After the passing of the Corn Laws in 1815, and the poor harvest in 1816, the price of bread increased dramatically. At the same time many industrial workers experienced a drop in wages. Spinners in Manchester argued that their average wage had gone from 24s in 1815 to 18s in 1818. The employers claimed that the average wage was nearly 30s a week. When the employers refused to increase their wages, the spinners threaten to withdraw their labour. The cotton manufacturers were unwilling to change their mind and so in July 1818 the spinners went on strike. For the next few weeks spinners survived on their savings and from donations from sympathisers. The strikers received considerable support from the Manchester Observer the newspaper established that year by John Knight, James Wroe and John Saxton. The spinners picketed factories and paraded through the streets of Manchester with placards that described their problems.

The magistrates became concerned when groups of spinners began to threaten men they described as blacklegs. As well as being stopped from entering the cotton factories, these spinners were sometimes confronted by angry strikers who would not let them leave their homes. Groups of spinners began to attack some of the cotton factories in Manchester. One target was the factory in Oxford Road owned by Hugh Birley, the much hated captain of the Manchester & Salford Yeomanry. After throwing some stones at the factory the spinners went home. The British government became concerned when they heard about these disturbances. Their spies also reported that the cotton spinners were in the process of trying to form a General Union of Trades. Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary, urged the local magistrates to take action. The magistrates responded by arresting John Johnson, John Bagguley and Samuel Drummond, the three leaders of the Blanketeers March that had taken place in 1817. The magistrates also arrested John Doherty, the man they believed was behind the plans to form a General Union of Trades. Doherty was charged with assaulting a woman while picketing. Doherty denied the charge but was sentenced to two years' hard labour. Without their leaders and without the means to feed their families, the spinners called off their strike in September. After two and a half months on strike, the spinners went back to work on the same wages as they had been receiving in July. Soon after the spinners went back to work the weavers in Manchester called a strike. The weavers claimed that their wages had sunk from 11s to 6s a week. Their demand was for a 13s minimum wage. The strike quickly spread to Bolton, Bury and Burnley. Some employers agreed to pay this minimum wage, but most refused, and after a few weeks the weavers gradually drifted back to work.