Been There, Done That..
I did a timeline a while ago based on the idea of a Bolshevik-style uprising in Glasgow:
Days of The Glasgow Soviet : - the origins of the Scottish Republic:
Part 1: Strike:
Britain in the early days of 1919 was a sullen, depressed and angry place. The end of the Great War the previous November had caused a momentary surge of national euphoria but the stark realisation of the horror of war and the deaths of nearly a million British soldiers, sailors and airmen as well as civilian losses in German air raids and naval attacks, had led many to question the reasons for the conflict.
Unprecedented Government control over society and the economy and privation caused by German submarine activity in the Atlantic and the need to feed Britain’s vastly inflated armed forces had also caused tensions to develop. The news of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in November 1917 and the overthrow of the autarchic dynasties of Central and Eastern Europe in the last days of the war had further inflamed the desire for change especially among the large numbers of the working class.
There had been isolated and sporadic periods of civil unrest during the conflict and nowhere more than Glasgow, which had seen a rent strike in 1915 and the growth of a strong and vociferous anti-war movement, which had violently opposed the introduction of conscription in 1916.
For many in the vast working-class estates of Clydeside and the industrial central lowlands, the war was not fought for “their” benefit but for the preservation of the privilege of the rich. It had been the working class who had seen their sons shipped to Flanders and slaughtered.
The hope was that peace would bring social and political change but it soon became clear that the returning army would not face a “land fit for heroes”. In early 1919, the shipbuilding unions agreed a reduction in the working week from 57 to 47 hours but this was angrily repudiated on Clydeside where unions called for a 40 hour working week and other improvements in pay and conditions.
Unlike in other areas, the workers on Clydeside had organised themselves into the Clyde Workers Committee (CWC). The demand for a 40-hour week had distinct political overtones. A shorter working week would create jobs for discharged ex-servicemen as well as maintaining strong employment throughout the city and region, which would also strengthen union power against the employers.
The CWC was able to mobilise support across Glasgow and places like Airdrie and Motherwell in support of the shipbuilding workers and was far more effective and powerful than the organised unions.
On 26th January 1919, the Clydeside shipyard workers went on strike and within three days, 36,000 mineworkers joined the 40,000 in the shipyards, as did thousands in other industries, paralysing the city and much of the surrounding area.
On January 29th, the Lord Provost agreed to meet a deputation from the CWC at Glasgow City Hall. At this meeting, the CWC leaders urged the Lord Provost to force the employers to concede the demand for a 40-hour week. The Lord Provost could not or would not give a definite answer and asked the CWC to return in forty-eight hours.
On January 31st 1919, the CWC leaders were meeting the Lord Provost when the meeting was interrupted by an uproar from outside. The Police had launched an unprovoked attack on the demonstrating works and a full-scale riot erupted. The CWC leaders left the City Hall by a rear entrance just as the Police closed in. The centre of Glasgow became a battleground but while the Police had the initial advantage, the strikers fought back and by sheer weight of numbers drove the Police out of the centre of the city.
Back in the City Hall, the CWC leaders led a deputation, which arrested the Lord Provost and his staff. In the hours that followed, the more moderate elements on the CWC lost power to revolutionary elements such as John MacLean, Peter Marshall and Arthur McManus. In the early hours of February 1st, the CWC formed a “Workers Council” to run the city. The Glasgow Soviet was born.
Part 2: Battle:
Initially, the writ of the Workers Council ran little further than the City Hall but as the day moved on, more of the city pledged support for what was already becoming known as the Glasgow Soviet. A critical element of support came from a battalion of soldiers stationed at Maryhill, which executed its own officers and formed a “Red Guard” to defend the Soviet.
In London, the news of the events in Glasgow had been received with fear and disbelief. The Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, contacted Home Secretary George Cave who immediately agreed that this “revolution”, as he called it, had to be suppressed “with the full ferocity of the law”. However, it soon became clear that the Glasgow Police force had either melted away or joined the Soviet along with a number of soldiers and sailors.
Throughout the war, a force of some 10,000 soldiers had been retained in England specifically to deal with any internal civil unrest or disaster. This force was ordered to Glasgow along with tanks. The force was made up of wholly English troops, as Cave and Lloyd George believed that Scottish forces would not be reliable. Indeed, news of the Glasgow Soviet had led to sporadic mutinies and unrest in other Scottish regiments.
