ABSTRACT
The great London dock strike of that year, which Ben Tillett helped to lead, is generally acknowledged to be second only to the General Strike of 1926 in importance to the British labour movement and to modern British labour history in general. It marked the triumphant overture of the new unionist movement, that upsurge among the unskilled workers of labour and political militancy which led to the formation and extension of mass unions, of socialism as a popular creed, and of the Independent Labour Party itself. The contemporary press reveals that Tillett’s reputation at this juncture was problematic. There were two socialist newspapers in London following developments in dockland during this period: Justice, which belonged to the Social Democratic Federation, and the Labour Elector, which was edited by the enigmatic and sardonic H.H. Champion. Tillett, who throughout his career oscillated between moods of exultation and despair, might well have been excused for pessimism at this point.
