BRITAIN Trade union militancy 1915-27 PART 3 Flashcards
What were the problems with the 1926 General Strike?
Effective government response to the crisis; chaotic and sporadic support TUC secured
What was the hostile Conservative press led by the during the 1926 General Strike?
Churchill’s ‘British Gazette’
What were the priorities for the government during the 1926 General Strike?
Maintaining food supplies and essential services; preserving law and order
When did the government send out orders for volunteers to be mobilised during the 1926 General Strike?
3 May
What did the government do on the 5 May of the 1926 General Strike?
Sent instructions to the Boards of Guardians to refuse relief to strikers
How many middle- and upper-class volunteers did the government recruit during the 1926 General Strike?
300,000-500,000
What were the volunteers the government gathered during the 1926 General Strike used for?
To man power stations and docks; act as special constables and transport workers
Who manned the London Underground during the 1926 General Strike?
2,000 Cambridge undergraduates
What was an example of particularly upper-class solidarity during the 1926 General Strike?
At Dover, 460 Cambridge students worked the docks
What did the government use instead of the armed forces during the 1926 General Strike?
A civil constabulary reserve from former soldiers and members of the Territorial Army
Which city was responsible for 1/5 of the nation’s imports and kept supplies flowing during the 1926 General Strike?
Liverpool
Which area of industry did the government fail to resolve during the 1926 General Strike?
Railways
How many passenger rail services were running by the 12 May of the 1926 General Strike?
22.4%
Where were there several disturbances during the 1926 General Strike, despite law and order being maintained?
Plymouth; Glasgow; London
How many arrests were made during the 1926 General Strike?
1,760
What was the most iconic act of violence during the 1926 General Strike?
Derailing of the famous steam locomotive, the ‘Flying Scotsman’, by protesters at Newcastle on 10 May
What did the ‘British Gazette’ do during the 1926 General Strike?
Informed public that the government was in a strong position; raised fears that strike represented a revolutionary threat to state
When was the BBC formed?
1922
Why was the BBC not actually impartial during the 1926 General Strike?
Refused to publish content that would be damaging to government- depended on it for license
What tone did the BBC take on during the 1926 General Strike?
A conciliatory one
How was the TUC’s propaganda affected during the 1926 General Strike?
Severely restrained- reduced to 4 pages from usual 8
What was the TUC’s pro-strike newspaper?
‘British Worker’
Why did Churchill order the requisitioning of the TUC’s newsprint?
Believed government had right to propaganda, unlike the TUC
What proves that Baldwin’s government never really took the 1926 General Strike seriously?
Limited use of armed force
When was the Communist Party of Great Britain formed?
1920
When was the 1926 General Strike?
3 May to 12 May 1926
How many workers came out in support of the million locked out coal miners during the 1926 General Strike?
1.5-1.75 million
When had the TUC began to make arrangements for the industrial action of the 1926 General Strike?
27 April
Which of the leaders of the 1926 General Strike believed that it was success in terms of popular support?
TGWU’s general secretary, Bevin
Which workers joined the strikers on the last day of the 1926 General Strike?
Shipbuilders; engineers
Who directed the unrest of the 1926 General Strike?
Bevin and the Powers and Orders Committee
Which areas had the most organised support for the 1926 General Strike?
Bradford; Leeds; York; Merseyside
How many locomotive and firemen went on strike during the 1926 General Strike because of the TUC’s insistence?
98%
How many GWR workers went on strike in support of the miners during the 1926 General Strike?
80%
What are examples of the organisation and the extent of the 1926 General Strike being far from perfect?
Many London power stations remained in operation; Strike Organising Committee only ever had symbolic control
What did the TUC General Council appear to do by calling off the 1926 General Strike?
Betray the workers it represented
Why did the General Council become increasingly keen to end the industrial dispute of 1926 General Strike?
Didn’t want to start a revolution; memory of failure of Black Friday
When was the ‘Samuel Memorandum’ rejected?
11 May
What presented the opportunity for the TUC to withdraw from the 1926 General Strike?
‘Samuel Memorandum’
What was the ‘Samuel Memorandum’?
Proposed that the coal industry be reorganised and miners’ wages cut for one year; National Wages Board would be established
Which individuals from the TUC General Council sent out orders to end the strike?
Arthur Pugh; Walter Citrine
Why was the ‘Samuel Memorandum’ rejected?
MFGB refused to consider any cuts
What was another problem with the ‘Samuel Memorandum’?
Baldwin would not have been able to support it
How did employers initially try and prevent a repeat of the 1926 General Strike?
Many attempted to make union membership a barrier to employment
When did the coal miners remain locked out until?
November 1926
Where were wages cut post-General Strike 1926?
South Wales; Scotland; north-east
After the 1926 General Strike, where were workers made to work longer hours for the same wages?
Cheltenham tramway
How was the trade union movement affected by the 1926 General Strike?
Divided by allegations of betrayal; General Council accused of failing to protect its workers from post-strike victimisation
How did trade union membership decline after the 1926 General Strike?
From 5,219,000 to 4,392,000 by 1932
Rather than revolutionary, how do many historians view the relationship between unions and employers?
Evolutionary
How did the government take action to avoid future general strikes after 1926?
Trades Disputes and Trades Unions Act 1927
