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[From the , 15 May 1926]

Chaos and confusion"

, 1926

13 May 1926: claims that there has been an "unconditional surrender" by the strikers. Many employers state that they will only reinstate striking workers if they agree to revised (worse) employment conditions. Workers resume the strike and more are on strike than on any previous day.

14 May 1926: The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin sends proposals to the miners and coalowners which are less favourable to the miners than the Samuel memorandum. The railway unions accept terms of reinstatement proposed by the railway companies which include the statement 鈥渢hat in calling a strike they committed a wrongful act鈥�.

15-18 May 1926: Various agreements are made for resumption of work. There is widespread victimisation of strikers.

20 May 1926: The Miners鈥� Delegate Conference rejects the Prime Minister's proposals. In the Hammersmith North parliamentary by-election, the Labour Party gain the seat from the Conservatives.

21 May 1926: The coalowners reject the Prime Minister's proposals.

25 May 1926: The government is reported to be arranging for import of foreign coal.

8 June 1926: A conference between the miners and coalowners ends in deadlock.

21 June 1926: A Bill to suspend the miners鈥� Seven Hours Act for 5 years and permitting a return to an eight hour working day is introduced into the House of Commons with the support of the coalowners.

5 July 1926: Coalowners post notices of new terms of employment, based on an eight hour working day for miners.

15 July 1926: The Miners' Federation of Great Britain requests the Trades Union Congress General Council to impose an embargo on movements of coal. The General Council refuses but undertakes to provide financial support for locked out miners.

17 Aug 1926: The Miners' Federation of Great Britain Delegate Conference empowers the union executive to reopen negotiations with coalowners and government without prior conditions.

19 Aug 1926: Meeting between miners and coalowners ends in deadlock, as coalowners make it clear they will only accept unconditional surrender.

26 Aug 1926: Miners' representatives meet with members of the government, including Winston Churchill, and are told that there will be no further subsidy for the coal industry.

27-30 November 1926: Miners return to work to lower pay and longer hours. Total defeat.

20-21 January 1927: A conference of trade union executives is convened to review the general strike. The Trades Union Congress blames the miners for not accepting the Samuel memorandum.

1927: The Trades Disputes and Trade Union Act makes all sympathetic strikes and mass picketing illegal, forbids the trade unions鈥� political levy, civil service unions to affiliate to the Trades Union Congress, and local authority workers from breaking their terms of contract (on pain of imprisonment).

Selected sources:

• Summaries of BBC news broadcasts:
• , emergency newspaper issued by the government
• 'The British Worker', official strike news bulletin of the Trades Union Congress:
  • , 13 May 1926
  • , 15 May 1926
  • , 17 May 1926
• Trades Union Congress General Council official bulletin:
• Reports of Trades Union Congress committees, reflecting on the management of the strike:
  • , including information about the start and end of the strike
  • , including comment on the setting up of a Transport Section to be responsible for despatch riders (to communicate with strikers across the country), issuing of permits, etc.
  • , including comment on the response to the strike call, the effects of the stoppage, the attitude of the police and the use of military personnel
  • , including information about providing speakers for public meetings
  • , including information about 'The British Worker' and the issuing of bulletins
  • , including detailed information about negotiations before and during the strike
  • on the supply of power and other public services during the strike
• , Trades Union Congress and Labour Party 'notes for speakers', putting forward the reasons for the calling off of the dispute
• , leaflet issued by the Communist Party, Sheffield District Committee, criticising the end of the dispute, 13 May 1926
• from local trades councils and strike committees following the calling off of the strike, 13-17 May 1926
• , pamphlet by A.J. Cook, General Secretary of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, 1926
• , pamphlet issued by the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, 12 January 1927
• , pamphlet written by Sir William Joynson-Hicks ('Jix'), Home Secretary, and published by the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, September 1926
• , Trades Union Congress and Labour Party 'notes for speakers' criticising Sir William Joynson-Hicks' claims of 'Communist plotting', 20 August 1926
• , pamphlet which contains an article reprinted from 'Lansbury's Labour Weekly', summarising events during the strike and attacking the actions of the government, 1926
• , sent to the Trades Union Congress from local trades councils and strike committees after the calling off of the strike, 13-17 May 1926
• , who received a prison sentence after allegedly throwing a stone at Hatfield colliery, Yorkshire, October 1926
• , imprisoned for allegedly throwing a stone at a bus at Ripley, Derbyshire, June 1926
• by Harold Croft, Trades Union Congress representative, May 1926
• by W.E. Bowen, President of the Isle of Wight Divisional Labour Party, 22 May 1926
• , book published by the Labour Research Department which contains summaries of the activities of many local trades councils and strike committees during the strike