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The Edge of Revolution: The General Strike that Shook Britain
Author of the critically acclaimed The Wild Men, David Torrance explores another tumultuous and era-defining moment in British political history.
On Tuesday 4 May 1926, two million workers downed tools in the only nationwide all-hands strike ever held in Britain. The General Strike had begun, and the country braced itself for what many believed was a moment akin to the Russian Revolution, which had shaken the world only a decade earlier. Industry was deprived of gas and electricity; the buses, trains and trams all stopped; newspapers ceased publication; and workers abandoned mines and iron, steel and chemical works around the country.
The General Strike has entered our national mythology. Even though it lasted only nine days, it left a legacy of bitterness that has had a profound impact on politics.
Now, a century on, Torrance tells this dramatic story from the perspective of everyone involved, drawing on extensive archival research to recreate those nine days through the accounts of those who lived and breathed it. The result is an absorbing and comprehensive analysis of this unique episode in British history.
On Tuesday 4 May 1926, two million workers downed tools in the only nationwide all-hands strike ever held in Britain. The General Strike had begun, and the country braced itself for what many believed was a moment akin to the Russian Revolution, which had shaken the world only a decade earlier. Industry was deprived of gas and electricity; the buses, trains and trams all stopped; newspapers ceased publication; and workers abandoned mines and iron, steel and chemical works around the country.
The General Strike has entered our national mythology. Even though it lasted only nine days, it left a legacy of bitterness that has had a profound impact on politics.
Now, a century on, Torrance tells this dramatic story from the perspective of everyone involved, drawing on extensive archival research to recreate those nine days through the accounts of those who lived and breathed it. The result is an absorbing and comprehensive analysis of this unique episode in British history.
297 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 26, 2026
About the author
David Torrance
44 books11 followersDavid Torrance is Devolution and Constitution Specialist at the House of Commons Library. He was formerly a freelance writer, broadcaster and journalist, reporting on the Scottish Parliament for STV, and contributing political commentary to a wide range of publications including The Scotsman, The Herald and The Times. He is the author of several books on Scottish politics, the best known being his unauthorised biographies of Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond. He is the author of Standing up for Scotland: Nationalist Unionism and Scottish Party Politics, 1884–2014 (Edinburgh University Press, 2020) and the editor of Ruth Davidson's Conservatives: The Scottish Tory Party, 2011–19 (Edinburgh University Press, 2020) and Whatever Happened to Tory Scotland (Edinburgh University Press, 2012).
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April 27, 2026In 1976, on its 50th anniversary, the General Strike of May 1926 could still be understood as a staging post in the growth of trade union power with which the reading public was then very familiar. The miners’ strike of 1972 led to power blackouts and some exceptional outbreaks of violence. The miners’ strike of 1974 inflicted more power cuts and a three-day working week, and ultimately consolidated Labour’s majority in the second election of that year. The Ulster Workers’ Strike of 1974 paralysed Northern Ireland and led to direct rule from Westminster. In these circumstances the General Strike of 1926, also precipitated by the miners, was readily comprehensible in terms of what the historian Eric Hobsbawm described as ‘the forward march of labour’. And yet Hobsbawm concluded that the ‘forward march’ had been halted, a verdict delivered in a lecture as early as 1978, even before Margaret Thatcher’s electoral victory in 1979 and before her decisive victory over the miners in the strike of 1984-85. In Hobsbawm’s view, the fragmentation of the working class and the rise of new identity categories including gender had reduced the potential for trade union power to represent ‘the people’ against the state.
