The Bristol Strike Wave of 1889-1890 Part 2

Part Two: Days of Doubt

Mike Richardson

This pamphlet (Part two) charts the occurrences of industrial unrest in Bristol between January and August 1890, starting with the lockout of boot and shoe workers, and addresses the challenges faced by union and socialist organisers. These
challenges included the continuation of the struggle over how best to defend women workers, as differences were apparent between those who advocated separate unions for women, and stressed welfare over militancy, and those who agitated for an alternative model of unionism open to women and men willing to fight for their
cause. Another key challenge examined, and one that expressed creeping apprehension, is how the Bristol labour movement responded to the initiative of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce in sponsoring a Board of Arbitration and Conciliation. While the fervent hopes of the Bristol socialists aroused by the 1889-90 strike wave were not to be realised, Bristol's working class had appeared on the political, economic and social agenda as a force not be ignored.

Published by Bristol Radical History Group