In the early 1970s, the late Brian Simon suggested that I should research the history of the General Strike in Leicester. This article resulted and was published in 1976. In the course of the research, I was able to interview several trade unionists and one volunteer who was active in the strike. This is an amended version which has some additions and numerous corrections. N.N., June 2022
Preface
The story of the General Strike in Leicester is scarcely mentioned in most histories of the city. This gives the impression that Leicester was unaffected. It is true that there no mass arrests or confrontations, yet, despite the seemingly unexceptional nature of events in the city, the General Strike presents an honourable chapter in the history of local labour movement.
The Leicester Labour Movement In The 1920's
Hosiery, footwear and a growing engineering industry were Leicester's main industries during the 1920's. Though Leicester was a much smaller town than today, it was served by four different railway lines at a time when railways played a crucial role in the country's transport system. In 1925, the Trades Council had 75 affiliated branches representing nearly 50,000 workers.[1] Although the Labour Party had introduced individual membership in 1918, the Independent Labour Party (ILP) was still the main political group within the labour movement and was recovering from Ramsay MacDonald’s defeat in the 1918 parliamentary election. Although Labour was still the smallest group on the City Council, Labour’s W. Pethwick-Lawrence had soundly beaten Winston Churchill for the West Leicester seat in 1923.
A glance at the leading personalities in the labour world shows that many of them were active across the movement. A man like Alderman Alf Hill was not only a leading official of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives, but also the treasurer of the Trades Council, others were prominent not just in their trades union but also in the co-operative movement and Independent Labour Party.
[1] Trades Council Year Book 1925
Red Friday
The General Strike arose out of the miners’ refusal to accept wage cut. After the TUC’s threat of a general embargo on the movement of coal, the government made a dramatic climb down on Friday, 31 July 1925. It appointed a Royal Commission to inquire into the future of the industry, and in return for a nine month government subsidy, the coal owners agreed to withdraw their lock-out notices. Mineworkers’ wages would remain unaltered. The press depicted this event as a great victory for the trade unions, but as Herbert Smith, President of the Miners Federation, pointed out in August 1925:
“we have no need to glorify about a victory. It is only an armistice, and it will depend largely how we stand between now and May 1st as to what will be the ultimate results.”[1]
Although many trade union leaders pinned their hopes on the Royal Commission’s report, it may have been a way for Stanley Baldwin, the prime minister to kick the can down the road. Not only coal stocks were low, but the Government’s emergency organisation was not yey prepared to cope with a widespread industrial dispute. Also Baldwin (prime minister) felt that “the country has not yet psychologically prepared for a major confrontation.”
[1] Quoted in R Page Arnot: The General Strike, May 1926: Its Origin and History. Labour Research Department
Preparations
As soon as the coal subsidy came into operation, the owners began to prepare for the fight by speeding up the production of coal. Whilst the Government, had appointed a Coal Commission, it also increased the strength of the special constabulary and made emergency plans in line with the 1920 Emergency Powers Act.
In September 1925, a bureau of the ‘Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies’ was set up in Leicester. The OMS was led by men like Lord Jellicoe and aimed to enlist volunteers who would carry on public services. The OMS attracted the support of the ultra-right and though it clearly rivalled the Volunteer Service Committees, which had been quietly set up by the Government far the same purpose; the Home Secretary gave it his blessing. It would be a “patriotic by allying yourself with this .... body during times of difficulty.” [1] In October 1925, the Leicester Mercury reported that:
“A high official of the organisation and in well-known figure in Parliamentary circles was convinced that the revolutionary element was planning a sensational coup at the first excuse of a difficult trade dispute to stop supplies and public service. The only way to combat this growing menace is to set up an opposing force ... In time we will perfect it so that in the case of a general strike we shall be able to carry on public services......[2]
In November 1925, the Leicester’s Town Clerk received a circular from the Ministry of Health. It proposed that: “measures to be adopted for the maintenance of local public utility services, the maintenance of law and order and the protection of persons and property from violence in cases emergency, as a preliminary to the issue of regulations securing the essentials of life to the country.” [3]
Despite all the preparations being made by the Government, the T.U.C General Council and many in the leadership of the Labour Movement did not regard a further conflict as inevitable. They hoped that the findings of the Coal Commission would provide the solution and disliked the idea of a General Strike.
Jack Smith, the Leicestershire Miners’ Agent, urged those, like Ramsay MacDonald, who thought “the only hope was political action (electing a Labour Government) to be consistent and get out of the Trade Union movement and allow it function.” [4] However Smith was at loggerheads with Thomas Growdridge the Miners’ Secretary and most members of his executive who supported a more conciliatory approach.[5]
[1] Leicester Mercury, 1 Oct. 1925, [2] Leicester Mercury, 28 Sept. 1925, [3] Minutes of Parliamentary and General Purposes Committee, Leicester City Council, 23 Nov. 1925, [4] Leicester Mail, 9 Sept. 1925, [5] Colin Griffin, The Leicestershire Miners and the Mining Dispute of 1926, International Review of Social History, Vol XXII (1977) Part 3
At the September 1925 meeting of the Leicester and District Trades Council, a resolution was introduced asking the TUC General Council to “call a conference of Trades Councils to organise in the event of a deadlock next May.” However, the matter was left on the table and when Sam Adams, N.U.R. No. 3, deplored the inactivity of the Trades Council, Alderman Alf Hill, JP, felt that “people who thought that the working man was only waiting for the whistle to blow and join in the procession would have a rough awakening...”
