The General Strike Flashcards
Triple alliance
Formed by dockers, miners and railwaymen to support each other in any major dispute with employers
Conditions in mining
More than anyone other industry conditions in mining with four (1922 to 1924 3606 miners were killed and 597,158 injured)
Pay was low hours long and miners were treated with very little care or respect
Industrial relations in the mining industry had been bad for a long time there were there were constant disputes, strikes and lockouts 1919-1920-1922
Decline of the coal industry
Coal from the region of Germany was cheaper than British coal . when this became available on would market and had a damaging effect on the export of British coal
April 1925 Britain put back on the gold standard
The gold standard was put back on a pre-1914 read this made exports more expensive the effect was very damaging in the first six months of 1925 the industry made a loss of £2.1 million
mineowners called for wage cuts and long hours but the miners rejected these demands leading the owners to threaten lockouts
1925 Baldwins government intervened
Offering financial support to subsidise wedges and profits for nine months it also set up the Samuel commission to investigate and report on the problems of the coal industry. The miners saw this victory as ‘redFriday’
1926 Samuel commission report was published
Rejected nationalisation of the call industry
Recommended mines should be re-structured with government help
Oppose longer working hours but argued wage cuts were essential to save jobs (neither owners or miners were prepared to accept the Samuel report in full)
April 1926 government subsidise ended
Mineowners declared that the workers would be locked out unless excepted to wage cuts and long hours
The miners and their leaders A.J cook and also Smith were defiant and adopted the slogan ‘not a penny of the pay not the second on the day’
The TUC
The TUC were a trade union organisation they called and millions of other trade union is just write in support of the miners
The TUC back the minors because the miners Federation formed the vanguard of the British trade union movement
The TUC was afraid that an attack on miners wages and conditions would presage an attack on wages and conditions across a range of occupations
Baldwin government proclaimed a state of emergency
Giving the impression that it wanted to fight with the unions bold and ended last minute talk to the TUC after unofficial strike by printers at the Daily Mail the day before the general strike was due to begin on the third of may the general strike begun
Minus bosses to blame
The owners of the coal mines were: greedy Not updating mines Subsidising wages Forced miners to go on strike Low pay for miners and bad conditions
The bosses response to the general strike was hardline five, refuse to pay more wages, lots of people out until they had to work, if they given they would lose power and miners would always be asking for things
Baldwins laissez-faire mindset
Folder inside the miners were very stubborn and what they wanted and not willing to compromise
They were in for the long room and they’re being very difficult they were unable to understand that the bosses wanted a profit and were not accepting that the industry was in a decline
The TC was seen as a catalyst to set it all off went straight to telling miners to strike and did not take any action to try and solve the problem before suggesting the strike
British coal mines
The coal mines were old and insufficient and also short of investment
Demand for British Coal had been falling for many years because of intense foreign competition and the growing use of substitutes (oil)
