Transcript Red Clydeside - Saint Roch's Secondary School

Red Clydeside
During the War
• Between 1915 and 1919 parts of Glasgow
and its surrounding area became known
as ‘Red Clydeside’
• Glasgow and Clydeside seemed to be on
the brink of revolution as a series of strikes
and bad tempered demonstrations
convinced the Government that militant
Bolsheviks in Scotland were about to rise
as one and bring down Capitalism
• During the War women had taken to the
streets to protest against rent increases.
• Red Clydeside is central to Scotland’s
experience during the First World War.
• Many involved in the heavy industry either
as workers or trade union leaders
• Both Trade Unionists and anti-war
campaigners wanted higher pay and to
preserve their trades
Prologue
• Glasgow workforce saw a huge influx of
highland and Irish Immigrants owing to the
Industrial nature of its Industry
• Introduction of Mass Production techniques were
changing factories in Glasgow
• Powerful trade unions, particularly in the skilled
engineering industries
• Had a tradition of helping people in need in
Glasgow
• Sense of injustice at how the Working
Class in Glasgow did not benefit from their
hard work.
• Glasgow area saw growth of Socialist and
Labour-based organisations such as ILP
• Increasing industrial unrest pre-war
• There were TWO distinct phases to Red
Clydeside: the incidents which took place
during Wartime and the post-war strikes
and confrontations in early 1919.
1. Engineers
• Confrontation between engineers and the
Ministry of Munitions over the issue of Dilution
and also by the rent strikes
• Took place against the wider context of the
emergence of an anti-war and pro-peace
movement within the city
• The city soon became the focus for the largest
and most vocal working class opposition to the
war experienced in wartime Britain.
• Under DORA strikes were officially forbidden
during the war.
2. ‘Tuppence’ an hour
•
January 1915, engineers in Glasgow
threatened to go on strike unless their
claim for an additional two pence
‘tuppence’ was met
– why?
1. Rise in cost of living
2. Fear of losing their position as skilled workers
3. American workers were paid more than Scottish
workers
4. Engineers also felt employers were taking
advantage of the war, making inflated profits
Continued..
• A strike was called on 15 February and although
it was settled a fortnight a fortnight later
• Clydeside found itself with a reputation for
militancy and battle lines had been drawn
between the workforce and the Government
• 10,000 workers/members involved
• The action, including the 1915 rent strikes, had
the broad support of several groups of the Left
(ILP, suffragettes, Glasgow Trades council) and
paved the way for future confrontation
3. Leaving Certificate System
• In the summer of 1915 there were two strikes at
the Fairfield yard (shipyard) over the leaving
certificate system
• Regulated workers leaving one job and getting
another
• Those striking against the measure believed the
system could be used to prevent free movement
of Labour
• The strike leaders were fined £10 as punishment
• Those who refused to pay were sent to prison
• Led to further escalations
4. Dilution
• Problem throughout the war
• Early in 1916 the Government acted to
enforce dilution
– Dilution meant the use of unskilled workers to
do parts of a job that had previously had only
been done by skilled workers
• Reaction of skilled labour to the
introduction of unskilled workers to do their
job largely negative
Continued..
• David Lloyd George visited Glasgow on Christmas Day
1915, he was heckled and jeered by workers & unionists
• The Clyde Workers’ Committee (CWC) was determined
to oppose the introduction of unskilled labour
• Engineers were extremely conscious of their position in
society and proud of the fact that they had worked long
and hard to attain their status as craftsmen.
• Not only did this threaten their privileged positions within
the workplace, their were well-grounded fears that the
wartime emergency measures would be continued in
peacetime and that in the long term they would be the
losers.
5. Conscription
• As mentioned before in this topic
• ILP and other groups had campaigned against
conscription
• Many workers saw yet another threat to jobs
• They felt workers would be conscripted and be
sent back to the factories to work but this time
under direct government control
• Strikes occurred, Government took strong action
and public opinion supported the Government
• Newspapers described the strikers as greedy,
ignorant and selfish.
Key Trade Union Leaders &
Socialists
• Willie Gallacher
–
William Gallacher : Biography
• David Kirkwood
-
David Kirkwood Biography
• John Maclean
–
John Maclean Biography
• Why do you think strikes against
conscriptions did not gain public support?
• 1917 and 1918 the area of Glasgow and
Clydeside was relatively calm.