Apparently, the T.U.C, General Council which had agreed to handle the miners’ case, did not discuss the impending dispute either during the winter of 1925 or the spring of 1926. By the time the lock-out notices were posted at the pit heads, it was almost too late. As W. H. Smith, President of the Trades Council in 1926 recalled: “the strike came on so quickly that it did not give much time for organising, despite the great enthusiasm at the time.” [6]
At the time, his view was that even if the subsidy was continued it would still not have been enough to improve the miners' conditions. He felt that the best solution was to nationalise the mines. [7]
[6] W. H. Smith, recorded interview with Ned Newitt 1974. [7] Quoted by Stuart Hall, The General Strike in Leicester, Oadby Beauchamp College, 1982
The: Red Scare
On 14th October 1925, twelve leaders of the Communist Party were arrested and charged under the incitement to Mutiny Act 1797. They were tried at the Old Bailey and seven of them were sentenced to terms between five and twelve months imprisonment. This ensured that they would be out of the way when the strike finally erupted. It also laid the basis of a “red scare” press campaign that led to such headlines as: “CRIME WAVE - Is it due to the growth of Communism?”[1] Nevertheless, though many trade union leaders were in no mood to put themselves out for the sake of the Communists, many others saw the trials at the Old Bailey as an attempt to weaken the militant wing of the trade union movement. On 21st December 1925, the Trades Council and the Independent Labour Party held a joint meeting in the Corn Exchange to protest against the imprisonment of the Communists. On the platform were W. Pethwick Lawrence, M.P. and Councillor E. Grimsley, President of the Trades Council. The Communist Party was not particularly strong or influential in Leicester, though a couple of delegates to the Trades Council, Jack Binns and Rowland Walton were members of the party.
[1] Leicester Mail, 10 Dec. 1925.
Prelude To The Strike
As the expiry of the Government’s subsidy to the mine owners drew near, the Coal Commission published its report in March 1926. Among its proposals, which included that consideration be given to nationalisation, was the proposal to cut miner’s wages by 13.5% and to withdraw the government subsidy to the mine owners. Not surprisingly the report’s recommendations were accepted by the Government. The mine owners then declared that the miners would be offered new terms of employment, which included lengthening the work day and reducing wages. The miners replied with the slogan: “Not a penny off the pay, not a minute off the day,” and prepared themselves for a lock-out.
The Government was now finalising its elaborate anti-strike preparations. Capt. H. Douglas King, was appointed by the Government to be the Civil Commissioner for the North Midlands. [1] On Sunday, 23 April, he addressed a conference of the Chairmen of Volunteer Service Committees from Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Peterborough, Chesterfield and Leicester. The meeting, dealt with such questions as the organisation of food supplies, the mobilisation of volunteers, communications and publicity. The conference was told: “staff, furniture and offices are all earmarked and promised. Co-operation with the local authority is perfect. All arrangements for printing are in hand and the office could function in 24 hours.” [2] Like the other districts in the area under Captain King’s command, officers for haulage, food, rail, road, Post Office and finance had been appointed. Likewise, four Vice-Chairmen (for Loughborough, Market Harborough, Lutterworth and Melton Mowbray) had also been appointed.
By 2 p.m. on Friday, 29 April, the Leicestershire miners finished work and brought their tools out of the pits with them. The same day Mr. T. R. Smith, the City Electrical Engineer declared to the press that, “We have been preparing for the emergency ... we now have heavier stocks of coal than we ever held before.” [3]
On Saturday 1 May, the TUC General Council issued the call for a national strike to take effect from midnight Monday 3rd May. Within three hours of this decision, notices were sent to the 186 Leicester Trades Council delegates and secretaries calling for an emergency meeting of the Trades Council on Sunday, May 2nd. This gathering was said to be one of the largest and most representative trade union affairs ever held in Leicester with 80 unions were represented. A Trades Council Emergency Committee was formed out of the existing Trades Council executive plus delegates from the railway, engineering, transport, municipal services and printing trade unions and T. Rowland Hill became its secretary. The committee then drew up plans made to meet the local situation.[4]
In Coalville, 1,200 miners attended a mass meeting in the Grand Theatre, where Jack Smith declared that: “He was firmly convinced that the two sections (owners and Government) had deliberately planned a stoppage and if the miners accepted the degrading terms, these two parties would have been disappointed.” Leicester City Councillor, J. Minto, expressed the hope that “soldiers, who were sons of working men and women, would not open fire on the miners”.[5] Back in Leicester, the Trades Council held its May Day celebrations in the Market Place with meetings in the morning and evening.
