Ewen Green Memorial Lecture 2026: ‘Nine Days in May: The General Strike of 1926’

For nine days in May 1926, nearly three million trade unionists struck in sympathy with nearly a million miners whose employers had locked them out because they would not accept steep pay cuts and a longer working day. This general strike practically shuttered the country. There never had been anything like it before; there never would be anything like it again. This lecture will explore what was at stake over those nine days – it was more than “bread and cheese”; and why it lasted little more than a week; and what were its consequences; and what are its enduring lessons even for today.