Nine days that 'shook world'

When the news came through, a Bolton Council of Action was formed at once, with the Spinners Hall on St. George's Road as the headquarters, and the action started immediately. After the first day there were no trams or trains, and few buses. Railways, and transport generally, practically closed down. Road transport was almost at a standstill.

Crowds of men, flushed with the gesture of local and national support for the miners, thronged the streets.

The Evening News was printed as a page-sheet. National newspaper faded out, and the wireless was 'nationalised' by the Government. The urgent demand of everyone was for news. At the Spinners' Hall, this had to take precedence over everything. The secretaries climbed on to the roof and fixed an aerial, secured a powerful wireless set (these days called a radio), with a loud speaker, with a flex long enough to reach any room in the building.

The three times a day broadcast was listened to by the secretaries, who took down important items in shorthand, and transcribed them. Stencils were cut, and a daily sheet issued on a Gestetner duplicating machine. These were issued free, and were eagerly snapped up.

A corps of distributors was created, and every ward got its share. This was developed to such an extent that, within three days, Radcliffe, Little Lever, Horwich and Westhoughton, Farnworth and Darwen, were all supplied from Bolton. Two issues each day was the rule later on, until there was a twice daily distribution of 10,000.

Then it became necessary to find out what other towns were doing. The Bolton Clarion cyclists, pedal and motor cycle, were pressed into service. Three cars were also loaned, and within three days daily contact was made with towns as diverse as Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. All the reports were carefully perused, and a resume published daily.

Then arose, in the meantime, the problem of what to do with the crowds of strikers on the streets. It was agreed with the police that only one open-air meeting should be held; this took place on the Town Hall steps, and lasted only half an hour.

That was the only meeting in the open (when the general story of the general strike was written and published in book form, Bolton was mentioned as being the only town not to have open-air meetings), but some were held in the theatres and picture houses (cinemas). As a result Bolton was absolutely free from any disturbance which characterised many other towns at the time.

There were two aspects of the strike which had to be immediately considered. One was that food, solid or liquid, was allowed to come through in every case. Hospitals and churches and schools and kindred institutions were given a special licence. But beer was an exception -- no beer was allowed to be carted through the streets.

The problem of feeding the strikers was a general one. But the local Council of Action prepared for even the worst emergency. The quantities of food imported into Bolton were carefully checked, and even the requirements per family were worked out. Skeleton provision was made for the feeding of all the strikers' families for a limited period. Cases of real hardship were noted, and assistance given with food and clothing.

In the mosaic of crowded events, there were many incidents which had to be dealt with quickly. For instance, news was brought to headquarters that there was a 'row' in Daubhill. And one of the secretaries had to ride on the 'step' of a pedal cycle to get there quickly.

He persuaded the men and women to go to a club close-by while he talked to the driver of an offending lorry. The lorry was withdrawn, a report given to the crowd, and the police marched away satisfied.

One of the most striking incidents was the fact that a certain company declared that, come what might, they would run their bus service to Darwen and Blackburn from Victoria Square in Bolton. Crowds gather to 'see the fun', as they phrased it, but the police took a different view. Appeals to the driver and conductor were ignored.

Attempts to send a 'mass deputation' to talk to the driver and conductor were ruled out. Finally, local tram and bus drivers and conductors boarded the bus singly, and in perfect order, while a crowd of others went along to 'boo' them (a glorious camouflage).

When the bus was nearly loaded with 'passengers', it moved off. The passengers paid their ordinary fare to Darwen, but somewhere between Bolton and Darwen they stopped the bus to get off.

They persuaded the driver and conductor not to bring that bus out again. And they didn't. No harm was done to the driver or conductor, but the passengers found that instead of the bus driver bringing them back to Bolton as he had promised, he hurriedly drove off, and the passengers had to foot it back to Bolton, with feelings that can be better imagined than described!

In order to create interest and keep the many men and women wondering how things were faring nationally, many efforts were made to talk to the crowds, which were common in every area. Clubs were thrown open to strikers, free, and countless meetings were addressed.

Miners from Wigan and Westhoughton dug coal from heaps and distributed it. Clothes from the south were brought to Bolton, and a women's committee mended them, washed them, and distributed them. And nearly every day prominent businessmen in Bolton telephoned to ask if the local Council of Action could tell them (in the strictest confidence, of course) when the strike was to finish.

And just when the engineers and some others were due to be withdrawn, according to plan, the news came through that the strike was over. Mr Baldwin, the Prime Minister, made his famous speech with its definite guarantees, and it was all over. Then came to problem of getting the men back to work -- less than 1pc of local people lost their jobs. Bolton employers honoured the agreement very fully.

The good sense of Boltonians generally helped to smooth away the irritations which the general strike inevitably produced. Not a single court case arose out of the strike action locally, and a high tribute was paid to the conduct of Bolton people by the then Chief of Police in Bolton.

And so passed the famous nine days. The general strike was not a success, except as a generous gesture to help the miners. There will never be another.