Editing Edwardian era (section)

=== Great Unrest: labour upheavals 1910–1914 ===
{{main|Great Unrest}}
The working classes were beginning to protest politically for a greater voice in government, especially after 1908, reaching a crescendo known as the [[Great Unrest]] in 1910-1914. The extreme agitation included the 1910-1911 [[Tonypandy riots]]; the [[1911 Liverpool general transport strike]]; the [[National coal strike of 1912]]; and the [[1913 Dublin lockout]]. It was modern Britain's worst labour unrest and compares with the [[1926 general strike]]. The period of unrest was labelled "great" not because of its scale, but due to the level of violence employed by both the state and labourers; including deaths of strikers at the hands of police and sabotage on the part of the workers.<ref>Yann Béliard, "Introduction: Revisiting the Great Labour Unrest, 1911-1914". ''Labour History Review'' (2014) 79#1: 1–17. [https://univ-sorbonne-nouvelle.hal.science/hal-03898835/document online]</ref>

The Great Unrest saw an enormous increase in trade union membership, which affected all industries to varying extents.<ref> Ronald V. Sires, "Labor Unrest in England, 1910–1914." ''Journal of Economic History'' 15.3 (1955): 246-266. [http://digamoo.free.fr/sires1955.pdf online] </ref><ref>Joseph L. White, ''The Limits of Trade Union Militancy: The Lancashire Textile Workers, 1910–1914'' (1978).</ref> The militants were most active in coal mining, textiles and transportation. Much of the militancy emerged from grassroots protests against falling real wages, with union leadership scrambling to catch up. The new unions of semiskilled workers were the most militant.<ref>Andrew Miles and Mike Savage, ''The remaking of the British working class, 1840–1940'' (Routledge, 2013). pp 80–81</ref> The National Sailors' and Firemen's Union directed strike activities in many port cities across Britain. The national leadership was strongly supported by local leaders, for example the Glasgow Trades Council. In Glasgow and other major cities there were distinctive local variations. Glasgow was more unified and coherent than most centres. The long-term result was seen in the strength of waterfront organisation on the Clyde River, marked as it was by the emergence of independent locally based unions among both dockers and seamen.<ref>Matt Vaughan Wilson, "The 1911 Waterfront Strikes in Glasgow: Trade Unions and Rank-and-File Militancy in the Labour Unrest of 1910–1914." ''International Review of Social History'' 53#2 (2008): 261–292.</ref>