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Hi, and welcome back to part two of our mini
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series about the British General strike of nineteen twenty six.
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If you haven't listened to part one yet, I go
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back and listen to that first.
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Oh you men of done candy dig events of coal
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with me little pick and shove up for the boss
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man the callery. But I'll never own your soul with me,
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little pick and shove up.
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Our podcast is brought to you by our patriot supporters.
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Our supports fund our work and in return get exclusive
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can listen to all three parts of this mini series now,
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as well as an exclusive bonus episode with more information
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and context s. If you can, please join us and
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help us preserve and promote our history of collective struggle.
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Sign up and listen today at patreon dot com slash
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working Class history link in the show notes. The strike
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was scheduled to begin at eleven fifty nine pm on Monday,
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the third of May. However, unofficial action in some areas
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was already beginning over the weekend on Sunday. Printers at
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the right Wing Daily Mail newspaper refused to print an
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editorial which claimed the general strike aimed to inflict pain
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on innocent people in the community. On Monday, printers at
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the Start The Evening Standard and The Evening News took
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similar action against similarly worded editorials in those newspapers, and
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on Tuesday, the Times and The Telegraph newspapers were also affected.
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Even though the general strike hadn't officially started at the time,
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they were supposed to be printed. Once the strike officially
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got going. However, the response was overwhelming. Ministry of Labour
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figures put the number of strikers at between one and
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a half and one and three quarter million. On top
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of this, there were around a million miners who were
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locked out. This was out of a total popular of
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only around forty million, whereas today the UK population is
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closer to about seventy million. Workers had brought the UK
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to an almost complete standstill. Harry Watson was asked about
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whether there were any scabs on the East London docks.
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No, not a soul. They brought in the navy and we.
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Knew that things that were happening from the fact that
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many of the blokes who have been going around not
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picketing as such, because it was a solid stripe, but
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no less chatter. They now to see what kind of
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reaction that they were meeting with from various shipping bosses
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and full bosses and what have you. And when they
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saw some tabs underway, they were rather astonished and went
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to the coast of investigation and found that they were
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manned by Navy personnel. I didn't know anything about this
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at the time, but I do know that when we
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did return the work there was crates they the beer
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bobbles aboard, quite a lot of them, so they must
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have taken great care of their needs for the political question,
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if nothing else. Mainly, the strike committe was made up
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of the more senior men. We were carrying messages here
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and there because we could move faster. Some of us
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had the bikes and some were on foot.
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On many occasions police would try to disrupt strikers meetings.
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And I was attendant of meetings effecting road particularly. There
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was a meeting there on the fourth day, which was
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a very big meeting, well attended and were orderly, and
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the speakers were giving reports of the situation up and
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down the country, And suddenly from Mountain of blue. Thousands
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of mounted police drove in amongst a lot of us,
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you know, and my cousin who was with me at
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the time, got knocked down. And as he got knocked down,
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he was in such a temper at what had happened.
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They jumped up.
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And not replaced an office horse, And of course that
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led to more
Load full transcript
trouble in that sense that seeing one
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blog was also trying knock everybody else sold their horses,
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you know, And that was their real shambles for about
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twenty minutes, twenty five minutes alf for now it was
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platform went over and the I don't know what become
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of the speakers, that they certainly busted a meeting up,
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and that was quite a peaceable meeting.
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Rail Workers were similarly solid. Among members of as left
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the Train Drivers Union, it was said that quote not
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fifty out of fifty thousand members failed to answer the
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call end quote. And among the National Union of Railwaymen
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more took part in the nineteen twenty six strike for
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the miners than for their own strike in nineteen nineteen.
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Well, they just for brown second came down to the station,
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just for going, and I came down to the station
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and said that the short was starting on the set
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and night, and we should all explander circumstances and we
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should all be expected they out. This is C. S.
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Hollis, a member of the National Union of Railwaymen in Chesterfield.
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When I was on at five o'clock on the morning
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of the deal the stark started. I made my mind up,
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but I wasn't going and I didn't know I think
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as far as what I recollect now. Most of the
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staff went down at five US to see what was happening,
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but they came out. So we all reported to what
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was then the annual ad headquarters at chester Foods for
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the old Marcus of Artington and Sauisby.
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Street public house.
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But that was the strike headquarters, and of course we
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gathered there and we.
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Had what news there was.
