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| Volume 56 Number 10, April 4, 2026 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Photo: www.tuc.org.uk
The 1926 General Strike stands as one of the most significant episodes in the history of the British working class movement. Lasting nine days in May 1926, it involved around 1.5-2 million workers and was called by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in support of coal miners resisting wage cuts and longer working hours.
The immediate origins of the strike lay in the crisis of the British coal industry after the First World War. During the war, coal mines had been placed under state control, but in 1921 they were returned to private ownership. In the following years, the industry faced falling prices, shrinking export markets and increased international competition. Mine owners attempted to restore their private claims through reducing wages and extending the working day. Miners, whose wages had already declined sharply since the end of the war, resisted these measures. Their union adopted the slogan "Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day," reflecting widespread opposition to further deterioration in living conditions.
With coal central to the British economy, supplying energy for transport, industry and domestic use, a conflict in the coalfields had the potential to spread across the wider economy. By the 1920s Britain had a large and organised workers' movement. Between 1910 and 1914, a period often described as the "Great Unrest", major strikes took place across mining, transport, and manufacturing sectors. Trade unions had gained millions of members, and this period of struggle had demonstrated workers' capacity for coordinated action.
In 1925, faced with renewed conflict in the coal industry, the government intervened to prevent an immediate general strike. It introduced subsidies to maintain miners' wages and established a commission to investigate the industry. This temporary retreat, known as "Red Friday", was widely seen as a victory for the workers. However, the delay also allowed the government to prepare for a future confrontation. Emergency plans were developed, supplies were stockpiled, and arrangements were made to maintain essential services in the event of a strike.
When the commission later recommended wage reductions, negotiations broke down. Mine owners moved to impose new terms, and when miners refused, they were locked out in May 1926. The TUC responded by calling a general strike, which began on May 3. Workers in key sectors such as transport, railways, printing, and heavy industry joined. The strike disrupted the functioning of the economy and brought large parts of industry to a halt.
The government declared a state of emergency under the Emergency Powers Act 1920, instituting open rule by police powers. Volunteers were recruited to operate transport and maintain supply networks, while police and troops were deployed to protect infrastructure. The government also issued its own propaganda newspaper, The British Gazette. It had already pre-emptively arrested leading members of the recently-formed Communist Party in October 1925.
Tyldesley miners outside the Miners Hall during the 1926
strike
After nine days, on May 12, 1926, the TUC called off the strike without securing guarantees for the miners. The miners continued their struggle alone for several months but were eventually forced back to work under worse conditions. The General Strike ended without achieving its immediate aims. The miners' defeat and subsequent legislation restricting trade union activity was, in itself, a setback for the working class movement.
The General Strike broke out in a period when revolution was very much in flow, in the aftermath of the First World War when the shockwaves of the Socialist Revolution in Russia were still being felt. Although capitalism had matured into its monopoly, imperialist stage - a consequence of which had been the War itself - this was still a recent development. Following the Russian Revolution, the period from 1917 to the early 1920s had seen a wave of uprisings in Germany, Hungary and Italy. Britain itself experienced significant working class unrest during this period, with major strikes and political agitation. The Communist Party of Great Britain had been formed in August 1920, though its influence was still limited. At that time, any large-scale industrial conflict had to be viewed as part of this broader struggle between labour and capital.
The significance of the General Strike at that time was that it put the question of political power on the agenda for the working class for the first time in Britain. The government treated the strike as a challenge to its authority, mobilising emergency powers and framing the conflict as a defence of constitutional order. At the same time, the strike demonstrated the capacity of organised labour to disrupt economic life on a national scale. In this sense, the strike opened up the question of who ultimately controls the organisation of society, a question that remains unresolved to this day. The nine days of action gave workers a direct experience of their collective power.
The conditions of the present day are very different from those of the General Strike a century ago. Imperialism has long-since overripened and now, in the age of oligarchy, is in all-sided perpetual crisis and decay. The ruling elites no longer follow with any coherence the political theory they established out of, for example, the English Civil War. The big political parties have degenerated into factions of a cartel system that bars people from power. The liberal democratic institutions to which capitalist development gave rise, of civil and political society, lie in tatters, as the state is reorganised directly around the most powerful, yet narrow, private interests. Nowadays, rule is increasingly openly of police powers as a matter of course.
Unions in particular face a serious struggle to remain effective as self-defence organisations of the class at a time when civil society lies in ruins. There is a complete absence of a social contract between workers and employers, exemplified by imposition by employers as the modus operandi. Resistance to "fire and rehire", for example, has exposed the imbalance in employer-worker relations, with employers imposing decisions without consultation. The historical alliance between unions, business and the state is a long-distant memory, leading to a unilateral imposition of power by those in control.
A new consciousness is emerging among working people, emphasising the need for a society that recognises and affirms human rights. The workers' movement is gaining momentum, as they declare "Enough is Enough!" and advocate for control over their lives and rights. Increasing resistance from workers reveals in practice that they can provide solutions aligned with the general interests of society. Workers need a decisive role in decision-making processes affecting society and the economy, emphasising that true political opposition emerges from the working class when organised in and of itself, with its own independent programme.
Engaging in the battle of democracy, the working class and people seek to establish new forms in which the working people themselves constitute the authority and decide matters directly. In this sense, the core issue raised by the General Strike remains, and is in fact sharper than ever before: the issue of political power.