Introduction
1. See Ken Smith’s book on the Miners’ strike 1984-85 A Civil War Without Guns.
2. Christopher Farman, May 1926, The General Strike, Britain’s Aborted Revolution, p42.
Chapter 1 – British Capitalism’s Post-war Crisis
1. Allen Hutt, British Trade Unionism, A Short History, p84.
2. William Keegan, The Prudence of Mr Gordon Brown, p276.
3. John Murray, The General Strike of 1926 – A History, p23.
4. Julian Symons, The General Strike, p5.
5. R.A. Florey, The General Strike of 1926, p13.
6. Leon Trotsky, 1905, p105
7. A. MacManus and A. Inkpin, The Communist, 7 October 1920.
Chapter 2 – Red Friday
1. Walter Citrine, Men and Work, p77.
2. Beatrice Webb’s Diaries, 1924-32, Margaret Cole (editor), p116.
3. Hutt, p98.
4. Ibid, p99.
5. Leon Trotsky, Diaries in Exile, p85.
6. Farman, p15.
7. J.M. Keynes, The Economic Consequences of Mr Churchill.
8. Wal Hannington, Unemployed Struggles, 1919-1936, p135.
9. Willie Gallacher, The Rolling of the Thunder, pp39-40.
10. Workers’ Weekly, 30 January, 1925.
11. Farman, p41.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid, p43.
15. Ibid., p46.
16. Ibid., p47.
17. Manchester Guardian, 4 August 1925.
18. Webb, p61.
Chapter 3 – The Nine Months
1. Symons, p18.
2. Ibid..
3. Ibid., p20.
4. Ibid, p22.
5. Farman, p61.
6. Symons, pp25-26.
7. Originally gangs of reactionary young men who attacked republicans during the downswing of the French Revolution.
8. The Daily Herald was the daily paper of the TUC.
9. Aneurin Bevan, In Place of Fear, pp20-21.
10 . Offensiv, 1975.
11. Trotsky, The Middle of the Road, Trotsky’s Writings on Britain, vol 3, p103
12. W.H. Crook, The General Strike, pp295-6.
13 . Ibid, p295.
14. Farman, pp49-50.
15. Crook, p295.
16. Farman, p71.
17. Communist Review, October 1924.
18. Workers’ Weekly, 7 August 1925.
19. Workers’ Weekly, 18 September, 1925.
20. Brian Norton, The Minority Movement and the Communist Party, Militant International Review, Summer 1986.
21. James Klugmann, History of the Communist Party of Great Britain, 1925-1927 , p16.
22. Daily Telegraph, 12 May 1925.
23. Workers’ Weekly, 28 August, 1925.
24. Klugmann, p46.
25. George Hardy, Those Stormy Years, p185
26. Leon Trotsky, Europe and America, p54.
27. M.N. Roy, The Empire and the Proletariat, Labour Monthly, January 1925.
28. The World of Labour, Labour Monthly, January 1925.
29. Ibid.
30. R Palme Dutt, Notes of the Month, Labour Monthly, September 1926
31. Two Deserters (Reply to Newbold and M. Phillips Price), Karl Radek, Labour Monthly, March 1925.
32. the socialist, 413, 27 October 2005.
33. Problems of the Labour Movement by P. Braun, Labour Monthly, June 1925.
34. Book Reviews by GAH, Labour Monthly, July 1925.
35. Farman, p52.
36. The Scarborough Conference, Harry Pollitt, Labour Monthly, October 1925.
37. Ibid.
38. Leon Trotsky, Writings on Britain, Volume 2, pp138-9.
39. See Liverpool: A City That Dared To Fight.
40. Klugmann, pp56-57.
41. Ibid, p54.
42. The Observer, 7 September, 1925.
43. Quoted in Sunday Worker, 20 September, 1925.
44. Klugmann, p59.
45. Financial Times, 1 October 1925.
46. The Times, 1 October 1925.
47. Weekly Dispatch, 11 October, 1925.
48. Harry Pollitt, Serving My Time.
49. R Palme Dutt, Notes of the Month, Labour Monthly, June 1926.
50. Labour Monthly, November 1925.
51. Klugmann, p66.
52. Henry Brailsford was a leading member of the ILP throughout the 1920s and editor of its newspaper 1922-26.
53. George Lansbury was a leading figure in the Labour Party throughout the 1920s and 1930s. He led the Poplar councillors against the Government in 1921. Nominally on the left of the party, he went on to lead it in between 1932 and 1935.
