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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the final installment of our mini series

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about the British General strike of nineteen twenty six. If

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you haven't listened to parts one or two yet, I'd

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go back and listen to those first.

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Speaker 2: Oh you men, I've done Pundy dig events of coal

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with me little pick and shove for the boss man

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the callery. But I'll never own your soul with me,

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little pick and shove up.

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Speaker 1: Our podcast is brought to you by our Patreon supporters.

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Our supports fund our work and in return get exclusive

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and promote our history of struggle. Sign up and listen

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today at patreon dot com slash working Class history link

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in the show notes. Where we left off last time,

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the strike was causing havoc around the country and the

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British state tried to use all the legal powers at

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its disposal to break the strike. The most crucial of

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these was the Emergency Powers Act, a law passed in

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nineteen twenty which allowed for a state of emergency to

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be declared in the event of an action taken or

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threatened quote on so extensive a scale as to be

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calculated by interfering with the supply and distribution of food, water, fuel,

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or light, or with the means of locomotion end quote.

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This basically meant that any big strike could result in

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a state of emergency being called and any disobedience punished

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with prison, hard labour, a fine, the seizure of goods,

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or any combination of all of them.

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Speaker 3: They could use this to really harass the left and

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to harass any oppositional voices during the strike, so they

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invaded the Communist Party headquarters. They arrested communists for sedition.

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I think something like well over a thousand Communist Party

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members were arrested during the strike, which some people say

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is about a quarter of their whole membership.

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Speaker 1: This is Judy Cox, co author of Revisiting the General

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Strike of nineteen twenty six. When workers were ready to.

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Speaker 3: Dare, I think there were something like nine thousands arrests altogether,

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so large numbers of people were arrested. I mean some

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were obviously arrested during confrontations with the police, but many

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communists were arrested for sedition, which was simply asking troops

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not to fire on workers, talking about international solidarity and

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those sort of questions. In the sitting MP for Battersey

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Sakala was arrested and sentenced to Timunth's Hard Labor and

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he was a sitting MP, the Communist MP. So yeah,

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they were very repressive and they were very prepared to

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use the power of the state to crush not only

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strikers but communists who might be arguing for striking to

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go further. I think the organization of the strike fed

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from that kind of the seeds of class fear that

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had been sown, this idea that if we don't fight

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this battle, it will be the end of civilization. The

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Communists are taking over.

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Speaker 1: The state cracked down severely on the Communist Party, with

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three hundred and seventy four communists being arrested on the

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tenth of May alone, and even before the strike had begun.

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In October nineteen twenty five, twelve Communist Party leaders were

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arrested and charged under the incitement to mutiny Act from

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seventeen ninety seven. The majority of those arrested were still

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in prison during the general strike itself. One Communist Party

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member who was arrested during the general strike was Abe moffat,

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a minor in Scotland's Fife coal fields. Unfortunately, the audio

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quality of this section from Abe's interview was quite poor

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and might be difficult for some listeners to unders stand.

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But I'll go over the main points afterwards, and they'll

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also soon be a full transcript on the web page

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for this episode. Link in the show.

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Speaker 4: Notes our senses during the Fintasics. There's more for leading

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a ride to Smart. As a matter of fact, young

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gllla Alec and another young lads and Wade Ellis we've

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got two months under that. We've got two months each

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under that, right Smart. It was mostly although we've got

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a lot of manor paistic during the demo site for

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example for Scott.

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Speaker 5: For Scott, the traffic on the roads, you.

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Speaker 4: Know what I mean, the higher road color. I had

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another brother there he wild on the GMO straight along

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with another six that start the traffic exactly under the

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such and the disconsil. That time you have a permit

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from a case council to grow up the young just

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at the end of the state and in the other

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end stated almost finished miles downstation up with respect against

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the black lights.

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Speaker 1: So to summarize Abe, two of his brothers and another

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miner named Jim Watt all got arrested and sentenced to

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two months in prison for leading a riotus mob. This

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also happened to a number of other miners around the

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Five Coalfields who were arrested for stopping traffic. These traffic

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stops were done under the instructions of the local Trades

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council to check the vehicles had the proper permits for

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the goods that they were carrying, and in the event

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they did not, workers would refuse to allow them to

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continue their journey. As for Harry Watson on the East

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London Docks, he felt that the police were getting increasingly

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heavy handed as the strike wore on.

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Speaker 5: The police were becoming more and more not only trucking

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up as they were in the beginning, but vicious and

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when they were attacking the workers, they didn't discriminate whether

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you were men or woman, or whether they were boy

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or girl, or what if you was one of the

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people who was messed there, then you were fair game

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for their truncheons, and they used to bring them down

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and all.

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Speaker 1: And Harry was in no uncertainty about whether those police

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attacks were spontaneous or premeditated.

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Speaker 5: Oh no, they're around rawers. It was organized. I mean

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a question about a fact. Someone has given them a signal.

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I don't know who it was, but it was obvious

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that they moved when they were told the move, and

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they were told to move in a certain fashion, and

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they did just that, and someone was given them the

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orders because it was I mean, we were unsuspecting of

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anything like that. We were there without any question or

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doubt in our mind about who's going to win, and

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what did we have to do anything about it for

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other than stand firm and our action of being on

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strike and refusing to go to work. In a situation

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like that, then suddenly from behind you or you get

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a whack on the neck or a wap on the shoulder,

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or the arm you temporary immediately flairs. You know it's

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an unprovoked attack in the met whichever way you look

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at it, and tipically, in a situation like that where

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there's not just one of them, but dozens and dozens

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of them laying about them, and when you see women

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getting hit and all your blood balls and them, it's

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like more. I mean, you've become as vicious as they

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do in the finish and get down to their level

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in order to make them understand that they are nothing anyway,

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you know what, right and authority they got to come

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barging in people like that and laying about them in

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the fashion they did, and bloods being still everywhere as

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a result of it. No, they were being instructed. It

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was an organized assault on the public wherever the public

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was gathering at the time.

