Workers Organisations & Strikes Archives - Bristol Radical History Group

General Strike Centenary Series

By Randell Brantley

To mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and miners’ lockout, BRHG members are involved in a project to commemorate the strike in Bristol and the surrounding area. As part of this effort, BRHG has released a series of 8 pamphlets, covering aspects of the strike in Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire. Buy The Series Of 8 Pamphlets General Strike Centenary Series #1 The Spirit There Is Magnificent: The General Strike in Bristol, May 1926 Rob Whitfield ISBN 978-1-911522-90-4 #2 Standfast […]

The Spirit There Is Magnificent

The General Strike in Bristol, May 1926

By Rob Whitfield

“All railways stopped, no papers published and trade union men … ordered to stop work” Bristol’s trade unionists were ill-prepared for a General Strike when the call came from the Trade Union Congress to support the locked-out miners. The government, however, had made extensive preparations with warships sent to the docks, troops to the electricity power station and special police constables on the streets. Nevertheless, workers pulled together with impressive resolve and energy as detailed in […]

Standfast and Solid

The 1926 General Strike in Bath and its industrial hinterland

By Trevor Turpin

A city of two halves. A century ago, Bath was, as today, popular for its Roman Baths and Georgian terraces. Although hidden from its genteel visitors, it was also an important industrial city with an extensive coal mining area in its hinterland. Unsurprisingly then, it played a prominent role in the 1926 General Strike. In Standfast and Solid, Trevor Turpin vividly tells the story of that tumultuous period when mining families were brought to near starvation and when trade unionists and many of […]

A Tale of Two Towns

Nine days in Gloucester and Stroud, May 1926

By Tony Conder, Stuart Butler

Solidarity in an urban industrial and rural agricultural landscape. In this short pamphlet, Stuart Butler and Tony Conder bring to life a turbulent nine days in Stroud, with its cloth mills and industry, and Gloucester, an important transport hub with major docks at its centre. As the Stroud Journal reported the General Strike, "At midnight on Monday the wheels of industry ... began to slow down. Trains disappeared from our local railway lines The big daily newspapers failed to appear on our […]

Ashes of Defiance

The 1926 lock-out of miners in the Forest of Dean

By Ian Wright

The Forest of Dean was one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds during the dramatic events surrounding the two-week 1926 General Strike and the following nine-month miners' lock-out. In Ashes of Defiance, Ian Wright tells the story of the Forest of Dean miners during that remarkable period. Why did some miners eventually feel compelled to return to work? What drove others to remain defiant and refuse to return until the bitter end? What were the consequences that followed? And what were […]

An Industrial Red Cross

Labour women’s support for the locked-out miners in 1926

By June Hannam

“The Labour woman cared for humanity” A crucial element in sustaining lengthy industrial disputes is the support available for the families of striking workers. The miners’ strike of 1984/85 saw support originated and coordinated by women’s groups in the coalfield communities, often led by wives of striking miners. In the 1926 miners’ lock-out too, women provided major support with fund-raising by groups such as the Labour Party’s National Women’s Committee and the Cooperative Women’s Guild. An […]

Conflicts of Interest

Co-operators, trade unionists and the events of May 1926 in Bristol

By Chris Bowkett

Creating a new society within the confines of the old. From Robert Owen onwards, groups of radicals have attempted to build progressive alternatives to capitalism from within its heart. One of the biggest most successful of these has been the co-operative movement. However, it has encountered contradictions in its attempt to square its principles with those of the dominant culture and economy. A stark instance of this was during the General Strike when co-op workers—members of a union closed […]

Class or Company Loyalty?

The printing industry and the events of May 1926 in Bristol

By Mike Richardson

“Our courage was percolating through our fingertips”. Class or Company Loyalty? explores the experiences of unionised workers employed in two companies, one large, one small, operating in Bristol’s printing industry before, during and immediately after the General Strike. Mike Richardson traces the history of the changing power dynamics between capital and labour at the two workplaces and considers what impact the strike had on industrial relations at these companies. The common theme running […]

Truth, Lies and Strikebreakers

Propaganda and the state response to the 1926 General Strike

By Colin Thomas, Rob Whitfield

The battle for hearts and minds was as vital as that on any picket line during the 1926 General Strike. Both the Trades Union Congress and the Government fought the propaganda to make their case to their supporters and the general public. With the strike shutting down much of the press, both sides put out their own newspapers in an attempt to shape the narrative. Even Winston Churchill got involved, setting himself up as editor of the strikebreaking British Gazette. In Truth, Lies and […]

Striking Women: from Grunwick to Gate Gourmet

An exhibition telling the story of South Asian women workers' struggles in two industrial disputes. The fiftieth anniversary of the two year dispute at the Grunwick film processing laboratories in northwest London and the 2005 Gate Gourmet strike at Heathrow. The exhibition explores themes of migration, women and work and the industrial movement more widely. You can find out more at the Striking Women website. .