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Clash
Set against the backdrop of the 1926 general strike, Clash explores political and personal issues as Joan Craig, an activist in the trade union movement and the Labour Party, lives through the excitement of mass protest and individual turmoil in her relations with two male friends.
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First published January 1, 1929
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About the author
Ellen Wilkinson
8 books8 followersEllen Cicely Wilkinson PC (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. As the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, she became a national figure when, in 1936, she figured prominently in the Jarrow March of the town's unemployed to London, to petition for the right to work. Although unsuccessful at the time, the march provided an iconic image for the 1930s, and helped to form post-Second World War attitudes to unemployment and social justice.
Wilkinson was born into a poor though ambitious Manchester family, and embraced socialism at an early age. After graduating from the University of Manchester she worked for a women's suffrage organisation and later as a trade union officer. Inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917, Wilkinson joined the British Communist Party, and preached revolutionary socialism while seeking constitutional routes to political power through the Labour Party. She was elected Labour MP for Middlesbrough East in 1924, and supported the 1926 General Strike. In the 1929–31 Labour government she served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the junior Health Minister. Following her defeat at Middlesbrough in 1931, Wilkinson became a prolific journalist and writer before returning to parliament as Jarrow's MP in 1935. She was a strong advocate for the Republican faction in the Spanish Civil War, and made several visits to the battle zones.
During the Second World War Wilkinson served in Churchill's wartime coalition as a junior minister, mainly at the Ministry of Home Security where she worked under Herbert Morrison. She supported Morrison's attempts to replace Clement Attlee as the Labour Party's leader; nevertheless, when he formed his postwar government Attlee appointed Wilkinson as Minister of Education. By this time her health was poor, the legacy of years of overwork. She saw her main task in office as the implementation of the wartime coalition's 1944 Education Act, rather than the more radical introduction of comprehensive schools favoured by many in the Labour Party. Much of her energy was applied to organising the raising of the school leaving age from 14 to 15. In the exceptionally cold English winter of 1946–47, she succumbed to a bronchial disease, and died after an overdose of medication which the coroner at her inquest declared was accidental.
(from Wikipedia)
Wilkinson was born into a poor though ambitious Manchester family, and embraced socialism at an early age. After graduating from the University of Manchester she worked for a women's suffrage organisation and later as a trade union officer. Inspired by the Russian Revolution of 1917, Wilkinson joined the British Communist Party, and preached revolutionary socialism while seeking constitutional routes to political power through the Labour Party. She was elected Labour MP for Middlesbrough East in 1924, and supported the 1926 General Strike. In the 1929–31 Labour government she served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the junior Health Minister. Following her defeat at Middlesbrough in 1931, Wilkinson became a prolific journalist and writer before returning to parliament as Jarrow's MP in 1935. She was a strong advocate for the Republican faction in the Spanish Civil War, and made several visits to the battle zones.
During the Second World War Wilkinson served in Churchill's wartime coalition as a junior minister, mainly at the Ministry of Home Security where she worked under Herbert Morrison. She supported Morrison's attempts to replace Clement Attlee as the Labour Party's leader; nevertheless, when he formed his postwar government Attlee appointed Wilkinson as Minister of Education. By this time her health was poor, the legacy of years of overwork. She saw her main task in office as the implementation of the wartime coalition's 1944 Education Act, rather than the more radical introduction of comprehensive schools favoured by many in the Labour Party. Much of her energy was applied to organising the raising of the school leaving age from 14 to 15. In the exceptionally cold English winter of 1946–47, she succumbed to a bronchial disease, and died after an overdose of medication which the coroner at her inquest declared was accidental.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 22, 2024
4.5 stars
This is the first of Ellen Wilkinson’s two novels; it is semi-autobiographical and concerns the General Strike and its immediate aftermath when the Trades Unions went back to work and the miners stayed out.
Ellen Wilkinson was an interesting and controversial figure who seems to have been largely airbrushed out of labour history; given the prominence she had in her time. Her list of achievements is significant. Known as Red Ellen (because of her politics and hair colour), she was a trade unionist, feminist and socialist, born in 1891. She tried teaching, but was too modern in her methods, leading one school inspector to tell her she would be better off as a missionary in China. She worked for women’s suffrage, opposed the First World War and read history at Manchester University (an achievement for a working class woman), then becoming involved in trade unionism, by 1924 she was one of the earliest women MPs. She was heavily involved in the General Strike; she employed her oratorical skills well and worked tirelessly. By 1935 she was MP for Jarrow and was one of the organisers and leaders of the 1936 Jarrow march. She spoke in the House of Commons about the march;
“As I marched down that road with those men, all of whom I knew well, whom I had worked with in my own constituency, as I marched with them hour after hour, just talking—I come from the working class myself, and my father was unemployed, but I have never known what it was to miss a meal that I wanted—it was just as we walked and talked so intimately that I began to understand something of what it meant, day after day after day, to get up and not know what you were going to do, and never have a copper in your pocket for anything. I mean that it was a revelation to me, and no amount of investigation, and going down for a week, and no amount of talking with these men in the ordinary political sense would have taught me so much.”
