Crowds of presumably strikers marching from Scotland to London during the 1926 General Strike. (Getty Images)
Religion: Modernism vs Conservativism
The 1920s was a decade where the fight in religion between embracing modernism or keeping the old ways of thought was heating up. As people witnessed and learned about the ungodly carnage of WWI and science disproved more and more religious beliefs that were thought to be facts in the 1920s, religion was becoming less appealing. Many religious leaders especially Church leaders had to make a choice of whether to embrace modernity to try and attract more people or keep the old ways as to not go against their religious beliefs. This was no different during the 1926 General Strike that became a test for some Church leaders on how willing they were to embrace modernism. 1.
This fight in Churches between embracing modernism or keeping the old ways was perfectly shown during the 1926 General Strike. They could either support the General Strike enacted by the Trade Unions Congress in sympathy for the miners struggle in securing a better wage or take the traditional side of the government. During the strike there were church leaders on both sides. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest religious authority in the UK, bar the Monarch, issued an appeal on the 6th day of the strike that touched on the issues that faced the miners, called for everyone to come together and negotiate an end to the strike that would benefit everyone, and even indirectly criticized the government and the Coal companies when talking about selfishness.2 On that same day Cardinal Bourne, a British Roman Catholic Cardinal, declared that participation in the general strike was a sin because they were going against the government and causing the discomfort of so many.3 The 1920s and the General Strike would see many sort of religious fights between people like the Cardinal and people like the Archbishop. At the end of the day though, the Archbishop’s sympathetic argument fell on deaf ears within in the government, but was welcomed by the masses who were striking. The goal of a wider audience was achieved by the Archbishop but at the cost of angering the government who would eventually reign victorious over the miners.
Conformity, the 1920s, and the Red Scare
Although a lot of change did occur in the decades before the 1920s and some in the 1920s itself, this change was scary for many. One of the changes which really frightened people, especially Conservatives, was organized labor. By 1919 it had started to become increasingly militant, unified, and popular across the world. Conservatives decided to curtail this they would tie organized labor to the Revolution that occured in the Russian and proclaim organized labor went against their countries “values”.4 Despite occurring almost seven years after the beginning of the Red Scare, it featured very prominently in the Government propaganda used during the strike. All newspapers, fliers, radio broadcasts, etc that were associated with the government would constantly warn of the strikers associations with Communism and the threat that posed. For example, in an article in the British Gazette, the government run newspaper, titled “Fascism or Communism it was written how even if a majority of the strikers didn’t have intentions of overthrowing the freely democratically elected government in favor of a totalitarian Communist government, just the act of their participation in it means they still support the overthrowing of the government.5 Even before the strike more radical members of the Labor Party were purged under the guise of the Red Scare in attempt to distance themselves from Communism.6 The Red Scare was used to show the strikers are different from the regular British people and don’t have the same “values” as to prevent them from sympathizing with, joining, and supporting organized labor. The same practices were used all throughout the 1920s by governments and business to crush organized labor and any strikes they may enact.
- Lynn, Dumenil, The Modern Temper: American Culture and Society in the 1920s, (New York, NY: Hill and Wan, 1995), 169-171 ↩︎
- Randall Davidson, “Sermon by Archbishop of Canterbury”, (London, UK: BBC, 9 May, 1926). ↩︎
- Francis Bourne, “News Items of General Situations”, (London, UK: BBC, 9, May, 1926) ↩︎
- Dumenil, Modern Temper, 218-22 ↩︎
- Sir Edward Grey, “Viscount Grey on the Real Issue. The Alternative to Parliamentary Government. Fascism or Communism”, (London, UK: The British Gazette, 10 May, 1926). ↩︎
- John Foster, “Imperialism and The Labor Aristocracy”, in The General Strike 1926, ed. Jeffery Skelley, (London, UK: Lawrence and Wishart, 1976), 40.
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