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Speaker 1: Harry's views of state violence during the general strike was

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no doubt informed by the lengths that the government went

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to to break the picketing of the East London docks.

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No more than about forty out of fourteen thousand dock

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workers were available for work, so the government had to

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bring scabs in by boat along the river, even using

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the navy, as Harry mentioned in the last episode, but

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even using strike breakers was itself useless while East London's

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docks were picketed and its surrounding streets filled with strikers.

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To deal with this. On Saturday, the eighth of May,

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the government sent twenty armored cars manned by soldiers to

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the East India docks to escort lorries transporting goods. To

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top it off, a machine gun placed at the dock

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gates was trained on the strikers to discourage any attempts

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to interfere with the convoy. Despite this, strikers across the

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country remained resolute. For the most part. Workers continued to

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respect the strike and clashes even continued in numerous places

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around the UK, while more workers were gearing up to

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be called out as part of the second line of

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the strike. By contrast, however, the General Counsel of the

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Trades Union Congress was seeking ways to bring the strike

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to an end.

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Speaker 3: I mean, this is one of the most criminal, kind

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of inexplicable capitulations. When you read the accounts of how

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the strike was getting stronger, how people were still coming

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out on striking. Yet the trade union leaders at some

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point begin to fear that they're going to lose control,

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that more workers are going to come out on strike,

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and so they moved from saying we're going to stand

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by the miners, We're not going to let the miners

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fight alone. Because this whole strike is about solidarity with

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the miners. It's not about people fighting for their own

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pay rise. It's all about standing by the miners. And

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they begin to say the miners are living in a

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fool's paradise if they don't think they're going to accept

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where so these carving out of the miners and their leaders,

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these negotiations begin.

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Speaker 1: Much of these negotiations were based around the report of

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the Samuel Commission, named after its chairman, Sir Herbert Samuel,

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the former High Commissioner of British Colonial Palestine. The report

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was published in March nineteen twenty six and recommended a

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number of reforms to the mining industry. However, those reforms

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most beneficial to the miners, like amalgamating smaller mines into larger,

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more efficient ones, were to be postponed for the future. Meanwhile,

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the immediate reforms it suggested were around the reduction of wages,

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either through increased hours or straightforward pay cuts. The report

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also stopped short of calling for nationalization. Unsurprisingly, the Miners'

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Union rejected this, but other leaders on the TUC's General

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Council insisted on pushing through an agreement based on the

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Samuel Report. They met multiple times with Samuel during the

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strike and lobbied him to encourage the government that the

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strike could be brought to an end and on the

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basis of his report. However, the government repeatedly rejected Samuel's

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offer of mediation and underlining that no negotiations could take

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place until the strike had been completely called off. As

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the strike wore on and the TUC's desperation to call

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off the strike became increasingly obvious, the position of the

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government hardened, but among the rank and file workers were

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still standing by the strike, despite the claims of union

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leaders to the contrary.

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Speaker 3: They start rumors that the strike is crumbling. That's the

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one of their biggest tactics is to say, really it's crumbling,

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and people going, well, that's strange because it's not crumbling

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around here. But there's no national network where people can

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exchange alternative views. So they start these rumors that the

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strike is crumbling. And the truth is they're fearful of

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losing control of it. And one of the people involved,

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a rank and file worker, in a brilliant quote, says

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they were more afraid of winning than they were of losing.

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They couldn't envisage that, so it was better for them

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to lose and to leave the miners to fight on alone.

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Speaker 1: As an example of this, Ben Turner, the textile workers'

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union representative at the TUC, claimed that workers were abandoning

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the strike, particularly in the railway centers. Similarly, John Bromley,

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leader of ASLEFT the train Drivers Union, also claimed that

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his members were going back to work, but as the

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government's own statistics show, the percentage of railway workers still

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out on the final day of the strike was mostly

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ninety percent or more, with engine drivers, fire and motormen

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in particular being closer to ninety eight percent. The main

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exception to this were clerical and supervisory workers, most of

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whom were unable to drive trains anyway, and according to

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the TUC's own internal intelligence report on the morning of

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the twelfth of May, quote, reports coming into this office

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do not confirm or explain the government's claims that large

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numbers of railway workers were returning to work end quote.

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On Wednesday, the twelfth of May nineteen twenty six, the

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the TUC had referred to as the second line of

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workers were due to be called out to join the

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general strike, but instead at midday, a delegation from the

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TUC arrived at ten Downing Street to meet the Prime

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Minister and were only let in once they'd confirmed that

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they were there to call off the strike. Despite hopes

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that this would allow for negotiations around the satisfactory settlement

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to the dispute, TUC leaders left without having the chance

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to discuss either their members returned to work or what

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would happen to the miners and the Samuel Memorandum that

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they'd pinned their hopes on. Shortly after one o'clock, the

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BBC announced that the TUC's first and only general strike

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was over. For many workers, this could only have meant

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one thing.

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Speaker 5: And when the new was tang fu that the strike

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was over, course, we was overjoyed. We won. You know,

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never dawned on us that the strike had been called

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off in that situation. The only reason it would be

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called off was because we'd won. It wasn't until a

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long while, some hours afterwards, when they come through that

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had been called off, and it had been a capitulation

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by the trade union leaders at that time. Of course,

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when that come through, it was well, it was technifying.

