Past Present Future Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100
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May 3, 2026 
Robert Saunders, historian of modern British politics and labour movements, revisits Britain’s 1926 general strike on its centenary. He sets the strike in a revolutionary postwar moment. He contrasts British and continental strike traditions. He unpacks the TUC’s dilemma, the coal dispute, government preparations, propaganda battles, and why the crisis stayed restrained rather than erupting into revolution.
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General Strike Sat Between Syndicalism And Solidarity
- The British general strike sat between two traditions: revolutionary syndicalism and industrial solidarity.
- Robert Saunders explains syndicalists wanted parliamentary overthrow, while many union leaders framed 1926 as solidarity to improve miners' pay and conditions.
Coal Crisis Made A Local Dispute National
- Coal was a foundational industry in crisis, making the miners' dispute national in scope.
- Saunders highlights cheap foreign coal, fragmented owners, and Churchill's return to the gold standard as key pressures driving wage cuts.
Government Bought Time To Prepare For Confrontation
- The government used the 1925 wage subsidy to buy time and prepare a coordinated response.
- Saunders describes Home Secretary Joynson Hicks organising logistics, special constables, and contingency planning before May 1926.