IN the early 20th century, Stratford and West Ham were a focus for socialism and trade union activity.

So when the entire country went on strike it was not surprising that there was a huge amount of support for the action in Stratford.

The General Strike took place exactly 80 years ago this week. Between May 3 and May 12, 1926, every trade union called out its workers in support of Britain's 1.2 million miners, who were facing severe pay cuts.

Around Stratford there was high unemployment owing to the large proportion of casual dock workers based in and around West Ham.

The labourers would go down to the docks every morning and line up in the hope of getting picked to work.

Practices like this, and the terrible conditions endured by workers at the Beckton gasworks, led the long-serving West Ham MP Will Thorne to establish what we now know as the GMB union.

In the main picture above, we can see a massive convoy guarded by police clogging Stratford High Street, which then as today formed part of one of the main routes into London from the east.

The convoy caused such congestion that traffic was reported to have crawled through Stratford at a rate of 400 yards per hour.

In the second picture, we can see a crowd gathered outside the Stratford Wireless Company shop in the High Street to catch the latest bulletin from the fledgling BBC.

The printers of the national daily papers were on strike, so the radio was the only reliable source of news.

The dominant local paper at the time, the Stratford Express, was equally hit by the strikes.

On Saturday, May 8, it managed to publish a limited run on a single sheet of typewritten foolscap paper.

It was headed by a message from the Mayor of East Ham urging local people to "keep cool".

The paper also featured a dire report from the West Ham Guardians, not a forerunner of the publication you are currently holding but a board set up to distribute welfare vouchers under the Poor Law.

They warned there was only a week's worth of supplies left, meaning that many of West Ham's unemployed were days away from starvation.

The borough's electricity supply was turned off and public order was beginning to break down. A police sergeant was assaulted in Canning Town, while over-zealous pickets were arrested for interfering with lorries in Stratford High Street.

However the Stratford Express reported: "In spite of various rumours it can be definitely stated that there have been no strike fatalities amongst police or civilians in West Ham or East Ham."

The strike failed. Trades Union Congress leaders called off the action after they went to Downing Street on May 12 but were unable to negotiate a better deal for the miners.