During the war she was part of the Churchill government and was responsible for civil defence. In the 1945 Labour government she was minister of education and fought hard for the raising of the school leaving age. She was less convinced by the idea of the comprehensive system because she thought it was a way of ensuring the very poorest and most deprived would never escape from their backgrounds. Wilkinson died in 1947, still young (my age, I would say that!); she had worked herself relentlessly for many years, her hatred of poverty and injustice led her to a life of direct action. Her uncompromising feminism was seen as a threat was seen by the male dominated labour party of her time as a threat to their idealised model of working class family life. She never married; she did have relationships with men, but these were secondary to her work and her approach is summed up by Joan, the main protagonist of the novel;
“Now so much has been won, the vote, open professions, and all that, there must be some women in this generation who will put their job first and who will tackle some of these problems that are left lying around…Big things for humanity are only won by someone’s sacrifice.”
She even had a relationship with one of the main figures in the Labour Party, Herbert Morrison (grandfather of Peter Mandelson the architect of New Labour). There is a great deal more to Wilkinson’s life; she packed a great deal in. But what of the novel’
It is one of Wilkinson’s two works of fiction, her active life saw to that. The main protagonist is Joan Craig is a working class trade unionist activist who is sent down to London to assist with organising the General Strike. She meets some more middle class supporters of socialism, including members of the Bloomsbury Group. There are some wonderful portraits/satires of the Bloomsberries, including one who I am sure is meant to be Virginia Woolf. They are sharp satires, but not without some affection. There did come a point where I said to myself, Oh no, not a love triangle! However Wilkinson manages Joan’s two suitors very well. Tony Dacre is the husband of another Bloomsbury figure and he is attracted to socialism because he is attracted to Joan; he wants her to give up her work for him and settle down and have a family, he will contemplate her writing a little. This is complicated by the fact Joan does love him. Gerald Blain is an ex-soldier who was severely wounded in the war. He is a committed socialist and is attracted to Joan because of her commitment to socialism. This gives Wilkinson plenty of scope to explore Joan’s/women’s very genuine dilemmas and to look carefully at each side of the argument.
The strike is the backdrop and the heart of the novel and there are some powerful descriptions of a mining community, particularly the women in it. Again Wilkinson explores the dilemmas surrounding the tensions created by giving women power in strike situations, which means taking it from men. The dilemmas are real and handled with understanding of both sides.
The novel is dialogue based and is a little stilted at times. There are two examples of sloppy writing in relation to race which I would have tried to ignore once upon a time, but not now. It does explore genuine issues facing the early feminist and socialist movements with perception and sympathy. Wilkinson saw herself as an agent of change and she imparts this sense of destiny to Joan in the novel. Wilkinson puts the words in Joan’s mouth;
“If a woman of brains and power choses a career as the most important thing in her life, she must make it a whole time job if she is to compete on equal terms with men of her calibre. She may have love affairs, even marry, but if she means to do big things, then work is in the front of the picture … freedom does not mean just slopping around”.
It is an easy read with some good exploration of the issues facing women in the socialist movements of the time; issues which sadly have not really gone away. The importance of Virago Modern Classics cannot be underestimated for publishing works like this which are too easily forgotten.
This is the first of Ellen Wilkinson’s two novels; it is semi-autobiographical and concerns the General Strike and its immediate aftermath when the Trades Unions went back to work and the miners stayed out.
