Full Transcript for E120: 1926 general strike, part 3

Party headquarters. They arrested communists for sedition. 36 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.280 I think something like well over a thousand Communist Party 37 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:14.280 members were arrested during the strike, which some people say 38 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:16.199 is about a quarter of their whole membership. 39 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:19.960 This is Judy Cox, co author of Revisiting the General 40 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.240 Strike of nineteen twenty six. When workers were ready to. 41 00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:26.599 Dare, I think there were something like nine thousands arrests altogether, 42 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:29.879 so large numbers of people were arrested. I mean some 43 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:34.319 were obviously arrested during confrontations with the police, but many 44 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:38.879 communists were arrested for sedition, which was simply asking troops 45 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:43.520 not to fire on workers, talking about international solidarity and 46 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:46.199 those sort of questions. In the sitting MP for Battersey 47 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:51.039 Sakala was arrested and sentenced to Timunth's Hard Labor and 48 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:54.919 he was a sitting MP, the Communist MP. So yeah, 49 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:57.439 they were very repressive and they were very prepared to 50 00:02:57.560 --> 00:03:00.719 use the power of the state to crush not only 51 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:06.039 strikers but communists who might be arguing for striking to 52 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:11.719 go further. I think the organization of the strike fed 53 00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:15.159 from that kind of the seeds of class fear that 54 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:17.719 had been sown, this idea that if we don't fight 55 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:20.439 this battle, it will be the end of civilization. The 56 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:21.879 Communists are taking over. 57 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:25.599 The state cracked down severely on the Communist Party, with 58 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:28.479 three hundred and seventy four communists being arrested on the 59 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:31.800 tenth of May alone, and even before the strike had begun. 60 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.560 In October nineteen twenty five, twelve Communist Party leaders were 61 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:38.719 arrested and charged under the incitement to mutiny Act from 62 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:42.520 seventeen ninety seven. The majority of those arrested were still 63 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.400 in prison during the general strike itself. One Communist Party 64 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:49.800 member who was arrested during the general strike was Abe moffat, 65 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:54.439 a minor in Scotland's Fife coal fields. Unfortunately, the audio 66 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:57.599 quality of this section from Abe's interview was quite poor 67 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:00.400 and might be difficult for some listeners to unders stand. 68 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:03.319 But I'll go over the main points afterwards, and they'll 69 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:05.919 also soon be a full transcript on the web page 70 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:08.159 for this episode. Link in the show. 71 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:12.879 Notes our senses during the Fintasics. There's more for leading 72 00:04:12.919 --> 00:04:14.719 a ride to Smart. As a matter of fact, young 73 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:19.040 gllla Alec and another young lads and Wade Ellis we've 74 00:04:19.079 --> 00:04:21.759 got two months under that. We've got two months each 75 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:29.839 under that, right Smart. It was mostly although we've got 76 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:33.000 a lot of manor paistic during the demo site for 77 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:33.959 example for Scott. 78 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:36.360 For Scott, the traffic on the roads, you. 79 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:39.680 Know what I mean, the higher road color. I had 80 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:44.800 another brother there he wild on the GMO straight along 81 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:48.199 with another six that start the traffic exactly under the 82 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:52.839 such and the disconsil. That time you have a permit 83 00:04:53.879 --> 00:05:01.199 from a case council to grow up the young just 84 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:04.319 at the end of the state and in the other 85 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:10.399 end stated almost finished miles downstation up with respect against 86 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:11.160 the black lights. 87 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:15.160 So to summarize Abe, two of his brothers and another 88 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:18.519 miner named Jim Watt all got arrested and sentenced to 89 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:21.879 two months in prison for leading a riotus mob. This 90 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.480 also happened to a number of other miners around the 91 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:28.560 Five Coalfields who were arrested for stopping traffic. These traffic 92 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.480 stops were done under the instructions of the local Trades 93 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.759 council to check the vehicles had the proper permits for 94 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:37.360 the goods that they were carrying, and in the event 95 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.079 they did not, workers would refuse to allow them to 96 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:43.360 continue their journey. As for Harry Watson on the East 97 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:46.920 London Docks, he felt that the police were getting increasingly 98 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:48.959 heavy handed as the strike wore on. 99 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:55.399 The police were becoming more and more not only trucking 100 00:05:55.480 --> 00:05:59.519 up as they were in the beginning, but vicious and 101 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:05.160 when they were attacking the workers, they didn't discriminate whether 102 00:06:05.240 --> 00:06:08.000 you were men or woman, or whether they were boy 103 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:11.319 or girl, or what

if you was one of the 104 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.600 people who was messed there, then you were fair game 105 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:18.600 for their truncheons, and they used to bring them down 106 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:18.920 and all. 107 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:22.639 And Harry was in no uncertainty about whether those police 108 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:25.120 attacks were spontaneous or premeditated. 109 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:27.959 Oh no, they're around rawers. It was organized. I mean 110 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:32.079 a question about a fact. Someone has given them a signal. 