general strike

Supporters of Britain's General Strike of May 1926, picketing a meat delivery convoy during its passage from the docks to Smithfield market in London. The strike was called by the Trades Union Congress in response to a national lockout of coal-miners, but the government was able to keep most services running and the TUC capitulated after nine days.

Refusal to work by employees in several key industries, with the intention of paralysing the economic life of a country. In British history, the General Strike was a nationwide strike called by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on 3 May 1926 in support of striking miners. Elsewhere, the general strike was used as a political weapon by anarchists and others (see syndicalism), especially in Spain and Italy. See also strike.

The immediate cause of the 1926 general strike was the report of a royal commission on the coal-mining industry (Samuel Report (1926)) which, among other things, recommended a cut in wages. The mine-owners wanted longer hours as well as lower wages. The miners' union, under the leadership of A J Cook, resisted with the slogan ‘Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day’. A coal strike started in early May 1926 and the miners asked the TUC to bring all major industries out on strike in support of the action; eventually it included more than 2 million workers. The Conservative government under Stanley Baldwin used troops, volunteers, and special constables to maintain food supplies and essential services, and had a monopoly on the information services, including BBC radio. After nine days the TUC ended the general strike, leaving the miners – who felt betrayed by the TUC – to remain on strike, unsuccessfully, until November 1926. The Trades Disputes Act of 1927 made general strikes illegal.