Meanwhile, under the guidance of the Town Clerk, the Volunteer Service Committee began its registration of blacklegs in the main entrance of the Town Hall. The Liberal councillor W.E. Hincks had been appointed by Captain King, the Civil Commissioner, to chair the local committee which was to control transport and other services in the Leicester area. One such volunteer, R. J. Pemberton, remembered being registered by a gentleman who had a loaded revolver on his desk.[6] This seems at odds with Hincks' claim that this was not a strike breaking organisation; but was simply where volunteers could register for work as drivers.[7]The previous day the OMS had posted large bills around the town calling on “all loyal citizens to hand in their names.” [8] Effectively the OMS had now merged itself into the VSC and Lt-Colonel E. C. Packe, chairman its South Leicester Branch of the OMS, declared that whilst the branch was fairly well organised, more volunteers were needed. [9]
[1] Henry Douglas King, CB, CBE, DSO, VD, PC (1877 - 1930) was a British naval commander and Conservative MP. [2] Minutes of North Midland Division, Conference of Volunteer Service Chairmen, 23 April 1926. [3] Leicester Mail, 1 May, 1926. [4] Leicester Pioneer, June, 1926. [5] Leicester Mercury, 3 May 1926. [6] Conversation with R. J. Pemberton. [7] Leicester Mercury 3rd May 1926. [8] Leicester Mercury, 1 May 1926. [9] Leicester Mail, 1 May 1926.
The Strike Begins
The Leicester Mercury reported that:
“The Leicester Midland Railway Station presented a deserted appearance at midnight. A uniformed policeman and two plain clothes men stood in the entrance hall. A uniformed porter kept on with his sweeping of the entrance hall. Three or four taximen stood with their cabs in the station yard. Midnight came and went - but nothing untoward happened, the men finishing their shifts before leaving work.” [1]
By the end of that day, May 4th, T. Rowland Hill, secretary of the Trades Council Emergency Committee, was able to report that over 7,000 workers from 20 union branches were on strike. 4,000 of these workers were railwaymen, 1,700 transport workers, 1,000 foundry workers and engineers and 1,700 printers. [2]
It was decided that individual branches were to organise picketing and that instructions to members in different unions were not to be issued by the Trades Council Emergency Committee, but by officials receiving their instructions from their own union headquarters. However, the Emergency Committee found that in practice it had to decide whether certain unions should be called upon to participate in the strike. [3] Poor communications meant that strike instructions did not always arrive. The secretary of one of the local Workers’ Union branches contrived to disappear just before the strike. Consequently a section of tramway workers, having no instructions to the contrary carried on working normally until persuaded otherwise. [4] On Wednesday, 5th May, Rowland Hill reported to the TUC General Council that:
“The response in Leicester is magnificent. Railways, Trams, Printing Transport and Building Workers 100%. The whole movement is united. 12,000 approximately are out. Strike organisation of all sections effective. Emergency Committee sits continuously, represents all groups affected. Transport of food and work on essential services only allowed on a written signed permit of the Committee.” [5]
Other reports showed that different Trade Union branches were signing up new members. The Mercury reported that “Everything is calm, although strong resentment has been shown by the Transport Workers’ Union against the owners of private buses who continue to run their vehicles.” [6] Travellers from Loughborough to Leicester were amazed to find themselves charged between 4/- and 6/- for a single journey. According to the Mercury:
“Pickets were conspicuous at the railway goods station gates, but so effective is the stoppage they had absolutely nothing to do. Groups of strikers, some of them wearing red ribbon, sauntered along the streets.” [7]
Meanwhile the Leicester Mail complained that:
“the station clocks are all stopped. The public clock in London Road ought to be kept going in the public interest. Are there no volunteers brave enough to keep it going?” [8]
[1] Leicester Mercury, 4 May 1926, [2] These figures reported in the Mercury do not add up, ibid, [3] Leicester Pioneer, June, 1926, [4] Ernie Peacock, recorded interview with Ned Newitt 1974, [5] Midlands Reports to TUC, [6] Leicester Mercury, 5 May 1926, [7] ibid, [8] Leicester Mail, 5 May 1926.
Organisation
The Trades Council Emergency Committee formed three sub-committees to deal with publicity, transport permits and distress. A wireless with loudspeaker reception was installed at the Trades Hall and regular contact was established with other centres. Dispatches were received every day from the TUC General Council and relayed by voluntary dispatch riders to the various centres within a 25 mile radius, to Loughborough, Hinckley, Market Harborough, Oakham, Uppingham, etc. By Tuesday, May 4th, over thirty local strike headquarters were in direct contact with the Emergency Committee. [1] The meetings sub-committee, run by Labour Party and ILP organisers, William Howard and Fred Perriman, supplied speakers for meetings in the surrounding districts.