111 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:34.800 I don't know who it was, but it was obvious 112 00:06:34.839 --> 00:06:36.720 that they moved when they were told the move, and 113 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:38.519 they were told to move in a certain fashion, and 114 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:42.879 they did just that, and someone was given them the 115 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.800 orders because it was I mean, we were unsuspecting of 116 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:52.079 anything like that. We were there without any question or 117 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:54.720 doubt in our mind about who's going to win, and 118 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.519 what did we have to do anything about it for 119 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:01.000 other than stand firm and our action of being on 120 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:04.480 strike and refusing to go to work. In a situation 121 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:07.680 like that, then suddenly from behind you or you get 122 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:10.279 a whack on the neck or a wap on the shoulder, 123 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:14.160 or the arm you temporary immediately flairs. You know it's 124 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:16.759 an unprovoked attack in the met whichever way you look 125 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:22.160 at it, and tipically, in a situation like that where 126 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:24.439 there's not just one of them, but dozens and dozens 127 00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:27.480 of them laying about them, and when you see women 128 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:29.639 getting hit and all your blood balls and them, it's 129 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:32.600 like more. I mean, you've become as vicious as they 130 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:36.720 do in the finish and get down to their level 131 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:42.120 in order to make them understand that they are nothing anyway, 132 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:45.040 you know what, right and authority they got to come 133 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:48.360 barging in people like that and laying about them in 134 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:53.920 the fashion they did, and bloods being still everywhere as 135 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:58.759 a result of it. No, they were being instructed. It 136 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:03.360 was an organized assault on the public wherever the public 137 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:04.519 was gathering at the time. 138 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:08.639 Harry's views of state violence during the general strike was 139 00:08:08.680

--> 00:08:11.319 no doubt informed by the lengths that the government went 140 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:13.959 to to break the picketing of the East London docks. 141 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:17.639 No more than about forty out of fourteen thousand dock 142 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:20.680 workers were available for work, so the government had to 143 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.040 bring scabs in by boat along the river, even using 144 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:27.519 the navy, as Harry mentioned in the last episode, but 145 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:31.360 even using strike breakers was itself useless while East London's 146 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:35.039 docks were picketed and its surrounding streets filled with strikers. 147 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:38.240 To deal with this. On Saturday, the eighth of May, 148 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:42.000 the government sent twenty armored cars manned by soldiers to 149 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:46.320 the East India docks to escort lorries transporting goods. To 150 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:48.639 top it off, a machine gun placed at the dock 151 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:52.240 gates was trained on the strikers to discourage any attempts 152 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:56.120 to interfere with the convoy. Despite this, strikers across the 153 00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:00.240 country remained resolute. For the most part. Workers continued to 154 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:04.159 respect the strike and clashes even continued in numerous places 155 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:07.399 around the UK, while more workers were gearing up to 156 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:09.639 be called out as part of the second line of 157 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:13.240 the strike. By contrast, however, the General Counsel of the 158 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:16.519 Trades Union Congress was seeking ways to bring the strike 159 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:17.159 to an end. 160 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:20.759 I mean, this is one of the most criminal, kind 161 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:26.919 of inexplicable capitulations. When you read the accounts of how 162 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:29.879 the strike was getting stronger, how people were still coming 163 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:32.919 out on striking. Yet the trade union leaders at some 164 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:37.759 point begin to fear that they're going to lose control, 165 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:39.960 that more workers are going to come out on strike, 166 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.559 and so they moved from saying we're going to stand 167 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.039 by the miners, We're not going to let the miners 168 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:48.039 fight alone. Because this whole strike is about solidarity with 169 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:50.960 the miners. It's not about people fighting for their own 170 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:54.080 pay rise. It's all about standing by the miners. And 171 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:56.639 they begin to say the miners are living in a 172 00:09:56.679 --> 00:09:59.799 fool's paradise if they don't think they're going to accept 173 00:09:59.799 --> 00:10:04.360 where so these carving out of the miners and their leaders, 174 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:06.279 these negotiations begin. 175 00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:09.600 Much of these negotiations were based around the report of 176 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:13.440 the Samuel Commission, named after its chairman, Sir Herbert Samuel, 177 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:17.879 the former High Commissioner of British Colonial Palestine. The report 178 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.039 was published in March nineteen twenty six and recommended a 179 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:24.720 number of reforms to the mining industry. However, those reforms 180 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:28.960 most beneficial to the miners, like amalgamating smaller mines into larger, 181 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:33.200 more efficient ones, were to be postponed for the future. Meanwhile, 182 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:36.840 the immediate reforms it suggested were around the reduction of wages, 183 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:41.039 either through increased hours or straightforward pay cuts. The report 184 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:45.720 also stopped short of calling for nationalization. Unsurprisingly, the Miners' 185 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:49.080 Union rejected this, but other leaders on the TUC's General 186 00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:52.240 Council insisted on pushing through an agreement based on the 187 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:55.960 Samuel Report. They met multiple times with Samuel during the 188 00:10:55.960 --> 00:10:58.720 strike and lobbied him to encourage the government that the 189 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:00.440 strike could be brought to an end and on the 190 00:11:00.480 --> 00:11:05.000 basis of his report. However, the government repeatedly rejected Samuel's 191 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:08.600 offer of mediation and underlining that no negotiations could take 192 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:12.240 place until the strike had been completely called off. As 193 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:15.240 the strike wore on and the TUC's desperation to call 194 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.480 off the strike became increasingly obvious, the position of the 195 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:22.120 government hardened, but among the rank and file workers were 196 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:25.399 still standing by the strike, despite the claims of union 197 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:26.639 leaders to the contrary. 198 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:30.200 They start rumors that the strike is crumbling. That's the 199 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:33.240 one of their biggest tactics is to say, really it's crumbling, 200 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:35.240 and people going, well, that's strange because it's not crumbling 201 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:39.039 around here. But there's no national network where people can 202 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:42.799 exchange alternative views. So they start these rumors that the 203 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:46.919 strike is crumbling. And the truth is they're fearful of 204 00:11:46.960 -->

