By Callum Cant and Matthew Lee
May 4, 2026
Introduction:
Read more here: https://jacobin.com/2026/05/1926-londo ... l-strike(Jacobin) One hundred years ago today, a general strike led by London’s dockworkers brought the city to its knees. Police violence and a conservative union beat the workers in the end, but the episode helped shape Britain’s labor movement.
On the first day of the general strike, the response in East London was strong. Almost all workers at the docks along the River Thames were on strike, as well as hundreds of thousands more in various other industries in the area. For the first time ever, clerical staff at the Port of London walked out, even before they were called out by their union.
In Canning Town, where dockers were confident that no one would be scabbing, mass pickets only formed after news spread that troops were working in the docks, attempting to load lorries. A crowd of locals blocked the entrance and booed the troops in the docks. The atmosphere was good-humored. Then, suddenly, the police started pushing the crowd from behind. The pickets were shunted further and further into the road, leading to arguments with officers, who began to wield their truncheons. The situation exploded. For half an hour, chaos reigned, and the pickets were forced to defend themselves. Strikers were injured, arms were broken, but they had stood their ground. It was just a taste of what was to come over the next nine days.
The next morning, before heading up the main road to the docks, hundreds of pickets walked along the side streets, pulling out the spiked railings from the walls of the houses. Arriving at the docks and seeing lorries again, they forced the drivers out of their wagons before turning over several lorries onto their sides. More lorries arrived, this time with troops on them. The police lined up to make sure the vehicles could get through the crowd. But the pickets weren’t going to be caught off guard again. The crowd pulled out their iron bars and pushed forward. This time it was the police’s turn for a beating.