Why Did The General Strike Take Place in Britain in 1926?

THE GENERAL STRIKE
Why did it take place?

In May 1926, in the greatest unity the unions have ever shown in this country one and a half million members of the ‘Triple Alliance’ supported the miners and went on strike. There were various reasons why so many people were willing to strike. The miners demanded a lot of respect and higher wages because of the dangerous job they did and they were seen as the ‘barometer’ of industrial relations, this means if it happened to the miners it happened to the rest of the countries workforce soon after. The minors were very political minded and rebellious. The mine owners were rich and influential and when coal prices dropped in the aftermath of world war one they wanted to decrease the wages and increase the working day, the miners looked to their unions who were strong and confident.

One of the long-term causes of the strike went right back to before World War One. Between 1906 and the outbreak of war union membership doubled and tr...