00:11:50.039 losing control of it. And one of the people involved, 205 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:52.879 a rank and file worker, in a brilliant quote, says 206 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:56.279 they were more afraid of winning than they were of losing. 207 00:11:56.519 --> 00:11:59.320 They couldn't envisage that, so it was better for them 208 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:03.000 to lose and to leave the miners to fight on alone. 209 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.480 As an example of this, Ben Turner, the textile workers' 210 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:10.360 union representative at the TUC, claimed that workers were abandoning 211 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:14.759 the strike, particularly in the railway centers. Similarly, John Bromley, 212 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:18.080 leader of ASLEFT the train Drivers Union, also claimed that 213 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:20.840 his members were going back to work, but as the 214 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:24.559 government's own statistics show, the percentage of railway workers still 215 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:27.240 out on the final day of the strike was mostly 216 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:31.240 ninety percent or more, with engine drivers, fire and motormen 217 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:34.679 in particular being closer to ninety eight percent. The main 218 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:38.240 exception to this were clerical and supervisory workers, most of 219 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:41.519 whom were unable to drive trains anyway, and according to 220 00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:44.799 the TUC's own internal intelligence report on the morning of 221 00:12:44.840 --> 00:12:48.840 the twelfth of May, quote, reports coming into this office 222 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:52.720 do not confirm or explain the government's claims that large 223 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:56.320 numbers of railway workers were returning to work end quote. 224 00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:59.919 On Wednesday, the twelfth of May nineteen twenty six, the 225 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.720 the TUC had referred to as the second line of 226 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:05.200 workers were due to be called out to join the 227 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:09.360 general strike, but instead at midday, a delegation from the 228 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:12.759 TUC arrived at ten Downing Street to meet the Prime 229 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:15.960 Minister and were only let in once they'd confirmed that 230 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.960 they were there to call off the strike. Despite hopes 231 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:22.559 that this would allow for negotiations around the satisfactory settlement 232 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:26.399 to the dispute, TUC leaders left without having the chance 233 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:29.759 to discuss either their members returned to work or what 234 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:32.720 would happen to the miners and the Samuel Memorandum that 235 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:36.120 they'd pinned their hopes on. Shortly after one o'clock, the 236 00:13:36.200 --> 00:13:40.080 BBC announced that the TUC's

first and only general strike 237 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:43.960 was over. For many workers, this could only have meant 238 00:13:44.039 --> 00:13:44.559 one thing. 239 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:48.440 And when the new was tang fu that the strike 240 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:53.919 was over, course, we was overjoyed. We won. You know, 241 00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:57.679 never dawned on us that the strike had been called 242 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:00.840 off in that situation. The only reason it would be 243 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:03.960 called off was because we'd won. It wasn't until a 244 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:08.559 long while, some hours afterwards, when they come through that 245 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:10.840 had been called off, and it had been a capitulation 246 00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:14.759 by the trade union leaders at that time. Of course, 247 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:17.279 when that come through, it was well, it was technifying. 248 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:22.320 The I think there was more resentment and more signs 249 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:27.480 then of spontaneous violence from the men and women in 250 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:30.799 the East end that the sellout than they'd ever been 251 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.320 right the way through up until then in the strike itself. 252 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:39.120 That's what caused the eruption, when I say, such a 253 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:45.639 transformation from being happy and singing and everybody dancing at 254 00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:48.320 the end of the strike tree supposing that it had 255 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:51.840 been one. So it's all kinds of gaiety. And it 256 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:55.519 was some hours later when we did find out, and 257 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.759 it was hard to believe to begin with, but when 258 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:03.720 it was established and we understood that it was a betrayal, 259 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:05.519 nothing short of a betrayal. 260 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:07.039 Oh oh. 261 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:11.320 And I might say that the trade union leadership as 262 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:15.519 such was, in my opinion, the course of a lot 263 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:20.559 of the discuss that were shown by the men in 264 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:25.080 leaving trade unions and ceased membership of trade unions after that, 265 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:31.200 because that was their way of showing theirs. 266 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:30.039 Just with. 267 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:33.799 The people who were supposed to be in positions of 268 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:39.440 trust and authority, supposed to be giving leadership and guidance, generals, 269 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:43.039 supposed to be leading the army in battle as it were, 270 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:49.360 abandoning winning positions and turning tail, you know, and leaving 271 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:52.720 the army as it were to clear up the mess 272 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:56.159 as it were afterwards. Oh that was a terrible experience, really, 273 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.759 the one I never forgot all forgave eiver. 274 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:03.519 We'll be right back after these messages. If you want 275 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:06.159 to listen to our podcast with our ads, join us 276 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:09.200 on Patreon, where as well as early access to episodes, 277 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:12.440 you can also listen to an additional Patreon only bonus 278 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.679 episode for our General Strike mini series. Support from our 279 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:18.080 listeners on Patreon is the only way that we're able 280 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:20.200 to devote the time and money it takes to make 281 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.720 this podcast. Learn more and join us at patreon dot 282 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:27.320 com slash working class history link in the show notes 283 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:30.799 for Betty Harrison, a textile worker who's due to be 284 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:33.480 called out as part of the second line of strikers. 285 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:35.919 The betrayal was not a big surprise. 286 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.279 Well with your scheduled words, because you see, the working 287 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:45.919 class people never did to us Baldwin or any of 288 00:16:45.960 --> 00:16:51.080 those people, particularly those of the Sueke crop mining families. 