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A major part of this study is a test and extension of the work of Durcan, McCarthy and Redman on post-war strike activity in the UK. It begins with an appraisal of their approach and conclusions. The model developed in Section I builds upon these but has at its core a concern with management and worker attitudes, and like the Durcan, McCarthy and Redman study, with the capacity to engage in strike activity. In Section II, the operational form of this model is developed and is then employed in Sections III and IV to account for variations in strike activity at the broad industry level, and in four detailed industry studies, metals, shipbuilding and marine engineering, motor vehicles and coal-mining. Sections II and IV constitute the main empirical tests of this model and of the factors hypothesised to have an influence on longer-term movements in the main dimensions of stoppage activity. The longer-term movements in strike activity at the industry level are argued to be linked to broader political and economic changes and particularly to phases of industrial growth and development and to movements in the elements of the industrial circuit of capital. Critically, the study emphasises the importance of managerial responses to changes in stages of industrial development and to contradictions in the industrial circuit of capital for increased volumes of strike activity. The empirical results confirm the findings of other writers with regard to the limitations of economists' analyses of strikes but raise additional concerns about the usefulness and appropriateness of some of the variables they and writers such as Cronin have employed. Whilst the study confirms the role of aggregate economic influences, particularly since the early 1970s, the industry studies support the critical role of organisation in strikes, together with more localised and industry-specific factors, notably product market changes and the ways these are interpreted and acted upon by the parties. It is these product market factors and how managers in particular respond to them, together with the role of goverments, which are seen as critical in their effects on strike activity, and which most clearly distinguish this study from other accounts of strikes. In the context of government, the study confirms recent work on the impact of legislation in reducing strike activity since the mid 1980s but suggests that policies followed by governments towards public corporations have had a more general impact on their industrial relations and strike patterns which have particular relevance to longer-term movements in strike activity. In addition, it identifies other, previously neglected factors which have affected the strike activity in each of the industries studied.

From March 1984 to March 1985, over 150,000 British coal miners walked out on strike in protest at plans for widespread closures in the industry. Alongside the strike developed a large and diverse support movement, both within Britain and internationally. This thesis focuses on the solidarity campaign in London, a city far from the heartlands of the coal industry. The support movement outside of the coalfield areas has been relatively understudied in the years since the dispute, and this thesis is a contribution to recuperating this important history. The four central empirical chapters are organised thematically. The first explores relationships developed between London and the coalfields from the late 1960s, arguing that the support of 1984-5 must be rooted in ongoing mutual relationships of solidarity. The second describes the diverse spaces and sites in which the support movement was enacted, and how distinct tactics such as twinning and forms of politicised mobility reduced the distance between London and mining areas, enabling the development of personal relationships across space. The third focuses on the weaknesses of the support movement, working-class opposition to the strike, and the relationship between this absence of solidarity and the anti-union rhetoric of elites. In the fourth empirical chapter, I emphasise how the intersecting politics of class, race, gender and sexuality were raised through the miners’ strike solidarity movement, and the forging of new relationships across spatial and social boundaries. Through a study of the miners’ support movement, this thesis makes a number of central theoretical contributions. It is concerned firstly with developing an account of translocal solidarity as a generative relationship that can construct connections across social and geographical boundaries, and develop new political theories and practices. Secondly, I argue for an intersectional approach to class as a way of rejecting simplistic divisions between the politics of class, gender, sexuality and race. In particular, I highlight intersectionality as a historical process whereby relationships of solidarity across space inform a politics that is simultaneously able to recognise differences and develop commonalities. Thirdly, I emphasise how translocal networks of solidarity contribute to relational constructions of place, but that such an understanding is not inimical to a deep, historically rooted local development of class. Fourthly, I argue that a spatially and temporally dynamic understanding of the construction of cultures of mutual solidarity can contribute significantly to how we think about labour agency.

