A-Infos (en) UK, ACG: 1926 General Strike (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Few would deny that a general strike poses a blatant challenge to big 
business and government. Unlike many other forms of struggle, it demands 
a high degree of working class activity and organisation at 
rank-and-file level. The British General Strike of 1926 illustrates this 
very clearly. ---- The class conflict of 1925-6 was not simply a 
response to the economic difficulties facing the coal industry during 
this period. It was the culmination of offensives and retreats by both 
big business and the workers movement since the First World War. After 
the massive defeats of 1921 the workers movement only regained its 
self-confidence slowly. The number of strikes gradually rose through 1924.

In 1925, the employers again tried to force down working class living 
standards. The mine-owners proposed a 25% cut in wages, and a return to 
the eight-hour day. There was mass support for the miners. Baldwin, the 
Prime Minister told trade union leaders that the Government would not 
grant a subsidy, which would maintain existing wage levels. He argued 
that all the workers of this country had to take reductions in wages to 
help put industry back on its feet. But a few days later, the Government 
gave way and granted a subsidy. The apparent victory was hailed as Red 
Friday. Years later, asked why they had given way, Baldwin, replied 'We 
were not ready'.

 The state used the time between then and the following May, which was 
when the subsidy was due to run out, profitably. lt divided the country 
into ten regions, each under a Civil Commissioner. Eighty eight 
Voluntary Service Committees were set up to keep local services in 
operation. The police force was enlarged through a massive recruitment 
of Special Constables. The right-wing Organisation for the Maintenance 
of Supplies was created. Although it was supposedly an unofficial body, 
it enjoyed full Government support. In autumn 1925, twelve leading 
members of the Communist Party (CP) were imprisoned under the 1797 
lncitement to Mutiny Act.

 A motion at the TUC's annual conference, which called for a degree of 
organisation, was referred to the General Council. The CP, and the 
Minority Movement (a CP-dominated rank and file organisation 
encompassing, at least on paper, representatives of almost a million 
workers) tended to reinforce this inactivity.  Following Leninist 
notions of 'leadership', they concentrated their efforts on putting 
demands to the TUC. This became a substitute for advancing concrete 
ideas for rank-and-file activity.

The Party told workers to 'follow the TUC and insist on the formation of 
the Workers Alliance under the supreme authority of the General 
Council'. Throughout 1925, they increasingly supported the 'left-wing' 
members of the General Council and hailed them as 'an alternative 
political leadership.' On January 8th 1926, the Party put forward the 
slogan of 'All power to the General Council.'  The subsidy to the mines 
ran out, and negotiations began. The tone of these was illustrated by 
J.H. Thomas, the railway workers leader, who revealed that 'I have never 
begged and pleaded like l begged and pleaded all day today'. The 
Government replied by sending troops to South Wales, Lancashire and 
Scotland. Two battleships, three destroyers and a troop ship were 
stationed in the Mersey. The Government broke off negotiations.

The strike began on May 3rd. The BBC offered its services to the state. 
On May 2nd, the Government had invoked the Emergency Powers Act. It 
enabled the state to take whatever measures it saw fit to maintain 'law 
and order'. They commandeered paper supplies, and Winston Churchill 
edited the British Gazette, the Government's daily mouthpiece - a 
valuable propaganda weapon. At High Mass in Westminster Cathedral, 
Cardinal Bourne declared that the strike was a 'sin against the 
obedience which we owe to God'. Picket lines were smashed.

On May 6th a battalion of Grenadier Guards escorted by twenty armoured 
cars, moved into the docks and set up Lewis guns at vantage points. 
Riots in Leeds, Hull and Glasgow were put down. By May 11th, the Cabinet 
was preparing an Order prohibiting banks from paying out money to any 
person 'acting in opposition to the National Interest'. The state 
machinery showed, beyond any doubt, which side it was on.

The trade union leadership gave away its position at the end of the 
strike. Thomas revealed in the Commons that 'What I dreaded about this 
strike more than anything else was this, if by any chance it should have 
got out of the hands of those who would be able to exercise any 
control'. They insisted throughout, that the strike was completely 
unrelated to politics. Despite the activities of the bureaucracy, rank 
and file solidarity grew daily. Traditional divisions and sectional 
splits were broken down. The most visible form this took was the 
formation of Councils of Action. The form these took varied. Generally, 
they were based on local Trades Councils. The Vale of Leven provides a 
useful example of a well-organised area. lts subcommittees were:- 1. 
Organisation of strike 2. Propaganda Commissariat 3. Relief to strikers 
4. Defence corps - not very common 5. Transport 6. Building trades. Each 
committee would have a convenor.

 However, in many cases a single industry would dominate, as at 
Braintree, Norwich, Wolverhampton, etc, where railway workers played a 
leading part. In Wales the miners tended to control policy. Most 
Councils suffered from the extreme haste with which they were 
established, although in for example, Hull and Preston, they had been 
set up nine months previously. Leeds possessed four rival strike 
committees, mutually jealous, and pre-occupied with a fight for the 
direct telephone line to London. Yet throughout, every Council or 
committee was local in character. Few meaningful links were forged 
between them.

The beginnings of federations appeared only in Merseyside Dartford, and 
in Northumberland and Durham, where a general council was established. 
The potential power of Councils of Action was shown most vividly in the 
Newcastle area. The Civil Commissioner, Sir Kingsley Wood, was forced to 
negotiate with them and ask for concessions. Vehicles required special 
permits, issued by the local committees. Bulletins were produced 
throughout the country, although the TUC General Council attempted to 
suppress the Bradford Worker and the Preston Strike News. The strike 
grew daily. The wave was built up and sustained entirely by 
rank-and-file efforts. The trade union bureaucracy played very little 
part. However, the General Council retreated after nine days and called 
the strike off. They feared the power of the working class far more than 
that of the ruling class. Initially the strikers refused to accept this. 
Twenty-four hours after the official ending, 100,000 more workers had 
come out,  but returned to work after instructions by union officials. 
The demoralisation that followed paved the way for the defeats in the 
following years. Living standards were cut back and shopfloor 
organisation smashed.

After years of indoctrination, the notion of dependence on leaderships 
has become deeply embedded in the British working class. Inevitably, 
this leads to 'helplessness' in the face of betrayals. As we have said, 
this was reinforced by the political perspectives of the CP and the 
Minority Movement. Today, serious revolutionaries and industrial 
militants must break with the idea of putting demands on the TUC and the 
Labour Party. That merely reinforces their authority and the existing 
power structure in the workers movement. The General Strike illustrates 
more than anything else the need for militants to build up independent 
organisation through class-wide activity.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2026/07/05/1926-general-strike/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en