289 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:55.240 And I don't think anyone in the working class woman 290 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:59.639 in the Black fed earlier believe Baldwin when I thought 291 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.200 it was on the side. We're also given the nice 292 00:17:02.200 --> 00:17:06.640 words to calm down the workers and of course it 293 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:10.599 proved to be true too. It was just making nice 294 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:13.680 sounds till the time. Yet the workers to sell out, 295 00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:17.440 and the nice sounds apparently convinced that UC. 296 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:22.400 But they they gave up. They strike in a very 297 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:23.000 short time. 298 00:17:24.039 --> 00:17:26.720 So they kind of went crawling back to Downing Street 299 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:29.640 and said, oh, we'll accept these conditions. And then of 300 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:33.359 course the government and the mine owners who stood behind 301 00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:38.680 them smelt blood and they said, no, no negotiations, no conditions, 302 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:42.000 you come back. It's a complete and utter surrender. And 303 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:45.519 the trade union leaders went, okay, hands up, it's a 304 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:49.720 complete and utter surrender. So they went back with no 305 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:54.279 guarantees that workers wouldn't be victimized, with no guarantees at all, 306 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:58.680 having one, absolutely nothing. So they span it. They said, 307

00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:01.960 you know, we've shown that the miners won't fight alone. 308 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:05.720 We've shown this great solidarity. They pretended it wasn't a 309 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:10.519 huge defeat, but it absolutely was. And there was a huge, 310 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.400 huge rage amongst the millions of people who had been 311 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:19.200 out on striking solidarity with the miners. I mean, if 312 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:22.279 you read any of the memoirs in accounts, they will 313 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:25.359 say people said, we heard the news, we didn't believe it. 314 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.079 People were crying. People refused to accept that this is 315 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:33.240 what had happened. People were saying, you know, a deluge 316 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:36.400 of telegrams were sent to the TUC the leaders saying, 317 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:39.680 why with this is furious, you can't believe this. We're 318 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:43.519 still out, and many people testified to the fact there 319 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:46.759 were more people out the day after the strike was 320 00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:50.039 called off than when the day that the trade union 321 00:18:50.119 --> 00:18:53.200 leaders said it was crumbling because people were furious. The 322 00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:56.119 people who went back to work and were humiliated and 323 00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:59.440 walked out again. You know, there was this great ground 324 00:18:59.480 --> 00:19:03.240 swell of a fury from people, but of course it 325 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:06.359 had nowhere to go. There was no kind of national 326 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:10.160 ranconfile network it was capable of saying, well, let's not 327 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:13.839 go back, let's forge a different paths, let's keep fighting. 328 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:17.200 Had there been such a thing, the result could have 329 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.279 been different because there was no way the strike was crumbling. 330 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:24.079 Betty was in no uncertainty about who workers were most 331 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:25.839 angry with at the end of the strike. 332 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:30.400 But do you see, you see amongst the workers at 333 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:37.559 that time in Britain, they expected the employers to be 334 00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:42.440 backed up by the government and we didn't expect anything 335 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:48.000 but methods of any kind and every kind to push 336 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:53.519 us back and to keep us down, so that when 337 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:58.000 the TUC looked as if it was going to do 338 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:02.440 something at last by welding the workers together to fight 339 00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:07.200 this opposition of government and employers, which we classed as won, 340 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:13.319 then there was a high hope tinged with apprehension now 341 00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:15.079 I come to think of it. We were never quite 342 00:20:15.160 --> 00:20:18.000 sure whether it was going to come up or not. 343 00:20:18.680 --> 00:20:22.920 But the bitterness was with the t U see to 344 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:26.880 a large extent. I think, to some extent, you know, 345 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:29.279 we were not surprised when they called it of it 346 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.920 I if I can catch my mind back as far 347 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.319 as that, we were furious, and we were outset, and 348 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:39.440 we were disgusted. But I think really in our hearts 349 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:44.440 we weren't surprised because we didn't think that they were 350 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:49.480 the kind of people who were prepared to face the 351 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:52.519 deeper issues of such a thing. Because the general strike 352 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:57.440 didn't set out to be a revolutionary movement, nor was 353 00:20:57.440 --> 00:21:01.759 it ever revolutionary in content so far as the TUC 354 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:05.960 were concerned, and was a revolution in the fact that 355 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:08.839 never been a general strike before. There had never been 356 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:14.720 as much cooperation between UH the unions to work together 357 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:20.680 for a common end, but we hadn't all that confidence 358 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:24.119 in that to you see and say, I don't think 359 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:27.759 we were really very surprised when it didn't last very long, 360 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:32.559 although we were hoping that it would duh develop and we 361 00:21:32.599 --> 00:21:35.160 should get the workers would get really something out of it, 362 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:41.960 because the failure of the general strength was the end 363 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:46.559 of uh hopes of advancement for the workers for many years, 364 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:51.799 many as and the bitterness which I don't think it's 365 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:58.160 ever gone. I think even the younger ones who are 366 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:03.119 now in the twenty thirties, when they're here are a 367 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:07.880 reader of the General's strike, feel something of the bitterness 368 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:09.200 that we felt at the time. 369 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:12.880 Ultimately, the strike was called off just as it was 370 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:16.079 about to be extended, because the leaders on the TUC's 371 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:19.759 General Council had simply never wanted or even expected to 372 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.359 go on strike in the first place, as was clear 373 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:25.799 from the complete lack of preparation until literally the days before. 374 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:29.759 Real Union leader James Thomas was probably the most exaggerated 375 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:33.519 and at times

