22 Lewis is writing about the General Strike. It began as a result of the Samuel Committee recommending cuts in the wages of miners. The owners of the mines, however, while accepting a cut in wages, argued for longer hours, and at the end of April they locked the miners out of the pits. The Trades Union Congress called a meeting and agreed a‘national strike’. They hoped that such a threat would force the Government to settle. But Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister, called off talks with the Trades Union Congress because printers refused to print an anti-union article in the Daily Mail. Beginning on 3 May workers in transport, iron and steel, electricity, gas, building and newspaper printing all stopped work. Every town had its own strike committee which tried to keep essential supplies moving. While the miners refused to give in, the TUC called off the strike.