ABSTRACT
August 30, 1889, when the Parliamentary Session ended, the attention, first, of London and then of the whole country, had been drawn to the Great Dock Strike that was paralysing the business of the greatest port in the world. The most picturesque and effective demonstration it had made before the Dock Strike was in the match-girls’ strike of July 1888, so ably and convincingly led to victory by Mrs. Besant, then at the height of her Socialist activity. Certainly Tillett was sent to the Dock Companies with a very comprehensive set of demands which had to be accepted by midday on August 14th if a strike was to be avoided. The dockers’ fight and victory had almost immediate effects. Dozens of poorly paid and “unorganised” trades put forward demands for better wages and conditions and, often enough, won very considerable improvements without a strike.