ridiculous example of this. Before the strike 376 00:22:33.559 --> 00:22:35.680 had even begun, he was worried that members of the 377 00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:39.160 General Council would be shot by Britain's nascent fascist movement, 378 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:42.759 and when the miners' union leaders asked him for assurances 379 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:46.440 that the government would accept the Samuel proposals, Thomas replied, 380 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:50.079 quote you may not trust my word, but will you 381 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:52.720 accept the word of a British gentleman who has been 382 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:57.400 the governor of Palestine? End quote. What really scared TUC 383 00:22:57.640 --> 00:23:00.799 leaders was hinted at in another passage from the intelligence 384 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:06.640 report mentioned previously, specifically where it said quote, many reports 385 00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:09.480 show that the strike is extending, and that factories and 386 00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:13.359 workshops not directly involved are slowing down or shutting down. 387 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.559 The situation is one in which we are holding our own, 388 00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:20.359 but the government's organization is improving and its policy is 389 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:24.519 gradually becoming more aggressive. Every day. The intensity of the 390 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:29.599 struggle will increase end quote. Two things were becoming increasingly clear, 391 00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:33.200 First that in order to win, TUC leaders would have 392 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:35.720 to match the intensity of a struggle that they never 393 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:38.640 wanted in the first place, And second that, in the 394 00:23:38.680 --> 00:23:42.599 absence of direction from the center, local trades councils were 395 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:46.480 taking the initiative themselves. The attitude of the TUC to 396 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:49.759 this local initiative was best summed up by Thomas himself 397 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:52.359 in a speech to Parliament the day after the strike 398 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:55.880 was called off. Quote. What I dreaded about the General 399 00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:59.240 Strike more than anything, was this, if, by any chance 400 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:01.240 it should have got out of the hands of those 401 00:24:01.240 --> 00:24:04.880 who would be able to exercise some control, every sane 402 00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:08.000 man knows what would have happened. I thank god it 403 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:12.400 never did. End quote. We spoke earlier about the myriad 404 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.279 of tasks taken on by local councils of action during 405 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.119 the strike, but to really get an idea for how 406 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:21.440 well they responded, there is no better text than Emilburn's 407 00:24:21.480 --> 00:24:25.799 excellent survey for the Labor Research Department called

General Strike 408 00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:31.079 Trades Council's Inaction. As Burns explains, local trades councils were 409 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:34.960 quote suddenly asked to take on a new and urgent 410 00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:38.319 task without any but the vaguest suggestion of how they 411 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:41.799 should carry it out. With very few exceptions. Indeed, the 412 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:45.160 councils displayed an energy and initiative to an extent that 413 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:48.160 astonished all who had known them in the preceding period. 414 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:53.599 Councils became the real expression of the local movement end quote. 415 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:57.200 It was this energy and initiative which so terrified union 416 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:01.480 leaders like Thomas. Ultimately, however, this level of initiative was 417 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:04.480 not enough to resist the call back to work, and 418 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:08.039 with the strike called off, the government and employers soon 419 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:09.119 took advantage. 420 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:12.880 It was heartbreaking because for a few days people held 421 00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:15.880 off and Stanley Baldwin said, you know, we want responsible 422 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:18.839 trade unionism. We don't want to destroy the unions. We 423 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:24.079 want these institutions we can negotiate with. And then within 424 00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:27.279 a few weeks, once the first wave of fury that 425 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.359 the sellout had died down, then the bosses absolutely went 426 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:34.799 on the offensive and there was huge victimizations and bitterness 427 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:38.160 that lasted for years and years. The miners fought on 428 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:42.720 until November when they too had to admit defeat terrible 429 00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:48.799 wage cuts and attacks on working conditions. And then in 430 00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:52.759 nineteen twenty seven the government passes the Trade Union Dispute Act, 431 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:59.279 which outlawed solidarity strikes. So you have employers victimizing militants 432 00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:02.480 and indeed anybody who's been on strike. And then you 433 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:06.200 have the employers imposing an open shop instead of the 434 00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:09.559 close shop that the trade unionists had fought for, so 435 00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:12.319 you could only come to work if you renounce the 436 00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:17.640 union and then you have the government legislating against solidarity 437 00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:20.680 strikes in the trade union dispute. So the combination of 438 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:23.960 the employers in the government, we're going to make sure 439 00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:27.119 as far as they could that this would never happen again, 440 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:30.839 That never again would you have two million workers out 441 00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:33.839 in support of another million miners in our country. 442 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:37.200 When the TUC called off the strike, they released the 443 00:26:37.279 --> 00:26:40.599 message telling members returning to work to not accept any 444 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:44.119 changes to their conditions from before the strike. Desperate to 445 00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:49.480 demonstrate its respectability, the message continued quote, our whole duty 446 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:54.119 is to forget all recrimination. Let employers act with generosity 447 00:26:54.440 --> 00:26:57.759 and workers give their whole hearts loyally to their work. 448 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.519 It is of utmost importance that the whole of the 449 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:04.640 British people should not look backward, but forward and resume 450 00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:08.799 work in a spirit of cooperation and goodwill, putting behind 451 00:27:08.839 --> 00:27:13.920 them all malice and vindictiveness end quote. Employers however, were 452 00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:17.319 not so willing to put that malice and vindictiveness behind them. 453 00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:20.920 As Chesterfield rail worker and member of the National Union 454 00:27:20.920 --> 00:27:22.319 of Railwaymen C. S. 455 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.960 Hollis remembers the General Council the TSA yard as a 456 00:27:26.039 --> 00:27:28.799 general return to work on the twelfth of May, but 457 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:32.119 the railwaymen continued on strap for another two days because 458 00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:34.839 the railway companies would not at first promise a general 459 00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:36.559 reinstatement of the strikers. 