The Trades Council had its headquarters on the second floor of the Trades Hall, while close by at the Coach and Horses, the N.U.R. joint committee held its strike meetings.[2] Daily morning meetings were held in Humberstone Gate, close to the weighbridge, to report on the progress of the strike. Bob Leech remembers joining the I.L.P. at such a meeting and much against his wishes being asked to wear a red shirt. [3]
In Leicester, the bulk of those on strike were transport workers. However, food and essential supplies were still needed and permits were granted to allow the loading, unloading and distribution of goods where this was carried out by trade union members. Ernie Peacock, a bricklayer, and delegate to the Trades Council from the A.U.B.T.W.(building trade workers) served on the transport permits sub-committee. In his view it was the “permits sub” which really ran the strike.[4] Whilst the Emergency Committee decided on the major issues, it did not meet daily during the strike. However in the top room of the Trades Hall the permits sub-committee sat continuously for nine days between 7.00am and midnight. Although permission was granted without exception to move supplies to hospitals, employers had to come, cap in hand, to ask the committee for permission to use trade union labour. The questioning they faced was something of a humiliating experience and a reversal of roles.
Whilst permission was always granted for supplies to hospitals, Rowland Walton, a delegate from the leatherworkers, remembered the glee of the teetotallers on the committee when Everards were refused permission to move some beer. [5] This was too much for the Leicester Mail who commented:
“Efforts are being made to bring about Russian Soviet Government in towns like Leicester - and Russian money is being voted to help the Socialists to rob Britain of its freedom. A Trades Union Emergency Committee has been set up in Leicester, and is trying to operate on Soviet lines ." The Mail wanted the police to intevene: " ...... if loyal citizens are being molested in their everyday work they should appeal to the Chief Constable. Authority, and law and order must be maintained.” [6]
Despite these somewhat hysterical appeals, there is little evidence of much police activity in Leicester during the strike.
[1] Leicester Pioneer, June 1926, [2] The Coach and Horses pub was at 32 Humberstone Gate. The site is now occupied by Primark, [3] Bob Leech, recorded interview with Ned Newitt 1976, [4] Ernie Peacock, recorded interview with Ned Newitt 1976, [5] Rowland Walton, recorded interview with Ned Newitt, 1974, [6] Leicester Mail, 10 & 13 May 1926.
The Press and the Printers
In 1926 Leicester had two daily papers: the Leicester Mail and the Leicester-Mercury. The Leicester Chronicle came out weekly and Labour’s Leicester Pioneer was only coming out monthly as the venture was losing money. The effect of the strike had been effectively to silence the national press, except for limited editions. In Leicester, as in many other provincial towns, the situation was different. The Typographical Association had made a serious error in failing to call out the apprentices. Thus, after initial difficulties, both Leicester papers were able to appear in reduced form with the assistance of editorial staff, retired workers, the apprentices and “outside co-operation.” The Chronicle was not published The National Union of Journalists took no action and allowed its members to work alongside blacklegs. In many cases the men were worried lest the master printers were able to carry on, possibly for good, with just the apprentices.
The TUC files mention a resolution from the Leicester branch of the TA pointing out that the General Strike question was not submitted to the TA and is therefore unconstitutional, and called on members to honour their agreements with the masters. [1] But there is no real evidence to show that there was any substantial return to work. Nor is there any mention of this resolution in any local material. In fact only 200 of the 600 TA members in Leicester were back at work on May 14th. [2]
The Government’s decision to bring out its own paper the British Gazette forced the TUC to bring out its British Worker. Plans were made to print 50,000 daily copies of the British Worker in Leicester to supply the Midlands. Although 20,000 copies were produced at the I.L.P. owned Blackfriars Press on Monday May 10th, its continued production was halted by the Typographical Association. In his report to the TUC General Council’s Intelligence Committee, Mr, Chamberlain, in charge of the Leicester edition, asked that definite instructions be sent by the Typographical Association’s General Secretary authorising the Leicester workers to help in the Leicester edition’s production. [3] Despite a telegram by Walter Citrine, General Secretary of the TUC and intercessions by Fenner Brockway, the executive of the Typographical Association remained steadfast in their refused to allow British Worker to be printed in Leicester. They believed that if the printers were allowed to work on a labour paper, then the printers on the other papers would resume work. [4] This seems a bit odd since both local papers were bringing out reduced editions.
The TUC had made no differentiation between the labour and capitalist press in issuing its strike call. It expressly forbade Trades Councils to print, rather than duplicate, strike bulletins: this was due to a desire by the TUC not to allow too much power to local organisations which might be influenced by the left. It would seem that in deference to the TUC, Leicester produced no printed strike bulletin. This restriction was also due to the General Council’s refusal to see the political implications of the strike. The Government’s unwavering support for the mine owners had meant that the strike was political from the outset. What was essentially a dispute between employer and employee was characterised by the Daily Mail as a “revolutionary movement intended to inflict suffering upon the great mass of innocent persons in the community” [5]
The Government used every political weapon they could command and the right-wing press argued that the workers were being duped by unscrupulous trade union leaders who were plotting against the state. This fiction also appeared in the Leicester Mail who believed that: the aim of the T.U.C. was to turn every Trades Council in the country into a Soviet, although that name was carefully kept in the background. These local soviets were to take over the duties of City and Town Councils and to decide what people should and should not be permitted to do.[6] There was little mention of the cuts to miners’ wages. In the face of this unscrupulous propaganda from the press and radio, the lack of adequate media placed the trade union side at a singular disadvantage.
