AH Challenge: 1926 General Strike/A British Dictatorship?

Hi all, Jape here, a newbie to the fine realm of the AH fora.

To kick off my involvement I suggest a Challenge (since I'm a bit too tired to start writing up stuff :eek:).

Using the 1926 General Strike as a POD, could Britain have become a dictatorship?

The 1926 GS saw a major stand-off between the Trade Unions and the Tory Government regarding Miner Pay. You have the socialist radicals causing splits with Union and Labour Party leadership, 'Red Scares', the embryonic Fascist movement forming strikebreaking groups, major tensions between the strikers and OMS, a 'militia' of special constables set-up by the government, many of them unemployed working-class men.

Various snap dicisions also helped to calm things. The Daily Mail almost printed a massive article dubbed "For King & Country"! claiming the strike was high treason, un-British, etc. The printers however feared the public reaction and refused.

Similarly a large stand-off at London Docks over a food shipment between strikers and the OMS was quelled by the arrival of Army units, who besides their firepower were viewed with far less venom than the OMS.

Now I'm not nessecarily looking for looking for Fascist-wank (Blackshirts halt revolution, seize power, joins Germany in WWII) or Commie-wank (Glorious Revolution blah blah), I'm not even nessecarily looking for a long-term dictatorship or true hardcore totalitarian state.

Perhaps a premature National Government is formed, and thanks to the Depression is continued into the 1930's, supported by major anti-union legislation and paramilitary force.

Perhaps the government clamps down too harshly on the Unions, giving ammunition to the new breeds of the Labour Party (looking at EdT's brilliant Greater Britain thread as I say this) who lead by....saaay.... Mosley, leads a populist, Peron-style 'third way' government backed heavily by the Unions?

So more biased democracies than out and out dictatorships

I dunno, I quite tired and thought it would be an interesting PoD.

Cheers,
Jape
 
The Kaiserreich mod for HOI2 has the 1926 General Strike lead to a Syndicalist Britain (but a far more democratic one then France), but Kaiserreich is:
a) a CP-victory mod, so more far-reaching changes before that
and
b) not very realistic in regards to many things.
 
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