460 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:40.119 Even after an improve settlements of being negotiated on the 461 00:27:40.119 --> 00:27:43.160 fourteenth of May, many men were employed only on a 462 00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:46.119 back time basis on del April nineteenth, twenty seventh. 463 00:27:47.319 --> 00:27:50.200 The agreement that Hollis mentions here was the one reached 464 00:27:50.200 --> 00:27:53.480 by the railway companies with the three rail unions. As 465 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:56.519 part of that agreement, rail companies agreed to take workers 466 00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.599 back on the basis of seniority, but only as and 467 00:27:59.640 --> 00:28:02.240 when work could be found for them. The unions were 468 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.799 also forced to admit that the strike was a wrongful 469 00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:08.160 act and undertake to ensure that no similar action would 470 00:28:08.200 --> 00:28:11.599 ever happen again. As a result of this agreement, forty 471 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.920 five thousand rail workers remained out of work for some time, 472 00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:18.400 and meanwhile employers would come back to take away the 473 00:28:18.440 -->

00:28:20.119 guaranteed work week as well. 474 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:20.799 Well. 475 00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:25.359 As I say, this's not only affected me, it affected 476 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:27.799 one or two more men. I mean, one man in 477 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.640 particular was a release thing, and then another one that 478 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:34.640 was what was now known as a relief. Border coupled 479 00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:37.160 a variety of days other than party, and there was 480 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:41.039 a man with Lenka, but there was June here in 481 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:45.720 that particular grade. And the result was that there was 482 00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:49.400 three others the two chaps in the missile that we 483 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:53.039 didn't a start for six weeks and go up, and 484 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:56.519 so we've had a bit disfunded. I've lost my father 485 00:28:57.079 --> 00:29:01.079 in nineteen twenty five, and another Netherwood is spending the 486 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:03.920 cast I was over sixteen. That kind of there would 487 00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:05.799 us if he got the son over sixteen. He didn't 488 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:08.400 get one because he was regarded them in the forty 489 00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:11.000 and I suppose. So there was a mother and myself 490 00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:14.920 here and then for six weeks wim and he's done 491 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:18.440 twenty four other week that was the end your strip. 492 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.839 Paid bob here is another word for a shilling. So 493 00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:24.759 in today's money, Hollis and his mum spent about a 494 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:27.000 month and a half living off what would now be 495 00:29:27.079 --> 00:29:30.319 the equivalent of about thirty six pounds or forty eight 496 00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:31.079 dollars a week. 497 00:29:31.480 --> 00:29:33.880 And we used to wonder how this start pay once 498 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:38.240 a week, and we got obviously got very very despondent. 499 00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:42.000 There was, as I said, just us, particularly three out well. 500 00:29:42.039 --> 00:29:47.359 Then the railways, although we wasn't started a tow the 501 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:50.640 guarantee week was suspended in order to allow then work 502 00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:52.960 because they said they wasn't to work for them. So 503 00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:56.319 the unions agreed to suspend the guarantee week and Chaps 504 00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:59.799 was working four days a week. Well, eventually after six 505 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.200 we got back and we go back until four days 506 00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:07.160 a week some weeks, some weeks, the fall a week, 507 00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:10.759 some weeks beyond that three theirs then new and the 508 00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:12.920 fall a week. And of course, as I said, and 509 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:16.440 Tom nineteen twenty seven, when things that they got about 510 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:20.519 last aftergook that was a position, they came out down 511 00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:24.079 strapped to say it was a general start. But again 512 00:30:24.200 --> 00:30:28.279 observedly nothing coming nothing at that, And I don't think 513 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:30.640 there's much motter. I been over th hunted. 514 00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:34.799 This experience on the railways was fairly general throughout the UK. 515 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:38.359 On the fifteenth of May, employers in the printing trades 516 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:41.440 came to an agreement with the printers union that allowed 517 00:30:41.480 --> 00:30:44.240 workers to be rehired, but only as and when they 518 00:30:44.279 --> 00:30:48.200 were required. The agreement also accepted short time work and 519 00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:51.720 allowed no holidays to those who'd walked out with no notice. 520 00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:56.000 The following day, London newspaper workers were told management could 521 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:59.039 hire and fire staff as they wished, and that union 522 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:02.279 meetings could no longer be held during working hours, and 523 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:06.000 around one nine hundred bus and transport workers never got 524 00:31:06.039 --> 00:31:08.799 their jobs back at all. And of course, in all 525 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:12.200 of this, over a million miners were still locked out, 526 00:31:12.640 --> 00:31:15.960 having refused to return to work after the general strike 527 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:16.759 was called off. 528 00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:21.119 I mean, the miners had these incredible traditions, and many 529 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:25.799 of them were influenced by Communist party politics. They were 530 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:29.880 seen as the vanguard of the working class, to use 531 00:31:29.960 --> 00:31:33.880 that phrase. They fought on and were determined to fight on. 532 00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:39.319 They experienced terrible hardship, but also that sense of collective 533 00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:42.000 power and a little bit of that glimpse of liberation 534 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:47.319 that we talked about earlier. They did have to organize collectively. 535 00:31:47.480 --> 00:31:50.799 They you know, they dug their gardens, they made use 536 00:31:50.839 --> 00:31:53.960 of everything. The miners wives turned sour milk into cheese. 537 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:56.119 There were all these kind of but it was basically 538 00:31:56.279 --> 00:31:58.440 a huge community effort. 539 00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:01.759 The importance of miners wives to the struggles of their 540 00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:05.519 husband was something that continued for decades after the general strike. 541 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:08.440 In our episodes, one and eight and one hundred and 542 00:32:08.519 --> 00:32:11.279 nine we cover the involvement of miners wives during the 543

