A major new People’s History Museum exhibition titled On the Line explores the General Strike, bringing together powerful images and objects from the past one hundred years and taking visitors to the ‘front line’, shining a light on how communities provided ‘lifelines’ and retracing ‘battle lines’ while asking the question, ‘Where is the line?’

Marking the centenary of the 1926 strike, the exhibition opens at PHM in Manchester on Satrurday 21 March and runs until Monday 2 November 2026, taking visitors on a journey through the hundred years of turbulent industrial relations that followed.

PHM explains:

‘The 1926 General Strike only officially lasted nine days, but its impact was seismic. Between 4 and 12 May 1926, the country was brought to a standstill when three million workers in transport, railways, engineering, printing, shipping, and other industries withdrew their labour in an unprecedented act of unity called by the Trade Union Congress (TUC). This remarkable expression of national solidarity was in support of more than a million miners who had been locked out of work for refusing to accept lower pay and longer hours. Although the strike was called off without guarantees, leaving the miners to fight on for another seven long months, it remains a defining chapter in the history of organised labour.’

On The Line examines what drives people to feel that striking is the only option, exploring historic turning points and the differing perspectives that shape these pivotal moments. Drawing on PHM’s nationally significant collection of historic and contemporary material, the exhibition presents stories of conflict, acts of resistance, and the strength that comes from collective power.

Evocative photographic images from 1926 capture the tense atmosphere as the General Strike unfolded. These are set alongside a series of reportage images captured by amateur photographer Joe Short (1903-1981), which reveal glimpses of everyday life during this turbulent time – in one a group of Joe’s workmates and miners’ children are seen having fun swimming in the hot sun – but the hardship is also visible, for example, in images of soup kitchens that were established in colliery villages during the 1926 General Strike.

Photography across the decades that followed the General Strike is one of the exhibition’s most striking visual threads. United in numbers and solidarity, workers are seen at some of the most significant industrial strikes of the past decades, including the 1972 miners’ strike over wages and hours, the Grunwick strike for union recognition (1976-1978), and the women of Ford Dagenham who took action for equal pay in 1968. Photography is also used to show objects from the exhibition in use on the frontline, in both historic and contemporary strikes. Objects on display include a full-scale Ambulance strike shelter which is from the ambulance workers’ pay dispute of 1989-1990.

Industrial struggle is rarely captured in fine art, but On The Line features two oil paintings on public display for the first time. Taking Scabs To Work, Barking Hospital by artist S. Rushton, thought to have been painted around 1984, tells the story of a strike that occurred following the privatisation of hospital cleaning services, which resulted in a cut in cleaning hours and impacted workers’ rights. It is believed that this scene, presented as a piece of traditional art, references the 24-hour picket that was held and which led to the arrest of many activists by the police. In contrasting style, David Rumsey’s The Past Is Another Country is a vibrant, graphic work depicting key figures and scenes from the miners’ strike (1984-1985), including the Battle of Orgreave. Begun in 1984, the piece was a labour of love that took almost 30 years to complete.

These paintings are displayed alongside protest banners from PHM’s collection. These include the oldest object in the exhibition, the Union and Victory banner, which was first seen during the Great Dock Strike of 1889. Many of the banners are artworks in their own right, which is certainly the case with the Grunwick Strike Committee banner. This is one of several objects marking the fiftieth anniversary of this extraordinary event. Led by Jayaben Desai (1933–2010), a migrant worker originally from India who settled in Tanzania and later moved to Britain, the strike saw workers stand up to their managers in a fight for rights and representation, sparking one of the largest mobilisations in labour movement history.

Jayaben Desai’s is one of many powerful stories told in the exhibition. The solidarity that met the Grunwick strikers is echoed from the perspective of those providing the support in the story of Women Against Pit Closures, which began as grassroots groups scattered around the country formed by women and miners’ wives during the miners’ Ssrike (1984-1985) and grew into a nationwide movement. They organised essential support to the strikers – fundraising, public speaking, distribution of food, and picketing – and their story is visually represented as the lifeline that it provided through t-shirts, posters, and images.

Historic objects from PHM’s collection are exhibited with some of the most recent objects to be added to its collection. These include the Deceptioncon robot costume (2023-24), which was created to be worn by employees fighting for their right to unionise at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse. The robot symbolised the feelings of workers, who felt that they were being treated like robots.

On The Line part of the General Strike 100 national partnership that includes more than 15 museums, libraries, archives, and groups, including the Society for the Study of Labour History. The exhibition is funded with support from The TUUT Charitable Trust, GMB Union, and Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners.

People’s History Museum’s opening hours are 10.00am to 5.00pm, every day except Tuesdays.