The TGWU and the Labour Movement 1922–24

Abstract

This chapter looks at the increasingly polarised left/right battles within the TGWU and wider labour movement. It examines the influence of the Communist Party and rank-and-file organisations such as the National Minority Movement and the National Unemployed Workers Movement. Bevin, in opposing the communist led left, confronted the unofficial dock strikes, but was nonetheless critical of the first minority Labour government, during which two official strikes - one of London bus and tramway workers and the other of dockers were supported by the union’s leadership, despite the discomfiture caused to the labour government. The position of women in the new union is also considered.