54. Leon Trotsky, Trotsky’s Writings on Britain, Volume 2, pp139-140.
55. Ibid, p140.
56. P. Braun, Scarborough and Liverpool, Labour Monthly, November 1925.
57. William Paul, The Left Wing, Labour Monthly, February 1926.
58. The Times, 23 October, 1925.
59. R. Page Arnot, The General Strike, May 1926, Its Origin and History, p59.
60. New York Times, 3 August, 1925.
61. Crook, The General Strike, p298.
62. La préparation Bolcheviste de la grève Anglaise, La Revue de Paris, 15 May 1926, quoted in Crook, The General Strike, p297.
63. Ibid, p298.
64. Murray, p60.
65. Hywel Francis & David Smith, The Fed, a history of the South Wales miners in the twentieth century, p54.
66. Klugmann, p83.
67. Ibid.
68. George Lansbury, The ICWPA, p11. The ICWPA was the International Class War Prisoners Aid.
69. Sunday Worker, 29 November 1925.
70. Ibid., 18 October, 1925.
71. Klugmann, p85.
72. Daily Herald, 17 October, 1925.
73. Page Arnot, p68. 74 . Florey, p13.
75. The Times, 21 January 1927.
76. Florey, p14.
77. Ibid, p100.
78. Daily Express, Friday 5 November,.
79. Florey, p101.
80. Ibid.
81. Ibid.
82. The Times, 5 October 1925.
Chapter 4 – On the Eve of Battle
1. Klugmann, p93.
2. TUC General Council, Report of the Conference of Trade Union Executives, p26.
3. Ibid, p10.
4. Workers Weekly, 1 January 1926.
5. Ibid, 15 January 1926.
6. Ibid, 15 January 1926.
7. Ibid, 19 February, 1926.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Trotsky and his English Critics, R. Palme Dutt, Labour Monthly, April 1926.
11 . Workers’ Weekly, 1 January 1926.
12. Ibid, 15 January, 1926.
13. Ibid, 12 March 1926.
14. Farman, p75.
15. Ibid, p76.
16 . Ibid, p77.
17. Ibid, p78.
18 . Forward, 19 March 1926. Forward was the paper of the ILP.