How then to tell the story of the General Strike on its centenary today, 50 years on, as, commendably, three historians have sought to do? One option is to tell the same rollicking good story as ever, rich in anecdote and tension, without needing to place it in a long-term historical trajectory. This is essentially David Torrance’s strategy. Building on his lively account of the first Labour government of 1924, The Wild Men (2024), Torrance is primarily interested in narrating the various 3-D chess games that seemed to determine the outbreak and course of the strike. A new set of ‘wild men’, led by the home secretary ‘Jix’ (William Joynson-Hicks, or ‘Mussolini Minor’ to his critics) and the chancellor Winston Churchill (making a good fist of playing ‘Mussolini Major’), sought even before the strike broke out to gird their more timid Conservative cabinet colleagues for a winner-takes-all struggle against the labour movement. At the same time, in Eccleston Square, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) headquarters, another chess game was under way. The miners’ leaders A.J. Cook and Herbert Smith were egging on their comrades to support a national sympathy strike, viewed with trepidation by moderate leaders such as the railwaymen’s Jimmy Thomas. The idea of a ‘national strike’ in sympathy with the miners was ultimately accepted as inevitable by the TUC majority and masterfully coordinated in difficult conditions by the transport workers’ leader Ernest Bevin, the only person whose long-term reputation was enhanced by the strike.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Peter Mandler is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
How then to tell the story of the General Strike on its centenary today, 50 years on, as, commendably, three historians have sought to do? One option is to tell the same rollicking good story as ever, rich in anecdote and tension, without needing to place it in a long-term historical trajectory. This is essentially David Torrance’s strategy. Building on his lively account of the first Labour government of 1924, The Wild Men (2024), Torrance is primarily interested in narrating the various 3-D chess games that seemed to determine the outbreak and course of the strike. A new set of ‘wild men’, led by the home secretary ‘Jix’ (William Joynson-Hicks, or ‘Mussolini Minor’ to his critics) and the chancellor Winston Churchill (making a good fist of playing ‘Mussolini Major’), sought even before the strike broke out to gird their more timid Conservative cabinet colleagues for a winner-takes-all struggle against the labour movement. At the same time, in Eccleston Square, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) headquarters, another chess game was under way. The miners’ leaders A.J. Cook and Herbert Smith were egging on their comrades to support a national sympathy strike, viewed with trepidation by moderate leaders such as the railwaymen’s Jimmy Thomas. The idea of a ‘national strike’ in sympathy with the miners was ultimately accepted as inevitable by the TUC majority and masterfully coordinated in difficult conditions by the transport workers’ leader Ernest Bevin, the only person whose long-term reputation was enhanced by the strike.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Peter Mandler is a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I thoroughly enjoyed David Torrance’s book about the first Labour Government, The Wild Men, and I was delighted to see that he’s written a book about the General Strike: The Edge of Revolution. This year, 2026, is the centenary of Britain’s biggest general strike and I have realised, from reading Torrance’s book, how little I knew about what actually happened.
To summarise events, a coal miners’ strike in 1921, initially supported by the railwaymen and transport workers, had alerted the Government to the likelihood of a General Strike. The Government reinstated the subsidy of miners’ wages and matters simmered while yet another Royal Commission was held. This gave the Government a few years to put in place its procedures for dealing with emergencies. Unfortunately, the TUC didn’t use the time for similar planning.
On 30th April, 1926, while negotiating with the TUC, the Prime Minister, Baldwin, had ordered posters to be printed, declaring a state of emergency. While one could argue that Baldwin had ordered them “just in case”, the unions saw this as a sign of bad faith and their members voted overwhelmingly for a strike. At this point, the unions handed control of the strike to the TUC General Council. Similarly, the Government discovered that strike notices had been despatched while negotiations were still continuing – also seen as an act of bad faith.
Torrance shows that almost all Council members were against striking but the miners wouldn’t compromise. Jimmy Thomas, an MP and leader of the railway workers, was in tears at one point. Torrance quotes Fenner Brockway’s explanation for the end of the strike, “it was led by people who didn’t believe in it.” The Government downplayed the industrial dispute aspects of the strike and the severe hardship faced by miners’ families; and positioned the strike as a challenge to the constitutionally elected Government (hence the book’s title). The TUC’s organisation was poor and its preparation almost non-existent. Torrance shows, though, that one of the prime reasons for the TUC’s defeat was that it simply didn’t have a goal for the strike and a plan for measuring its success. That ambiguity meant that the miners’ leaders and the rest of the Council would never agree on tactics.
Torrance has used a wide range of primary sources, refusing to endorse the perception that the strike was peaceful and that the British behaved impeccably. Police with horses and batons did charge at rioting crowds; people were killed due to the actions of inexperienced volunteer railwaymen. Torrance’s clever usage of memoirs and official records shows how Baldwin’s greatest failure in leadership (allowing the General Strike to happen) was transformed into his greatest success: framing the strike as a constitutional issue was “a stroke of genius.”
This really is a highly readable account of the strike and contains some excellent analysis.
#TheEdgeofRevolution #NetGalley
To summarise events, a coal miners’ strike in 1921, initially supported by the railwaymen and transport workers, had alerted the Government to the likelihood of a General Strike. The Government reinstated the subsidy of miners’ wages and matters simmered while yet another Royal Commission was held. This gave the Government a few years to put in place its procedures for dealing with emergencies. Unfortunately, the TUC didn’t use the time for similar planning.
On 30th April, 1926, while negotiating with the TUC, the Prime Minister, Baldwin, had ordered posters to be printed, declaring a state of emergency. While one could argue that Baldwin had ordered them “just in case”, the unions saw this as a sign of bad faith and their members voted overwhelmingly for a strike. At this point, the unions handed control of the strike to the TUC General Council. Similarly, the Government discovered that strike notices had been despatched while negotiations were still continuing – also seen as an act of bad faith.
Torrance shows that almost all Council members were against striking but the miners wouldn’t compromise. Jimmy Thomas, an MP and leader of the railway workers, was in tears at one point. Torrance quotes Fenner Brockway’s explanation for the end of the strike, “it was led by people who didn’t believe in it.” The Government downplayed the industrial dispute aspects of the strike and the severe hardship faced by miners’ families; and positioned the strike as a challenge to the constitutionally elected Government (hence the book’s title). The TUC’s organisation was poor and its preparation almost non-existent. Torrance shows, though, that one of the prime reasons for the TUC’s defeat was that it simply didn’t have a goal for the strike and a plan for measuring its success. That ambiguity meant that the miners’ leaders and the rest of the Council would never agree on tactics.
