Miners' and General Strikes

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Miners' and General Strikes

Great Britain 1921, 1926

Synopsis

Industrial relations in the mining industry had long been fraught with contention. Miners' conditions improved during World War I and the immediate postwar period, when the mines were taken under government control and the demand for coal was high. However, an economic slump beginning in 1920 and the return of the mines to private ownership (despite an apparent promise to retain public control) created bitter industrial conflict. A national miners' strike in 1920 ended in compromise. Strike action against wage cuts and local pay bargaining in 1921 failed and was marked on "Black Friday" by the collapse of the Triple Alliance (of the unions of miners, transport workers, and rail workers) and its promise of joint industrial action. In 1925 the threat of joint union action helped resist wage cuts that were ultimately averted by a nine-month government subsidy. The renewed threat of cuts in 1926, enforced by a miners' lock-out, led to the General Strike of May 1926, which was coordinated by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and involved some 1.8 million workers. Government resolution and the trade unions' lack of will or strategy to secure victory caused the strike to be called off after nine days. The strike failed to secure conditions acceptable to the miners, who held out for an additional seven months.

Timeline

  • 1900: British Labour Party is founded.
  • 1911: Revolution in Mexico, begun the year before, continues with the replacement of the corrupt Porfirio Diaz, president since 1877, by Francisco Madero.
  • 1916: Battles of Verdun and the Somme occur on the Western Front. The latter sees the first use of tanks, by the British.
  • 1918: The Second Battle of the Marne in July and August is the last major conflict on the Western Front. In November, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates, bringing an end to the world war.
  • 1921: As the Allied Reparations Commission calls for payments of 132 billion gold marks, inflation in Germany begins to climb.
  • 1921: Canadian scientists Frederick Banting and Charles Herbert Best isolate insulin, an advance that will alter the lives of diabetics and greatly reduce the number of deaths associated with the disease.
  • 1924: V. I. Lenin dies, and thus begins a struggle for succession from which Josef Stalin will emerge five years later as the undisputed leader of the Communist Party, and of the Soviet Union.
  • 1926: When a revolt breaks out in Nicaragua, U.S. Marines are sent to that country, where they will remain for the next seven years.
  • 1929: On "Black Friday" in October, prices on the U.S. stock market, which had been climbing wildly for several years, suddenly collapse. Thus begins the first phase of a world economic crisis and depression that will last until the beginning of World War II.
  • 1931: Financial crisis widens in the United States and Europe, which reel from bank failures and climbing unemployment levels.
  • 1936: Germany reoccupies the Rhineland, while Italy annexes Ethiopia. Recognizing a commonality of aims, the two totalitarian powers sign the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact. (Japan will join them in 1940.)

Event and Its Context

By 1914 the coal industry employed 10 percent of the British workforce and lay at the heart of the industrial revolution. The industry's fragmented, complex structure gave rise to troubled industrial relations and provided ample grounds for confrontation between a management that was frequently perceived as obdurate and unsympathetic and a workforce with a powerful sense of community and status. A 10-month miners' strike had taken place in South Wales in 1910, followed by a national miners' strike in 1912. Further trade union militancy seemed imminent in 1914 during talks intended to create a Triple Alliance between mining, railway, and transport unions, but the First World War intervened.

Postwar Industrial Unrest

The war itself brought improved pay, a national minimum wage, and government control of the mines. In 1919, the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) demanded a shorter working day, higher wages, and nationalization of the mines. The government temporized by establishing a Royal Commission under Justice Sankey and promised to observe its recommendations. The Sankey Commission was divided but, in its final reports published in June, a majority of commissioners (Sankey himself and the six labor representatives) favored nationalization. The government, however, rejected public ownership.

In 1920, the MFGB resumed its campaign for improved conditions, but a brief national miners' strike in October ended inconclusively as the result of a temporary agreement to match pay raises to increased output. In 1921, the economy fell into sharp downturn. The coal industry was particularly hard-hit by the slump in demand and by the flood of German coal that reached the world market as part of the Versailles reparations settlement. Britain's mines, hampered by inefficient organization and old-fashioned techniques, were unable to compete. The export price of British coal fell by 50 percent; by 1921 the government was spending £5 million a month to subsidize the industry. In February, the government announced that private control of the mines would resume on March 31. The mine owners announced drastic wage cuts and district agreements. The MFGB's refusal to accept these conditions led to the publication of lock-out notices that would come into effect on the day of decontrol.

The miners' union successfully called upon the aid of the Triple Alliance: transport and railway workers pledged to withdraw their labor on Friday, 15 April. In truth, support for sympathetic strike action was lukewarm and Alliance leaders, most notably Jimmy Thomas of the railwaymen, were seeking an escape clause. On the eve of the planned action, Frank Hodges, secretary of the MFGB, intimated to a meeting of MPs that the miners might be willing to accept district settlements provided that they were linked to the cost of living. Although Hodges was immediately repudiated by his executive, Alliance leaders used the opening to accuse the miners of unreasonable intransigence and withdraw strike notices. The debacle became known in labor movement mythology as Black Friday. The miners fought on for 11 weeks until they were forced to accept district settlements and wage cuts that ranged between 10 and 40 percent. Significantly, as many trade unionists had feared, the defeat of the miners heralded a sweeping round of wage reductions that affected some 6 million workers. The conflicts of 1921, therefore, played a crucial role in the origins of the much larger dispute that emerged in 1926. Industrial relations in the mining industry had been almost irreparably poisoned, and some union leaders concluded that it was only by effective concerted action that workers' wages and conditions as a whole could be defended.

Prelude to the General Strike

By 1925, 60 percent of British coal was being mined at a loss. Unemployment in the industry rose to nearly 18 percent. Mine owners announced that on 31 July, wages would be reduced by between 10 and 25 percent. The MFGB's resistance concentrated on securing joint union action. Little came of the July 1925 conference of Industrial Alliance of manufacturing and transport unions, but the TUC pledged full support to the miners at a meeting held on 10 July. The Transport and General Workers, led by Ernie Bevin, and the National Union of Railwaymen promised to back the miners by an embargo on coal movements. The Special Committee of the TUC, created to coordinate the unions' response to the coal crisis, issued orders for members to embargo coal starting on 30 July. On the same day, Conservative Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin stated his belief in the general need for wage reductions. Support and sympathy for the miners combined with union members' concerns for their own standards of living. On 31 July, at the eleventh hour, the government announced the creation of a Royal Commission to investigate the mining industry (to be led by Sir Herbert Samuel) and a nine-month subsidy to the mines pending its report. The labor movement celebrated the climb-down as Red Friday.

This action signaled a truce but not a settlement. Although many in the labor movement celebrated, other cautionary and more militant voices urged preparation for future conflict. The TUC created an Industrial Committee to liaise with the miners and take charge of the dispute, but meetings in October and December 1925 assumed no additional powers. The government, on the other hand, acted decisively. July 1925 brought the activation of the Supply and Transport Committee, which, under the 1920 Emergency Powers Act, granted plenary powers to 10 Civil Commissioners to maintain transport, food and coal supplies, and postal services. In September 1925, the Organization for the Maintenance of Supplies (OMS) was established to supply volunteer labor in the event of any general work stoppage. Though an unofficial body, it liaised closely with government.

The report of the Samuel Commission, when it came on 10 March 1926, disappointed all sides. It opposed the labor movement's nationalization scheme but supported state acquisition of mineral rights. The report proposed rationalization of the industry and favored improved welfare benefits for miners. It was adamant, however, that government subsidy must be ended and that wage cuts were unavoidable. The government was shy even of the limited state intervention that had been suggested. Coal owners opposed any infringement of their proprietorial prerogatives. Mineworkers stood by their slogan, "Not a penny off the pay, not a second on the day." Four days later, the owners stated their intention to implement wage cuts and district settlements and lock-out notices were posted to take effect on 1 May.

The TUC's Industrial Council reiterated its full support for the miners but, significantly for later developments, was wary of fully backing the MFGB's refusal of any wage cuts, increased hours, or district settlements. The implication was that some reduction in wages might be acceptable provided the rest of the Samuel Report was fully implemented. The miners, nevertheless, placed the conduct of the dispute under the TUC's control. The TUC continued to negotiate for a settlement, but Baldwin's comment to the press that longer hours were necessary and news of the government's preparations for a likely strike forced their hand. On 2 May, Baldwin called off last minute negotiations between the government and the TUC Industrial Council when he heard of unofficial action by Daily Mail print workers, who had refused to print an editorial that was hostile to the union cause.

The General Strike

The TUC strategy was to call out unions in two phases. Workers in transport, printing, building, metal, and chemical trades were to cease work at midnight on Monday, 3 May. A second phase, comprising engineering, shipbuilding, and power workers, was to follow on 12 May. The response was overwhelming; local organizers reported near unanimous support for the stoppage, both by the trades directly involved and often by workers who were not immediately affected. Nor were there any but isolated signs of the strike weakening as the dispute progressed, though these were a factor in the TUC's decision to halt the dispute. Most historians concur with the contemporary labor movement's claim that the strike demonstrated unprecedented class solidarity. In total, some 1.8 million workers participated in the strike over the course of the nine-day dispute.

