For the first time, general trade unions were able to establish themselves on a permanent footing and become genuine mass organisations of the working class.
A strike committee, chaired by the syndicalist Tom Mann, was formed to represent all of the workers in dispute.
Many meetings were held on St. George's Plateau, next to St. George’s Hall, on Lime Street, including the rally on 13 August in which police carried out a baton charge a crowd of 85,000 people, who had gathered to hear Tom Mann speak.
Two days later, soldiers of the 18th Hussars opened fire on a crowd on Vauxhall Road, injuring fifteen, two fatally: John Sutcliffe, a 19-year-old carter, was shot twice in the head, and Michael Prendergast, a 30-year-old docker, was shot twice in the chest.
[2] Home Secretary Winston Churchill sent in troops and positioned the cruiser HMS Antrim in the Mersey.