Exhibition: When Britain Stood Still: The General Strike at 100

To mark the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike, a new exhibition at the University of Newcastle, reveals how workers, politicians, and trade unionists faced the challenge of the General Strike and how its opponents organised to resist it.

Exhibition poster (image: University of Newcastle)

The exhibition is part of the broader General Strike 100 which brings together stories, exhibitions and events to remember the strike and its impact on working people.

The exhibition notes:

“Between 4 and 12 May 1926, roughly 1.5 to 2 million workers posed a challenge to established order as they responded to a call by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to strike in support of the miners, whose employers planned to lengthen their working day and cut their pay.

Britain awoke on the morning of Tuesday 4 May to find the General Strike underway: the railways and docks were still and silent, buses and trams had vanished, no newspapers were on sale.

King George V proclaimed a ‘state of emergency’ and the special constabulary, military, and admiralty were deployed. After nine days, the TUC leadership ended the strike on the uncertain promise of negotiations on miners’ wages and working conditions. These promises did not materialise.

What emerges from the documents, photographs and oral histories is a narrative of solidarity and sacrifice during Britain’s largest industrial dispute, as well as the hostile response from the government.”

*When Britain Stood Still: The General Strike at 100* (image: Joe Redmayne)

The exhibition dovetails with a two-day conference, ‘The British General Strike of 1926: New Directions of Research’, which was held earlier this month at the University of Newcastle. Hosted by the Labour & Society Research Group (LSRG), the event brought together international historians, activists, and trade unionists to re-examine the nine days that brought the country to a standstill. You can read a summary of the conference’s proceedings here.

The exhibition is supported by the Labour and Society Research Group, Leverhulme Trust, Oral History Collective, Newcastle University Library Special Collections & Archives, and GFTU’s GeneralStrike100.

The exhibition is available to view for free between 8th May – 18th October 2026.

Find out more about the exhibition.

Find out more about the General Strike 100 collaboration