Torrance has used a wide range of primary sources, refusing to endorse the perception that the strike was peaceful and that the British behaved impeccably. Police with horses and batons did charge at rioting crowds; people were killed due to the actions of inexperienced volunteer railwaymen. Torrance’s clever usage of memoirs and official records shows how Baldwin’s greatest failure in leadership (allowing the General Strike to happen) was transformed into his greatest success: framing the strike as a constitutional issue was “a stroke of genius.”
This really is a highly readable account of the strike and contains some excellent analysis.
#TheEdgeofRevolution #NetGalley
April 2, 2026
It is a hundred years since this unprecedented workers' strike took place. Nothing like this happened before or since and profoundly changed Britain and industrial relations, making Trade Unions become more political rather than militant activists and set the scene for the Labour party power. It divided society in social class terms between the workers and the employers and it was a defining moment in British social history.
This fascinating book starts with a list of the main characters, mostly politicians and rich employers as well as members of the aristocracy, including the current monarch, King George V. This is followed by a timeline of the significant events and serves as a useful reference guide. The book relays the background to the General Strike, how the issues with the miners influenced the whole country and how the strike grew exponentially.
It makes a great read. It is a well sourced book, with plenty of quotes from documents, newspapers and private journals and shows how even the newly formed BBC acted as a kind of government propaganda device. It is never a dry account either, being informative as well as somewhat entertaining at times, the book kept my attention throughout. Highlights include how Oxford University students helped to unload the food from the ships in the docks, politicians daughters working in canteens and becoming drivers, and many wealthy people learn to drive trains and work in the railways.
In a similar vein to the attitudes and effects of the World Wars, the General Strike was a great leveller, where middle class people had a taste of working class life. Realising that it would be a temporary thing, many of them saw it as a bit of an adventure to contribute to manual and menial work. Unlike the First World War though, it only lasted for nine days.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book; essential for anyone interested in British history. Well written and could only be improved if more views from the strikers themselves or their families were included, although it's understandable why they are not. Highly recommended.
This fascinating book starts with a list of the main characters, mostly politicians and rich employers as well as members of the aristocracy, including the current monarch, King George V. This is followed by a timeline of the significant events and serves as a useful reference guide. The book relays the background to the General Strike, how the issues with the miners influenced the whole country and how the strike grew exponentially.
It makes a great read. It is a well sourced book, with plenty of quotes from documents, newspapers and private journals and shows how even the newly formed BBC acted as a kind of government propaganda device. It is never a dry account either, being informative as well as somewhat entertaining at times, the book kept my attention throughout. Highlights include how Oxford University students helped to unload the food from the ships in the docks, politicians daughters working in canteens and becoming drivers, and many wealthy people learn to drive trains and work in the railways.
In a similar vein to the attitudes and effects of the World Wars, the General Strike was a great leveller, where middle class people had a taste of working class life. Realising that it would be a temporary thing, many of them saw it as a bit of an adventure to contribute to manual and menial work. Unlike the First World War though, it only lasted for nine days.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book; essential for anyone interested in British history. Well written and could only be improved if more views from the strikers themselves or their families were included, although it's understandable why they are not. Highly recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The General Strike of 1926 was a major event in the trade union history of Britian and this book aims to delve into the dramatic story. Unfortunately, this book feels like a first draft that needs more work.
The book spends almost no time on the background or context of the strike, instead it drops the reader into the deep end. While the individual profiles are helpful in depicting the main personalities, the book would have benefited from an analysis of the British economy of the time, the position of the unions and political parties etc.
A second major fault is that the voice of the strikers is almost completely absent. This may not be the author's fault as working class men at the time left few memoirs, but it is frustrating to read a dozen accounts of upper class strikebreakers and not hear the other side. Most of the book focuses on the actions of senior politicans, government figures and occassionally union leaders, but I felt like I didn't get a full picutre of what the strike was actually like.
The book spends almost no time on the background or context of the strike, instead it drops the reader into the deep end. While the individual profiles are helpful in depicting the main personalities, the book would have benefited from an analysis of the British economy of the time, the position of the unions and political parties etc.
A second major fault is that the voice of the strikers is almost completely absent. This may not be the author's fault as working class men at the time left few memoirs, but it is frustrating to read a dozen accounts of upper class strikebreakers and not hear the other side. Most of the book focuses on the actions of senior politicans, government figures and occassionally union leaders, but I felt like I didn't get a full picutre of what the strike was actually like.
May 1, 2026
This is a really engaging account - and the book smells lovely. It builds up a picture of the strike with thematic chapters - lots of interesting pen portraits of the leading players from the most reactionary mine owners and government ministers to the left officials like Miners leader Arthur Cook. While not exactly polemical it is broadly sympathetic to the strikers, though it would have been nice to have had more accounts from local activists on the ground.
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