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There wasn't the transports had sat the rest today and
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different chapsvvanteered to circle between different branches to chattership. I
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mean branch secretary weren't fitted up the telephones with the
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early latter days, and so it meant to effect what
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were called runners. You have to run from one and
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you hard branch other to find out what the position
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of things was. You say, I were a good trade
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units I've been in since over fifteen when I stepped
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on the railway and as soon as the branch secretary
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came down and said whether they are strip that at midnight,
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well I didn't visitate, I didn't go to work, and
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we all got the miners have got a good case.
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Having regarded the economic condition of the working place. Generally
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everybody had a good case.
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Wild Chesterfield rail workers were mostly solid. Some local buses
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with low levels of union organization were still running what
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is now the.
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East Middle and Boss Company by a fan none of
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Underwoods in those days, and havn't a very good reputation
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as far as I remember.
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As employees.
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It was a man union firm and we were going
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a bit concerned locale that these buses were running about
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and giving a service.
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One night the annual branch and you are meeting two
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what we.
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Were preferred to go down and then try and stop
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the first boof coming down. So I was young and enthusiastic,
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get that time twenty one, and we went down, were
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raised to be down there at five o'clock. There were
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quite a number volunteered to go down. There were full
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of enthusiasm. Overnight to go down next morning. Well, finally
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about five others downd up down at Underwoods as it
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was then, and wonder they said, well about the best
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stressage that they were still laying guns and stand back
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against the road, so that when they whats came out
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it is then it stopped. Well on anyway, I got
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our ideas he put his foot down and account there,
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and he put his pot down and goes with our
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feet down and up the other side of the road.
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Got so I found out that there was no question
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of base will pick it in those are wondered that
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just came.
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Out with the US. The situation in Chesterfield in the
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first few days of the strike was fairly reflective of
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what was going on nationally. Despite the huge numbers of volunteers,
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ultimately very few were able to do the skilled jobs
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which kept the railways going, leading to rail traffic being
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almost completely stopped. In the first two days of the strike.
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Most rail companies were only running as little as four
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or five percent of their usual volume. Well freight trains
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weren't even hitting one percent. Local buses and trams, often
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being less organized and acquiring fewer specialist skills, were able
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to run Some semblance of a service, though often significantly reduced.
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For instance, out of approximately two thousand trams, the London
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General Omnibus Company was unable to run a single one
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on the first day of the strike, and by the
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next day they only managed eighty six. The use of
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untrained volunteers on rail and transport often resulted in entirely
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predictable consequences with regard to public safety. As Hollist notes
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from his experience in Chesterfield.
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Anybody that are considered suitable the Driva train and Wentville
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level crossing gates as a regular pature, some of these
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amateur drivas you know the level crossing gates at Bay
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and fetched down one to because on al Chapra is
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a bit of a wait a month. I think some
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of these amateur drivers and these volunteers drives just I
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think that have an outset of gates for every train.
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Well, Hollis was able to poke fun at these amateur
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drivers that he saw driving through level crossing gates. This
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kind of ineptitude was seriously dangerous and in some cases
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fatally so. For instance, on the tenth of May and Edinburgh,
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a collision between trains killed three and hospitalized thirteen, while
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in bishop Stortford, just north of London, another collision killed
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one and injured three. Ironically, these took place on the
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same day as the infamous Flying Scotsman incident, where striking
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miners removed a section of track to stop trains, but
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the inexperienced scab driver of the Flying Scotsman train continued anyway,
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leading to its derailment. Despite only causing one injury and
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thankfully no deaths, the story of the Flying Scotsmen is
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often repeated as an example of supposed union thuggery putting
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the public at risk, while the other two incidents caused
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by inept scab labour and leading to four deaths in
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a single day, have largely been forgotten. In the end,
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Hollis and his colleagues found out the hard way that
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scabs wouldn't be put off by a few strikers getting
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in their way, and in fact, the aggressive behavior of
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scabs had lightly been emboldened by the state's preparations for
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an almost literal war with the unions. In other areas, however,
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strikers and their supporters were more assertive in their disruption
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of strike breaking.
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The States Council, like all tates councils had set up
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a committee which some of us saw was the Soviet.
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It wasn't that LEAs rethought it was.
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As a reminder, this is Betty Harrison, who he heard
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from in part one and was a textile worker at
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the time of the strike. The word Soviet that she
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uses here is another name for a workers council, a
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body established by workers to coordinate struggles which could potentially
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take over the management of society, as had happened in
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Russia in the early days of the nineteen seventeen revolution.