00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:14.279 nineteen eighty four and eighty five minor strike in the UK. 544 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:18.160 The miners even got support from the Soviet Union, whose 545 00:32:18.200 --> 00:32:21.599 trade union sent a substantial sum of money, as did 546 00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:24.680 groups of workers elsewhere as well, and they got. 547 00:32:24.599 --> 00:32:28.000 Lots and lots of support from other workers both in 548 00:32:28.119 --> 00:32:32.759 this country and abroad, and organizations associated with the Communist 549 00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:36.799 International did a lot of fundraising and supporting, including among 550 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:40.720 German miners in the RUH, which again is a wonderful 551 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:44.480 thing when you think that only eight years earlier people 552 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:46.880 had been fighting each other with bayonets, and now there 553 00:32:46.960 --> 00:32:50.839 was kind of international solidarity of people giving money to 554 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:53.519 the Welsh miners. And there were a lot of flashpoints 555 00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:58.039 again with the police with miners and particularly miners wives 556 00:32:58.119 --> 00:33:02.240 surrounding poor rely centers that refused to pay up. They 557 00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:05.200 tried to change all the laws so that miners and 558 00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:08.240 their families couldn't get poor relief which they were entitled to. 559 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:09.799 So there was. 560 00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:14.000 Already a contentious aspect to poor relief. So poor relief 561 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:16.319 there was a legal case at the end of the 562 00:33:16.440 --> 00:33:22.359 nineteenth century which stipulated that minus families were entitled to 563 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:25.680 poor relief, and this ruling suggested it could also be 564 00:33:25.799 --> 00:33:30.720 claimed by striking minus families, not minus themselves. So there 565 00:33:30.839 --> 00:33:34.640 was this debate about whether people's families should be entitled 566 00:33:34.680 --> 00:33:38.240 to it. The local ratepayers didn't like this because they 567 00:33:38.359 --> 00:33:43.200 thought they were subsidizing strikers by supporting strikers families helping 568 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:46.119 workers to stay out longer. So there was a kind 569 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:50.160 of a big contestation about whether relief should be paid 570 00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:54.000 to miners, and they said, they forgive it to minus families, 571 00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:55.480 what are they going to do, They're going to share 572 00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:57.519 it with the striking miners, So we can't do that. 573 00:33:57.759 --> 00:34:01.559 But so there was a lot of arguments from national 574 00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:06.759 government against local government because in the mining areas, the 575 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:10.480 poor law guardians were likely to be miners. Ex miners 576 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:13.599 related to miners and tended to treat them more sympathetically 577 00:34:13.719 --> 00:34:16.000 than the ratepayers, and the national government wanted. 578 00:34:16.679 --> 00:34:20.159 This pressure from national government to stop providing miners families 579 00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:23.360 with poor relief meant that some local boards of guardians 580 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:26.599 began to cut them off entirely. One such place was 581 00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:29.800 in Westbury On seven in the southwest of England, where 582 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:32.639 in response to being cut off from poor relief, three 583 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:36.719 hundred miners, wives and their children occupied the local workhouse. 584 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:40.519 Women also played a role in confronting scabs, including in 585 00:34:40.599 --> 00:34:43.880 some places through the practice of something called white shirting. 586 00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:48.239 So in a lot of the mining communities, white shirting 587 00:34:48.440 --> 00:34:52.679 had been used as a way of humiliating women who 588 00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:57.639 stepped out of line, were immoral in inverted commas, or 589 00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:00.480 who were scolds, and they'd be four to wear a 590 00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:03.760 white dress strapped in a wheelbarrow and paraded around the town. 591 00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:08.239 But during the miner's lockout this was reversed, so women 592 00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:11.719 would get scabs, they would strip them, put them in 593 00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:15.559 a white shirt and tie them into a wheelbarrow and 594 00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:19.440 wheel them round town to accordion music. Well, the other 595 00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:21.920 thing they would do was hang a pole with women's 596 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:25.000 underwear on outside their bedroom windows, so that when they 597 00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:27.400 woke up in the morning, what they would see as 598 00:35:27.400 --> 00:35:30.360 a pair of women's pants being waved up them on 599 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:32.559 a stick as a threat that they were going to 600 00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:36.400 be white shirted. So I love the fact that women 601 00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:41.000 took on what was a deeply misogynistic tradition and turned 602 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:45.239 it into an expression of class of vengeance against the 603 00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:46.840 scabs who were breaking the strike. 604 00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:51.079 Ultimately, after seven months locked out from the mines, the 605 00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:54.920 miners were staffed back to work. In the final settlement, 606 00:35:55.239 --> 00:35:57.960 everything the miners had fought for over the years was 607 00:35:58.079 --> 00:36:02.039 torn away from them. Sought a national agreement for conditions. 608 00:36:02.239 --> 00:36:04.960 They were forced to accept settlements on a district by 609

00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:08.679 district basis. The hours they worked were longer than they'd 610 00:36:08.719 --> 00:36:11.960 been before the strike, and their pay in many cases 611 00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:14.599 was now lower than what they had earned when they'd 612 00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:18.239 worked those shorter hours. It was a defeat whose effects 613 00:36:18.360 --> 00:36:19.760 were felt for many years. 614 00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:31.920 Well, it effect and them peering up, and they're only 615 00:36:31.960 --> 00:36:40.599 began to divide in them. I came for and then 616 00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:45.119 piece of a chef. Not much, but there was something 617 00:36:45.159 --> 00:36:45.679 at that time. 618 00:36:46.800 --> 00:36:50.039 Well. Aide notes that the demoralization of the miners lasted 619 00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:53.239 well into the thirties. The effects of the strike's defeat 620 00:36:53.280 --> 00:36:56.920 were felt far beyond the UK's mining villages. A year 621 00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:00.360 after the general strike, the government passed the Trade Disputes 622 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:04.400 and Trade Unions Act, which made solidarity strikes illegal and 623 00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:08.559 placed restrictions on picketing so vague yet also so severe 624 00:37:09.079 --> 00:37:12.639 that it basically made any kind of picketing liable to prosecution. 625 00:37:13.280 --> 00:37:16.559 That year also saw union membership fall by hundreds of 626 00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:20.440 thousands to a low not seen since nineteen sixteen, and 627 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:23.400 the two years following the General Strike saw the number 628 00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:27.000 of workers involved in industrial disputes dropped to little more 629 00:37:27.079 --> 00:37:31.159 than one hundred thousand, the lowest number since nineteen oh five. 630 00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:34.719 During the nineteen twenty six dispute, as well as the 631 00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:37.760 months leading up to it, the General Strike was absurdly 632 00:37:37.840 --> 00:37:40.880 portrayed in the media as part of a Bolshevik conspiracy 633 00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:44.519 to overthrow the British state. In the aftermath, however, it 634 00:37:44.599 --> 00:37:48.400 became important to downplay its seriousness and portray the strike 635 00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:51.920 as essentially a non event. From being a revolutionary threat 636 00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:54.920 to the rule of law, it supposedly became a very 637 00:37:55.039 --> 00:37:58.360 British strike, marked by good cheer and fair play on 638 00:37:58.440 --> 00:38:02.519 all sides. These episodes show the strike and its aftermath 639 00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:06.679 were marked by bitter struggle, clashes between police and strikers 640 00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:10.840 across the country, and the military mobilized against its own population. 