14. General Strike Flashcards
What happened before World War One between workers (I.e. coal, railway and transport?)
They were trying to improve working conditions and pay
What happened during the war for workers?
Working conditions and pay were improved
What happened after the war for workers?
Economic conditions deteriorated again
How did this affect the workers?
The price of coal fell and mine owners wanted to reduce wages by 13%.
Wanted to increase the length of shifts from 7Hrs to 8hrs
What did the government agree to do in 1925?
Agreed to subsidise wages for one year to prevent more strikes
Who investigated the issue and what did they decide?
The Samuel Commission investigated the issue and recommended the subsidy and recommended the reduction of 13.5% in miners wages.
What did this cause?
800,000 miners going on strike
What union supported the miners strike?
The TUC
On May 4th, 1926, what did the TUC declare?
A general strike
How long had the government spent preparing for the strike?
9 months
What did volunteers do that were recruited?
Drove buses, trains and acted as special constables
What did the armed forces do?
Unloaded food in docks and escorted supplies to depots
What did the Government use to try and convince people that this was an act to try and overthrow the government?
Emergency Power Act Of 1920.
What did the leader of the Catholic Church believe?
The strike was a sin
What did the government do to try and get people on their side?
Published its own newspaper telling its own side of the story and tried to convince strikers to come back to work
How did things start out peacefully?
There were football matches between police and strikers
The TUC only called out people to come on strike until there were several millions
How did things gradually get more violent?
Clashes broke out between police and strikers
Strikers derailed the Flying Scotsman
Some threw stones at police
But TUC did not want to be seen as wanting to overthrow the government
What did the TUC secretly do?
Negotiated with government and mine owners but nothing was settled.
What did the TUC order on May 13th?
That everyone return back to work which forced miners to return back to work and accept the reduced money as they had no more support
Some troublemakers were blacklisted and couldn’t find jobs
What followed after the General Strike?
The 1927 Trades Dispute Act which banned sympathy strikes and mass picketing
How did the Great Depression affect workers?
Employers felt they could reduce union power even more as the Great depression caused mass unemployment and low wages
How did this all change in 1960s?
Full employment meant unions could secure higher wages and better conditions
What did Margret Thatcher want to do when she came into power?
Reduce union power
She prepared in case of a strike - stocked up on coal and saved energy
How did the leader of the Unions view Margret Thatcher?
As the enemy for the working people and determined to destroy the coal industry
In 1984, what did the government announce?
They had plans to close unproductive pits
This caused another strike and caused more tension between police and strikers
Who played a huge part in supporting the striking miners?
Mainly women and others who contributed funds to the miner’s families.
However miners were forced to return to work and many mining pits were closed down
How did Thatcher achieve a victory?
Union power was massively reduced
She had a lot of power and control
What did the defeat of the miners cause?
It enabled the government to marginalise the TUC and remove trade unions from the political agenda
Unions were now simply small pressure groups.
And in most industries, you don’t have to join a union
What was the overall effect of worker’s rights?
The general strike was defeated in May 1926
Mines had to return to work for lower wages and longer hours
1927, Trades Disputes Act stopped unions joining together to strike
After WW2, trade union membership increased
In 1970s, there were many strikes for higher wages
The miners strike (1984-1985) was defeated and union membership declined