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The I think there was more resentment and more signs

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then of spontaneous violence from the men and women in

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the East end that the sellout than they'd ever been

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right the way through up until then in the strike itself.

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That's what caused the eruption, when I say, such a

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transformation from being happy and singing and everybody dancing at

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the end of the strike tree supposing that it had

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been one. So it's all kinds of gaiety. And it

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was some hours later when we did find out, and

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it was hard to believe to begin with, but when

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it was established and we understood that it was a betrayal,

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nothing short of a betrayal.

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Speaker 4: Oh oh.

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Speaker 5: And I might say that the trade union leadership as

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such was, in my opinion, the course of a lot

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of the discuss that were shown by the men in

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leaving trade unions and ceased membership of trade unions after that,

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because that was their way of showing theirs.

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Speaker 2: Just with.

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Speaker 5: The people who were supposed to be in positions of

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trust and authority, supposed to be giving leadership and guidance, generals,

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supposed to be leading the army in battle as it were,

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abandoning winning positions and turning tail, you know, and leaving

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the army as it were to clear up the mess

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as it were afterwards. Oh that was a terrible experience, really,

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the one I never forgot all forgave eiver.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back after these messages. If you want

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to listen to our podcast with our ads, join us

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00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,200
on Patreon, where as well as early access to episodes,

277
00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,440
you can also listen to an additional Patreon only bonus

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00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,679
episode for our General Strike mini series. Support from our

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00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,080
listeners on Patreon is the only way that we're able

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to devote the time and money it takes to make

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00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:23,720
this podcast. Learn more and join us at patreon dot

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00:16:23,759 --> 00:16:27,320
com slash working class history link in the show notes

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00:16:27,919 --> 00:16:30,799
for Betty Harrison, a textile worker who's due to be

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called out as part of the second line of strikers.

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The betrayal was not a big surprise.

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Speaker 6: Well with your scheduled words, because you see, the working

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class people never did to us Baldwin or any of

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those people, particularly those of the Sueke crop mining families.

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And I don't think anyone in the working class woman

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in the Black fed earlier believe Baldwin when I thought

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it was on the side. We're also given the nice

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words to calm down the workers and of course it

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proved to be true too. It was just making nice

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sounds till the time. Yet the workers to sell out,

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and the nice sounds apparently convinced that UC.

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Speaker 5: But they they gave up. They strike in a very

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short time.

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Speaker 3: So they kind of went crawling back to Downing Street

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and said, oh, we'll accept these conditions. And then of

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course the government and the mine owners who stood behind

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them smelt blood and they said, no, no negotiations, no conditions,

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you come back. It's a complete and utter surrender. And

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the trade union leaders went, okay, hands up, it's a

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complete and utter surrender. So they went back with no

305
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guarantees that workers wouldn't be victimized, with no guarantees at all,

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having one, absolutely nothing. So they span it. They said,

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you know, we've shown that the miners won't fight alone.

308
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We've shown this great solidarity. They pretended it wasn't a

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huge defeat, but it absolutely was. And there was a huge,

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huge rage amongst the millions of people who had been

311
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:19,200
out on striking solidarity with the miners. I mean, if

312
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:22,279
you read any of the memoirs in accounts, they will

313
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say people said, we heard the news, we didn't believe it.

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People were crying. People refused to accept that this is

315
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what had happened. People were saying, you know, a deluge

316
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of telegrams were sent to the TUC the leaders saying,

317
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why with this is furious, you can't believe this. We're

318
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still out, and many people testified to the fact there

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were more people out the day after the strike was

320
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called off than when the day that the trade union

321
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leaders said it was crumbling because people were furious. The

322
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people who went back to work and were humiliated and

323
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walked out again. You know, there was this great ground

324
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,240
swell of a fury from people, but of course it

325
00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,359
had nowhere to go. There was no kind of national

326
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,160
ranconfile network it was capable of saying, well, let's not

327
00:19:10,319 --> 00:19:13,839
go back, let's forge a different paths, let's keep fighting.

328
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Had there been such a thing, the result could have

329
00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,279
been different because there was no way the strike was crumbling.

330
00:19:20,839 --> 00:19:24,079
Speaker 1: Betty was in no uncertainty about who workers were most

331
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angry with at the end of the strike.

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Speaker 6: But do you see, you see amongst the workers at

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that time in Britain, they expected the employers to be

334
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backed up by the government and we didn't expect anything

335
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but methods of any kind and every kind to push

336
00:19:48,079 --> 00:19:53,519
us back and to keep us down, so that when

337
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the TUC looked as if it was going to do

338
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something at last by welding the workers together to fight

339
00:20:02,519 --> 00:20:07,200
this opposition of government and employers, which we classed as won,

340
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:13,319
then there was a high hope tinged with apprehension now

341
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I come to think of it. We were never quite

342
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:18,000
sure whether it was going to come up or not.

343
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But the bitterness was with the t U see to

344
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,880
a large extent. I think, to some extent, you know,

345
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,279
we were not surprised when they called it of it

346
00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:31,920
I if I can catch my mind back as far

347
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,319
as that, we were furious, and we were outset, and

348
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we were disgusted. But I think really in our hearts

349
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we weren't surprised because we didn't think that they were

350
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the kind of people who were prepared to face the

351
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deeper issues of such a thing. Because the general strike

352
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didn't set out to be a revolutionary movement, nor was

353
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it ever revolutionary in content so far as the TUC

354
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,960
were concerned, and was a revolution in the fact that

355
00:21:06,319 --> 00:21:08,839
never been a general strike before. There had never been

356
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as much cooperation between UH the unions to work together

357
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:20,680
for a common end, but we hadn't all that confidence

358
00:21:20,799 --> 00:21:24,119
in that to you see and say, I don't think

359
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,759
we were really very surprised when it didn't last very long,

360
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,559
although we were hoping that it would duh develop and we

361
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should get the workers would get really something out of it,

362
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because the failure of the general strength was the end

363
00:21:42,079 --> 00:21:46,559
of uh hopes of advancement for the workers for many years,

364
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:51,799
many as and the bitterness which I don't think it's

365
00:21:51,839 --> 00:21:58,160
ever gone. I think even the younger ones who are

366
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:03,119
now in the twenty thirties, when they're here are a

367
00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,880
reader of the General's strike, feel something of the bitterness

368
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:09,200
that we felt at the time.

369
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:12,880
Speaker 1: Ultimately, the strike was called off just as it was

370
00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:16,079
about to be extended, because the leaders on the TUC's

371
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General Council had simply never wanted or even expected to

372
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go on strike in the first place, as was clear

373
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from the complete lack of preparation until literally the days before.

374
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Real Union leader James Thomas was probably the most exaggerated

375
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,519
and at times ridiculous example of this. Before the strike

376
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had even begun, he was worried that members of the

377
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,160
General Council would be shot by Britain's nascent fascist movement,

378
00:22:39,759 --> 00:22:42,759
and when the miners' union leaders asked him for assurances

379
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that the government would accept the Samuel proposals, Thomas replied,

380
00:22:46,799 --> 00:22:50,079
quote you may not trust my word, but will you

381
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,720
accept the word of a British gentleman who has been

382
00:22:52,759 --> 00:22:57,400
the governor of Palestine? End quote. What really scared TUC

383
00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,799
leaders was hinted at in another passage from the intelligence

384
00:23:00,799 --> 00:23:06,640
report mentioned previously, specifically where it said quote, many reports

385
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,480
show that the strike is extending, and that factories and

386
00:23:09,519 --> 00:23:13,359
workshops not directly involved are slowing down or shutting down.

387
00:23:13,759 --> 00:23:16,559
The situation is one in which we are holding our own,

388
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:20,359
but the government's organization is improving and its policy is

389
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,519
gradually becoming more aggressive. Every day. The intensity of the

390
00:23:24,519 --> 00:23:29,599
struggle will increase end quote. Two things were becoming increasingly clear,

391
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,200
First that in order to win, TUC leaders would have

392
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,720
to match the intensity of a struggle that they never

393
00:23:35,799 --> 00:23:38,640
wanted in the first place, And second that, in the

394
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:42,599
absence of direction from the center, local trades councils were

395
00:23:42,599 --> 00:23:46,480
taking the initiative themselves. The attitude of the TUC to

396
00:23:46,559 --> 00:23:49,759
this local initiative was best summed up by Thomas himself

397
00:23:49,799 --> 00:23:52,359
in a speech to Parliament the day after the strike

398
00:23:52,519 --> 00:23:55,880
was called off. Quote. What I dreaded about the General

399
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,240
Strike more than anything, was this, if, by any chance

400
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,240
it should have got out of the hands of those

401
00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,880
who would be able to exercise some control, every sane

402
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,000
man knows what would have happened. I thank god it

403
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:12,400
never did. End quote. We spoke earlier about the myriad

404
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,279
of tasks taken on by local councils of action during

405
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:18,119
the strike, but to really get an idea for how

406
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:21,440
well they responded, there is no better text than Emilburn's

407
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:25,799
excellent survey for the Labor Research Department called General Strike

408
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:31,079
Trades Council's Inaction. As Burns explains, local trades councils were

409
00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:34,960
quote suddenly asked to take on a new and urgent

410
00:24:35,079 --> 00:24:38,319
task without any but the vaguest suggestion of how they

411
00:24:38,319 --> 00:24:41,799
should carry it out. With very few exceptions. Indeed, the

412
00:24:41,839 --> 00:24:45,160
councils displayed an energy and initiative to an extent that

413
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,160
astonished all who had known them in the preceding period.

414
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,599
Councils became the real expression of the local movement end quote.

415
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,200
It was this energy and initiative which so terrified union

416
00:24:57,279 --> 00:25:01,480
leaders like Thomas. Ultimately, however, this level of initiative was

417
00:25:01,519 --> 00:25:04,480
not enough to resist the call back to work, and

418
00:25:04,559 --> 00:25:08,039
with the strike called off, the government and employers soon

419
00:25:08,079 --> 00:25:09,119
took advantage.

420
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,880
Speaker 3: It was heartbreaking because for a few days people held

421
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,880
off and Stanley Baldwin said, you know, we want responsible

422
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,839
trade unionism. We don't want to destroy the unions. We

423
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:24,079
want these institutions we can negotiate with. And then within

424
00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:27,279
a few weeks, once the first wave of fury that

425
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,359
the sellout had died down, then the bosses absolutely went

426
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:34,799
on the offensive and there was huge victimizations and bitterness

427
00:25:34,839 --> 00:25:38,160
that lasted for years and years. The miners fought on

428
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,720
until November when they too had to admit defeat terrible

429
00:25:42,759 --> 00:25:48,799
wage cuts and attacks on working conditions. And then in

430
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,759
nineteen twenty seven the government passes the Trade Union Dispute Act,

431
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:59,279
which outlawed solidarity strikes. So you have employers victimizing militants

432
00:25:59,319 --> 00:26:02,480
and indeed anybody who's been on strike. And then you

433
00:26:02,559 --> 00:26:06,200
have the employers imposing an open shop instead of the

434
00:26:06,279 --> 00:26:09,559
close shop that the trade unionists had fought for, so

435
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,319
you could only come to work if you renounce the

436
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:17,640
union and then you have the government legislating against solidarity

437
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:20,680
strikes in the trade union dispute. So the combination of

438
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,960
the employers in the government, we're going to make sure

439
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:27,119
as far as they could that this would never happen again,

440
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,839
That never again would you have two million workers out

441
00:26:31,079 --> 00:26:33,839
in support of another million miners in our country.

