Red Clydeside is a term used to describe the era of political radicalism that characterised the city of
GlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and urban areas around the city on the banks of the
River ClydeThe River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....
such as
ClydebankClydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...
,
GreenockGreenock is a town and former burgh of barony in the Inverclyde council area of western Scotland. It forms part of a contiguous urban area with Gourock to the west and Port Glasgow to the east. Greenock lies within the Central Lowlands geographic area of Scotland.Greenock's population was...
and
PaisleyPaisley is a town and a former burgh in the west-Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is situated on the northern edge of the Gleniffer Braes, straddling the banks of the River Cart...
. The history of
Red Clydeside is a significant part of the history of the
labour movementThe term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and political governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing...
in the United Kingdom as a whole, and in Scotland in particular.
This period in the Clyde's history lasted from the 1910s until roughly the early 1930s, although its legacy is still visible today. 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 classWorking class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in lower tier jobs as measured by skill, education, and compensation....
opposition to the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
's participation in
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, although the area had a long history of political
radicalismThe term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
going back to its involvement in the
Friends of the People society and the "
Radical WarThe Radical War, also known as the Scottish Insurrection of 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest, a culmination of Radical demands for reform in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which had become prominent in the early years of the French Revolution, but had then been repressed...
" of 1820.
1911 strike at Singer
The 11,000 workers at the largest factory of
SingerSinger Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merrit Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. Originally all...
sewing machines factory went in
strikeStrike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to perform work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became important in factories and mines...
in March-April 1911, ceasing to work in solidarity of 12 female colleagues protesting against work process reorganization. Following the end of the strike, Singer fired 400 workers, including all strike leaders and purported members of the IWGB, among whom Arthur McManus, who later went on to become the first chairman of the CPGB between 1920 and 1922 .
Labour unrest, in particular by women and unskilled labour, greatly increased between 1910-1914 in Clydeside, with four times more days on strike than between 1900 and 1910. During these four years preceding
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, membership of those affiliated to the
Scottish Trades Union CongressThe Scottish Trades Union Congress is the co-ordinating body of trade unions, and local Trades Councils, in Scotland. With 39 affiliated unions as of 2007, the STUC represents around 630,000 trade unionists....
rose from 129,000 in 1909 to 230,000 in 1914 .
Anti-war activism
To mobilise the workers of
Clydeside against World War I, the
Clyde Workers' CommitteeThe Clyde Workers Committee was formed to campaign against the Munitions Act. The leader of the CWC was Willie Gallacher, who was jailed under the Defense of the Realm Act together with John Muir for an article in the CWC journal The Worker criticising World War I.-External links:**...
(CWC) was formed, with
Willie GallacherWilliam Gallacher was a Scottish trade unionist, activist and communist. He was one of the leading figures of the Shop Stewards' Movement in wartime Glasgow and a founding member of the Communist Party of Great Britain...
as its head and
David KirkwoodDavid Kirkwood, 1st Baron Kirkwood, PC was a socialist from the East End of Glasgow, Scotland, viewed as a leading figure of the Red Clydeside era.Kirkwood was educated at Parkhead Public School and was trained as an engineer....
its treasurer. The CWC led the campaign against the Liberal government of
David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British statesman and the only Welsh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; he is also the only one to have spoken English as a second language, Welsh having been his first.During a long tenure of office, mainly as Chancellor of the...
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 MacleanJohn Maclean MA was a Scottish schoolteacher and revolutionary socialist. He is primarily known as a Marxist educator and notable for his outspoken opposition to the First World War....
and the
Independent Labour PartyThe Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated as a constituent part of the Labour Party federation from its origin in 1906 until 1932, at which time the ILP left the larger group to pursue its own political path...
(ILP) member
James MaxtonJames Maxton was a Scottish socialist politician, and leader of the Independent Labour Party. A prominent proponent of Home Rule for Scotland, he is remembered as one of the leading figures of the Red Clydeside era.-Early years:...
were both jailed for their anti-war propagandizing.
Rent strikes
Of all the problems in early 20th-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
sanitationSanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
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 at the front, the women left behind were seen as vulnerable by landlords, and massive rent increases became the norm. Existing tenants who could no longer afford the rent were evicted, causing widespread alarm among the (now) mainly female populace. In Govan, an area of Glasgow where shipbuilding was the main occupation, the women organised an effective opposition to the rent increases, although figures such as
John WheatleyJohn Wheatley was a Scottish socialist politician. He was a prominent figure of the Red Clydeside era.Wheatley was born in Bonmahon, Co. Waterford in Ireland, to Thomas and Johanna Wheatley. In 1876 the family moved to Braehead, Lanarkshire in Scotland...
also played a role. The main figure in the movement was
Mary BarbourMary Barbour was a Scottish political activist, local councillor and magistrate who was closely associated with the Red Clydeside movement in the early 20th century....
, and the protestors soon became known as "Mrs Barbour's Army". Barbour went on after the war to become the first female
councillorA councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council. Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman...
in Glasgow, and a life-long campaigner for better living conditions.
The usual method of preventing eviction was to block the entrance to the tenement. Photographs of the time show hundreds of people participating. If the
sheriff officerA sheriff officer is an officer of the Scottish Sheriff Court, responsible for serving documents and enforcing court orders. The jurisdiction of a sheriff officer is limited to the area of their commission , unlike messengers-at-arms...
s managed to get as far as the entrance, another tactic was to humiliate them--pulling down their trousers was a commonly used method.
The mood of the placards carried by the protesters was that the landlords were unpatriotic. A common message was that while the men were fighting on the front line the landlords were in league with the enemy--"While my father is a prisoner in Germany the landlord is attacking us at home".