This thesis examines strike activity in the United States from 1881 to 1972. Although part of its aim is simply to describe and analyse trends of activity, its main concern is sociological: the explication and testing of the theory of the institutionalisation of industrial conflict. Since official statistics on strikes are the basic data employed, chapter one considers the problems with the use of such statistics. Phenomenologists criticise the use of all official data, on the grounds that there is no 'true' distribution of social phenomena independent from the reality of everyday life, and that official figures are merely records of bureaucratic procedures. But, unlike crime statistics, strike figures measure a true distribution of activity. They simply record how often labour-management disputes develop into collective and complete stoppages of work; the strike is a category used in everyday life and its meaning as a tactical weapon in disputes is clear. Although the strike, as a 'stoppage of work to express a grievance or enforce a demand', cannot be defined independently from actors' meanings and intentions, this intentionality aspect is not a crucial problem: given the strike's role in the employment relationship, the inferring of intentions is not difficult. The main problems are practical; for example, it is hard to know where one strike ends and another begins. Such problems can be by-passed, however, if we concentrate on trends in activity. Since the different American recording agencies have used very similar definitions and procedures, their data are statistically reliable, especially for workers involved and 'days lost' in strikes. Their validity is more questionable, but, since we are concerned with trends and not with strike statistics as indices of the absolute amount of conflict at one time, we may proceed to use the official data, although considerable caution will be required regarding information on such things as the 'causes' of strikes. Chapter two examines the theory of the institutionalisation of industrial conflict. Its 'conventional' version, developed to its fullest extent by industrial relations writers of the 1950s, argues that institutions will grow up to channel and thus to control conflicts of these institutions, collective bargaining is the most important. As unions and management learn to co-operate, strikes become tactical weapons in the bargaining process and lose any wider political significance; not only are they institutionally controlled, but their frequency and intensity fall as institutional means are found for the resolution of conflict. One strand of the conventional view stresses the importance of industrialisation for the amount of conflict; in the 'early' period activity will be high because of the disruption caused by rapid industrial change, but subsequently workers will become accustomed to industry, and conflict will become less intense. This view is taken up by Shorter and Tilly in their book Strikes in France 1830-1968. They set out to chart the course of strikes from 'early' to 'modern' forms of protest and, although they criticise previous writings on the effect of industrialisation, can be taken as giving a distinct variant of the institutional isat ion theory. They stress the political role of the strike and thus widen the scope of the theory; and, in arguing for a transformation of the strike into a political demonstration instead of an economic battle, they follow the broad lines of the theory. Finally, a 'radical' version of the theory is identified. This grew up in response to the conventional line and argues that institutionalisation has not taken place on equal terms; there is a fundamental inequality of power in capitalist societies which has meant that the trade unions have been incorporated into the system on terms set by employers and the government. Workers have become enmeshed in a system over which they have little real control. This set of theories, being concerned with long-term trends in labour relations, is clearly suitable for testing against strike data. The central prediction is that the frequenty and duration of activity will decline as instituionalisation progresses, and strikes will also become more 'predictable' and 'orderly'. A weaker argument is that the effect of institutionalisation on industrial conflict will be contingent on economic circumstancesj we must therefore examine economic influences on strikes and whether any change in their impact can be attributed to instituional developments. It is also necessary to examine trends within industries and regions, to see if trends at a more detailed level than that revealed by the aggregate statistics support the instituionalisation theory. Chapter three tests the theory against the data on strike trends for 1881-1972. The notable feature of American strikes has been their failure to change 'shape': their frequency, size and duration have remained remarkably constant. This basic finding sets the framework within which all other results must be examined. Thus the observed rise in union involvement in strikes fits the theory's predictions, but does not counteract the fundamental weakness of the view that the amount of conflict will decline. Trends in the issues in strikes show the expected increase in strikes for union recognition during the 1930s, when collective bargaining was being established nationally, but these recognition strikes have not disappeared subsequently. Within industries, one would expect activity to peak when bargaining was being established, but to decline thereafter; but an examination of long-term trends in several sectors showed that such a pattern was unusual. Similarly, regional trends in activity do not fit the institutional isat ion model. Thus, changes in activity cannot be explained by either of the processes identified by the 'conventional' theory, namely collective bargaining and industrialisation. Neither is it possible to suggest that trends towards institutionalisation will be limited to particular industries or regions. Chapter four investigates the more subtle argument that the nature of economic and other influences on strike activity will be affected by the degree of institutionalisation. Thus the period 1946-72, during which institutionalised relations have been established, is compared with two earlier periods, representing the years of rapid industrialisation (1881-1910) and the period when bargaining was not institutionalised (1900-39). Using a multiple regression framework, the overall explanatory power of the economic determinants of strike activity does not vary markedly between these periods; but there is some evidence to suggest that the direction of the influence of particular variables has changed. The fact that a change occurred fits the institutionalisation model, but the precise direction of the change cannot be explained by it. Strike activity has been broadly influenced by economic conditions, but this link has not been direct; strikes are associated not with the current unemployment rate but with measures of the height and depth of previous business cycles. A general, and not an immediate, influence is at work. Shorter and Tilly expect that the degree of working class organisation will be the crucial variable intervening between economic conditions and strikes, and that strikes up to the New Deal should reflect political and not economic influences. Detailed examination of several models of strike activity suggests that these expectations are unfounded; the influence of union density on strikes has been relatively weak, and political and economic variables have not operated in the predicted directions.