[1] Report to TUC Intelligence Committee, 11 May 1926, [2] Leicester Mail, 14 May 1926, [3] Report to TUC Intelligence Committee, 10th May 1926. [4] Wire to French, Typographic Association General Secretary, mentioned in a report to TUC Intelligence Committee, [5] Daily Mail, 3rd May 1926. This article’s publication was delayed after it caused the Mail’s printers to go on strike, [6] Leicester Evening Mail, Thursday 13th May 1926
The City Council
The City Council was not neutral in this affair, it had no qualms about suppressing freedom of speech. When Councillor Grimsley applied to book the Corn Exchange for a meeting of the TA he was told “the printers of Leicester are dangerous men and could not meet in a public hall” that the hall could be booked only on condition that the officials persuaded the Leicester printers to go back to work. [1] Likewise the Independent Labour Party was also refused permission to hold a meeting. A Special Emergency Committee had been set up by the Council to operate during the strike. On finding that the Parks Committee had let out De Montfort Hall to the Trades Council it quickly took upon itself the responsibility for approving the letting of Corporation Halls for public meetings. [2]
Consolidation
The TUC General Council had chosen to call the workers out on strike in stages. This reflected a desire not to go too far too soon. By May 4th, about 12,000 people in the Leicester area were now involved in the strike including 2,500 building workers. However the largest groupings of industrial workers, the footwear and hosiery workers, remained at work.[3] This group had in the region of 22,000 workers affiliated to the Trades Council. [4] But even by the third day of the strike many small factories were closing down through a shortage of raw materials and by Friday, May 7th, the Chamber of Commerce reported that most factories in Leicester were working half time. [5] In some instances factories were stopped through the transport unions calling out the van men or like Fanshaws (dyers on Saffron Lane) where the workers refused to handle coal brought in by non-union labour. [6]
Bob Leech remembered the hardship caused by the 10/- unemployment benefit that his father received from the Dyers and Finishers Association. So great was the pressure on the labour exchange that extra premises were opened. The manager complained bitterly to the Mercury that “Women will not conform to the order of the queue in the same way that men do.”
Several employers were willing to pay the wages of their employees if they served with the Special Constables or Army Reserve. [7] Although the Volunteer Service Committee claimed that there was not the “slightest hitch on the conveyancing of supplies,” the Mercury reported that in one case the tyres of a lorry delivering coal were slashed and that in St. James’ Street. Police also had to disperse a large crowd which had gathered around a L.M.S. lorry, driven by volunteers, which had been overturned and had its goods scattered on the roadway. ‘Strong resentment’ was shown by members of the Transport and General Workers Union against the owners of private buses who were running their vehicles in the city. [8]
Nevertheless, the strike progressed in Leicester without the large confrontations and arrests which happened elsewhere. This was not necessarily due to an absence of militancy, though it is true to say that many people remember the nine days in Leicester as essentially a good natured affair. Whilst the occasional volunteer was more often given derisory cheers than abuse, there was not the bitterness that characterised the dispute on other areas. This was in part due to the majority of employers and workers were only being indirectly involved and in part to the united and co-ordinated response of the trade unions.
[1] Leicester Mercury, 19th May 1926. [2] Minutes of Special Emergency Committee, Leicester City Council, 10th May 1926. [3] Leicester Mercury 5th May 1926. [4] Figures supplied by Trades Council to Parliamentary and General Purposes Committee, 30th May, 1921. [5] Leicester Mercury, 7th May 1926. [6] Minutes of the Leicester Association of Master Trimmers, May 1926. [7] Leicester Mail, May 11th, 1926. [8] Leicester Mercury, May 5th, 1926: Leicester Chronicle, May 15th, 1926.
Trains And Trams
In London, buses manned by volunteers dared not venture beyond the West End for fear of retaliation. When the tram services were restarted in Plymouth, some vehicles were attacked and their windows were smashed. In Leicester, the Tramways Committee passed a resolution stating that “no attempt should be made to run services whilst the present state of affairs continued.” [1] This outraged die-hard Conservative councillors who sought to get the resolution rescinded, so an attempt could be made to run services. The absence of buses and trams manned by blacklegs served to prevent incidents, though the Council did begin negotiations with the Transport Workers and reluctantly with the Trades Council in order to persuade them to allow the trams and buses to run. [2] There were some attempts were made to run trains with the aid of volunteers. P.J Pemberton wrote that:
“I immediately volunteered for the Great Central Railway sleeping happily on 3rd class carriage seats and jeered at by the bloody minded mutineers ... we were a naval train with a Lieut. Commander as driver, a naval chief stoker and myself (a reserve officer) to assist him. Our driver carried a revolver which he said he would use if we were attacked.” [3]
However, the strike-breakers lacked the knowledge and experience of the railwaymen. One train manned by volunteers crashed at Loughborough Station, scattering petrol wagons over the track. Our naval volunteer remembers helping to relay the track, watched by striking railwaymen from the bridge. For years after he was careful to travel on the other north bound line from Leicester, in order to avoid his workmanship. Some cases were less dangerous, but equally comic. One train, driven by volunteers, left Derby for Leicester but got lost around the Trent River. It arrived nearly four hours late.[4]
Demonstrations And Meetings
The Trades Council, in addition to providing speakers for many meetings of the different sections, organised several mass meetings. On three occasions the De Montfort Hall was filled and on the morning of Sunday, May 9th, a procession was held with some 7,000 or 8,000 people taking part with bands and banners. [5] Ernie Peacock remembered that by the time the front of the demonstration had reached Granville Road, the back had still to pass the London Road station. These events were ignored by the local press.
