E118: 1926 general strike, part 1

E118: 1926 general strike, part 1

Author: Working Class History April 22, 2026 Duration: 41:33
Working Class History
HistoryCultureEducationSocietySociety & Culture
First of our three-part miniseries about the UK’s 1926 general strike, which saw one and three-quarter million workers walk out in the biggest single work stoppage in British history. In collaboration with the General Strike 100 project and told using interviews with striking workers themselves.

Our podcast is brought to you by our Patreon supporters. Our supporters fund our work, and in return get exclusive early access to podcast episodes without ads, bonus episodes, two exclusive podcast series – Fireside Chats and Radical Reads – as well as free and discounted merchandise and other content. Join us or find out more at patreon.com/workingclasshistory
  • Listen to Part 2 and Part 3 now (without ads) by joining us on Patreon
  • Listen to our bonus episode to hear more from two participants in the general strike, exclusively on Patreon

More info
Acknowledgements
  • Thanks to our Patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands and Fellow Worker.
  • Episode graphic: car overturned in London during the general strike. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
  • Our theme tune for this episode is Montaigne’s version of ‘When the Coal Comes from the Rhonda’, a folk song originating from Welsh miners in the early twentieth century and sung during the general strike. Download the song here. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube.
  • Edited by Jesse French

Podcast Episodes
E54: Gwangju uprising, part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:58
Part 2 of our four-part podcast miniseries about the May 18 uprising in Gwangju, South Korea, in 1980 against the US-backed military dictatorship of Chun Doo Hwan. We speak with Kim Yong Ho, David Dolinger and Jeon Yong…
E53: Gwangju uprising, part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:28
First part of our podcast miniseries about the May 18 uprising in Gwangju, South Korea, in 1980 against the US-backed military dictatorship of Chun Doo Hwan. We speak with Kim Yong Ho, David Dolinger and Jeon Yong Ho, wh…
E52: The IWW in Canada [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:33
Podcast episode about the history of the revolutionary union the Industrial Workers of the World in Canada. We speak with historian and author Mark Leier about the union’s organising work amongst loggers, miners, road an…
WCL E2: Joseph Skipsey – poet and pitman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:59
Episode two of the Working Class Literature podcast about Joseph Skipsey, a poet and coal miner from the North East of England. After entering the mines as a child, he would grow up to become a nationally-renowned poet,…
E51: Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:12
Podcast episode about two extremely influential South Korean worker organisers, Jeon Tae-il and Lee So-sun, and the autonomous self-organisation of women textile and garment workers in the country from the 1960s to the 1…
E50: Working Class History the book [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:02
Podcast episode in which we talk about our new book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, with our friends at the Coffee with Comrades podcast, which they edited and put out as their episode 11…
E49: Anti-Racist Action in Minneapolis [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:23
As a far-right mob storms the Capitol in Washington DC, learn more about the history of opposition to white supremacy in the US. This podcast episode tells the story of Anti-Racist Action, a militant anti-fascist organis…
E48: The green bans, part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:53
Concluding part of our double podcast episode about green bans by building workers in Australia from 1970 to 1975 which held up billions of dollars of development which would have been harmful to the environment, or work…
E47: The green bans, part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:17
Double podcast episode about green bans by building workers in Australia from 1970 to 1975 which held up billions of dollars of development which would have been harmful to the environment, or working class and Aborigina…
E46: The movement against the Vietnam war, part 4 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:41
Third of our four-part miniseries on opposition to the Vietnam war in the US, in conversation with five former participants in the movement. This week we look at anti-war organising with US prisoners of war, labour organ…

«1...5678910»