442
00:26:34,559 --> 00:26:37,200
Speaker 1: When the TUC called off the strike, they released the

443
00:26:37,279 --> 00:26:40,599
message telling members returning to work to not accept any

444
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,119
changes to their conditions from before the strike. Desperate to

445
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:49,480
demonstrate its respectability, the message continued quote, our whole duty

446
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,119
is to forget all recrimination. Let employers act with generosity

447
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,759
and workers give their whole hearts loyally to their work.

448
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,519
It is of utmost importance that the whole of the

449
00:27:00,559 --> 00:27:04,640
British people should not look backward, but forward and resume

450
00:27:04,759 --> 00:27:08,799
work in a spirit of cooperation and goodwill, putting behind

451
00:27:08,839 --> 00:27:13,920
them all malice and vindictiveness end quote. Employers however, were

452
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,319
not so willing to put that malice and vindictiveness behind them.

453
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,920
As Chesterfield rail worker and member of the National Union

454
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:22,319
of Railwaymen C. S.

455
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 7: Hollis remembers the General Council the TSA yard as a

456
00:27:26,039 --> 00:27:28,799
general return to work on the twelfth of May, but

457
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,119
the railwaymen continued on strap for another two days because

458
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,839
the railway companies would not at first promise a general

459
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:36,559
reinstatement of the strikers.

460
00:27:37,279 --> 00:27:40,119
Speaker 8: Even after an improve settlements of being negotiated on the

461
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,160
fourteenth of May, many men were employed only on a

462
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,119
back time basis on del April nineteenth, twenty seventh.

463
00:27:47,319 --> 00:27:50,200
Speaker 1: The agreement that Hollis mentions here was the one reached

464
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,480
by the railway companies with the three rail unions. As

465
00:27:53,519 --> 00:27:56,519
part of that agreement, rail companies agreed to take workers

466
00:27:56,559 --> 00:27:59,599
back on the basis of seniority, but only as and

467
00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,240
when work could be found for them. The unions were

468
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,799
also forced to admit that the strike was a wrongful

469
00:28:04,839 --> 00:28:08,160
act and undertake to ensure that no similar action would

470
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,599
ever happen again. As a result of this agreement, forty

471
00:28:11,599 --> 00:28:14,920
five thousand rail workers remained out of work for some time,

472
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,400
and meanwhile employers would come back to take away the

473
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,119
guaranteed work week as well.

474
00:28:20,519 --> 00:28:20,799
Speaker 4: Well.

475
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:25,359
Speaker 8: As I say, this's not only affected me, it affected

476
00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,799
one or two more men. I mean, one man in

477
00:28:27,839 --> 00:28:30,640
particular was a release thing, and then another one that

478
00:28:30,799 --> 00:28:34,640
was what was now known as a relief. Border coupled

479
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:37,160
a variety of days other than party, and there was

480
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:41,039
a man with Lenka, but there was June here in

481
00:28:41,039 --> 00:28:45,720
that particular grade. And the result was that there was

482
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,400
three others the two chaps in the missile that we

483
00:28:49,519 --> 00:28:53,039
didn't a start for six weeks and go up, and

484
00:28:53,279 --> 00:28:56,519
so we've had a bit disfunded. I've lost my father

485
00:28:57,079 --> 00:29:01,079
in nineteen twenty five, and another Netherwood is spending the

486
00:29:01,119 --> 00:29:03,920
cast I was over sixteen. That kind of there would

487
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:05,799
us if he got the son over sixteen. He didn't

488
00:29:05,839 --> 00:29:08,400
get one because he was regarded them in the forty

489
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,000
and I suppose. So there was a mother and myself

490
00:29:11,079 --> 00:29:14,920
here and then for six weeks wim and he's done

491
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,440
twenty four other week that was the end your strip.

492
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,839
Speaker 1: Paid bob here is another word for a shilling. So

493
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:24,759
in today's money, Hollis and his mum spent about a

494
00:29:24,799 --> 00:29:27,000
month and a half living off what would now be

495
00:29:27,079 --> 00:29:30,319
the equivalent of about thirty six pounds or forty eight

496
00:29:30,359 --> 00:29:31,079
dollars a week.

497
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 8: And we used to wonder how this start pay once

498
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:38,240
a week, and we got obviously got very very despondent.

499
00:29:38,839 --> 00:29:42,000
There was, as I said, just us, particularly three out well.

500
00:29:42,039 --> 00:29:47,359
Then the railways, although we wasn't started a tow the

501
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,640
guarantee week was suspended in order to allow then work

502
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:52,960
because they said they wasn't to work for them. So

503
00:29:53,079 --> 00:29:56,319
the unions agreed to suspend the guarantee week and Chaps

504
00:29:56,440 --> 00:29:59,799
was working four days a week. Well, eventually after six

505
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,200
we got back and we go back until four days

506
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,160
a week some weeks, some weeks, the fall a week,

507
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:10,759
some weeks beyond that three theirs then new and the

508
00:30:10,839 --> 00:30:12,920
fall a week. And of course, as I said, and

509
00:30:13,039 --> 00:30:16,440
Tom nineteen twenty seven, when things that they got about

510
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:20,519
last aftergook that was a position, they came out down

511
00:30:20,599 --> 00:30:24,079
strapped to say it was a general start. But again

512
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,279
observedly nothing coming nothing at that, And I don't think

513
00:30:28,319 --> 00:30:30,640
there's much motter. I been over th hunted.

