The General Strike and How Revolutionary It Was

The General Strike and How Revolutionary It Was

Seventy eight years ago an earthquake shook the very foundations of

British capitalism. In the greatest display of militant power in its

history the British working class moved into action in the General

Strike of May 1926. For 9 days not a wheel turned nor a light shone

without the permission of the working class. In this essay I argue

that it was not revolutionary or better it was not designed to be

revolutionary.

From one minute to midnight on Monday 3 May, the TUC called out the

railwaymen, dockers, road transport workers, printers and gas and

electricity workers. Engineering and ship-building workers were asked

to strike a week later. In all, some 80 unions were affected and about

two and a half million men and women went on strike, in addition to

the miners. Although the response to the strike was not uniform

throughout the country, the degree of worker solidarity shown was very

remarkable. The General Strike was in fact the most complete stoppage

in British history.

The TUC, however, did not call for a universal strike. Workers in the

health and sanitary services were excluded from the strike call, as

were those who transported food. It was also hoped -naively - that

power workers, while cutting off the supply of heat, would be able to

maintain lighting. Therefore the TUC actually tried to minimise the

inconvenience to the general public.

The term 'general strike' was not used. Instead the TUC preferred

calling it a national strike. Having entered the strike very

reluctantly, the General Council was anxious to show that it was not

revolutionary and that it was involv...

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...t that they were merely supporting the miners in a

just cause, the fact was that their action was designed to coerce not

the owners but the government. It was easy therefore, to present the

General Strike as a contest between an elected government and a trade

union organisation that did not represent the mass of the people.

The General Strike was therefore presented to be revolutionary and

admittedly in seemed that if it would last longer, and power would

slip away from the TUC, indeed it might have developed into a real

revolution. However, the actual aim of the strike, from the general

council's point of view, was absolutely not revolutionary. There is no

evidence that they were planning to overthrow the government and in

the British Workers all their articles argued that they were not

challenging the Constitution.