Ellen Wilkinson was an interesting and controversial figure who seems to have been largely airbrushed out of labour history; given the prominence she had in her time. Her list of achievements is significant. Known as Red Ellen (because of her politics and hair colour), she was a trade unionist, feminist and socialist, born in 1891. She tried teaching, but was too modern in her methods, leading one school inspector to tell her she would be better off as a missionary in China. She worked for women’s suffrage, opposed the First World War and read history at Manchester University (an achievement for a working class woman), then becoming involved in trade unionism, by 1924 she was one of the earliest women MPs. She was heavily involved in the General Strike; she employed her oratorical skills well and worked tirelessly. By 1935 she was MP for Jarrow and was one of the organisers and leaders of the 1936 Jarrow march. She spoke in the House of Commons about the march;
“As I marched down that road with those men, all of whom I knew well, whom I had worked with in my own constituency, as I marched with them hour after hour, just talking—I come from the working class myself, and my father was unemployed, but I have never known what it was to miss a meal that I wanted—it was just as we walked and talked so intimately that I began to understand something of what it meant, day after day after day, to get up and not know what you were going to do, and never have a copper in your pocket for anything. I mean that it was a revelation to me, and no amount of investigation, and going down for a week, and no amount of talking with these men in the ordinary political sense would have taught me so much.”
During the war she was part of the Churchill government and was responsible for civil defence. In the 1945 Labour government she was minister of education and fought hard for the raising of the school leaving age. She was less convinced by the idea of the comprehensive system because she thought it was a way of ensuring the very poorest and most deprived would never escape from their backgrounds. Wilkinson died in 1947, still young (my age, I would say that!); she had worked herself relentlessly for many years, her hatred of poverty and injustice led her to a life of direct action. Her uncompromising feminism was seen as a threat was seen by the male dominated labour party of her time as a threat to their idealised model of working class family life. She never married; she did have relationships with men, but these were secondary to her work and her approach is summed up by Joan, the main protagonist of the novel;
“Now so much has been won, the vote, open professions, and all that, there must be some women in this generation who will put their job first and who will tackle some of these problems that are left lying around…Big things for humanity are only won by someone’s sacrifice.”
She even had a relationship with one of the main figures in the Labour Party, Herbert Morrison (grandfather of Peter Mandelson the architect of New Labour). There is a great deal more to Wilkinson’s life; she packed a great deal in. But what of the novel’
It is one of Wilkinson’s two works of fiction, her active life saw to that. The main protagonist is Joan Craig is a working class trade unionist activist who is sent down to London to assist with organising the General Strike. She meets some more middle class supporters of socialism, including members of the Bloomsbury Group. There are some wonderful portraits/satires of the Bloomsberries, including one who I am sure is meant to be Virginia Woolf. They are sharp satires, but not without some affection. There did come a point where I said to myself, Oh no, not a love triangle! However Wilkinson manages Joan’s two suitors very well. Tony Dacre is the husband of another Bloomsbury figure and he is attracted to socialism because he is attracted to Joan; he wants her to give up her work for him and settle down and have a family, he will contemplate her writing a little. This is complicated by the fact Joan does love him. Gerald Blain is an ex-soldier who was severely wounded in the war. He is a committed socialist and is attracted to Joan because of her commitment to socialism. This gives Wilkinson plenty of scope to explore Joan’s/women’s very genuine dilemmas and to look carefully at each side of the argument.
The strike is the backdrop and the heart of the novel and there are some powerful descriptions of a mining community, particularly the women in it. Again Wilkinson explores the dilemmas surrounding the tensions created by giving women power in strike situations, which means taking it from men. The dilemmas are real and handled with understanding of both sides.
The novel is dialogue based and is a little stilted at times. There are two examples of sloppy writing in relation to race which I would have tried to ignore once upon a time, but not now. It does explore genuine issues facing the early feminist and socialist movements with perception and sympathy. Wilkinson saw herself as an agent of change and she imparts this sense of destiny to Joan in the novel. Wilkinson puts the words in Joan’s mouth;
“If a woman of brains and power choses a career as the most important thing in her life, she must make it a whole time job if she is to compete on equal terms with men of her calibre. She may have love affairs, even marry, but if she means to do big things, then work is in the front of the picture … freedom does not mean just slopping around”.
It is an easy read with some good exploration of the issues facing women in the socialist movements of the time; issues which sadly have not really gone away. The importance of Virago Modern Classics cannot be underestimated for publishing works like this which are too easily forgotten.
August 7, 2022
This was written especially for me. I’m so happy. When I got to the halfway point I was like well the romance sucks but I love the socialism and then Ellen was like hold my beer I’m going to give you romance AND socialism. A wonderful exploration of what it means to be in the fight. I totally understood why Joan was so seduced by Tony and his world, and then I felt it so strongly when she realised the shallowness of it, the limits of their solidarity. I loved the women of Carey’s Main, and their conversation about birth control. I loved Gerry - what a man! I loved that Joan’s love interests were from the same class but one took the cause seriously and the other didn’t, and that’s what it came down to. I have two complaints. The first was why did the boss perv over her at the start, to the extent that I thought he was going to be the love interest? And second, bit racist, but I guess in the way that any book written by a white woman in 1929 would be. Incredible read, exactly what I wanted it to be. I love you Red Ellen.
