Abstract
The immediate sequel to the General Strike was a con-siderable loss of prestige to the unions in general and to the General Council in particular. The total union membership affiliated to the T.U.C. declined by almost half a million between 1925 and 1927. Especially strong criticism of the General Council naturally came from the Miners Federation, whose members remained on strike until the end of November. The tiny Communist Party also attacked the trade-union leadership, and began to recruit members rapidly, especially among the miners, so that by the end of the year its membership had doubled to a total of some 12,000. Through the agency of the National Minority Movement the Communists sought to build up opposition to the existing union leaders, with a view to their eventual replacement. There was also a much more widespread dissatisfaction with the explanations given for the failure of the General Strike, and a demand for a full post-mortem. But in response to a request from the Miners Federation, the General Council’s formal report to the unions on its conduct of the strike was delayed until after the Miners’ struggle was over. It seemed at first that the delay would be especially damaging to the General Council’s reputation, for its members could not in the meantime defend themselves against attack.
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Further Reading
Relations between the Second Labour Government and the trade unions are described in V. L. Allen’s Trade Unions and the Government mentioned above. S. Pollard, ‘Trade Union Reactions to the Economic Crisis’, Journal of Contemporary History, iv (1969) is an interesting discussion. The best account of the T.U.C. role in the crisis at its close is in R. Bassett, 1931: Political Crisis (1958). For the trade unions in this period, see G. D. H. Cole, British Trade Unionism Today (1939); and for industrial relations in general, see H. A. Clegg, Some Consequences of the General Strike (Manchester, 1954). Problems of inter-union relations are dealt with in S. W. Lerner, Breakaway Unions and the Small Trade Union (1961). For the role of the Minority Movement and the Communist Party, see H. Pelling, British Communist Party (1958) and R. Martin, Communism and the British Trade Unions, 1924–1933 (Oxford, 1969). The evolution of Labour Party and T.U.C. policy on nationalization is dealt with in E. Eldon Barry, Nationalization in British Politics (1965) and in G. N. Ostergaard, ‘Labour and the Development of the Public Corporation’, Manchester School, xxii (1954). For the Daily Herald, see R. J. Minney, Viscount Southwood (1954). For the National Unemployed Workers Movement, W. Hannington, Unemployed Struggles, 1919–36 (1936), may be used with caution; see also J. Stevenson, ‘The Politics of Violence’, in G. Peele and C. Cook, The Politics of Reappraisal, 1918–1939 (1975). For the last months of peace see R. A. C. Parker, ‘British Rearmament, 1936–9: Treasury, Trade Unions and Skilled Labour’, English Historical Review, xcvi (1981).
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© 1992 Henry Pelling
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Pelling, H. (1992). Slump and Recovery, 1926–39. In: A History of British Trade Unionism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12968-3_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12968-3_10
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