Remembering the General Strike, 100 years on

100 years ago, 3 million workers engaged in arguably the most widespread and momentous industrial action in British History.

The Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin regarded it not merely as a dispute about wages but as a revolutionary challenge to the UK parliamentary system and responded accordingly.

The centenary is being marked by the publication of a major new study by the renowned US historian Jonathan Schneer. In this special in-person event organised by History & Policy’s Trades Union and Employment Forum, Professor Schneer will discuss his book with a panel of experts, and consider the broader significance of the General Strike.

Panel

• Jonathan Schneer is Professor Emeritus at Georgia Institute of Technology. His publications include London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis, The Thames: England’s River and more recently, Ministers at War: Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet, 1940-45.  His The Balfour Declaration: the Origins of Arab-Israeli Conflict won a 2010 National Jewish Book Award.
• Paul Novak has been the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) since December 2022.
• Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite is Associate Professor of History at University College London and a specialist on the history of twentieth century Britain. She is joint author (with Natalie Thomlinson) of Women and the Miners’ Strike, 1984-1985 (2023)
• Jon Cruddas was MP for Dagenham and Rainham from 2001-2024, serving in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet as Policy Coordinator. He is the author of A Century of Labour (2024).
•  Jim Moher (Chair) is a former trades union national official and author of Walter Citrine: Forgotten Statesman of the TUC (2021). He is a fellow of the IHR.

Date: 29 Apr 2026

Time: 2pm to 4pm

Location: Hybrid | Online & Room 349, Third Floor, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU

Contact the Institute of Historical Research to book a place here.