1. The General Strike 1926
Partly as a result of the switch back to the Gold Standard the British economy
entered depression and experienced mass unemployment
Coal production entered severe decline due to competition, reduced
quality and lack of demand
Miners wages dropped from an average of £6 per week to £3.90 in 7 years
The government entered negotiations with striking miners…
By 3rd May these talks collapsed and the T.U.C called a General Strike
2.
3. Churchill naturally denounced the strikers as revolutionaries
According to some reports he even encouraged the use of machine
guns against the strikers
On 4 May 1926 the number of strikers was between 1.5 and 1.75 Million
Churchill then opened a new newspaper ‘The British Gazette’
This took a strong anti-strike stance denouncing it as revolutionary and harmful to the nation
Baldwin commented “The General strike is a challenge to the parliament and the
road to anarchy”
The TUC then formed ‘The British Worker’
Churchill tried to hinder it by requisitioning paper, forcing it to halve its pages
