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The Future in our Past: The General Strike, 1926/2026
A fresh, accessible history of the 1926 General Strike on its centenary – telling a story of working-class community then and now.
The Future in Our Past tells the story of the 1926 General Strike on its centenary. It is a compelling on-the-ground account of how workers brought the country to a standstill for nine extraordinary days. Callum Cant and Matthew Lee take us on a journey through a Britain living on its nerves, from the London docklands to the South Wales coalfields and the railways and warehouses of middle England. Churchill feared that labour militancy presaged a Bolshevik-style revolution. The question of power hung in the air as rank-and-file militants pursued a chaotic, improvised and wildly uneven confrontation with the British ruling class.
This is social history at its most immediate and relevant. Cant and Lee revisit the communities where the struggle burned brightest, uncovering the lessons the General Strike holds for labour movements today.
The Future in Our Past tells the story of the 1926 General Strike on its centenary. It is a compelling on-the-ground account of how workers brought the country to a standstill for nine extraordinary days. Callum Cant and Matthew Lee take us on a journey through a Britain living on its nerves, from the London docklands to the South Wales coalfields and the railways and warehouses of middle England. Churchill feared that labour militancy presaged a Bolshevik-style revolution. The question of power hung in the air as rank-and-file militants pursued a chaotic, improvised and wildly uneven confrontation with the British ruling class.
This is social history at its most immediate and relevant. Cant and Lee revisit the communities where the struggle burned brightest, uncovering the lessons the General Strike holds for labour movements today.
160 pages, Paperback
Published June 23, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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May 12, 2026Brisk rank and file view of the general strike in three episodes. I don’t know much about the strike so this was a nice intro for me. I liked that they went back to each of the places to see how it had changed. Class recomposition is such a violent process in a way that thinking about it solely in terms of deindustrialisation doesn’t fully capture.
I wish they had more space to expand on some of their original arguments. The dynamic between vanguard/aristocracy was an interesting way to look at the political faultlines in the movement through this period, but as they kind of allude to at the end that same dynamic doesn’t really hold anymore. Although I think I disagree that there isn’t a highly integrated and organised layer in the movement, but it definitely has a different character and relationship to the state. It’s less of a third part of a triangle of state-employers-unions and is more of a subordinate partner to both state and employers.
The book prompted me to reflect on the weird and mental stories of workplace conflict that you hear aboutthat dont enter the mainstream. A guy on a course told us that he worked in a paint factory in the ‘90s that only hired ex-prisoners for cheap labour. They went on strike and someone got offered an office job to scab. He took the deal, so when he went into work he opened his locker and found a noose hanging there. Amazingly he still went to work, so when he went back out he found his car tires slashed (surely they got the ladder of escalation upside down there??). He told this story as if it was totally normal while the course tutor was obviously horrified. The guy who told that story also kept banging on about voting reform and retiring to his farm to breed race horses. I wouldn’t have heard that story were it not for the TUC since it was a mixed-union course so at least they were good for something lol. Would have loved to go to their ‘lessons from the general strike’ webinar for the anniversary!
I wish they had more space to expand on some of their original arguments. The dynamic between vanguard/aristocracy was an interesting way to look at the political faultlines in the movement through this period, but as they kind of allude to at the end that same dynamic doesn’t really hold anymore. Although I think I disagree that there isn’t a highly integrated and organised layer in the movement, but it definitely has a different character and relationship to the state. It’s less of a third part of a triangle of state-employers-unions and is more of a subordinate partner to both state and employers.
The book prompted me to reflect on the weird and mental stories of workplace conflict that you hear aboutthat dont enter the mainstream. A guy on a course told us that he worked in a paint factory in the ‘90s that only hired ex-prisoners for cheap labour. They went on strike and someone got offered an office job to scab. He took the deal, so when he went into work he opened his locker and found a noose hanging there. Amazingly he still went to work, so when he went back out he found his car tires slashed (surely they got the ladder of escalation upside down there??). He told this story as if it was totally normal while the course tutor was obviously horrified. The guy who told that story also kept banging on about voting reform and retiring to his farm to breed race horses. I wouldn’t have heard that story were it not for the TUC since it was a mixed-union course so at least they were good for something lol. Would have loved to go to their ‘lessons from the general strike’ webinar for the anniversary!
May 27, 2026
Nice read
workers being able to actually organize in a strike imagine that
workers being able to actually organize in a strike imagine that
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A great introduction to the General Strike, with a focus on three specific locations. The authors use the opposing concepts of a labour vanguard and a labour aristocracy to discuss the struggles over the direction of the strike (and the balance of class forces in the 1920s).
The authors are workplace militants and this shows in the sections digging into the state of class struggle in these areas today. Concluding chapter outlines a (too) brief case for worker enquiry and political renewal. It's not one I share completely but wanted to see more space given to this - Verso give them another book deal!
The authors are workplace militants and this shows in the sections digging into the state of class struggle in these areas today. Concluding chapter outlines a (too) brief case for worker enquiry and political renewal. It's not one I share completely but wanted to see more space given to this - Verso give them another book deal!
Review of advance copy
Wonderful little piece.
Some of the underlying politics is quite "mass strikist" and a bit underdeveloped, especially in the first chapter.
That aside the chapters on the different parts of the country and interleaving with the reflections on the working class in those areas today is masterful. Would expect nothing less from Notes from Below.
Some of the underlying politics is quite "mass strikist" and a bit underdeveloped, especially in the first chapter.
That aside the chapters on the different parts of the country and interleaving with the reflections on the working class in those areas today is masterful. Would expect nothing less from Notes from Below.
July 7, 2026
Picked it up at a conference I was at, and read the entire thing in one go on a long flight. Very engaging and unique piece of history, written w/ extraordinary empathy. I do think that the authors are more talented journalists than historians which says more about just how good the 2026 bits are rather than being a critique of the historical narrative. All that is solid melts into air, etc.
July 29, 2026
nice overview of the history, kind of drones on and on about random names and acronyms. I don't really know who this is for, you want us to strike? ok uhhh. This is a toolkit that hopefully won't be needed? a bit ambitious. not the interesting style of writing to read either.
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May 14, 2026Great stuff
Review of advance copy
phenomenal!!!! read it
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews