame for what came. The government called off the negotiations when times were at the most precarious and the measures they took to prevent the strike made things worse, if anything. The mine owners and workers each refused to negotiate, the owners were not successful in convincing the workers it was necessary for their wages to be lowered. The TUC were also partly to blame since they got drawn into a strike which they did not believe would be of use to anyone. The mine workers and owners were mainly to blame since they did nothing to resolve the situation, whereas the Government and the TUC did try and negotiate and come to a fair conclusion.
