Download 1. Radicalism during and after the war – “Red Clydeside”

ISSUE 4- How did the war
affect Scottish politics?
RED CLYDESIDE
• This issue is about how the war made
people think more about politics, how
people became more political and what
happened to the political parties.
Two main themes of this unit:
1. Radicalism during and after the war –
“Red Clydeside”
2. Post-war Politics:
• The decline of the Liberal Party
• The rise of the Labour Party.
• The re-emergence of the Scottish
Conservative and Unionist Party.
Before WW1
• Before 1914 Scottish politics was dominated
at national and local level by one party, the
Liberals e.g. famous Liberal MPs the Scot
H.H. Asquith, Winston Churchill was MP for
Dundee for a short time. The Labour party
was recently formed but found it difficult to
make an impact on the working class Liberal
vote. The Scottish Conservatives seemed to
be fading into obscurity north of the border
and were unpopular as they were associated
with the big land owners and big business in
Scotland.
1. Radicalism during and after
the war – “Red Clydeside”
Red Clydeside:
- Revolution= change the government
or
- Radicalism=major changes to society
or
- Reaction=keep things as they are
Red Clydeside
• One of the pervading myths of post-war
Scottish politics has been the strikes and
demonstrations during and after the war
called Red Clydeside. Was it as the
government claimed an attempted revolution
like Russia in 1917. Some have argued that it
increased radicalism (the desire for major
political change) in Scotland. Others however
claimed it was more about protecting jobs and
wages, not changing governments, in other
words reaction (keeping things the same).
Independent Labour Party
• We have already read about the success of
the Rent Strike in 1915 which was organised
locally but also received support from the
radical wing of the Labour Party the
Independent Labour Party, the ILP.
• The ILP organised the Clyde Workers
Committee (CWC) to support the rent strike
by organising strikes in support in munitions
works, shipyards e.g. Fairfield’s shipyard.
• Famous leaders of the ILP/ Clyde Workers
Committee were men like James Maxton,
David Kirkwood and Willie Gallagher many
would become ILP MPs after the war.
During the war the ILP/CWC were concerned
with issues such as:
• the dilution of labour (training women or nonskilled men to do a skilled worker’s job), which
threatened to cut the skilled worker’s wages
or even make him unemployed.
• The Munitions Act which prevented workers
striking or even leaving their jobs without
their employer’s permission, created a lot of
bad feeling in the workforce.
• The success of the rent strikes in 1915
encouraged radical groups that they could
take on the government and win.
When the war ended war workers were
worried about:
• job losses or wage cuts due to the
dilution of skilled labour
• to reduce unemployment trade unions
wanted to reduce working hours from
54 to 40 per week.
• Lloyd George’s famous wartime phrase
“a land fit for heroes” never
materialised and the improvement of
slum housing was a concern for both
workers, returning soldiers and wives .
The George Square Riot
January 31st 1919
• A wave of strikes followed by a mass
demonstration of over 90,000 people in
George Square ended on a riot following heavy
handed police tactics. When some of the
protestors waved a red flag the government
panicked and fearing the start of a Bolshevik
or Spartacist revolution sent 12,000 English
troops north and 6 tanks. However within a
week the strike was over when a compromise
47 hour week was agreed with trade unions.
What was the effect of Red
Clydeside?
• The strikes and demonstrations that
went on in and around the Glasgow area
(e.g. Lanarkshire miners came out on
strike too) have come to have legendary
status in Scottish politics:
• At the time the government and most
newspapers thought it was the beginning of a
revolution; remember it happened at the same
time as the Spartacist Revolt in Germany, and
less than two years after the Russian
Revolution.
• However it is clear the strikes and
demonstrations were more about preservation
than change, the workers wanted less hours
of work and the protection of their jobs and
wages, not the removal of the government.
• Once the strikers got a 47 hour week and
promises to end dilution the protests ended
which meant it was not about removing the
government.
• Certainly the events inspired those involved in
radical/far left politics, in particular the ILP
for decades afterwards. Many of its leading
members were arrested at the time but later
became ILP MPs e.g. James Maxton, Manny
Shindwell.
• At times it seems the myth was more
important than the reality, Red Clydeside
inspired a generation of radical Scottish
politicians (the British Communist Party was
formed in 1920 and based in Glasgow) but this
must be balanced with the fact that the
strongest party in Scotland was the
Conservatives before WW2.