[1] Minutes of the Tramways Committee, May 4th, 1926. [2] Minutes of the Parliamentary and General Purposes Committee, May 5th. [3] Correspondence and conversation with R.J.Pemberton. [4] Derby Strike Bulletin May 6th 1926 – evening edition; C I Bratley-Kendall (BA Thesis) “The General Strike of 1926 its impact on Chesterfield” unpublished BA Thesis (1974) p59. [5] Leicester Pioneer, June 1926.
The Co-op
After the strike had been in progress for a few days it was found necessary to set up a Strike Distress Fund. Money came into the fund from individuals and from other unions. The Leicester Branches of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives, after a parade through the city centre, gave £10,000. Arrangements were made with the Co-operative Society for food to be supplied on vouchers issued by the committee. Nationally the C.W.S. had urged local Co-operative societies not to issue credit to strikers, in return strikers in many areas prevented the Co-ops from bringing in fresh stock by road instead of rail. Better relations existed in Leicester, credit was extended to miners’ families, who in many instances, were never able to pay off the debts incurred. The Derby Go-operative Society had to run its lorries with permits issued from Leicester and Nottingham, because of the rigid attitude of the Derby Strike Committee. [1]
“Quiet Determination”
Apart from some Leicester Corporation tram inspectors and the difficulties with the print workers, the strike had gathered strength and momentum during the course of the first seven days. Reports from Hinckley show that the whole railway staff, including the stationmaster, was out on strike and the general position was described as excellent. [2] A report, dated Tuesday, May 11th, to the TUC General Council Intelligence Committee says the:
“Solidarity of the workers in Leicester (is) magnificent. I do not hear of any person disobeying orders and returning to work, nor of people coming out on unauthorised strikes. Complete order is prevailing ... 78 wagon toads of troops went through Leicester on May 3rd. One contingent is alleged to be in Leicester ... General feeling is quiet and determined. Public opinion is more or less on the side of the miners ... My general impression is that Leicester is able to hold out for a considerable time longer. There is intense interest and great enthusiasm, but at the same time complete restraint and quiet determination.” [3]
On May 7th, despite his earlier claims, the City Electrical Engineer in a letter to the Council estimated he only had enough coal to supply the factories for another week. [4] On the 11th of May the Municipal Employees Association proposed to call out their men from the power stations and just as the engineering and shipyard workers were due to come out on May 12th. By this time there were over 20,000 Leicester workers, belonging to some 50 trade union branches taking part. [5]
[1] Letter from Derby Strike Committee to TUC, May 10th, 1926. [2] Report to TUC Intelligence Committee, May 7th/8th, 1926. [3] Speakers report to TUC Intelligence Committee, May 11th, 1926. [4] Minutes of the Special Emergency Committee, May 11th, 1926. [5] Leicester Pioneer, June 1926: Leicester Mercury, May 19th, 1926.
The Strike Is Ended
Many of the key figures in the TUC General Council and Labour Party were opposed to the strike even before it began. J. H. Thomas, secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen and leader of the T.U.C’s semi-clandestine negotiations with the government had unsuccessfully urged the N.U.R. executive not to take part in the strike. Thomas never had his heart in the strike and had said so publicly. He made this very clear to the government and they played it for all it was worth. He also sought to mislead the TUC General Council into believing that his ongoing negotiations with Lord Samuel contained a compromise solution that the Government would support. Leicester’s former MP, Ramsey MacDonald and leader of the Labour Party was also quietly, but absolutely, opposed to the strike and at no stage – even at the height of the strike – did he indicate support for the solidarity action.
There is no doubt that some of those on the General Council only supported the strike because they could not do otherwise without losing support. They went into the strike hating it and only too anxious to end what they had been unable to avert. Their escape clause came on day three of the strike when Sir John Simon (a Liberal MP and ‘famous constitutional lawyer’) declared that the strike, except for the coal industry, was in breach of the 1906 Trades Dispute Act and consequently illegal.[1] Simon believed that union leaders would be “liable to the utmost farthing” in damages for the harm that they were inflicting on businesses and for inciting the men to break their contracts of employment. This opinion was reinforced on May 11th, 1926, when Mr Justice Astbury ruled in the High Court that only the miners’ strike that was legitimate and covered by the Trade Disputes Act and that all other unions were in breach of the law. This meant that individual union members and union funds were now vulnerable to legal action. The next day the leaders of the TUC visited Downing Street and told the Prime Minister that they were calling off the General Strike.
