:''The Triple Alliance is not to be confused with the

Triple Entente The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...

or Triple Alliance (1882).'' The Triple Alliance was an alliance of British

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

: the

Miners Federation of Great Britain The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' unions in Engla ...

, the

National Union of Railwaymen The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. The largest railway workers' union in the country, it was influential in the national trade union movement. History The NUR was an industrial union ...

and the

National Transport Workers' Federation The National Transport Workers' Federation (NTWF) was an association of British trade unions. It was formed in 1910 to co-ordinate the activities of various organisations catering for dockers, seamen, tramwaymen and road transport workers. Histor ...

(an association of dockers, seamen, tramwaymen and road vehicle workers' unions).

Formation and pre-war activity

After a period of intense industrial unrest beginning in July 1910, the Triple Alliance was formed in early 1914 by the

, the newly-unified

and the

. It appeared to signal a significant step towards greater unity and syndicalist ideology within British trade unionism. The onset of the First World War, however, curtailed any imminent action by the Alliance. In his 1936 book, '' The Strange Death of Liberal England'', George Dangerfield argued that if war had not broken out, there would have been a devastating general strike, coordinated by the Triple Alliance, in October 1914.Lowe, 2009:414

First World War

There was a cessation of trade union activity during the war. The industries represented by the Triple Alliance (mining, the railways and other transport systems) were temporarily nationalised during the war.

Post-war

Black Friday

The mining industry was privatised on 1 April 1921, and the mine owners immediately threatened wage reductions. The Miners' Federation of Great Britain planned a co-ordinated response with its allies in the Triple Alliance on Friday the 15th. Following some confusion over what terms the Miners' Union would be prepared to accept, the transport workers' and railwaymen's unions decided not to call their members on strike in sympathy with the miners. That was subsequently remembered as Black Friday by many socialists and trade unionists, who regarded the collapse of the Triple Alliance as a betrayal of solidarity and a major defeat for trade unionism.

General strike

The Triple Alliance was significant in securing government subsidies for miners' wages on Red Friday in July 1925 by threatening a general strike. The Triple Alliance agreed to back the miners in their dispute against mine owners who had announced future wage cuts and had increased work hours a month previously. That threatened a complete halt to the production and transport of coal.

References

Sources

* Coates, Ken & Topham, Tony (1994). ''The Making of the Labour Movement''. Nottingham. . * Laybourn, Keith (1999). ''The General Strike''. London. . * Lowe, Norman (2009). ''Mastering Modern British History''. Palgrave Macmillan, Beccles. 1914 establishments in the United Kingdom 20th century in the United Kingdom British trade unions history History of mining in the United Kingdom National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) National Union of Railwaymen {{econ-hist-stub