[1][2] Its membership was boosted by the stance of the Federation against the 1919 United Kingdom railway strike in the autumn of that year: it called on Prime Minister David Lloyd George to "hold firm against Labour tyranny", causing tension in its ranks and prompting many left-wing members to leave and join NUX, which had supported the strike.
[1] The Union's view was that soldiers should not be seen as a caste separate from the rest of society: that when they served they were "workers-in-uniform", and that when they ended their duty they went back to being workers.
Ernest Mander, a London lawyer who sold his home to help finance the NUX and later emigrated to New Zealand, became General Secretary.
[1] In the eighteen months since its formation, the NUX had conducted vigorous propaganda campaigns throughout Britain and held an estimated 47,000 meetings.
[1] The NUX also served as an apprenticeship for future political campaigners such as John Beckett, who became a Labour MP and later a leading fascist, and the Birmingham journalists and politicians Jim Simmons and CE Leatherland.