A 1974 documentary on the 1926 British General Strike has been recently rediscovered by Platform Films’ Chris Reeves. The documentary which includes interviews and testimonies from those involved brings this historic class battle to life.
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It is often said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. On the 100-year anniversary of the General Strike, Britain's trade union leaders have chosen to ignore, gloss over, and consciously hide the clearly revolutionary character of this momentous class battle.
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A century after Britain saw a general strike of revolutionary proportions, the stereotype persists that British workers are averse to radical class struggle. In this episode of the RCI's Spectre of Communism podcast, RCP General Secretary Ben Gliniecki sets the record straight.
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To conclude our series on the centenary of the 1926 General Strike, we publish an excerpt from Ben Gliniecki's book 'A Communist History of the British General Strike', which outlines the lessons of this monumental struggle for revolutionaries and class fighters today.
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On 4 May 1926, London was paralysed. For nine days, two million workers had brought the capital to a standstill, and shown how London might be organised differently. The TUC's decision to end the strike was met with righteous fury.
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In Scotland, as across Britain, workers showed extraordinary discipline, solidarity, and initiative. They proved that without them nothing moves. More than that, they showed in outline how workers could begin organising society themselves.
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When the General Strike began on 4 May 1926, the coalfield communities of South Wales answered the call with militancy. Throughout the struggle, these militant workers saw and experienced their power in action. Includes a 1976 article by Rob Sewell.
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The TUC had publicly promised that it had called off the strike to allow for an "honourable peace". In reality, this defeat heralded a brutal counter-offensive by the bosses. The legacy of this defeat weighed on the labour movement for decades.
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Terrified by the growing strike, the TUC general council decided that the only way to calm things was an unconditional surrender. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, they went to Downing Street hat-in-hand, prepared for any humiliation to keep the situation from running out of their control.
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Dark clouds began to gather on 11 May, as the strike entered its eighth day. At noon a government spokesman stated that “without being unduly optimistic, the tide has turned." They knew that, with the connivance of the TUC leaders, the strike would soon be over.
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Only now, on the seventh day of the General Strike, did the TUC leadership bring out its “second line” of workers, who came out enthusiastically. For the TUC leadership, the movement was threatening to move far beyond their control.
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Determination remained high among the workers on day six of the General Strike. The same could not be said for their weakening leadership. The TUC was now actively working with the government to call off the strike, but the miners were refusing to accept defeat.
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On day five of the Strike, Prime Minister Baldwin gave the first emergency radio broadcast to the country, where he warned: “I am a man of peace... but I will not surrender the safety and the security of the British Constitution”. This pressure was acutely felt by the TUC leaders.
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The fourth day of the strike saw the trade union leaders continue their attempts to do secret deals with the government to end the strike. While the TUC appealed for calm, the workers were left to lead the struggle themselves.
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By the third day of the General Strike both sides had started to accept the reality of the struggle. Workers could feel their strength, and could see that the government was at its wits' end. But their leaders were desperate to reach a settlement.
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On the second day of the strike the government rolled out its carefully prepared plans to crush it. But the class balance of forces had been revealed: 30,000 strikebreaking volunteers had been mobilised, but 3 million workers were on strike.
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Tuesday 4 May was the opening shot of a titanic class battle. Bit by bit, the arteries of economic life in Britain were methodically shut down as the workers answered the TUC’s call. For the government and the bosses, nothing had prepared them for the completeness of the stoppage.
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Between August 1925 and May 1926, battle lines were drawn on the field of class war. On one side stood the owners of capital, with the might of the British state behind them. On the other stood a powerful labour movement. By 1 May, this tense situation could no longer be ignored.
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100 years on from the British General Strike, we are excited to announce a new two-week article series following the events of the strike day by day, across the regions of Britain. The RCP is keeping the flame of 1926 alive, and passing on these valuable lessons to a new generation of class fighters.
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American labor has always known the problem: workers run out of money before employers do. Union Now is the first attempt to build a national structure that changes that calculation. The question is whether the architecture matches the ambition.