The strikes soon spread and became such an overwhelming success, moving out from Glasgow and on to other cities throughout the UK, that the government, on 27 November 1915, introduced legislation to restrict rents to the pre-war level.
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 unionA trade union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas, such as working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labor contracts with employers...
s took place on
George SquareGeorge Square is the central square in the Scottish city of Glasgow. Named after King George III, George Square was laid out in 1781, part of the innovative Georgian central grid plan that initially spanned from Stockwell Street east to Buchanan Street—which reflected the growing rational influence...
in the centre of Glasgow. It has been estimated that as many as 90,000 were present, and the
Red FlagRed flags can signify a warning, martial law, defiance, or left-wing politics. The earliest citation for "red flag" in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1602 and shows that at that time the flag was used by military forces to indicate that they were preparing for battle.
[1602...]
was raised in the centre of the crowd. The gathering descended into what is generally considered to have been a police riot, with the
Riot ActThe Riot Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which authorised local authorities to declare any group of more than twelve people to be unlawfully assembled, and thus have to disperse or face punitive action...
being read, and attacks made on the strike leaders as they exited the City Chambers.
The Coalition government panicked, fearing a possible threat to order or even a
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903...
-style insurrection. It was only 14 months since the
Russian RevolutionThe Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
, and the
German RevolutionThe German Revolution was the politically-driven civil conflict in Germany at the end of World War I. The period lasted from November 1918 until the formal establishment of the Weimar Republic in August 1919....
was in progress in January 1919. Troops based in the city's
MaryhillMaryhill is an area of the City of Glasgow, in Scotland. Maryhill is a former Burgh. The population of Maryhill is around 52,000. Maryhill stretches over 7 miles along Maryhill Road...
barracks were locked inside their post, with troops and tanks from elsewhere in the country sent into the city to control unrest and extinguish any revolution that should break out. No Glaswegian troops were deployed, and few veterans, with the government fearing that fellow Glaswegians might sympathise with the strikers if a revolutionary situation developed in Glasgow. Young, mostly untried, troops were transported from camps and barracks around the country and stationed on the streets of Glasgow specifically to combat this possible scenario.
A commonly maintained claim that the troops were English is not backed up by press reports or first-hand accounts of the period, which stress the youth and inexperience of the soldiers, rather than any geographical origins.
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 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 behaviour of those conducting the war, not the war itself that provoked opposition within the labour movement. The
Independent Labour PartyThe Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated as a constituent part of the Labour Party federation from its origin in 1906 until 1932, at which time the ILP left the larger group to pursue its own political path...
's
May DayMay Day occurs on May 1 and refers to several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by the unions and socialist groups....
ManifestoA manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. However, manifestos relating to religious belief are rather referred to as credo. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
of 1918 makes this very clear in calling for
A Living Wage for all and
Justice for our Soldiers and their Dependants. 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
CommunistThe Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in the United Kingdom, though it never became a mass party like the communist parties of France and Italy...
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 protesters' side.
The trade union leaders who had organized the meeting were arrested. Most were acquitted, although both Gallacher and
Manny ShinwellEmanuel Shinwell, Baron Shinwell CH, PC , familiarly known as Manny, was a British trade union official, Labour politician and one of the leading figures of Red Clydeside....
were put in jail for their activities that day, Shinwell also being charged with inflammatory speech the week before on James Watt Street in the city's docks, in an episode that later erupted into a race riot.
"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 ElectionThe UK general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John Robert Clynes...
, when several of the
Red Clydesiders were elected to serve in the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
(most of them
Independent Labour PartyThe Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated as a constituent part of the Labour Party federation from its origin in 1906 until 1932, at which time the ILP left the larger group to pursue its own political path...
members). They included Maxton, Wheatley, Shinwell, Kirkwood,
Neil MacleanNeil Maclean was a Scottish socialist and a Member of Parliament.Maclean was the first Secretary of the Socialist Labour Party, but was expelled in 1908 for supporting what the party considered a reformist measure, the advocacy of the right to work, even under a capitalist system.A member of the...
and
George BuchananGeorge Buchanan PC was born in Glasgow, Scotland. A committed socialist, he joined the Independent Labour Party .Buchanan was vice-chairman of Glasgow Trades Council and sat on the city council from 1919 to 1923...
.
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 British 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 ReidJimmy Reid is a Scottish journalist and ex-trade union activist born in Govan, Glasgow. He came to prominence in the early 1970s when he led the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Work-in to try and stop Edward Heath's Conservative government from closing down the shipyards on the River Clyde...
is an 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.
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 PartyThe Scottish National Party is a centre-left political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. In the last few decades, the SNP has normally polled the second highest number of votes for a political party in Scotland. However, the 2009 European Election saw the party top the poll with...
(SNP) candidate
Alex NeilAlex Neil in Patna, East Ayrshire, Scotland. Born into a mining family he became somewhat naturally involved in Labour Politics, joining the Labour Party in the mid 1960s. He would become the chairman of both the Scottish Organisation of Labour Students and later the UK wide National Organisation...
called himself and the then SNP MP for Govan,
Jim Sillars-Early life:Sillars was born in Ayrshire, Scotland. His early working life involved him following his father into working on the railways, then joining the Royal Navy, before becoming a fireman...
, the "new Clydesiders".
Popular culture
The album
Red Clydeside by
Alistair HulettAlistair Hulett, born in Glasgow, is an acoustic folk singer with a distinctively political tone. In the early 80's Hulett was the founding member of the five piece folk punk band, Roaring Jack, opening for overseas acts, including Billy Bragg, The Pogues and The Men They Couldn't Hang.Hullett's...
contains nine songs about the movement, particularly the anti-war protests and the rent strike.
External links