Dock Strike of London, The
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
The, a notable strike of unskilled workmen in 1888. East London, the region of the great docks, is the residence of many thousand laborers engaged in loading and unloading cargoes, and in other river-side employments. For centuries this district was noted for sodden drunkenness and indifference to progress. When a dock wanted laborers the gate swung open, and when enough laborers had poured in the gate was closed. Just previous to the year named some degree of success was attained in uniting the men in trade unions. August twelfth a strike was called. The Union demanded a working day of at least four hours, the abolition of piece work and contract work, and a wage of not less than twelve cents an hour. This stand for not less than forty-eight cents a day on which to support a family in London shows the condition of the dock laborers. The companies refused. John Burns put himself at the head of the strikers. In ten days' time 150,000 men-porters, coal heavers, seamen, firemen, carmen, bargemen-were under control, and business was at a standstill along ten miles of the busiest riverside in the world. Daily mass meetings were held at Tower Hill, and daily the strikers marched to the heart of the city in a solid body, half as large as the entire population of the state of Delaware. The leaders worked night and day to feed the strikers and their families. The press took up the cause. Clergymen preached from their pulpits. Contributions poured in from workingmen and wealthy men. Old England and New England , the Old World and the New, sent in money and supplies. One million dollars passed through the treasury of the committee. A belated contribution from far off Australia, coming when enthusiasm was ebbing, and supplies were falling off , stayed the hands of the leaders and rendered success possible. The dock companies defied public sentiment for five weeks, but finally agreed to the demands of the strikers. The London Dock Strike won, and John Burns became a member of the English cabinet. See Burns ; John
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's dates the strike to 1888; it actually began on 14 August 1889, and the "twelve cents an hour" demand was the famous "dockers' tanner" of sixpence, with a guaranteed minimum of four hours' work at a call. The victory of September 1889 did not end casual hiring at the dock gate "when a dock wanted laborers" s that survived until the National Dock Labour Scheme of 1947, which was itself abolished in 1989. The docks the strikers shut down have gone entirely: containerisation closed the upstream London docks between 1967 and 1981, and the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs now carry the office towers of Canary Wharf, while London's container trade runs through Tilbury and, since 2013, London Gateway. John Burns did enter the cabinet, as President of the Local Government Board in 1905, the first man of manual-labouring origins to do so; he resigned in 1914 in opposition to the war.
Written for this edition, 2026.