1926 United Kingdom General Strike

1926 United Kingdom General Strike

The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening conditions for 800,000 locked-out coal miners. Some 1.7 million workers went out, especially in transport and heavy industry. The government was prepared and enlisted middle class volunteers to maintain essential services. There was little violence and the TUC gave up in defeat. In the long run, there was little impact on trade-union activity or industrial relations.

Read more about 1926 United Kingdom General Strike:  In Popular Culture

Famous quotes containing the words united, kingdom, general and/or strike:

    “Of all the nations in the world, the United States was built in nobody’s image. It was the land of the unexpected, of unbounded hope, of ideals, of quest for an unknown perfection. It is all the more unfitting that we should offer ourselves in images. And all the more fitting that the images which we make wittingly or unwittingly to sell America to the world should come back to haunt and curse us.”
    —Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)

    “It is easier to govern a kingdom than to rule a family.”
    —Chinese proverb.

    “The General has dedicated himself so many times, he must feel like the cornerstone of a public building.”
    —Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965)

    “Too long we prayed
    God in the thunder,
    wonderful though he be
    and our father;
    too long, too long in the rain,
    cowering lest he strike again.”
    —Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)