KS3 the general strike - supporting coal miners

History Quiz - The General Strike 01 (Questions)

This KS3 History quiz takes a look at the General Strike. During the General Strike in May 1926, millions of workers throughout the UK downed tools to support coal miners who were refusing to accept lower wages and longer working hours. The General Strike is important as it sparked off an era of workers' strikes.

The Daily Mail published an article of fake news (a fake letter from the Russian Communist Party leader to British Communists). This was just one reason that middle class people who read this worried, imagining there was about to be a communist revolution in Britain. This drove some of them to become strike-breakers - they took over driving buses and trains etc.

During the 1920s, the coal industry in Britain was in trouble.

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The production per miner was poor, about two-thirds of the amount that Victorian miners were producing in 1880. The economy was still recovering from the First World War and so mine owners decided that they needed to reduce pay and increase working hours in order to maintain their profits. The miners' union refused to accept either. When the final negotiations broke down, despite the best efforts of the government, the strike began on May 3^rd. It ended nine days later but the miners carried on.

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The General Strike took place in which year?

[ ]	1921
[ ]	1923
[ ]	1926
[ ]	1928

The strike was called by the TUC - what does TUC stand for?

[ ]	Totally United Comrades
[ ]	Trade Union Collaboration
[ ]	Trades Union Congress
[ ]	Traditional Union Committee

Which group of workers was the strike supporting?

[ ]	Farmers
[ ]	Miners
[ ]	Steelworkers
[ ]	Textile workers

What type of government was in power at the time?

[ ]	Coalition
[ ]	Conservative
[ ]	Labour
[ ]	Liberal

The TUC published which newspaper to argue its case?

[ ]	The British Worker
[ ]	The Socialist Daily
[ ]	The Union Bugle
[ ]	The Workers' Weekly

Who was the British Prime Minister in 1926?

[ ]	Andrew Bonar Law
[ ]	David Lloyd George
[ ]	Neville Chamberlain
[ ]	Stanley Baldwin

Which group was not called out on strike?

[ ]	Bus drivers
[ ]	Dock workers
[ ]	Health workers
[ ]	Printers

Who wrote the mining industry report that sparked the strike?

[ ]	Harold Simons
[ ]	Henry Smithson
[ ]	Herbert Samuel
[ ]	Humphrey Stowell

The Government also printed its own newspaper, called what?

[ ]	The British Gazette
[ ]	The Government Guardian
[ ]	The National Herald
[ ]	The Westminster News

10.

Which of these was not a result of the General Strike?

[ ]	Miners had to accept longer hours
[ ]	Miners' hours were reduced
[ ]	Miners' wages remained low
[ ]	Some miners were sacked

History Quiz - The General Strike 01 (Answers)

The General Strike took place in which year?

[ ]	1921
[ ]	1923
[x]	1926
[ ]	1928

The TUC limited the strike to railwaymen, transport workers, printers, dockers, ironworkers and steelworkers

The strike was called by the TUC - what does TUC stand for?

[ ]	Totally United Comrades
[ ]	Trade Union Collaboration
[x]	Trades Union Congress
[ ]	Traditional Union Committee

It is the organisation that unites all of the different unions

Which group of workers was the strike supporting?

[ ]	Farmers
[x]	Miners
[ ]	Steelworkers
[ ]	Textile workers

Miners were being forced to accept longer hours and lower wages

What type of government was in power at the time?

[ ]	Coalition
[x]	Conservative
[ ]	Labour
[ ]	Liberal

The Conservatives had replaced Labour in 1924

The TUC published which newspaper to argue its case?

[x]	The British Worker
[ ]	The Socialist Daily
[ ]	The Union Bugle
[ ]	The Workers' Weekly

It became more difficult to produce because Winston Churchill had requisitioned most of the TUC's supply of newsprint (newsprint is the cheap coarse paper on which newspapers are printed) for the government's own propaganda paper

Who was the British Prime Minister in 1926?

[ ]	Andrew Bonar Law
[ ]	David Lloyd George
[ ]	Neville Chamberlain
[x]	Stanley Baldwin

Baldwin is the only British Prime Minister to have served under three monarchs

Which group was not called out on strike?

[ ]	Bus drivers
[ ]	Dock workers
[x]	Health workers
[ ]	Printers

The National Health Service was set up after WWII

Who wrote the mining industry report that sparked the strike?

[ ]	Harold Simons
[ ]	Henry Smithson
[x]	Herbert Samuel
[ ]	Humphrey Stowell

He wrote it on behalf of the Government

The Government also printed its own newspaper, called what?

[x]	The British Gazette
[ ]	The Government Guardian
[ ]	The National Herald
[ ]	The Westminster News

It was part of its attempt to control the media and they were quite happy to print things that were not true in order to demoralise the strikers

10.

Which of these was not a result of the General Strike?

[ ]	Miners had to accept longer hours
[x]	Miners' hours were reduced
[ ]	Miners' wages remained low
[ ]	Some miners were sacked

This would not have helped mine owners make more profit