19. Klugmann, p102.
20. Farman, pp82-83.
21. L.J. MacFarlane, The British Communist Party: Its Origin and Development until 1929, p155.
22. Farman, p71.
23. Ibid, p87.
24. Murray, p73.
25. Farman, p85.
26. Ibid, p88.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid, p96.
29. Ibid, p90.
30. Ibid, p91.
31. Workers’ Weekly, 19 March 1926.
32. Klugmann, p102.
33. Workers Weekly, 9 April 1926.
34. Farman, p93.
35. Ibid, p95.
36. Ibid, p95.
37. Ibid, pp98-99.
38. Ibid, p106.
39. The Observer, 25 April 1926.
40. Farman, p116.
41. Ibid, p126.
42. Hansard, 13 May 1926.
43. Farman, p92.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid p96.
46. Murray, p79.
47. Farman, pp127-128.
48. Ibid, p128.
49. Ibid, p122-3.
50. Ibid, p127.
51. Ibid, p128.
52. Ibid, p129
53. Ibid.
54. TUC, The Mining Crisis and the National Strike, 1926, p33.
55. A.J. Cook, The Nine Days, p10.
56. Symons, p43.
57. Farman, p134.
58. Ibid, p136.
59. Kingsley Martin, The British Public and the General Strike.
Chapter 5 – The Strike Begins
1. Daily Mail, 3 May, 1926.
2. Farman, p140.
3. Ibid.
4. Hansard, 3 May 1926.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Farman. P145.
9. Klugmann, p111.
10. Farman, p130.
11. Klugmann, p180.
12. Socialist Review, June 1926.
13. Farman, p149.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid, p204.
16. Ibid, p150.
17. Ibid, p151.
18. Symons, pp61-62. 19 . TUC Communiqué, quoted in Page Arnot, p175.
20. Farman, p154.
21. Page Arnot, p162.
22. Ibid, p164.
23. Klugmann, p115. 24 . Ibid.
25. British Worker, 7 May 1926.
26. Hamilton Fyfe, Behind the Scenes of the General Strike, p33.
27. Kingsley Martin, The British Public and the General Strike.
28. Murray, p122.
29. British Gazette, 5 May 1926.
30. Farman, p168.
31. Ibid.
32. British Gazette, 5 May 1926.
33. Ibid, 6 May 1926.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid.
38. Ibid, 8 May 1926.
39. Ibid, 6 May 1926.
40. Ibid, 10 May, 1926.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid, 8 May, 1926.
43. Farman, p184.
44. Ibid, p182.
45. Ibid, p184.
46. Ibid, pp185-190.
47. British Worker, 8 May 1926.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid, 10 May 1926.
50. Ibid, 11 May 1926.
51. British Gazette, 12 May 1926.
52. Farman, p275.
Chapter 6 – The Workers Organise
1. Robert Rhodes James, Memoirs of a Conservative. J.C.C. Davidson’s Memoirs and papers, 1910-37, p250.
2. A.J. Cook, The Nine Days.
3. Anthony Mason, The General Strike in the North-East, p11.
4. History Group of the Communist Party, The General Strike in the North-East, p2
5. Mason, p17.
6. Labour Monthly, June 1926.
7. C.R. Flynn, An Account of the Proceedings of the Northumberland and Durham General Council and Joint Strike Committee, pp6-7, quoted in Mason, p22.
8. Mason, p23
9. Plebs, August 1926, quoted in Mason, p24.
10. R. Page Arnot, The Miners – Years of Struggle, pp439-440.
11. Tony Mulhearn, Merseyside under workers’ control, Militant, 26 March 1976 .
12. The Fed, pp54-5.
13. Ibid, p55.
14. Klugmann, p163.
15. Morning Post, 15 June 1926.
16. Newcastle Chronicle, 21 May 1926.
17. Letter from Mr Dillon to Lord Londonderry, quoted in Mason, p87.
18 . Ibid.
19 . Ibid.
20. Northern Light 15 May 1926, quoted in Farman, p225.
21. Farman, p229.
22. Ibid, p231.
23. Ibid, p193. 24 . Ibid.
25. Introduction by Bill Moore, The General Strike in Sheffield, p.xvii.
26. Ibid.
27. Robert S. Sephton, Oxford and the General Strike, p29.
28. Farman, p198.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid, p198.
31. Ibid
32. John McLean, The 1926 General Strike in Lanarkshire, p7.
33. Ibid, p8
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. British Gazette, 11 May 1926.
37. McLean, p20.
38. Ibid.
39. Murray, p151.
40. Emile Burns, Trades Councils in Action, p73.
41. Farman, p204.
42. Ibid, pp203-4.
43. Ibid, pp204-5
44. Abe Moffat, My Life with the Miners, p45
45. Burns, p70.
46. Burns, The General Strike of 1926, p70
47. Burns, Trades Councils in Action, p72
48. Ibid.
49. George Glasgow, General Strikes and Road Transport, quoted in Burns, Trades Councils in Action, p73.
50. Farman, p227.
51. Ibid, p229.
52. Ibid, p234.
53. Ibid, p238.
54. The Times, 10 May 1926.
55. Farman, p244.
56. Ibid, p247.
57. Ibid, p248-9.
58. Symons, p166.
Chapter 7 – A Revolutionary Situation
1. Hutt, op. cit., p112.
2. Ibid.
3. J.R. Clynes, Memoirs 1924-1937, pp81-82.
4. Farman, p209.
5. Workers’ Weekly, 30 April 1926.
6. Robert Boothby, quoted in Farman, p213.
7. Theses of the Communist International on the British General Strike, Labour Monthly, July 1926.
8. Burns, Trades Councils in Action, p120.
9. Klugmann, pp186-188.
10. Farman, p215.
11. A.J.P. Taylor, A Personal History, quoted in Sephton, p53.
12. Ibid.
13. Farman, pp242-3. 1 4 . Ibid. p241. 15 . Ibid. p240.
16. J. Skelley, The General Strike 1926, p316.
Chapter 8 – TUC Leaders Capitulate
1. Murray, pp146-7.
2. Cook, p18.
3. Ibid.
4. British Worker, 8 May, 1926.
5. British Gazette, 8 May 1926.
6. Ibid.
7. British Gazette, 12 May, 1926.
8. Ibid.
9. The Times, 6 May 1926.
10. Symons, p136.
11. Ibid.
12. Farman, p263.
13. Symons, p196.
14. Ibid.
15. Farman, p259.
16. Murray, p152
17. Symons, p196.
18 . Ibid.