Summer ‘22 re read: still completely wonderful, I think I shall revisit it regularly for my whole life
Summer ‘22 re read: still completely wonderful, I think I shall revisit it regularly for my whole life
June 17, 2013
I really enjoyed this. I found it randomly at the Bishopsgate book sale for 50p and I'm so glad I did. A book written about the General strike in the 1920s by a woman who was there (who later went on to become and MP and serve in the cabinet). This was really great. It was political, and funny. There was a lot in here about socialism, the miner's strikes, how the first world war affected people and how when they came back from it they felt like they deserved better. The book was an interesting look at both the miners and the working class and the dynamics within socialism at the time for the people that were trying to help them, and those who were rich and just couldn't understand what was going on.
There was also a really strong element of women's history to this book. The main character was an independent working class woman who was working as an organiser but the man who had fallen in love with her wanted her to give up her work. There was honest portrayal of the conflict that women had at that time between work, political work and families. There was even talk of birth control and how the miner's wives wanted birth control, how one of them had a daughter who'd accidently killed herself in an attempt to abort. How they were being refused birth control due to the catholic's religious objections which they thought was unfair for the rest of them.
And on top of all the fascinating gender and socialist history there was also a very dry humour. The characters were able to make fun of themselves and were witty and funny (as you'd expect from a book written in the 20s). I'm really glad I read this.
There was also a really strong element of women's history to this book. The main character was an independent working class woman who was working as an organiser but the man who had fallen in love with her wanted her to give up her work. There was honest portrayal of the conflict that women had at that time between work, political work and families. There was even talk of birth control and how the miner's wives wanted birth control, how one of them had a daughter who'd accidently killed herself in an attempt to abort. How they were being refused birth control due to the catholic's religious objections which they thought was unfair for the rest of them.
And on top of all the fascinating gender and socialist history there was also a very dry humour. The characters were able to make fun of themselves and were witty and funny (as you'd expect from a book written in the 20s). I'm really glad I read this.
October 24, 2025
gosh i’m a bit harsh!!!!! maybe in normal circumstances i would rate it highly just because i’m excited to read a working class author. but my course is full of em so it’s no novelty!!!!!!!! hated the love triangle plot line, how on earth can a binary decision allow for any kind of sexual emancipation! just devote yourself to the socialist cause without a husband
October 14, 2022
i might be biased but this is kind of an instant classic. i lOVED the complication of the politics; that being in the fight wasn't easy, and didn't need to be made harder, but it wasn't always obvious what the right thing was either. missteps and perhaps overcorrections on those errors?? how fantastically human and messy and passionate. and the quiet loveliness of this ending!!! this wasn't a grand or dramatic love story but oh to have a true understanding!!
plus i simply! could not stand! tony!! that man was not for me, at all, but i hope he gets what he really really wants and leaves our joan in peace.
def want to have convos the homoerotic vibes because i feel there is Something to be said there. the first time i was like, okay, this is just a super extra moment of human connection. and then tony asked gerry to get into bed with him and i was like HAROLD !!!
also the fact that i thought helen was lying rather than gerry having misjudged ,, what does that say abt me?? did adore him owning up to that tho, not just to her, but to joan also.
do want to note that i had a few visceral reactions to the antisemitism and racism (especially as most of it was collected in a few pages).
plus i simply! could not stand! tony!! that man was not for me, at all, but i hope he gets what he really really wants and leaves our joan in peace.
def want to have convos the homoerotic vibes because i feel there is Something to be said there. the first time i was like, okay, this is just a super extra moment of human connection. and then tony asked gerry to get into bed with him and i was like HAROLD !!!
also the fact that i thought helen was lying rather than gerry having misjudged ,, what does that say abt me?? did adore him owning up to that tho, not just to her, but to joan also.
do want to note that i had a few visceral reactions to the antisemitism and racism (especially as most of it was collected in a few pages).
January 8, 2021
𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤.
