Dark clouds began to gather on 11 May. At noon a government spokesman stated that “without being unduly optimistic, the tide has turned.” The government clearly knew something the workers did not, as this mood was neither reflected in the situation on the ground, or even in the pages of the British Worker.
‘NO SLACKENING’ read the British Worker’s headline, “the number of strikers has not diminished: it is increasing. There are more workers out today than there have been at any moment since the strike began.” This message was pushed “from the General Council to each centre, from each centre to each town and village in its area, and from them to every man and woman in the labour movement.”
The National Union of Railwaymen told its members to ignore the claims made by the railway companies and government that thousands were going back to work, attacking the spurious nature of letters sent to workers attempting to get them back to the yards.
Claims of strikebreaking on the rails ran counter to the TUC’s Intelligence Committee verified information, which after visiting York and Doncaster confirmed few trains were running and that a ‘fine spirit exists’ amongst the strikers.
Preparations were underway for thousands more workers to come out on 12 May, adding to the mood of determination amongst the working class. They had the bosses and the government on the ropes, and reinforcements were coming, why should they have felt any other way?
But, behind the scenes, the traitors at the top of the TUC were sharpening their knives. The General Council met the miners in the evening telling them that Sir Herbert Samuel’s proposals were a “fair basis for negotiating a settlement,” though there were no guarantees for protecting miners’ wages or preventing reprisals from the bosses.
The TUC asked the miners to accept the Samuel Memorandum without reservation. Unsurprisingly, the miners flatly refused.
Failing to secure agreement from the miners, the General Council nevertheless scheduled a meeting with the Prime Minister for noon the next day, which could only mean one thing: they would call off the strike.
All throughout the General Strike, the leaders of the TUC had remained terrified of what it represented: a life-or-death challenge to capitalism, a system they could not see past. They had no faith in the workers to run society for themselves, despite seeing the elan and ingenuity of the British proletariat throughout the struggle.
This goes as much for the left trade union leaders, who did nothing to rally the workers against the betrayal they were watching unfold before them, as for the right leaders like Jimmy Thomas, who had made his opposition to the strike and toadying love of ‘King and Country’ known from the beginning.
By 7pm the government said that “the situation throughout the country shows further improvement and the government prides itself that order and quiet reign throughout the whole island.” They knew that by noon tomorrow, it would all be over.
Find more articles in our series ‘The 1926 General Strike as it happened’.