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And we went to long some others. We didn't go
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a fish lift, and the textile workers. The governor went
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on to tag that we went along to find help
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at this committee. Two run odams, I mean, I mean
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there was only twenty two and it wasn't I and
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really full of the revolution of band member of the
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Independent Labour Party, and we went along to help, and
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students came and this
kind of thing, and the some
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people were black legs and tried to run the trams.
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So the students and some of the young ones went
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along and turned over the trams.
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The term black leg that Betty uses here is an
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old word meaning scab or stripe breaker. Interestingly, in many,
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possibly most places around the country, students actually formed one
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of the core groups providing scab labor, with recruitment taking
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place directly at universities themselves, sometimes with the active cooperation
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of university administrations. But Betty said that in Bradford many
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students actually supported the strike because they were attending the
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Technical College and were from working class backgrounds themselves. With
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regards to the turning over of trams, Betty answered as
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to whether or not she.
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Was involved, I think I can say so after all
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these years. I couldn't say so for years because it
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was illegal. But we did things like that. We made
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everybody get out, of course. But you know they ran
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on rails. Well, if there was a fishing to you
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and you rocked it and rocked it and rocked it,
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then it's all over, you see, you put it over,
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because if it was on rails anyway, it wasn't just
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on the road, and so you just to topple it over,
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you know. It sounds easy, but and ofcaurse then it
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blocked the ale way for a long time, you see.
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But after we'd done it a few times, then they
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couldn't get the black legs around the trams, because the
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black legs then thought they were going to get into
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travel because the students may no bones about it, they
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just pulled them off the times you see, and then
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knocked the time over and the black lagus who were
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lucky they didn't get hurt because the students were furious
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at them.
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You know.
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It gets camps, you know, and whenever there's a strike.
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I don't think they were all that. I can't remember
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how many there were. And as I say, after a
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few trams had been turned over, there were lives. The
246
00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:33.120
first day they if I remember correctly, they ran about
247
00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:37.840
a quarter of the service, and then the second date
248
00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:42.279
was less and then it petered out altogether and people
249
00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:46.120
walked to work or cycled to work. Those who were working,
250
00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:49.320
like the dextile workers, you see, they just had.
251
00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:53.039
To walk to work around the East London docks. Further
252
00:14:53.159 --> 00:14:56.919
clashes between workers and security forces kept taking place.
253
00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:00.320
Main things are being held and back to the road
254
00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:05.200
in Canning Town was one of the places where speakers
255
00:15:05.559 --> 00:15:08.639
used to be every Sunday and it was like a
256
00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:11.159
noted place for speaker's on the corner back to the
257
00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:15.080
rod by Barking ro opposite Trinity Church, and of course
258
00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:18.080
Blackwall Tunnel outside the main gate of the East India
259
00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:22.320
Dock was another noted place for mass me into the kind.
260
00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:25.440
While they were taking place a candy free service.
261
00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:30.200
Now did police and cook police, but nobody took any notice.
262
00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:35.080
It was quite a peaceable affair until one morning we've.
263
00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:40.399
Had heard that there were troops in the docks unloading
264
00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:44.039
ships and that the lorries were coming up the Victoria
265
00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:47.159
Dock Road manned by the troops.
266
00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:50.759
Of course, as a result of that, everybody turned out
267
00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:54.600
to see just what substance there was to this the
268
00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:56.559
court that had been given.
269
00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:00.799
And sure enough, when they got to the Darking Road
270
00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:04.840
outside came Town Station, which is facing Victoria Dock Road.
271
00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:08.240
Up came the lorries with barb wire all around the
272
00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:14.159
lowest canopy, with troops with guns sitting behind the barbed wire.
273
00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:19.360
And the people were jeering and doing But that was
274
00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:24.559
the extent of the feelings, you know, of the people.
275
00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.879
But for some reason, I don't know why. Where I
276
00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:34.159
was standing, there was plenty of shouting and building is say,
277
00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:37.480
but certainly nothing in the way of physical the action
278
00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.440
or
anything of that kind.
279
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:42.840
There was still a degree of good view about it.
280
00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:47.360
But the police started pushing from behind instead of being
281
00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:49.720
in front of us either behind, and they kept pushing
282
00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:52.799
and pushing and pushing, and we were being pushed further
283
00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:57.000
and furthering the road and let the arguments, and before
284
00:16:57.080 --> 00:16:59.200
we knew it, the police were learning about us with
285
00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:06.559
their truncheon, and that caused more anger the real explosion
286
00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:10.119
there for about half an hour, there was a question
287
00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:13.759
of it in back to defend ourselves from what the
288
00:17:13.799 --> 00:17:16.519
police were trying to do to us, and subceeding in
289
00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:18.240
doing for quite a lot of us. So there's a
290
00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.680
few broken arms as a result of the blows that we.
291
00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:24.319
Had been subjected to.
292
00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:27.599
However, the dock has made sure they were better prepared
293
00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:28.480
the following day.
294
00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:33.440
The following day, before they went up to the main road,
295
00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:39.480
hundreds of the men walked along the side streets. And
296
00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.680
in those days the houses used to have a very
297
00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:45.400
low wall in front of them, about two feet high
298
00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:49.319
or so, and then they had railings that embedded in
299
00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:53.160
the walls for about a further two foot so that
300
00:17:53.319 --> 00:17:57.279
they had spiked iron railings in the small walls, and
301
00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:00.359
the men just ripped the iron railings out of the
302
00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:04.920
walls and took them along with them up to Barking Road.
303
00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:07.440
And when I got there.
304
00:18:07.319 --> 00:18:09.759
There were several lorries already that had been turned over,
305
00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:16.720
not lot as they had troops of them's private contractors
306
00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:21.799
and whoever was driving them had been forced out of
307
00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:26.079
their wagon. And the men and women were turning the
308
00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:27.839
lorries over, and I said the three or four of
309
00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.240
them were emailing on their side. And then up from
310
00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:33.759
Victory Dot Work came the lorries with the troops on it.
311
00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.640
And then again the police lined up. Some were in
312
00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:38.400
front of us.
313
00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:40.759
But most of them were at the back of us.
314
00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:44.440
But before they could start anything, the cloud turned on
315
00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:48.359
the police and started out about with their iron bars
316
00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:50.640
on the police, and of course the casualties were in
317
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:53.240
reverse ratio for the previous day.
318
00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.680
We'll be right back after these messages. If you want
319
00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:59.920
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325
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dot com slash working class history link in the show
326
00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:21.880
notes these kinds of clashes were taking place all over
327
00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:22.559
the East End.
328
00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:26.279
We heard subsequently that what had happened to us in
329
00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:31.079
Canningtown was also at the same time almost taking place
330
00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:36.920
in Poplar, and that there was in some respects a
331
00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:42.119
far more vicious situation later where we maunted. Police rode
332
00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:44.680
in among the strikers and wrote some of them down
333
00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.079
when they were running up side streets. The police were
334
00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:51.599
chasing them in the side streets into the doorways and
335
00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:58.680
the houses, so that the although ours was they haven't
336
00:19:58.839 --> 00:20:03.559
excited enoughing that sense, theirs was even worse. I don't
337
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.960
know why that was, but it was at the time. However,
338
00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.960
that went on to the point where they said the
339
00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:16.960
soldiers just merely been outriders, as it were, on the
340
00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.359
vans or riding shotguns they call it.
341
00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:24.880
On these veins come up and the doves they brought in.
342
00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:27.480
I'm not sure where they called it a regiment or
343
00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:32.720
a platoon or whatever it is, but they marched troops
344
00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:36.319
through a parking road. When they got to come down station,
345
00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:40.960
they halted, and then there was some pompous little twit
346
00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:43.200
of an officer in the front, who go with somebody
347
00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:45.799
in order, and who called out fixed bayonets or something
348
00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:45.960
like that.
349
00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:50.480
Kind, and they fixed their mayonets and then they started.
350
00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:53.920
Marching along the main road, both sides of which were
351
00:20:54.759 --> 00:20:58.839
swamped with the workers and their wives and that sort
352
00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:02.400
of thing. And of course whether it was done, Timmy
353
00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:08.319
dake workers from attemption ending similar to what attack on
354
00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:10.039
place the previous day.
355
00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:13.799
In some areas, workers even set up self defense corps
356
00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:17.039
to resist police interference with pickets, and some of these
357
00:21:17.079 --> 00:21:20.039
could actually be quite large. In the town of Methil
358
00:21:20.119 --> 00:21:22.519
and the Fife coast, it could sometimes involve up to
359
00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:26.240
seven hundred workers armed with sticks to face down the police.
360
00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:30.559
Formally organized self defense like this was mostly uncommon outside
361
00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:34.960
the Fife coalfields. However, Emilburns' excellent survey for the Labour
362
00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:38.799
Research Department found that about a dozen other local trades
363
00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:42.640
councils around the UK had also set up similar types
364
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:47.160
of self defense organization. Historian Keith Labourn also notes that
365
00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:53.680
there were riots in a number of cities, including Plymouth, Hull, Middlesbrough, Edinburgh, Preston, Crewe,
366
00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:57.839
Nottingham and Swansea, with the worst clashes taking place in London,
367
00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:02.039
Doncaster and Glasgow, the clashes in Glasgow alone leading to
368
00:22:02.119 --> 00:22:05.599
around two hundred arrests. All of this stood in stark
369
00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:09.240
contrast and the instructions from trades union congress leaders to
370
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:11.119
stand firm and keep order.
371
00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:14.920
The trade union leaders did make a concerted effort to
372
00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:19.920
appear moderate, and to be moderate. They told people to
373
00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:22.920
be quiet and keep smiling and go home and play
374
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.119
with the wife and kiddies in a rather patronizing way.
375
00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:29.680
As a reminder, this is Judy Cox, co author of
376
00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:33.599
Revisiting the General Strike of nineteen twenty six, when workers
377
00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:36.079
were ready to dare, and so you have.
378
00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:39.160
Got this image of the strikers a sort of British strike,
379
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:42.519
a strike where sort of you know, cloth cap workers
380
00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:45.799
had games of footy with genial, smiling Bobby's on the
381
00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.960
street and it was just a kind of community outing
382
00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:53.200
and sports event rather than a militant class confrontation.
383
00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:57.039
Bobby is a British term for police officer, derived from
384
00:22:57.079 --> 00:22:59.960
the name of Robert Peel, who set up London's metropol
385
00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:02.200
and police in the early nineteenth century.
386
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:06.559
One of the important things about the research that we've
387
00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:11.119
been doing is just how far many strikers went beyond
388
00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.319
the peaceful picketing. They didn't go home, they didn't just
389
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.000
go and play football with the bobbies. They used all
390
00:23:18.119 --> 00:23:21.720
the means at their disposal to stop scabs and to
391
00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:25.400
fight back against the police who defended the scabs. And
392
00:23:25.559 --> 00:23:29.720
so there were very, very militant confrontations during the strikes.
393
00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:33.440
There were people dragged out of taxis, dragged off buses,
394
00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:37.799
there were trains derailed. There was the deployment of troops.
395
00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:41.160
They marched with fixed bayonets down the Barking Road to
396
00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:44.839
Poplar because there'd been quite a lot of confrontations in
397
00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:48.279
the East London docks. There were riots in Hackney, there
398
00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:52.480
were riots in Glasgow. I mean, these were not stoic
399
00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:56.519
British workers accepting the moderate line of the TUC. They
400
00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:00.839
were stoning scabs, they were threatening people with equal violence
401
00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:04.480
and indeed you know, smashing up shot windows. In one
402
00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:07.839
instance in Glasgow a scab was thrown through a shot window.
403
00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:11.000
These were people who were fighting for their lives and
404
00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:14.000
they were not going to stick to some kind of peaceful,
405
00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:17.359
moderate narrative. They were going to fight with every means
406
00:24:17.400 --> 00:24:20.720
at their disposal. And I think sort of exposing that
407
00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:24.920
level of violence is important, not because anybody wants to
408
00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:27.359
revel in violence. We all want to focus on the
409
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:30.720
great liberatory affect of the strike, but it showed that
410
00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:34.720
British working class people will fight, you know, tooth and nail,
411
00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:37.920
just as militantly as any other working class group when
412
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:41.519
they have that collective sense of stripe and struggle to
413
00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:46.079
buoy them up. So it was at times a very
414
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:49.319
violent strike for the reasons that people were fighting for
415
00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:49.960
their lives.
416
00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:53.200
It's thought that
there are at least five hundred Councils
417
00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:56.920
of Action or similar bodies around the country organizing the strike,
418
00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:00.680
and though the twuoc's last minute planning meant that most
419
00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:03.480
trades councils had been left waiting until late in the
420
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.599
day to prepare, they still managed to pull off an
421
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:11.440
impressive feet of organization. Councils of Actions set up various subcommittees.
422
00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:14.440
They issued permits for goods which were allowed to be moved,
423
00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:18.680
organized picket duty at sites around their local areas. They
424
00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:22.599
distributed hardship relief to their members, made arrangements with local
425
00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:26.160
consumer co ops. They arranged speakers for what were sometimes
426
00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:31.000
huge open air meetings and organized recreational activities like sports
427
00:25:31.079 --> 00:25:35.160
and concerts. There are also around seventy local bulletins which
428
00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:38.240
would be distributed by the thousands to update people on
429
00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:41.759
both local and national developments in the strike. It should
430
00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:44.720
also be said that these local bulletins often went beyond
431
00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:48.000
the orders of TUC leaders who wanted to control all
432
00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:51.240
union communication on the strike, and on the tenth of
433
00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:55.160
May actually ordered that all local bulletins should cease publication.
434
00:25:56.279 --> 00:25:58.920
All of this is not to suggest that local councils
435
00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:02.680
of action were necessaryaly hot beds of radicalism, though obviously
436
00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:06.599
there were areas where radicals played leading roles. Rather, they
437
00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:10.039
were discipline trade unionists, which in some ways was actually
438
00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:13.000
a double edged sword. Once they received their instructions from
439
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:16.839
the TUC, local trades councils faithfully put them into action
440
00:26:17.319 --> 00:26:20.200
to the extent that the instructions themselves were actually clear.
441
00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:23.359
But this didn't just mean calling members out on strike,
442
00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:26.799
but also ensuring that those who weren't called out stayed
443
00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:30.480
at work. A report from York Trades Council was fairly
444
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:34.640
typical in this regard quote, our greatest difficulty is to
445
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:37.599
keep the men at work who should remain there. They
446
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:40.279
all feel that they should be out helping in the struggle.
447
00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:41.240
End quote.
448
00:26:41.880 --> 00:26:45.240
While the TUC had completely failed in terms of its preparation,
449
00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:49.039
this was made up for by its members enthusiasm and
450
00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:50.880
willingness to support the strike.
451
00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:53.599
I wasn't living in the center of black for I
452
00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:58.839
was living quite a good distance or now and a
453
00:26:58.839 --> 00:27:02.000
half from the Sentient. To go down to the meetings,
454
00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:03.720
I had to walk this mount and half, you know,
455
00:27:04.400 --> 00:27:06.799
but I didn't mind walking. I ran most of the
456
00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:10.480
way anyway to get there to the straight where there's
457
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:14.160
something doing, you know, because where I was and no
458
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:19.200
strike in the textiling, there was nothing doing. It was
459
00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:22.880
as quiet as quiet, just normal, except the trains weren't running.
460
00:27:24.359 --> 00:27:27.599
But I wanted. Soon as I left work, I was down,
461
00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:30.079
rushing down and running the mile and a half to
462
00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.160
get there, you know, and to try and help this
463
00:27:34.279 --> 00:27:37.960
Trades Council committee. There was only one other girl in
464
00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:39.920
my shop went with me. It was too far from
465
00:27:39.960 --> 00:27:42.079
to go, they said, And besides, you know a lot
466
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:45.359
of them were married women. Any way, they weren't all
467
00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:49.359
youngsters with the like us. And it was only we
468
00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:55.079
youngsters who were able to go down. And some of
469
00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:58.880
us couldn't stay all the time because some of them
470
00:27:58.920 --> 00:28:02.920
were like me. I was in the position that I
471
00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:05.480
had an invalid mother and only me to look after her.
472
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:10.119
My father had died, He died in twenty degree, and
473
00:28:11.319 --> 00:28:14.200
so a mother and I were living together and I
474
00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:18.519
couldn't leave her too long. From our blood. The committee,
475
00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:22.079
I think about five or six of us were the
476
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:24.839
only ones who were able to go and do any help,
477
00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:29.319
and we were full of the enthused the other. Although
478
00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:31.680
there wasn't a right not we could do in nine
479
00:28:31.799 --> 00:28:36.039
days anyway, and working during the day, just going in
480
00:28:36.119 --> 00:28:40.000
the evenings. Yes, they got down to a little sheet
481
00:28:41.079 --> 00:28:43.960
which was like a sign bulletin giving us the information
482
00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:46.880
of what was happening in other parts of the country.
483
00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:51.440
And that was one of the things which
we used
484
00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:56.039
to go around helping to deliver, you see, because there
485
00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:59.599
was no transport to send it out, and the boys
486
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:04.160
used to go on bikes and of REGOs and bothered
487
00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:07.200
bakes and went to and gave it to certain people
488
00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:11.319
who were secretaries in factories and this kind of thing.
489
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:13.799
And we gave them a number of these so that
490
00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:15.960
they could distribute them inside their factories.
491
00:29:16.599 --> 00:29:20.319
This enthusiasm was shared also by Harry Watson, who remembers
492
00:29:20.359 --> 00:29:23.480
how resolute East London dock workers were in support in
493
00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:23.960
the strike.
494
00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:25.279
No, I didn't get any.
495
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:29.960
Wasn't even looking for any because we were used to
496
00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:32.400
doing without in those days that I don't think it
497
00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:33.640
worried us to that extent.
498
00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:34.960
Didn't worry me anymore.
499
00:29:35.799 --> 00:29:37.960
Were they fearful to us to be out of work,
500
00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:40.319
whether he was on strike or whether he was just
501
00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:44.680
out of work. The employers the hist we saw more
502
00:29:44.759 --> 00:29:46.039
dinner times than dinners.
503
00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:49.039
That was part of the way of life. I don't think.
504
00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:55.039
The impacted all that differently in the Strip period as
505
00:29:55.079 --> 00:29:59.680
compared to any other period. He was never what you
506
00:29:59.720 --> 00:30:02.759
can say, more than hands to mouth at any time.
507
00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:08.000
It wasn't all that different in our standard of living
508
00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:11.640
as it were. It didn't all that much, but it
509
00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:12.559
was a strike.
510
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:15.480
On One way in which workers like Harry were able
511
00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:18.720
to continue during the strike while getting no pay was
512
00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:21.680
via a system that some union branches had set up
513
00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:22.680
with local shops.
514
00:30:23.559 --> 00:30:28.200
We got some tokens that we used to take along
515
00:30:28.279 --> 00:30:31.640
to various shops that had agreed to supply us with food,
516
00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:34.759
and the score was settled after the strike was over
517
00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:40.359
and our branches were paying out patched to the various shopkeepers.
518
00:30:40.920 --> 00:30:44.359
So they made sure that we had food tokens, you know.
519
00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:46.720
To get certain foods.
520
00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:50.200
These tokens would be given to local shopkeepers who would
521
00:30:50.200 --> 00:30:52.880
be paid by the union on their member's behalf, and
522
00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:56.400
then afterwards the member would pay back the union. Of course,
523
00:30:56.480 --> 00:30:59.039
because the general counsel of the TEC had left all
524
00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:02.160
its plan into the very last minute, arrangements like this
525
00:31:02.359 --> 00:31:05.759
were entirely local, which meant the ability to get food
526
00:31:05.880 --> 00:31:09.559
to striking workers differed greatly from place to place. This
527
00:31:09.799 --> 00:31:13.519
was particularly stark in relation to the Cooperative Wholesale Society,
528
00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:17.519
which was a federation of consumer cooperatives rooted largely in
529
00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:21.240
working class communities and was the forerunner to the supermarket
530
00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:24.680
chain currently known as the co op. In some areas,
531
00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:29.359
local CWS co ops helped trades councils significantly. In some
532
00:31:29.559 --> 00:31:32.400
places they gave striking co op members credit up to
533
00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:35.400
the value of their usual shop or some other fixed sum,
534
00:31:36.039 --> 00:31:39.519
and in Coventry the Cooperative Society even gave the trades
535
00:31:39.559 --> 00:31:42.319
councils the use of a car, which was quite incredible
536
00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:46.200
considering how rare cars were back in those days. However,
537
00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:50.279
in other areas, relationships were far less friendly, particularly where
538
00:31:50.440 --> 00:31:54.119
unions were blocking the transport of cooperative society goods. As
539
00:31:54.200 --> 00:31:58.079
Emil Burns wrote in his Labour Research Department Survey quote,
540
00:31:58.359 --> 00:32:01.640
the General Council's failure to develop its policy to meet
541
00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:05.079
the special needs of the cooperatives or to outline any
542
00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:08.720
plan for utilizing them was keenly felt by the trades
543
00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:13.400
councils during the general strike end quote. As mentioned earlier,
544
00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:17.440
numerous heavy clashes between strikers and police took place during
545
00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:20.880
the strike. This was part of a wider campaign of
546
00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:22.160
repression the.