641 00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:15.039 And despite its defeat, the General Strike and subsequent miners 642 00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:19.199 lockout cost British trade around four hundred million pounds the 643 00:38:19.320 --> 00:38:23.360 equivalent of over twenty one billion pounds today. Ultimately, the 644 00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:28.079 strike was probably lost long before the General Council's humiliating capitulation. 645 00:38:28.679 --> 00:38:31.960 As is often said, battles are won or lost before. Therefore, 646 00:38:32.440 --> 00:38:34.800 in the case of the general strike, it was arguably 647 00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:38.679 lost when after Red Friday the government began planning for 648 00:38:38.760 --> 00:38:41.760 a showdown with the unions, while union leaders sat on 649 00:38:41.840 --> 00:38:44.480 their hands and did nothing until the very last minute. 650 00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:48.079 Workers showed their willingness to respect the call to walk out, 651 00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:50.760 but the nuts and bolts of how to conduct the strike, 652 00:38:50.920 --> 00:38:53.400 how to ensure strikers could be fed, and how to 653 00:38:53.519 --> 00:38:58.320 share information, whether locally between strike committees, regionally between trades 654 00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:01.960 councils or nationally within union leaders was all left to 655 00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:04.800 be worked out on the fly. Even the idea of 656 00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:08.760 the TUC publishing its own newspaper, The British Worker, only 657 00:39:08.880 --> 00:39:12.079 came about once the strike had already started, almost as 658 00:39:12.119 --> 00:39:15.320 an afterthought. It took a full decade after the strike 659 00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:18.800 for union membership to recover, and while still generally lower 660 00:39:18.840 --> 00:39:21.559 than the years before the general strike, the numbers of 661 00:39:21.639 --> 00:39:25.079 workers involved in industrial disputes continued to grow as well. 662 00:39:25.559 --> 00:39:28.679 Even during the war, when strikes were actually illegal, and 663 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:31.960 once the war was over, miners engaged in a wave 664 00:39:32.079 --> 00:39:35.719 of wildcat strikes, which was still illegal under those wartime laws, 665 00:39:36.119 --> 00:39:39.920 against the recently elected Labour government's policy of wage restraint. 666 00:39:40.280 --> 00:39:42.599 It should be noted as well that the General Council 667 00:39:42.639 --> 00:39:45.719 of the TUC sided with the government's wage restraint policy 668 00:39:45.880 --> 00:39:50.320 and against its own members. Soon after decades upon decades 669 00:39:50.360 --> 00:39:54.400 of struggle, Britain's coal mines were nationalized and a nationwide 670 00:39:54.480 --> 00:39:58.559 system of collective bargaining instituted, alongside a host of other 671 00:39:58.679 --> 00:40:03.280 social democratic reforms like the National Health Service. However, while 672 00:40:03.320 --> 00:40:05.480 the post war era began to lay some of the 673 00:40:05.559 -->

00:40:09.079 ghosts of the General Strike to rest, then nonetheless remained 674 00:40:09.119 --> 00:40:12.280 a great regret for many participants for what might have 675 00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:14.079 been the bards. 676 00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:16.920 I used to think, yourself, there string us along again, 677 00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:20.000 you know, with a lot of bleeding old twelvel even 678 00:40:20.039 --> 00:40:21.960 if they hadn't have won, if they'd have had a go, 679 00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:25.320 and one could sense. 680 00:40:25.159 --> 00:40:25.960 That I was having a go. 681 00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:27.920 But they got all right, You didn't get beat No 682 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:30.360 one was going to be critical of that. But you 683 00:40:30.360 --> 00:40:33.559 all get beaten sometimes. But you learn lessons from being 684 00:40:33.679 --> 00:40:37.719 beaten so that you avoid that one again the next time, 685 00:40:38.800 --> 00:40:41.719 like you could be going on into something different, but 686 00:40:41.840 --> 00:40:44.880 you learn from that and each time the chances of 687 00:40:44.920 --> 00:40:47.280 getting beaten get less with each time. That's if you're 688 00:40:47.320 --> 00:40:50.519 sincere about what it is that you're involving yourself with. 689 00:40:50.920 --> 00:40:54.159 You go into this thing to learn and learn the win. 690 00:40:55.280 --> 00:41:01.800 Oh you known of time, did events with me, little 691 00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:08.920 pick and shovel for the boss man, the callery. But 692 00:41:09.079 --> 00:41:14.760 I'll never own your soul with me, little pick and shove. Ure. 693 00:41:16.199 --> 00:41:18.599 That's it for our miniseries on the nineteen twenty six 694 00:41:18.719 --> 00:41:21.239 General Strike. If you enjoyed that and want to hear 695 00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:23.920 more from two of the strike's participants, we also have 696 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:27.679 a bonus episode with Betty Harrison and Harry Watson exclusively 697 00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:30.599 on Patreon, in which they talk more about their life 698 00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:32.960 and work around the time of the strike, as well 699 00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:36.599 as union politics more generally. It is only support from you, 700 00:41:36.840 --> 00:41:39.880 our listeners, which allows us to make these podcasts, So 701 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:42.679 if you appreciate our work, please do think about joining 702 00:41:42.760 --> 00:41:46.320 us at patreon dot com slash working class history link 703 00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:48.920 in the show notes, and if you can't spare the cash, 704 00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:51.960 no worries, please just tell your friends about this podcast 705 00:41:52.239 --> 00:41:54.400 and give us a five star review on your favorite 706 00:41:54.440 --> 00:41:57.679 podcast app. Also, be sure to check out General Strike 707 00:41:57.719 --> 00:42:00.400 one hundred dot com to find out more about events 708 00:42:00.440 --> 00:42:04.039 commemorating the General Strike in your area and beyond. You'll 709 00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:07.599 also find a ton of historical markers highlighting the locations 710 00:42:07.639 --> 00:42:10.800 of specific incidents that took place in towns and cities 711 00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:14.760 across the UK during the General Strike itself. Also, if 712 00:42:14.760 --> 00:42:17.199 you'd like to get a copy of Judy's book Revisiting 713 00:42:17.239 --> 00:42:19.920 the General Strike of nineteen twenty six, you can find 714 00:42:19.960 --> 00:42:21.800 a link to buy a copy on the web page 715 00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:24.440 for this episode. On the web page, you'll also find 716 00:42:24.480 --> 00:42:28.880 more information, including further reading, images and sources link in 717 00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:31.960 the show notes. Thanks to our Patreon supporters for making 718 00:42:32.039 --> 00:42:35.119 this podcast possible, and a special thanks to jazz Hands. 719 00:42:35.559 --> 00:42:38.400 Our theme tune for this episode is Montanne's version of 720 00:42:38.519 --> 00:42:41.159 When the Coal Comes from the Ronda, a folk song 721 00:42:41.239 --> 00:42:44.719 originating from Welsh miners in the early twentieth century and 722 00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:48.079 sung during the General Strike. The song is performed by 723 00:42:48.159 --> 00:42:51.400 Montaigne and mixed by Wave Racer. You can find a 724 00:42:51.480 --> 00:42:54.599 link to download the song on our website. All proceeds 725 00:42:54.679 --> 00:42:58.199 go into medical aid for Palestinians. For more from Montanne, 726 00:42:58.320 --> 00:43:00.440 check the links on the web page for this episode. 727 00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:04.800 This episode was edited by Jesse French. Anyway, that's it 728 00:43:04.880 --> 00:43:08.039 for today. Hope you enjoyed the episode and thanks for listening. 729 00:43:08.599 --> 00:43:14.320 From the Ronder with shovel and me, pick can be 730 00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:17.800 a little lamp and a wick when the call comes 731 00:43:17.880 --> 00:43:24.920 from the Ronda. With we shovel and repick can be 732 00:43:25.159 --> 00:43:29.440 little lamp and a wick when the call comes from 733 00:43:29.679 --> 00:43:31.960 the Rondave