19. Ibid, p197.
20. Ibid, p198
21. Crook, p397.
22. Farman, p268.
23. Ibid, p269.
24. Farman, p274.
25. Symons, p208.
26. British Worker, 11 May 1926.
27. Farman, p272
28. Cook, in Murray, p154.
29. Ibid, p155.
30. Symons, p205.
31. Farman, p277.
32. Tottenham Strike Bulletin, Wednesday 12 May, 1926.
33. Symons, pp206-7.
34. Ibid, p207.
35. Farman, p287.
36. Ibid.
37. Page Arnot, p218.
Chapter 9 – Outrage
1. Farman, p290.
2. Ibid, pp290-91.
3. Nine Days in Birmingham, p35.
4. Symons, pp210-11.
5. Ibid, p211.
6. Farman, pp291-2.
7. Ibid, p291.
8. Ibid,
9. Mason, p89.
10. Ibid, pp89-90.
11. Farman, p292.
12. Symons, p215
13. British Gazette, 13 May 1926.
14. Lansbury’s Labour Weekly, 26 May 1926, quoted in Farman, p294.
15. Quoted in Nine Days in Birmingham, p35.
16 . Nine Days in Birmingham, pp38-40.
17. Farman, p295.
18. Ibid. p296.
19. Ibid, p297.
20. Ibid, p301
21. Ibid, p299.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid, pp299-300.
24. Murray, p168.
25. Farman, p300.
26. Page Arnot, pp233-4.
27. R Palme Dutt, Notes of the Month, Labour Monthly, July 1926.
28. ‘Observer’, Our First General Strike, The Communist Review, June 1926
29. Page Arnot, p244
30. Klugmann, p191.
31. Ibid.
32. Communist Review, July 1926, p133.
33. MacFarlane, p302.
34. Trotsky, Trotsky’s Writings on Britain, p253.
Chapter 10 – The Terrible Aftermath
1. British Worker, 15 May, 1926.
2. Farman, p303.
3. Symons, p223.
4. Farman, p309.
5. Ibid.
6. Lansbury’s Labour Weekly, 29 May 1926.
7. Hugh Dalton, Call Back Yesterday, p203, quoted in Farman, p320.
8. Murray, pp173-4.
9. Ibid, p176.
10. Hardy, p188.
11. Workers Weekly, 18 June 1926.
12. ‘Observer’, Our First General Strike, Communist Review, June 1926.
13. The Editorial View, Communist Review, July 1926.
14. Communist International Theses on the Lessons of the British General Strike, Communist Review, July 1926, p116.
15. Ibid. p118.
16. Ibid, p120.
17. Ibid, pp127-9.
18. Trotsky, The Future of the British Communist Party, Leon Trotsky On Britain, p251.
19. Ibid, pp251-2.
20. Ibid, p252.
21. Resolution on the General Strike in Britain, Ibid, pp253-4.
22. Workers’ Weekly, 23 July, 1926.
23. Ibid. 24 . Workers’ Weekly, 6 August, 1926.
25. Trotsky, Ibid, p253.
26. Ibid, p255.
27. Workers’ Weekly, 6 August 1926.
28. Ibid, 10 September 1926.
29. Editorial View, Communist Review, August 1926, p157.
30. Editorial View, Communist Review, September 1926, p157.
31. Workers’ Weekly, 17 September 1926.
Chapter 11 – ‘Next Time We Will Win Without You ’
1. Farman, p320.
2. Symons, p226.
3. Murray, p189.
4. Ibid.
5. G.D.H. Cole, History of the Labour Party From 1914.
6. Crook, p481.
7. Hutt, p115.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid, p116.
10. Farman, p322.
11. Murray, p187.
12. Ibid, p199.
13. Ibid, p186.