In Leicester, as elsewhere, the General Strike was solid and was gaining support. Then suddenly, on May 12th, the TUC unilaterally called off the strike. When then news came through to Leicester at 1.15pm, everyone was confident that the Government had climbed down. T.F. Richards of the boot and shoe workers union told a mass meeting of strikers in Leicester that the “victory that has been won was the greatest in the history of the workers.”[2] However it was a very different story when the details of the deal emerged. It seemed to many that the TUC had unconditionally surrendered with no guarantees of fair treatment for the miners who were left to fight on until bitter defeat in October. Not only was there no change of attitude on the Government’s part on the question of the reduction of the miners pay, but the TUC failed to gain any concrete assurance concerning victimisation.
The Leicester Mail rubbed salt into the wound when it attacked those trade union leaders who said that the Government had given in. “The Government has surrendered nothing. … the strike leaders came of their own accord to Mr. Baldwin and laid their surrender at his feet. They were so hopelessly beaten that they could ask for no special terms.”[3]
Emie Peacock recalled that “In the main the rank and file expression was that they had been sold out, but the officials: some took the attitude I told you so.”
[1] Simon, though not a minister, he was a former Attorney general and Home secretary and his legal opinions were highly respected. [2] Leicester Mail 13th May 1926. [3] Leicester Mail 14th May 1926
Victimisation
On Thursday, 13th May, the L.N.E.R. in Leicester notified their employees that “the number of staff whom the company can employ will be ... reduced,” that the Company “will give preference to those of the staff who remained at work.” [1] As a result the railwaymen after meeting in De Montfort Hall decided to stay out. Likewise, under similar pressure of victimisation, the Typographical Society remained on strike. [2] Rowland Walton recalled that the strike was more solid after it had been called off.
The defeat of the General Strike gave employers the chance they had been looking for to weaken trade union organisation. The Midland Red Bus Company banned any dealings with the trade unions at its Coalville Depot [3] and the victimisation of men led to a strike on the Leicester to Burton route. [4] In a letter to the Leicester Mercury from William Taylor of the engineering firm Taylor and Hobson Ltd., wrote:
“Yesterday about 500 of our men struck work without notice ... in spite of warnings published in the works ... this strike occurred. The Directors have therefore decided that there can no longer be a place in the business for those whose motives and actions are disruptive. It has become clear in recent times that the effective policy of engineering unions has aimed not so much at building a body of skilled craftsmen, sober and worthy citizens, as at class warfare and even a revolutionary movement... We have very reluctantly decided that in future and at any rate until the spirit of the unions has changed for the better, ours must be a non-union shop.” [5]
Meanwhile the L.M.S. Railway Company issued medals and certificates to the volunteer workers and to employees who had remained “loyal.”
The Inquest
As soon as the strike ended, the debate over the lessons of nine days began. At the June Trades Council meeting, A.E.U. delegate, Jack Binns declared: “Our leaders scuttled their oars like a load of rabbits.” [6] He went on to urge an inquiry into the reason why the strike was called off. The Leicester Pioneer voicing support for Ramsay MacDonald and the trade union leaders claimed that the General Strike had to end because “it was only a demonstration and not a revolution” and that it was simply not possible to secure the undertaking that every man should go back as before and the miners guaranteed a minimum wage.” [7] Before the strike took place, the calls to prepare for action by the Miners’ Federation, the National Minority Movement and the Communist Party were largely ignored. Yet once the strike was over, the lack of preparations by the TUC became generally acknowledged. E. F. Wise, one of the Labour parliamentary candidates for Leicester wrote:
“It is perfectly clear now that the employers and the government, knowing the probability of trouble in May, had carefully worked out plans beforehand. When the occasion came, they calmly put them into operation. It is equally clear that at national level the TUC had no such plans worked out.” [8]
It is probably that the reason why the TUC leaders did not prepare for a National or General Strike is simply because they did not want one. In Leicester some union officials were less than enthusiastic about the strike because they feared that there would only be a poor response from their members. Circumstances proved them wrong and the strike was solid. Though the leadership of the Leicester labour movement was not particularly militant, it carried out its duties conscientiously during the strike.
[1] Leicester Mail 13th May 1926. [2] Leicester Mail, May 14th, 1926. [3] Nottingham Journal, May 14th, 1926. [4] Leicester Mail, May 13th, 1926. [5] Leicester Mail & Leicester Mercury, May 14th, 1926. [6] Leicester Mercury, June 16th, 1926. [7] Leicester Pioneer, June 1926. [8] Leicester Pioneer, June 1926.
The Miners
However, the 7,000 miners in Leicestershire faced an unusual situation. The local coalfield was relatively prosperous and during the strike the owners did not lock out their men to enforce reduced wages or increased hours. The Leicestershire miners had struck out of loyalty to support miners in other area s and to support the National Miners’ Federation. A good account of the complex situation in the Leicestershire coalfield is given by Colin Griffin in his paper on the miners’ dispute in Leicestershire. [1]
Jack Smith, the Leicestershire Miners’ Agent said: “Hitherto we were in the trenches together; now the miners are alone” [2] Despite Baldwin’s claims that there was no hardship or destitution, the miners fought on in conditions that gradually verged on starvation. In mid-June, the Miners’ Federation sent out a circular letter which said “The mine owners and the Government are now merely waiting until the sufferings of our people become unendurable, and they are forced by sheer starvation to submit.”