514
00:30:31,359 --> 00:30:34,799
Speaker 1: This experience on the railways was fairly general throughout the UK.

515
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:38,359
On the fifteenth of May, employers in the printing trades

516
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,440
came to an agreement with the printers union that allowed

517
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,240
workers to be rehired, but only as and when they

518
00:30:44,279 --> 00:30:48,200
were required. The agreement also accepted short time work and

519
00:30:48,359 --> 00:30:51,720
allowed no holidays to those who'd walked out with no notice.

520
00:30:52,319 --> 00:30:56,000
The following day, London newspaper workers were told management could

521
00:30:56,079 --> 00:30:59,039
hire and fire staff as they wished, and that union

522
00:30:59,119 --> 00:31:02,279
meetings could no longer be held during working hours, and

523
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:06,000
around one nine hundred bus and transport workers never got

524
00:31:06,039 --> 00:31:08,799
their jobs back at all. And of course, in all

525
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:12,200
of this, over a million miners were still locked out,

526
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,960
having refused to return to work after the general strike

527
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:16,759
was called off.

528
00:31:17,519 --> 00:31:21,119
Speaker 3: I mean, the miners had these incredible traditions, and many

529
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,799
of them were influenced by Communist party politics. They were

530
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,880
seen as the vanguard of the working class, to use

531
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:33,880
that phrase. They fought on and were determined to fight on.

532
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:39,319
They experienced terrible hardship, but also that sense of collective

533
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:42,000
power and a little bit of that glimpse of liberation

534
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:47,319
that we talked about earlier. They did have to organize collectively.

535
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,799
They you know, they dug their gardens, they made use

536
00:31:50,839 --> 00:31:53,960
of everything. The miners wives turned sour milk into cheese.

537
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:56,119
There were all these kind of but it was basically

538
00:31:56,279 --> 00:31:58,440
a huge community effort.

539
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,759
Speaker 1: The importance of miners wives to the struggles of their

540
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,519
husband was something that continued for decades after the general strike.

541
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:08,440
In our episodes, one and eight and one hundred and

542
00:32:08,519 --> 00:32:11,279
nine we cover the involvement of miners wives during the

543
00:32:11,359 --> 00:32:14,279
nineteen eighty four and eighty five minor strike in the UK.

544
00:32:15,039 --> 00:32:18,160
The miners even got support from the Soviet Union, whose

545
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,599
trade union sent a substantial sum of money, as did

546
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,680
groups of workers elsewhere as well, and they got.

547
00:32:24,599 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 3: Lots and lots of support from other workers both in

548
00:32:28,119 --> 00:32:32,759
this country and abroad, and organizations associated with the Communist

549
00:32:32,839 --> 00:32:36,799
International did a lot of fundraising and supporting, including among

550
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,720
German miners in the RUH, which again is a wonderful

551
00:32:40,799 --> 00:32:44,480
thing when you think that only eight years earlier people

552
00:32:44,559 --> 00:32:46,880
had been fighting each other with bayonets, and now there

553
00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,839
was kind of international solidarity of people giving money to

554
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,519
the Welsh miners. And there were a lot of flashpoints

555
00:32:53,599 --> 00:32:58,039
again with the police with miners and particularly miners wives

556
00:32:58,119 --> 00:33:02,240
surrounding poor rely centers that refused to pay up. They

557
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,200
tried to change all the laws so that miners and

558
00:33:05,319 --> 00:33:08,240
their families couldn't get poor relief which they were entitled to.

559
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:09,799
Speaker 7: So there was.

560
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 3: Already a contentious aspect to poor relief. So poor relief

561
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:16,319
there was a legal case at the end of the

562
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:22,359
nineteenth century which stipulated that minus families were entitled to

563
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,680
poor relief, and this ruling suggested it could also be

564
00:33:25,799 --> 00:33:30,720
claimed by striking minus families, not minus themselves. So there

565
00:33:30,839 --> 00:33:34,640
was this debate about whether people's families should be entitled

566
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,240
to it. The local ratepayers didn't like this because they

567
00:33:38,359 --> 00:33:43,200
thought they were subsidizing strikers by supporting strikers families helping

568
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,119
workers to stay out longer. So there was a kind

569
00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:50,160
of a big contestation about whether relief should be paid

570
00:33:50,319 --> 00:33:54,000
to miners, and they said, they forgive it to minus families,

571
00:33:54,039 --> 00:33:55,480
what are they going to do, They're going to share

572
00:33:55,519 --> 00:33:57,519
it with the striking miners, So we can't do that.

573
00:33:57,759 --> 00:34:01,559
But so there was a lot of arguments from national

574
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:06,759
government against local government because in the mining areas, the

575
00:34:07,119 --> 00:34:10,480
poor law guardians were likely to be miners. Ex miners

576
00:34:10,639 --> 00:34:13,599
related to miners and tended to treat them more sympathetically

577
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,000
than the ratepayers, and the national government wanted.

578
00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:20,159
Speaker 1: This pressure from national government to stop providing miners families

579
00:34:20,199 --> 00:34:23,360
with poor relief meant that some local boards of guardians

580
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,599
began to cut them off entirely. One such place was

581
00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:29,800
in Westbury On seven in the southwest of England, where

582
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,639
in response to being cut off from poor relief, three

583
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,719
hundred miners, wives and their children occupied the local workhouse.

584
00:34:37,199 --> 00:34:40,519
Women also played a role in confronting scabs, including in

585
00:34:40,599 --> 00:34:43,880
some places through the practice of something called white shirting.

586
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,239
Speaker 3: So in a lot of the mining communities, white shirting

587
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:52,679
had been used as a way of humiliating women who

588
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:57,639
stepped out of line, were immoral in inverted commas, or

589
00:34:57,679 --> 00:35:00,480
who were scolds, and they'd be four to wear a

590
00:35:00,559 --> 00:35:03,760
white dress strapped in a wheelbarrow and paraded around the town.

591
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:08,239
But during the miner's lockout this was reversed, so women

592
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,719
would get scabs, they would strip them, put them in

593
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,559
a white shirt and tie them into a wheelbarrow and

594
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,440
wheel them round town to accordion music. Well, the other

595
00:35:19,519 --> 00:35:21,920
thing they would do was hang a pole with women's

596
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,000
underwear on outside their bedroom windows, so that when they

597
00:35:25,039 --> 00:35:27,400
woke up in the morning, what they would see as

598
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,360
a pair of women's pants being waved up them on

599
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,559
a stick as a threat that they were going to

600
00:35:32,559 --> 00:35:36,400
be white shirted. So I love the fact that women

601
00:35:36,519 --> 00:35:41,000
took on what was a deeply misogynistic tradition and turned

602
00:35:41,039 --> 00:35:45,239
it into an expression of class of vengeance against the

603
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:46,840
scabs who were breaking the strike.

604
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:51,079
Speaker 1: Ultimately, after seven months locked out from the mines, the

605
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,920
miners were staffed back to work. In the final settlement,

606
00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,960
everything the miners had fought for over the years was

607
00:35:58,079 --> 00:36:02,039
torn away from them. Sought a national agreement for conditions.

608
00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:04,960
They were forced to accept settlements on a district by

609
00:36:05,039 --> 00:36:08,679
district basis. The hours they worked were longer than they'd

610
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,960
been before the strike, and their pay in many cases

611
00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:14,599
was now lower than what they had earned when they'd

612
00:36:14,639 --> 00:36:18,239
worked those shorter hours. It was a defeat whose effects

613
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:19,760
were felt for many years.

614
00:36:20,639 --> 00:36:31,920
Speaker 4: Well, it effect and them peering up, and they're only

615
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:40,599
began to divide in them. I came for and then

616
00:36:40,679 --> 00:36:45,119
piece of a chef. Not much, but there was something

617
00:36:45,159 --> 00:36:45,679
at that time.

618
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:50,039
Speaker 1: Well. Aide notes that the demoralization of the miners lasted

619
00:36:50,079 --> 00:36:53,239
well into the thirties. The effects of the strike's defeat

620
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,920
were felt far beyond the UK's mining villages. A year

621
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,360
after the general strike, the government passed the Trade Disputes

622
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,400
and Trade Unions Act, which made solidarity strikes illegal and

623
00:37:04,519 --> 00:37:08,559
placed restrictions on picketing so vague yet also so severe

624
00:37:09,079 --> 00:37:12,639
that it basically made any kind of picketing liable to prosecution.

625
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,559
That year also saw union membership fall by hundreds of

626
00:37:16,639 --> 00:37:20,440
thousands to a low not seen since nineteen sixteen, and

627
00:37:20,559 --> 00:37:23,400
the two years following the General Strike saw the number

628
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,000
of workers involved in industrial disputes dropped to little more

629
00:37:27,079 --> 00:37:31,159
than one hundred thousand, the lowest number since nineteen oh five.

630
00:37:32,199 --> 00:37:34,719
During the nineteen twenty six dispute, as well as the

631
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,760
months leading up to it, the General Strike was absurdly

632
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,880
portrayed in the media as part of a Bolshevik conspiracy

633
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,519
to overthrow the British state. In the aftermath, however, it

634
00:37:44,599 --> 00:37:48,400
became important to downplay its seriousness and portray the strike

635
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:51,920
as essentially a non event. From being a revolutionary threat

636
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,920
to the rule of law, it supposedly became a very

637
00:37:55,039 --> 00:37:58,360
British strike, marked by good cheer and fair play on

638
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:02,519
all sides. These episodes show the strike and its aftermath

639
00:38:02,639 --> 00:38:06,679
were marked by bitter struggle, clashes between police and strikers

640
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,840
across the country, and the military mobilized against its own population.

641
00:38:11,599 --> 00:38:15,039
And despite its defeat, the General Strike and subsequent miners

642
00:38:15,119 --> 00:38:19,199
lockout cost British trade around four hundred million pounds the

643
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:23,360
equivalent of over twenty one billion pounds today. Ultimately, the

644
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:28,079
strike was probably lost long before the General Council's humiliating capitulation.

645
00:38:28,679 --> 00:38:31,960
As is often said, battles are won or lost before. Therefore,

646
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,800
in the case of the general strike, it was arguably

647
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:38,679
lost when after Red Friday the government began planning for

648
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,760
a showdown with the unions, while union leaders sat on

649
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:44,480
their hands and did nothing until the very last minute.

650
00:38:45,039 --> 00:38:48,079
Workers showed their willingness to respect the call to walk out,

651
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,760
but the nuts and bolts of how to conduct the strike,

652
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,400
how to ensure strikers could be fed, and how to

653
00:38:53,519 --> 00:38:58,320
share information, whether locally between strike committees, regionally between trades

654
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:01,960
councils or nationally within union leaders was all left to

655
00:39:02,039 --> 00:39:04,800
be worked out on the fly. Even the idea of

656
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:08,760
the TUC publishing its own newspaper, The British Worker, only

657
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:12,079
came about once the strike had already started, almost as

658
00:39:12,119 --> 00:39:15,320
an afterthought. It took a full decade after the strike

659
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,800
for union membership to recover, and while still generally lower

660
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:21,559
than the years before the general strike, the numbers of

661
00:39:21,639 --> 00:39:25,079
workers involved in industrial disputes continued to grow as well.

