The 20’s were not a glorious period, in the lower classes, in particular the working one, the dissatisfaction about the economic crisis led by the first postwar period had a strong influence.
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted 9 days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926.
CAUSES
- The First World War. Britain exported less coal in the war than it would have done in peacetime.
- Coal production, which was at its lowest ebb.
- The fall in coal prices resulting from the 1924 Dawes Plan.
- The reintroduction of the gold standard in 1925 by Winston Churchill.
- Mine owners wanted to maintain profits even during times of economic instability, which often took the form of wage reductions for miners in their employ. Coupled with the prospect of longer working hours.
Many worker categories joined the strike and they were able to paralyze the country even in the transport sector.
The government of Tory had an harsh reaction availing of an emergency act, arresting so much strikers and using volunteers for organizing the goods transport.
The unions exit defeated and in 1927 the English parliament approved a law which decreed the absolute illegality of the solidarity strikes.