Labour's May Day in London: Listening to the open-air speaker in Hyde Park during the General Strike. In support of a strike by coal miners over the issue of threatened wage cuts, the Trades Union Congress called a General Strike in early May 1926. The strike only involved certain key industrial sectors (docks, electricity, gas, railways) but, in the face of well-organised government emergency measures and lack of real public support, it collapsed after nine days. Date: 8th May 1926