Page "History of the United Kingdom" Paragraph 97

Coal was a sick industry ; the best seams were being exhausted, raising the cost.

Demand fell as oil began replacing coal for fuel.

The 1926 general strike was a nine-day nationwide walkout of 1. 3 million railwaymen, transport workers, printers, dockers, iron workers and steelworkers supporting the 1. 2 million coal miners who had been locked out by the owners.

The miners had rejected the owners ' demands for longer hours and reduced pay in the face of falling prices.

The Conservative government had provided a nine-month subsidy in 1925 but that was not enough to turn around a sick industry.

To support the miners the Trades Union Congress ( TUC ), an umbrella organization of all trades unions, called out certain critical unions.

The hope was the government would intervene to reorganize and rationalize the industry, and raise the subsidy.

The Conservative government had stockpiled supplies and essential services continued with middle class volunteers.

All three major parties opposed the strike.

The Labour Party leaders did not approve and feared it would tar the party with the image of radicalism, for the Cominterm in Moscow had sent instructions for Communists to aggressively promote the strike.

The general strike itself was largely non-violent, but the miners ' lockout continued and there was violence in Scotland.

It was the only general strike in British history, for TUC leaders such as Ernest Bevin considered it a mistake.

Most historians treat it as a singular event with few long-term consequences, but Pugh says it accelerated the movement of working-class voters to the Labour Party, which led to future gains.

The Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927 made general strikes illegal and ended the automatic payment of union members to the Labour Party.

That act was largely repealed in 1946.

The coal industry, used up the more accessible coal as costs rose output fell from 2567 million tons in 1924 to 183 million in 1945.

The Labour government nationalised the mines in 1947.