662
00:39:25,559 --> 00:39:28,679
Even during the war, when strikes were actually illegal, and

663
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,960
once the war was over, miners engaged in a wave

664
00:39:32,079 --> 00:39:35,719
of wildcat strikes, which was still illegal under those wartime laws,

665
00:39:36,119 --> 00:39:39,920
against the recently elected Labour government's policy of wage restraint.

666
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,599
It should be noted as well that the General Council

667
00:39:42,639 --> 00:39:45,719
of the TUC sided with the government's wage restraint policy

668
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:50,320
and against its own members. Soon after decades upon decades

669
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:54,400
of struggle, Britain's coal mines were nationalized and a nationwide

670
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,559
system of collective bargaining instituted, alongside a host of other

671
00:39:58,679 --> 00:40:03,280
social democratic reforms like the National Health Service. However, while

672
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:05,480
the post war era began to lay some of the

673
00:40:05,559 --> 00:40:09,079
ghosts of the General Strike to rest, then nonetheless remained

674
00:40:09,119 --> 00:40:12,280
a great regret for many participants for what might have

675
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:14,079
been the bards.

676
00:40:14,079 --> 00:40:16,920
Speaker 5: I used to think, yourself, there string us along again,

677
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:20,000
you know, with a lot of bleeding old twelvel even

678
00:40:20,039 --> 00:40:21,960
if they hadn't have won, if they'd have had a go,

679
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,320
and one could sense.

680
00:40:25,159 --> 00:40:25,960
Speaker 7: That I was having a go.

681
00:40:26,199 --> 00:40:27,920
Speaker 5: But they got all right, You didn't get beat No

682
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,360
one was going to be critical of that. But you

683
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:33,559
all get beaten sometimes. But you learn lessons from being

684
00:40:33,679 --> 00:40:37,719
beaten so that you avoid that one again the next time,

685
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:41,719
like you could be going on into something different, but

686
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:44,880
you learn from that and each time the chances of

687
00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:47,280
getting beaten get less with each time. That's if you're

688
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,519
sincere about what it is that you're involving yourself with.

689
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:54,159
You go into this thing to learn and learn the win.

690
00:40:55,280 --> 00:41:01,800
Speaker 2: Oh you known of time, did events with me, little

691
00:41:02,079 --> 00:41:08,920
pick and shovel for the boss man, the callery. But

692
00:41:09,079 --> 00:41:14,760
I'll never own your soul with me, little pick and shove. Ure.

693
00:41:16,199 --> 00:41:18,599
Speaker 1: That's it for our miniseries on the nineteen twenty six

694
00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:21,239
General Strike. If you enjoyed that and want to hear

695
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:23,920
more from two of the strike's participants, we also have

696
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:27,679
a bonus episode with Betty Harrison and Harry Watson exclusively

697
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:30,599
on Patreon, in which they talk more about their life

698
00:41:30,679 --> 00:41:32,960
and work around the time of the strike, as well

699
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:36,599
as union politics more generally. It is only support from you,

700
00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:39,880
our listeners, which allows us to make these podcasts, So

701
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:42,679
if you appreciate our work, please do think about joining

702
00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:46,320
us at patreon dot com slash working class history link

703
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:48,920
in the show notes, and if you can't spare the cash,

704
00:41:49,119 --> 00:41:51,960
no worries, please just tell your friends about this podcast

705
00:41:52,239 --> 00:41:54,400
and give us a five star review on your favorite

706
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,679
podcast app. Also, be sure to check out General Strike

707
00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:00,400
one hundred dot com to find out more about events

708
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:04,039
commemorating the General Strike in your area and beyond. You'll

709
00:42:04,079 --> 00:42:07,599
also find a ton of historical markers highlighting the locations

710
00:42:07,639 --> 00:42:10,800
of specific incidents that took place in towns and cities

711
00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:14,760
across the UK during the General Strike itself. Also, if

712
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:17,199
you'd like to get a copy of Judy's book Revisiting

713
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:19,920
the General Strike of nineteen twenty six, you can find

714
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:21,800
a link to buy a copy on the web page

715
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,440
for this episode. On the web page, you'll also find

716
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:28,880
more information, including further reading, images and sources link in

717
00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:31,960
the show notes. Thanks to our Patreon supporters for making

718
00:42:32,039 --> 00:42:35,119
this podcast possible, and a special thanks to jazz Hands.

719
00:42:35,559 --> 00:42:38,400
Our theme tune for this episode is Montanne's version of

720
00:42:38,519 --> 00:42:41,159
When the Coal Comes from the Ronda, a folk song

721
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originating from Welsh miners in the early twentieth century and

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sung during the General Strike. The song is performed by

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Montaigne and mixed by Wave Racer. You can find a

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link to download the song on our website. All proceeds

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go into medical aid for Palestinians. For more from Montanne,

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check the links on the web page for this episode.

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This episode was edited by Jesse French. Anyway, that's it

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for today. Hope you enjoyed the episode and thanks for listening.

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Speaker 2: From the Ronder with shovel and me, pick can be

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a little lamp and a wick when the call comes

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from the Ronda. With we shovel and repick can be

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little lamp and a wick when the call comes from

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the Rondave