Реферат: General Strike Of 1926 Essay Research Paper

the mining industry which made a confrontation on the lines of the General

Strike almost inevita-ble, not any generalised will to class conflict".

The Conservative government, however, saw its role as a neutral, standing

between the contending parties and rep-resenting the British people as a whole.

Its industrial policy included the application of the principle of

co-partnership in industry, in the hope that workers and management would begin

to see their interest as identical, a policy which was ultimately challenged by

a general strike. The Government was completely aware that a trade union victory

would have important political implications such as government intervention in

the coal industry as well as encouraging further industrial action of a similar

dimension. Moreover, in 1926 the government was very well prepared for a major

industrial dispute, whereas unemployment and uncertain economically

circumstances forced the trade union movement in the defensive.

Due to this, the scene was set for a nation-wide strike in May 1926, which

was condemned to fail from the outset. After five years of struggle the miners

could not accept any wage cuts while the mine owners did not see any

possi-bility of running the mines profitable without any. Furthermore, the

owners’ case was supported by the government, which did not want to interfere in

industrial relations. Moreover, becouse the government saw the strike as a

revo-lutionary challenge to the constitution and the economic system it demanded

unconditional surrender from the be-ginning. But in fact, as Magaret Morris

emphasised, the General Strike was neither a revolutionary act nor an industrial

dispute. "Only if the Government had intervened by additional subsidies or

by coercing the coal owners could the difficulties of the coal industry have

been solved in some other way than at the expense of the miners. The General

Strike, therefore was a political strike and needed to be pursued as such if it

was to make any progress" . Therefore the General Council of the TUC, which

always emphasised the industrial character of the dispute, by the very nature of

the General Strike was not fighting the owners but the government, which was