Given the lack of detailed preparation, the labor movement also fashioned an impressive apparatus to coordinate its action by forming some 400-500 local organizing bodies. Local trades councils frequently played a leading role in these committees, which issued instructions, distributed permits for essential services, and generally sought to maintain workers' morale. A few of the more militant committees established Workers' Defence Corps.

The government, however, acted forcefully to maintain essential services. The Civil Commissioners implemented the plans already agreed upon and recruited volunteer labor with the aid of the OMS. Meanwhile, government propaganda painted the dispute as an attack on the Constitution and gave wide publicity to the pronouncements of Sir John Simon MP and Justice Astbury that the strike was illegal. Despite the aggressive rhetoric, relations between strikers and the forces of law and order were generally cordial, but the myth of a peaceful and "very British" conflict should be questioned in part. Troops were deployed to move food supplies, and clashes between pickets and police occurred in more militant areas. The government reported 1760 arrests during the strike.

Labour's parliamentary leadership, particularly Ramsay MacDonald, was equivocal in its support and the TUC itself wanted to bring the dispute to an early conclusion. Samuel was prevailed upon to act as an intermediary though he acknowledged that he acted with no governmental authority. The Samuel Memorandum published on 11 May was essentially a rehash of his Commission's previous report, but the TUC seized on the memorandum as the basis of a settlement and ignored the MFGB which, led by Herbert Smith and A. J. Cook, maintained its refusal to countenance wage cuts. On 12 May a TUC deputation met Baldwin to announce that the Strike had been called off. Baldwin, for his part, gave no assurances that the Samuel recommendations would be implemented.

The miners' struggle continued for an additional seven months. The government's repeal of the Seven Hours Act in July 1926 hardened feelings, and union members continued to refuse terms that involved degraded conditions. East Midlands union members formed a break-away "nonpolitical" union, and the hardships suffered by the mining communities impelled a slow drift back to work through October and November. In these circumstances, the MFGB's national conference on 19 November agreed to allow its member associations to negotiate local agreements (conforming in principle to national standards). The strike ended in abject failure with district settlements, longer hours, and wage cuts.

Impact

One immediate effect of the strike was the passing of the Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act of 1927. The act declared sympathetic and general strikes illegal, banned mass picketing, and forbade government employees to join "political" trade unions (those affiliated to the TUC or Labour Party). It also replaced contracting-out of the unions' political levy to the Labour Party by contracting-in; in other words, union members were now required to state expressly that they wished to pay the levy rather than the reverse. Union contributions to the Labour Party fell by about one-third, largely as a result of the inertia of union members rather than hostility to Labour as such. In fact, one of the effects of the Strike was to increase working-class support for Labour. The class-determined character of the General Strike and coal dispute and the apparently callous nature of government policy heightened Labour's appeal as a specifically working-class party. After the 1929 general election, Labour became the largest single party and formed its second government.

Trade union membership fell, particularly in those unions most closely involved in the dispute. Industrial action declined significantly in 1927 and 1928 as a result of the depletion of union funds and a decline in members' morale. By 1929, however, union finances were largely restored and the number of strikes increased. Generally, the union movement appeared to become more moderate and toned down left-wing rhetoric in the later 1920s. The TUC made moves to reduce communist influence in the unions. The Mond-Turner talks of 1928—headed by the Liberal MP and industrialist Sir Alfred Mond and Ben Turner, the textile workers' leader—adopted a more conciliatory industrial policy, though many in the union movement as a whole had long favored cooperation with employers.

Overall, the long-term impact of the General Strike was relatively slight. The British trade union movement was too solid and conservative to be shaken from long-established ideas and practices. The strike itself is best interpreted as an authentic expression of trade union values and tactics, albeit one radicalized by the troubled industrial relations of the time. The strike was an industrial dispute with undeniably political overtones, and its leaders and supporters (despite an active left-wing minority) were not motivated by revolutionary sentiments. It demonstrated and strengthened a powerful class identity among British workers, but working-class consciousness was, and remained, essentially moderate and reformist. The trade union movement continued to believe in its essentially defensive and economic role.

The Labour Party nationalized the mines in 1946, but the economics of the coal industry remained difficult. A year-long strike against pit closures occurred in 1984-1985, and in 1996 the government privatized a greatly reduced mining industry.

Key Players

Baldwin, Stanley (1867-1947): Baldwin was a Midlands industrialist, elected Conservative MP in 1906 and prime minister in 1923, 1924-1929 and 1935-1937. Baldwin's self-proclaimed moderation did not prevent him taking a strong line against the General Strike or passing the Trade Disputes Act, but working-class resentments contributed to his defeat in the 1929 general election.

Bevin, Ernest (1881-1951): Born in Bristol, Bevin was a farm laborer and van driver before becoming an official of the Dockers' Union. On the formation of the Transport and General Workers Union in 1921, Bevin was elected general secretary. He was also a generally moderate member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress between 1925 and 1940. In 1940, Bevin became minister of labor in the wartime coalition government and was foreign secretary in the Labour Government from 1945 to 1951.

Cook, Arthur James (1885-1931): Born in mining village of Wookey, Somerset, Cook migrated to the South Wales coalfields where he became active in union politics. A founding member of the British Communist Party in 1920, he resigned when it criticized his acceptance of the 1921 strike settlement but remained, in his words, "a disciple of Karl Marx and a humble follower of Lenin." A fiery and emotional speaker, he became secretary of the MFGB in 1924. Mental exhaustion and physical ill health caused his early death in 1931.

Hodges, Frank (1887-1947): A miners' agent from South Wales, Hodges served as secretary of the MFGB between 1918 and 1924. Increasingly moderate and despised by the left for his role in Black Friday, he resigned his position on his appointment as a junior minister in the first Labour government. From 1927 to his death he was a member of the Central Electricity Board.

MacDonald, Ramsay (1866-1937): The illegitimate son of a Scottish maidservant and early member of the Fabian Society and Independent Labour Party, MacDonald became the secretary of the Labour Representation Committee. Mac-Donald was a Labour MP (1906-1918 and 1922-1931 and National Labour MP from 1931 to 1937) and was elected Labour leader in 1922. He served as prime minister in 1924 and 1929-31. MacDonald was an increasingly "respectable" moderate who opposed the 1926 General Strike and became leader of a "National" coalition government from 1931 to 1935.

Samuel, Herbert (1870-1963): Son of a wealthy banker, Liberal MP 1902-1918 and 1929-1935, and Liberal leader from 1931 to 1935, Samuel served as high commissioner for Palestine between 1920 and 1925. He was a reluctant participant in the coal dispute when called on by Stanley Baldwin to lead the Royal Commission into the industry in 1925.

Smillie, Robert (1857-1940): Born in Northern Ireland, Smillie and his family moved to central Scotland where he became a miner at age 17. A founder of the Lanarkshire Miners' Association, he was elected secretary of the Scottish Miners' Federation in 1894 and president of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1912. Smillie pursued a radical line after World War I, calling for nationalization of the mines and workers' control, but the failure of the Triple Alliance in 1921 led to his resignation as MFGB president. He was Labour MP for the mining constituency of Morpeth from 1924 to 1929.

Smith, Herbert (1862-1938): A blunt Yorkshireman who entered the pits at age 10, Smith became an active socialist and trade unionist, rising through the South Yorkshire Miners' Association and serving as a miners' representative on the 1919 Sankey Commission to become president of the MFGB in 1922. Though increasingly moderate politically and opposed to communist influence within the trade union movement, he was seen as the most resolute of miners' leaders during the 1926 coal dispute.

Thomas, James (1874-1949): Thomas joined the railways in South Wales at age 15 and subsequently became an organizer for the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. Prominent in the formation of the National Union of Railwaymen in 1913, he became general secretary four years later. He was Labour MP for Derby from 1910 to 1931 but was a moderate in both union and parliamentary politics. A member of the Cabinet in Labour's First and Second Governments (1924, 1929-1931), Thomas supported Mac-Donald's formation of a National (coalition) government in 1931 but was forced to resign in 1936 for alleged corruption.

Bibliography

Books

Clegg, H. A. A History of British Trade Unions Since 1889. Volume II, 1911-1933. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985.

Farman, Christopher. The General Strike, May 1926. St. Albans: Panther, 1974.

Hutt, Allen. The Post-War History of the British Working Class. London: Victor Gollancz, 1937.

Phillips, G. A. The General Strike: The Politics of Industrial Conflict. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976.

Additional Resources

Books

Laybourn, Keith. The General Strike of 1926. Manchester, New York: Manchester University Press, 1993.

Morris, Margaret. The General Strike. London: Journeyman,1980.

—John Boughton

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