547
00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:26.240
British ruling class. They had an Emergency Powers Act from
548
00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:30.839
nineteen twenty which they'd vote to suppress the Bolshes under
549
00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:34.519
the Bed and so on. After the big Upswinging struggle
550
00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:35.440
in nineteen.
551
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:39.160
Nineteen by Bolshees under the Bed Judies refering to the
552
00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:43.160
paranoia around supporters of the Bolsheviks, the Russian Communist Party
553
00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:46.799
who came to power following the nineteen seventeen Revolution, who
554
00:32:46.880 -->
00:32:50.279
the British ruling classes suspected of using the general strike
555
00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:54.160
to bring about revolution in Britain. This specter of communism
556
00:32:54.359 --> 00:32:56.839
was used as an excuse for the state to try
557
00:32:56.960 --> 00:33:00.200
to clamp down and crush the strike, but workers were
558
00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:01.640
prepared to meet them head on.
559
00:33:02.519 --> 00:33:07.519
Oh you men of time, Pundy dig events of coal
560
00:33:08.279 --> 00:33:14.640
with me, little pick and shovel for the boss man
561
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.079
the collery, But I'll never own your soul with me,
562
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:22.440
little pick and shove up before.
563
00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:25.759
That's all we've got time for in this episode. If
564
00:33:25.799 --> 00:33:28.359
you'd like to listen to part three now without ads,
565
00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:30.920
then do support us on patroon, which is how our
566
00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:33.960
work is funded. There we'll talk about how the strike
567
00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:37.880
was defeated through repression, the organization of strike breakers, and
568
00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:41.880
the capitulation of the TUC leadership. You'll also get access
569
00:33:41.920 --> 00:33:44.519
to a bonus episode in which two of the participants
570
00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:47.960
we've heard from in these episodes, Betty Harrison and Harry Watson,
571
00:33:48.279 --> 00:33:50.680
talk more about their life and work around the time
572
00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:53.640
of the strike, as well as union politics more generally.
573
00:33:54.240 --> 00:33:57.079
It is only support from you, our listeners, which allows
574
00:33:57.160 --> 00:34:00.440
us to make these podcasts, So if you appreciate our work,
575
00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:03.400
please do think about joining us at patreon dot com
576
00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:07.119
slash working class History link in the show notes, and
577
00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:09.719
if you can't spare the cash, no worries, Please just
578
00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:12.039
tell your friends about this podcast and give us a
579
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:15.440
five star review on your favorite podcast app. Also, be
580
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:18.159
sure to check out General Strike one hundred dot com
581
00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:21.119
to find out more about events commemorating the General Strike
582
00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:24.159
in your area and beyond. You'll also find a ton
583
00:34:24.239 --> 00:34:28.280
of historical markers highlighting the locations of specific incidents that
584
00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:31.760
took place in cities, towns, and villages around the UK
585
00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:35.239
during the strike itself. Also, if you'd like to get
586
00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:38.119
a copy of Judy's book Revisiting the General Strike of
587
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:40.679
nineteen twenty six, you can find the link to buy
588
00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:43.360
a copy on the web page for this episode. On
589
00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:47.000
the web page, you'll also find more information, including further reading,
590
00:34:47.159 --> 00:34:51.000
images and sources link in the show notes. Thanks to
591
00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:53.960
our Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible, and a
592
00:34:54.039 --> 00:34:56.960
special thanks to jazz Hands. Our theme tune for this
593
00:34:57.079 --> 00:35:00.000
episode is Montaigne's version of When the Coal Comes from
594
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:03.480
from the Rhonda, a folk song originating from Welsh miners
595
00:35:03.559 --> 00:35:06.880
in the early twentieth century and sung during the General Strike.
596
00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:10.920
The song is performed by Montaigne and mixed by Wave Racer.
597
00:35:11.400 --> 00:35:13.239
You can find the link to download the song on
598
00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:17.079
our website. All proceeds go into medical aid for Palestinians.
599
00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:19.679
For more from Montanne, check the links on the web
600
00:35:19.719 --> 00:35:24.760
page for this episode. This episode was edited by Jesse French. Anyway,
601
00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:27.639
that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the episode and
602
00:35:27.760 --> 00:35:28.519
thanks for listening.
603
00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:35.519
When the call comes from the round, when the call
604
00:35:36.840 --> 00:35:44.079
comes from the rudder, we'll shovel and pick little lamp
605
00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:47.559
and a wick. When the call comes from the Ronda,