The Leicester Miners’ Association was not in a good financial position and by 18th June the union had exhausted it funds. Although some money came from the national Miners’ Federation, many families were forced to go to the Poor Law Guardians for help. Schools ran soup kitchens throughout the dispute. In Leicester, the Trades Council organised street collections to raise money for the Leicestershire miners and during the first two months of the dispute relieved 600 cases of distress.[3] There were also contributions by individual unions and from workplace collections. The Lord Mayor of Leicester also set up a relief fund.[4] Under the initiative of a Catholic priest, Father Degen, a relief committee was formed at Coalville to raise money for the hungry miners’ families and this committee arranged for many miners’ children to be looked after by Leicester trade unionists. To help raise money, Jack Smith and Billy Burton, a Coalville collier and local comedian set out in a horse drawn caravan on a tour to London. [5] W. H. Barnes recalled the hardships of the strike during his childhood:
“I was twelve at the time, born at Bagworth, with Desford, Nailstone and Ellistown collieries all around. My father, grandfather and uncle all worked in the mines. The strike lasted for twenty-six weeks with a very hot summer. At school at dinner time we all sat in a circle in the playground, we received some broken biscuits, given by Crawfords, and a mug of tea. Then another day we had soup made from brisket of beef given by the local butcher of the village, the soup made by the miners. The water was supplied by pumps set at different places and they all dried up, then we went miles for it from a spring. We had no gas and the miners went to slag heaps and got what bits of coal would burn to heat water for washing and cooking, if there was anything to cook. The police guarded the collieries day and night. The strike pay was 7/6 per week, so we had 22/6 per week for the five of us, the savings soon went and money was owed to all the traders, who never got paid after the strike.”
“Why I remember so much is because it left a bitter memory on my mind to this day. After all our savings had gone, I came home and found my mother crying, you see I had thirty pounds in the Co-op Bank I had saved by doing errands and helping farmers with the harvest. So mother asked if she could borrow it, I said yes, to be paid back when work started. But soon after work in the mines started again, all three died in one year leaving me on my own.” [6]
Early in June 1,400 miners headed by a brass band, marched on Ashby workhouse: they were given relief, on loan [7] In July, the miners tramped to the Leicestershire Labour Gala in the De Montfort Hall Gardens, calling for solidarity with the miners.
The drift back to work in Leicestershire started in August and by the beginning of September there were over 600 men back and morale was beginning to break. This was a result of the massive to return to work in Nottinghamshire and the intensive campaign of persuasion by the local coal owners. By the beginning of October 90% of the Leicestershire miners had returned to work and the Leicestershire Miners Association felt it could not ask its loyal members to stay out any longer and called off the strike. Jack Smith, the agent continued to support strike action and about 300 men stayed out until November. By this time starvation had triumphed and work had resumed in all important coalfields except South Wales, Yorkshire and Durham. Jack Smith later resigned his position and attempted to set up a breakaway New Miner’s Union. [8]
[1] Colin Griffin, op cit. [2] Leicester Chronicle,1st May? 1926. [3] Leicester Mercury 4th October 1926. [4] Leicester Mercury 9th October 1926. [5] Jack Smith was a member of the MFGB executive and a die-hard supporter of the no-compromise-settlement line. This position was not shared by other members of the Leicestershire Miners Association. See: Colin Griffin, op cit., p 301. [6] Correspondence with W. H. Barnes, 1974. [7] Leicester Mercury, June 5th, 1926. [8] Colin Griffin, op cit.
The Outcome
The defeat inflicted on the miners was a serious one for the whole of the Labour Movement. The TUC General Council had failed in its sole stated aim which was to “secure for the miners a decent standard of life.” The responsibility for the defeat lay with the leadership, though its consequences fell on the shoulders of the workers.
The defeat of the miners did not have not immediate impact on the Labour and Trade Union movement in Leicester. In November 1926, Labour made five gains in the local elections and one of those elected was T. Rowland Hill. However, in 1927, the British Government passed the Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act. This act made all sympathetic strikes illegal and ensured that trade union members had to voluntarily ‘contract in’ to pay the political levy to the Labour Party. It also forbade Civil Service unions from affiliating to the TUC and made mass picketing was made illegal. The Act was eventually repealed in 1946 by the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act. After Margaret Thatcher’s election, her government reintroduced the ban on secondary action, first with restrictions in the Employment Act 1980 and finally banning it altogether in the Employment Act 1990. This is now codified in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
The General Strike was a great moment which was brought to an end by timidity of the TUC leadership. Mr. A. A. West, President of the Trades Council in 1927, expressed the feelings of many trade unionists when he said:
“The organised workers of Britain made a phenomenal manifestation of sympathy with the miners, in their resistance to the inhuman demands of the mine owners. This sympathy, finding co-ordinated expression in the National Strike, was a staggering revelation of solidarity, the depths of which were never dreamed of.” [1]
[1] Quoted in Hats off to the People. A History of Leicester Trades Council, 1951.