Written in 1929, this novel is a semi-autobiographical romantic novel set during the 1926 General Strike, a strike that lasted nine days and was ultimately unsuccessful in forcing the government to provide better pay and working conditions for the miners. The novel focuses on Joan Craig, a trade Union official, who travels the country talking to workers and raising funds for the miners. The novel asks some fantastically complicated questions, especially about who should lead working class movements, a woman’s place in those movements and the implications marriage brings into the mix, women’s issues (such as birth control which are so often left out of working class novels from the period), and the class divisions that divide society. While l didn’t love the romantic plot line, the reason it was there was clear, and so I really enjoyed the way it scrutinised what is so often taken for granted in other novels, namely that when a woman marries she should give up working and if she doesn’t it’s an indication that she doesn’t love the man enough. It also contains a fantastic confrontation of the working class vs the Bloomsbury group and other rich liberals. It scrutinises the way those rich groups play lip service to causes like that of the miners but when the chips are down they side with their own class out of a fear of losing the luxuries they take for granted. It also portrays the flip side of this, demonstrating how easy it is for figures like Joan to be seduced into that way of life, falling for the ease of middle class lifestyles and thus betraying her own class and leaving it behind and how important it is for Joan to recognise what is happening when this occurs. While some of the language was definitely dated, this book was a fantastic example of what fiction can be. I definitely think this books needs to be easier to get a hold of.
Written in 1929, this novel is a semi-autobiographical romantic novel set during the 1926 General Strike, a strike that lasted nine days and was ultimately unsuccessful in forcing the government to provide better pay and working conditions for the miners. The novel focuses on Joan Craig, a trade Union official, who travels the country talking to workers and raising funds for the miners. The novel asks some fantastically complicated questions, especially about who should lead working class movements, a woman’s place in those movements and the implications marriage brings into the mix, women’s issues (such as birth control which are so often left out of working class novels from the period), and the class divisions that divide society. While l didn’t love the romantic plot line, the reason it was there was clear, and so I really enjoyed the way it scrutinised what is so often taken for granted in other novels, namely that when a woman marries she should give up working and if she doesn’t it’s an indication that she doesn’t love the man enough. It also contains a fantastic confrontation of the working class vs the Bloomsbury group and other rich liberals. It scrutinises the way those rich groups play lip service to causes like that of the miners but when the chips are down they side with their own class out of a fear of losing the luxuries they take for granted. It also portrays the flip side of this, demonstrating how easy it is for figures like Joan to be seduced into that way of life, falling for the ease of middle class lifestyles and thus betraying her own class and leaving it behind and how important it is for Joan to recognise what is happening when this occurs. While some of the language was definitely dated, this book was a fantastic example of what fiction can be. I definitely think this books needs to be easier to get a hold of.
August 28, 2018
That state of the nation in 1926: a hopeless Tory cabinet unable to deal with industries urgently needing modernisation and investment but instead simply cutting wages; a Left unready to either wage revolution or win elections; well-meaning metropolitan liberals wringing their hands; war veterans angry that this wasn't what they fought for. Race as well as class and gender issues are here (Jewish characters are talked about in the way that was quite normal for the time - not actually anti-semitic, but not PC either. No one mentions Palestine, which at this time was under British control and simply not considered a problem). "Hottentot" is used as a benchmark term for an alien outsider. The Bloomsbury intellectuals, and "the Leeds highbrows" who mimic them, get swiped at. Now with a reprint this book ought to be better-known, certainly as much as "Fame Is The Spur", which has received some new attention.
September 5, 2025
(3.5 stars) I enjoyed this book in that it was interesting academically, I loved getting a working class female perspective! Left me with lots to think about, and in the arc with Tony was relieved by her decision 🙏. I didn’t enjoy the book so much to read in terms of pacing and plot, but glad to have been made to read by university!
December 20, 2023
An excellent exploration of the class-related ownership of culture. A surprisingly modern book with great pacing that kept my interest all throughout. Would recommend. Screw Tony though, the dirty capitalist. He had everyone in my literature seminar raging.
May 19, 2016
I had to read this for "Inter-war British women writers" when I was studying abroad in the UK. I really enjoyed it even if it was an assigned reading, and I had to squeeze it into my already-busy schedule. What amazed me the most is how Mrs Wilkinson managed to present a somewhat political narration of the 1926 General Strike, and yet keeps the storyline more interesting by intertwining the fate of Labour Party movement with that of Mrs Craig, the heroine, who is struggling to make a vital personal choice ... a choice between having a career (professional life) or engaging in a personal relationship (marriage).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 9, 2015
Was expecting to be annoyed by the romance but it was used quite well to illustrate the same points as the rest of the book in a way that was really not preachy at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2021
Ali recommend
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews