ABSTRACT
On 12 December 1949 workers in three power stations in Greater London went on unofficial strike, followed next day by workers at a fourth. The strike lasted a week. In the conditions in electricity supply since the early 1950s such a strike, while it would have been taken seriously within the industry, would not have caused more than a ripple on the surface of the country’s affairs. However, in 1949 political, economic and industrial conditions were such that the strike became a cause célèbre. Why this should have been is the subject of this chapter. The full story has not been told before; it is intriguing and highly relevant to the central theme of the book.
