BRITAIN'S FIRST GENERAL STRIKE

 

Britain Trade Union Council called for the country's first general strike on 3 May 1926. Volunteers sabotaged the strike. Workers walked to their workplaces. 

Britain's first and only General Strike began on 3.5.1926. It was called by the Trade Union Council in support of coal miners. Their wages were to be reduced by 13%, and working hours were to be increased from 7 to 8 hours. 17.5 lakh workers went on strike, with the slogan: “Not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay.” The strike divided the society. Some of London's buses, trams, trains and delivery vans were run by non-unionised workers and students. The transport network was crippled. Cars choked the roads. Police bet strikers. Conservative PM Stanley Baldwin said, "I am a man of peace. But won't surrender the safety and security of the Constitution. The Roman Catholic Church branded the strike a sin. The army escorted food lorries. Newspapers appeared in brief form. To spread the government’s message, Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, pioneered and edited a new newspaper, the British Gazette. It ran only 8 editions. But the circulation rose from an initial 2 lakhs to 20 lakhs. It propagated for the Govt. Talks between the TUC and the Govt failed. On 13 May, union leaders, recognising the country was muddying the strike, called it off to the anger of miners. A year later, Stanley Baldwin passed a law that outlawed the strikes. It was repealed by the Labour Govt in 1946. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher reintroduced the ban, which is still in force today.