Red Clydeside
|
|
Red Clydeside is a term used to describe the era of political radicalism that characterised the city of Glasgow in Scotland and urban areas around the city on the banks of the River Clyde. The history of the British labour movement cannot be separated from the history of Red Clydeside. This period in Glasgow's history lasted from the 1910s till roughly the early 1930s, although its legacy is still visible today in the area. It was a term that was brought into popular consciousness by the newspapers referring to the political militancy of the time. An amalgamation of charismatic individuals, organized movements and socio-political forces leads to the enduring notion of Red Clydeside. This period has its roots directly in working class opposition to the United Kingdom's participation in the First World War, although the area had a long history of political radicalism before (its involvement in the Scottish Insurrection of 1820 for example).
| Contents |
Anti-war activism
To mobilise the workers of Clydeside against the First World War, the Clyde Workers' Committee (CWC) was formed, with William Gallacher as its head and David Kirkwood its treasurer. The CWC led the campaign against the Liberal government of David Lloyd George and their Munitions Act, which forbade engineers from leaving the company they were employed in. The CWC met with government leaders but no agreement could be reached and consequently both Gallacher and Kirkwood were arrested under the terms of the Defence of the Realm Act and jailed for their activities.
Anti-war activity also took place outside the workplace and on the streets in general. The Marxist John Maclean and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) member James Maxton were both jailed for their anti-war propagandizing. Both lost their jobs as teachers as a result of their activities also.
Rent strikes
Of all the problems in early twentieth-century Glasgow, housing was perhaps the most prominent. The housing problem had many guises: the condition of buildings was often poor, overcrowding was rampant, and sanitation was non-existent. And to make matters worse, the housing was frequently situated near rank-smelling, dirty and noisy industries. In this context the drastic rent increases of 1915 proved massively unpopular.
With many men fighting on the frontline it fell to the women at home to organise an effective opposition to the rent increases, although figures such as John Wheatley also played a role. The resultant strike in the same year was such an overwhelming success, particularly in areas of the city such as Govan and Partick, that the government had to introduce legislation to restrict rents.
The 40 hour week rally
The activities of the left continued after the end of the war. The campaign for a 40-hour week and improved conditions for the workers took hold of organised labour. On January 31, 1919 a massive rally organised by the trade unions took place on George Square in the centre of Glasgow. It has been estimated that as many as 90,000 were present, and the Red Flag was raised in the centre of the crowd. Massive brawls between the police and demonstrators took place, with a police tram being upturned.
The Liberal government panicked and massively over-reacted to the rally. Whilst those present were merely trying to secure improved working conditions they thought that a Bolshevik insurrection was about to occur, perhaps understandable given that it was only two years following the Russian Revolution. Whilst local troops based in the Maryhill barracks in the city were locked inside their posting, English troops and tanks were put onto the streets to control any unrest and extinguish any revolution that should materialise (which it of course didn't).
A Revolutionary Moment?
There remains a lively debate on the left, over whether the Red Clydeside movement constituted a revolutionary opportunity for the working-class. Though on the face of it, it would appear that the revolutionary potential of the Clydeside working-class has been over-exaggerated. Firstly, excepting Maclean, none of the labour leaders developed a class analysis of the war, nor did they seriously consider threatening the power and authority of the state. Furthermore, it was the conduct of those conducting the war, not the war itself that provoked opposition within the labour movement. The Independent Labour Party's May Day Manifesto of 1918 makes this very clear in calling for A Living Wage for all and Justice for our Soldiers and their Dependents. Moreover, the massive demand for fighting men meant that few Glaswegian families escaped personal loss of some kind. To undermine the war effort was to risk alienating the working class, which many labour leaders were unwilling to do – besides Maxton, Gallacher and Maclean.
William Gallacher, who would later become a Communist MP claimed that whilst the leaders of the rally were not seeking revolution, in hindsight they should have been. He claimed that they should have marched to the Maryhill barracks and tried to persuade the troops stationed there to come out on the protestors’ side.
The trade union leaders who had organized the meeting were arrested. Most were acquitted, although both Gallacher and Manny Shinwell were put in jail for their activities that day.
"Reds" in Parliament
The aura of Red Clydeside grew as the organized left replaced the Liberal Party as the party of the working-class. This manifested itself at the 1922 General Election, when several of the Red Clydesiders were elected to serve in the House of Commons (most of them ILP members). They included Maxton, Wheatley, Shinwell, Kirkwood, Neil Maclean and George Buchanan.
According to the Labour Party, the Red Clydesiders were viewed as being left-wing. Many of them, most notably Maxton and Wheatley were great critics of the first and second Labour governments, elected in 1924 and 1929 respectively.
The Red Clydeside era still impacts upon the politics of the area today. Even since then Glasgow has been known for political and industrial militancy, the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Work In of 1971, led by the then communist Jimmy Reid for example. Also, today the Labour Party holds every seat in the area in the House of Commons and has long been the dominant political force in the area (they hold 71 out of 79 seats on the City of Glasgow council for example).
This period in Glasgow’s colourful past remains a significant landmark for those on the left in Scotland. The legend of the Red Clydesiders can still be politically motivating. At the 1989 Glasgow Central by-election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate Alex Neil called himself and the then SNP MP for Govan Jim Sillars the "new Clydesiders".
External links
- Archive images and information (http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/redclyde/index.html)