TUs - General strike

Question 1

what was the economic situation in GB prior to 1926?

Answer 1

• business leaders cut £12 million weekly from the nation’s wage bill
• British competitiveness did not increase
• wage reductions reduced domestic demand and increased unemployment
• increased competition from USA and Germany meant miners wages were cut again
• (many owners had failed to invest n new and efficient production techniques during ww1)

Question 2

How did the economic situation prior to 1926 help contribute to the general strike?

Answer 2

• British trade stagnated
• unemployment hit 1 million
• GB returned to gold standard in 1925
• -increased deflation and made economic expansion difficult
• -exports were too expensive meaning more wage cuts

Question 3

What was red Friday?

Answer 3

• June 1925 mine owners aimed to cut wages by 13% and increase hours from 7 to 8
• GC ordered an embargo to halt coal imports in the vent of a strike

-to prevent a strike, Baldwin backed down, offering a 9 month gov subsidy of £23m to support miners’ wages

Question 4

when was red friday?

Answer 4

31st July 1925

reversal of collapse of Black Friday

Question 5

What were the effects of Red Friday?

Answer 5

• bought gov crucial time to organise for future militancy
• encouraged hope or TUs that socialism was near
• Right wing saw RF as a catastrophe - Ramsay MacDonald believed it would encourage revolutionaries and discredit labour

Question 6

How did the Government prepare for impending conflict with the TUs after Red Friday?

Answer 6

• organised counter strike measures overseen bt the STC
• • resources were stockpiled and local networks of volunteers were established
• the OMS and Economic League recruited m/c and u/c volunteers to keep services running
• troops were deployed to sensitive areas

Question 7

How did the TUs prepare for impending conflict with the Government after Red Friday?

Answer 7

-was completely inactive
-Unions even temporarily refused to grant powers to the GC to call an all-out strike and conduct negotiations
(lack of trust after black Friday)

Question 8

How did relations worsen in the months leading up to the General Strike?

Answer 8

• The mine owners and miners’ union both rejected the findings of the Samuel Commission
• SC had proposed a temporary reduction of wages by 13.5%, sharing of profits, almgagamtion of smaller mines
• TUC called for continued negotiations
• impasse reached. Owners locked out miners on April 29th 1926 who refused to accept reductions of 10-25%
• TUC called unions to unite

Question 9

What prompted the TUC to call a strike?

Answer 9

The OMS’s posters looking for recruits

Question 10

why was the general strike unavoidable?

Answer 10

on May 1 the TUC voted for a general strike to occur on May 3
Baldwin was under pressure from Anti-trade union conservatives, so couldn’t back down and repeat red Friday
TUC could not back down and risk a repeat of black Friday

Question 11

How were the volunteers deployed to reduce the effects of the strike?

Answer 11

• few of the 300,000 volunteers were needed
• gov formed a body of reserve policemen, wisely avoiding use of armed forces
• local authorities in towns kept resources flowing

Question 12

Where did the volunteers work?

Answer 12

• 460 worked at docks
• London underground was run by 2000 Cambridge undergraduates
• special constables

Question 13

How was the media and propaganda used by the government?

Answer 13

• British Gazette was edited by Churchill
• • deliberately raised fears of a revolutionary threat
• BBC avoided sympathetic tone to TUs
• British Worker had to reduce publication to 4 pages when Churchill bought all the paper

Question 14

How widely supported was the strike?

Answer 14

• during 9 days of industrial militancy, 1.75m workers came out to support the million who had been locked out
• Credit to Bevin’s influence
• organisation and scope was limited. Many London power stations remained active (blacklegs)
• On Merseyside 25/92 ships in port left during the strike

Question 15

Why did the TUC capitulate to the government?

Answer 15

• On May 12 they called off the strike, to avoid appearing as a revolutionary threat and losing general support
• memory of Black Friday sustained pessimism
• Herbert Samuel gave chnace to withdraw
• TUC never really believed wages could be protected

Question 16

What offer did Hervert Samuel give?

Answer 16

• (chair of coal commission)
• proposed that the coal industry be re-organised and workers’ wages be cut for a year
• Mines rejected this and TUC suggested a wage reduction after re-organisation
• MFGB refused to consider any cuts

Question 17

Why could Baldwin not support the Samuel Memorandum anyway?

Answer 17

after Red Friday the gov could not be seen to sustain wages

Question 18

How were striking workers treated after the strike?

Answer 18

• many employers made union membership a barrier to employment
• many struggled to get jobs back and wages were often cut
• coal miners remained locked out until Nov 1926
• In Yorkshire miners were forced to accept 7.5 hour days (up from 7)

Question 19

what happened to the trade union movement after the general strike?

Answer 19

became deeply divided
many were angry at lack of protection secured by TUC for workers who striked
-membership declined from 5.2m to 4.4m

Question 20

What was the Trade Disputes Act?

Answer 20

gov took action to avoid future general strikes

made illegal for strikes to exert influence over the gov

Question 21

How did Trade Unions change after the failure of the general strike? (success?)

Answer 21

• may trade unionist stressed that it was over specific grievances and was not a political revolution
• The gov did not need to call on military
• response of m/c and u/c meant political system was never in danger
• gov clearly ruled the nation (not TUs)