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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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General Strike
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(1926) The single largest conflict in British industrial history. In 1925 the owners of the coal mines, whose markets were shrinking after an earlier boom, demanded longer hours and a cut in wages. The miners were led by a brilliant orator, A.J. Cook (Arthur James Cook, 1883–1931). They were ready to strike, going into battle with Cook's telling slogan 'Not a penny off the pay; not a minute on the day'. The government defused the issue with a temporary subsidy, but when this came to an end in 1926 the situation was as before.
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At the end of April the mine owners initiated a lock-out. In response the newly organized General Council of the *TUC called a general strike. About three million people came out on strike from May 4, in transport and in all the main industries. The mine owners then offered a compromise which the TUC considered reasonable. They called off the strike after nine days, on May 12, but failed to get the new terms accepted by the miners themselves, who remained on strike for another five months before giving in. There were no comparable confrontations until the *miners' strikes of 1972 and 1984.
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