4 May – Day One of the General Strike - The Communist

4 May – Day one of the General Strike - The Communist

Tuesday 4 May was the opening shot of a titanic class battle. Bit by bit, the arteries of economic life in Britain were methodically shut down as the workers answered the TUC’s call. For the government and the bosses, nothing had prepared them for the completeness of the stoppage. The post 4 May – Day one of the General Strike appeared first on The Communist.

General Strike at 100: Could workers ever take action on the same scale again?

This month sees the centenary of Britain’s only General Strike. Some two million workers walked off the job in support of the country’s coal miners, who had refused to accept wage cuts imposed by their employers.  On 4 May an eerie quiet settled over the country’s industrial towns and cities. Trains and buses remained in their depots. Factories soon began to close for lack of fuel and materials. Strike committees began to issue permits for the m…