ABSTRACT
As the year 1914 progressed, the threat of imminent war began doggedly to insert itself into the affairs of industry and organised labour. In common with many other elements of the labour movement, the YMA initially viewed the war with a mixture of caution and cynicism. The YMA Council passed a motion in early August expressing its sincere trust ‘that the area of war will be restricted to present combatants’ and demanding that the British government use all means possible to restore peace and not ‘embroil the people of this country in an international quarrel which can lead only to the advantage of the ruling classes of the countries concerned, and can bring nothing but ruin and privation to the workers’.1 But events moved quickly, the war becoming an all-too-present reality and immediate preoccupation, touching almost all aspects of union activity, and having a significant impact on the coal industry and on mining communities.
