The bosses had said clearly that miners would be locked out on May 1 if their demands weren’t met. The OMS were right-wing strike breakers including, amongst others, fascists as members.Īnd what was the TUC doing while the British ruling class were preparing for the biggest fight in British union history? Very little.

It was built up and joined by the Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies. Lloyd George had set up the Emergency Supply and Transport Committee in 1919 and beefed it up for Black Friday in 1921. The only class I fear is our own.” The towel was about to be thrown in before the fight had even started, all the while, the capitalist class were lacing up their gloves. Cleynes of the General and Municipal Workers union said clearly “I am not in fear of the capitalist class.

Union leaders were terrified at the possibility of a General Strike. However, the main block on the workers was not the enemy of the state or the bosses, it was the ‘ally’ of the union leadership. It was expected to be a victory for the workers, and it could’ve been. Arthur James Cook, ex-Communist Party member and union leader said that “we shall be faced with the greatest struggle…ever known and we are preparing for it.” It was a ploy to buy time for the preparation of all out class warfare. In reality, the Tories were not interested in reports. Previous inquiries had never been in the government’s or coal owners’ interests, always calling for some form of nationalisation. Baldwin introduced a nine-month subsidy to maintain the mines while an inquiry into the mining industry went underway. It was clear to all that something big was going to happen. This was supported by the TUC who said they’d place themselves “unreservedly at the disposal of the Miners’ Federation.” Other unions were joining the Triple Alliance as it became clear that workers across the board would be hurt by this new budget. Black Friday was still a bitter memory for the miners and their supporters who had been trying to set up a new Triple Alliance. The coal owners were the first to announce wage cuts. Industry bosses had to make up this overvaluation somehow: whose pay do you think took a slashing? Here’s a clue, it wasn’t the bosses’. His April 1925 budget he aimed to make the pound as valuable as the dollar and, as such, overvalued the pound by 10%. In 1925, Tory PM, Stanley Baldwin, appointed the deeply, deeply hated enemy of the working class, Winston Churchill famous for such activities as breaking the 1921 miners’ strike. This was of scary similarity to the events that would take place, but on a much bigger scale, five years later.

1921 saw troops dispatched at coalfields and more sell-outs by union leaders in what was to be known as ‘Black Friday’: when sympathy strike notices were withdrawn leaving the miners to be crushed and wages cut by 10-40% across the country. 1921 saw another confrontation after government announcements of selling off the mines and coal owners instantly introducing wage cuts. 1920 actually saw a General Strike threatened to stop British attacks on the new Russian “workers’ state”. In 1919 an all out showdown was averted only by union and government deceit. During the war, the miners, dockers and railway workers formed the Triple Alliance which united almost 1 ½ million workers. The 1926 General Strike was the climax of increasing class struggle in Britain since World War 1. Without wanting to sound too light-hearted: We could’ve done it if it wasn’t for those pesky Trade Union bureaucrats! It also showed how willing the ruling class and how unwilling labour leaders are to fight. Britain’s only ever General Strike shook the British ruling class out of their thrones and showed brilliantly how collective working class action can change society.

General strike january 20