March 1926: The Samuel Commission on the Coal Industry issues its long -awaited report: the coal industry should be reorganised but not nationalised; the subsidy for miners’ wages that had been paid for nine months to avert a strike in 1925 should end on April 30th. The colliery owners demand longer hours and wage cuts.
April sees stalemate after a series of negotiations between government, colliery owners, miners and the TUC. Lockout notices are posted at mines by the owners for when the subsidy ends at the end of the month. Arthur Cook, a leader of the miners, has this clarion call: “Not a penny off the pay, Not a second on the day.”
May 1st. A Special Conference approves the TUC General Council’s proposals for a General Strike in defence of the miners’ wages and hours to begin at midnight on Monday 3rd May. The government proclaims a State of Emergency. The Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, broadcasts to the nation: “Keep steady. Keep ready. Remember that peace on Earth comes to men of goodwill.” Unions begin to issue strike orders for the first line of industries to come out, such as unions from Transport, printing, the press, iron and steel and metals, Heavy chemicals, electricity, gas, Building (excluding hospitals and houses). The TUC and the Prime Minister resume negotiations at 9 p.m.
May 2nd Baldwin and the TUC break their negotiations so the prime minister can meet with the cabinet while the Miners’ Executive join discussions with the TUC General Council.
May 3rd negotiations broke down at 1.15 a.m. after printers refused to print a Daily Mail leading article denouncing the General Strike as an attack on the constitution. Stanley Baldwin informs the TUC negotiators that “Overt acts have already taken place, including gross interference with the freedom of the press”. This was a challenge to the constitution, the Government asserted, and so demanded, “The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the instructions for a General Strike”. The General Strike began at midnight as day shifts ended and night shifts stayed at home.
May 4th First day of the strike and the response of those called out exceeded expectations. No passenger trains; hardly any buses or trams and the docks at a standstill. No national newspapers. The BBC issues news bulletins at three hourly intervals. Many trades councils produce their own local strike bulletin broadsheets.
May 5 The government appealed for volunteers and special constables and issued the British Gazette with Winston Churchill as editor. The TUC replied with the British Worker printed at the premises of the Daily Herald although the first edition was held up for 5 hours by a police raid. At the local level, strike organisations, Councils of Action, Joint Strike Committees took the initiative where it was felt there was insufficient direction from the TUC. London taxi-drivers who had not been called out on strike, insist on joining the strike.
May 6 The government assures volunteers that they will not be victimised by trade unions after the end of the strike and they will lose no trade union benefits. Sir John Simon declares in the House of Commons that the General Strike is illegal.
May 7 The Archbishop of Canterbury announces proposals for a settlement which are printed in the British Worker but make no appearance in the British Gazette or on the BBC. Sir Herbert Samuel (who had headed the Royal Commission about the mines) returns from holiday and approaches the TUC General Council with an offer of mediation, emphasising that he is acting in an unofficial capacity with no governmental authority. The TUC negotiating committee meet with him without informing the miners.
May 8 A convoy of armoured cars with soldiers in helmets transport food supplies to the depot in Hyde Park. The government announce plans for a Civil Reserve Constabulary whose recruits would don steel helmets, armlets and be armed with truncheons. The BBC announce a government declaration that any member of the armed forces will receive full governmental support for any action they deem necessary to take “in an honest endeavour to aid the Civil Power.”
May 9 Sunday mass gatherings in support of the strike nationwide; Cardinal Bourne declares the General Strike a sin against God at High Mass; the army place a cordon around London Docks. TUC leaders now inform the miners’ leaders of Samuel’s recommendations which include wage cuts. TUC General Council informed by the Miners’ Federation Executive at a meeting that wage cuts simply unacceptable.
May 10 Sir Herbert Samuel now meets with the TUC Negotiating Committee and the miners’ representatives. Miners emphasise the unacceptability of wage cuts. Many arrests mentioned on the BBC. The TUC General Council sends out this rallying call to those out on strike: “Stand firm. Be loyal to instructions and trust your leaders.”
May 11 Those shipbuilding and engineering workers not called out in the first wave are instructed to down tools at midnight. The Transport and General Workers Union leadership publish this message: “Hold fast. We must see the miners through.”
Justice Astbury declares that the General Strike is illegal and that trade union funds may not be legally used for strike pay to those called out as they are obeying illegal orders.
The TUC General Council accept the final draft of the Samuel Memorandum from the TUC Negotiating Committee. The MFGB Executive reject it as it involves wage cuts.
May 12 The TUC General Council visit Downing Street at noon to inform Baldwin that the General Strike is unconditionally called off. The news is broadcast at 1 p.m. The King issues a message calling for co-operation.
May 13 It now becomes public knowledge that the settlement does not include withdrawal of the owners’ lock-out notices. The MFGB refuse to agree to the settlement. There is widespread employer practice of the imposition of terms of reinstatement that amount to victimisation in many peoples’ eyes. Workers go back on strike: there are more out today than on any previous day.
May 14 The Prime Minister proposals to miners and owners are even less favourable to the miners than those of the Samuel Memorandum. The Railway Unions accept the terms proposed by the Railway Companies and are forced to “admit that in calling a strike they committed a wrongful act.”
May 15-18 Dockers, printworkers and other trades unions reach agreements for returning to work. Much victimisation, especially on the railways.
End of November sees the official return to work by the miners after growing piecemeal returns throughout the summer and autumn. Wage cuts and longer hours for many and victimisation and unemployment for many too.
- Trades Disputes and Trades Union Act: all sympathetic strikes illegal; mass picketing and “intimidation” by pickets illegal; no political levy for trades unionists to pay to the Labour Party – instead they will have to “contract in”; Civil Service unions not allowed to affiliate to the TUC; Local Authority employees forbidden to break their contracts of employment on pain of imprisonment.
British Gazette final issue May 13:
‘The most formidable and insidious attempt that has as yet been made to cripple the freedom of the Press, and to withhold essential news from the public has been frustrated. The British Gazette may have had a short life, but it has fulfilled the purpose of living. It becomes a memory; but it remains a monument.’
New Statesman May 15
‘One of the worst outrages that the country has had to endure – and to pay for it – in the course of the strike, was the publication of the British Gazette. This organ, throughout the seven days of its existence, was a disgrace alike to the British Government and to British journalism – in so far as British journalism can be said to have had anything to do with it.’
Mostly adapted from 1926 The General Strike edited by Jeffrey Skelley