The Army faced disruption as it approached Glasgow with roadblocks in place and the rail system disrupted. Soldiers were met with jeers and stones in Airdrie and Motherwell and, worryingly for the Government, some desertions were reported.
On February 4th, the army moved into Glasgow and met heavy resistance from soldiers and workers. The fighting soon became disorganised as the outgunned strikers used their knowledge of the city and its streets to slow up the advance of the Army. Tanks were attacked and put out of action and casualties were high on both sides. The Army was forced to shell the centre of the city including the railway station, post office and city hall. Slowly, the Army fought its way into the city centre but had to contest every yard.
For the Soviet leaders, the military response had come as no surprise and they had hurriedly planned a resistance based on the shipyards and the streets. They were outgunned despite the Scottish battalion of around 900 men, which fought bravely to slow up the advance of the Army.
By the early hours of February 7th, the Army was in the City Centre. The fighting was ferocious in the ruins of the key buildings. Some of the Soviet leaders opted for flight but MacLean and McManus stayed in the City Hall until the end. Just after dawn, English troops broke through the last line of resistance and occupied the City Hall after a fierce battle during which MacLean and McManus were killed. The fighting continued in the shipyards for a further two days during which most of the dockyard installations were sabotaged or destroyed in the fighting.
The Soviet never knew how close it came to winning the battle. George Cave was ready to withdraw troops and negotiate once the reserves had been committed. There was no formal surrender – the Soviet simply dissolved into the streets. The Army proclaimed martial law and occupied the city. Hundreds were arrested and put on trial for treason. The memorial to the 135 executed strikers still stands in the courtyard of Barlinnie prison.
The army lost over 300 dead in the fight to recapture Glasgow; civilian losses were later estimated at over a thousand. Much of the city centre was in ruins and it would take many months to repair the damage.
Part 3: Aftermath:
The Glasgow Soviet and the uprising would prove to be a focal point in British political history and the ramifications are with us today. The executions of 135 civilians left an indelible stain on the Army and the Government. George Cave resigned as Home Secretary three weeks after the end of the fighting.
In Scotland, the Glasgow Soviet and the English response, which paralleled events in Dublin and echoed back to the English response to the 1745 Jacobite uprising, sharpened anti-English sentiment.
The Government moved swiftly to ban any Bolshevik or Communist movements throughout Britain but failed to recognise the emergence of Scottish nationalism in the years after the Soviet. The National Party of Scotland (NPS) was founded in 1920 and won its first Westminster seat at the 1922 election when James Maxton became NSP MP for Bridgeton. The NPS was initially an extreme left-wing movement, which rapidly supplanted the fledgling Labour party.
In the 1930s, the NSP remained concentrated in Glasgow and the central lowlands but faced internal schism in 1939 when a faction led by James Hunter urged the party to oppose British involvement in war against Germany following the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact on 23rd August. The NSP leadership voted to support the Chamberlain Government when war was declared ten days later but Hunter and his faction opposed the war and spoke out vociferously against it. Hunter was arrested in mid-October and was eventually sent to the Isle of Man. Other NSP members were interned in May 1940 but the party leadership rallied in support of Churchill especially after the first bombing raids on Scotland.
In 1945, Hunter was released and formed the Scottish Communist Party (SCP) and won two seats in the election but the NSP swept much of central Scotland and for the first time won seats in Fife. The NSP went into coalition with Attlee’s Labour Party with party veteran Shinwell serving in Attlee’s Government. There were those who wanted the NSP to merge with Labour but those who wanted to assert Scottish independence resisted this.
After the Conservative election victory in 1951, the NSP entered a period of re-appraisal and came to abandon many of its neo-Marxist policies. Indeed, the NSP sought to embrace those on the Right of Scottish politics who had little or no love for England such as Arthur Donaldson who became Deputy NSP leader in 1960. The catalyst for the breakthrough of the NSP was William Wolfe, who had become an MP in 1959 when winning a seat in West Lothian. Wolfe was of a new generation who saw the objective of Scottish independence in economic and social rather than political and historical terms. Wolfe was a strong advocate of Scottish culture and distinctive tradition.
Wolfe became leader of the NSP in 1962 and led the party to its best post-war General Election performance in 1966 when the party won 32 seats. In 1965, Winnie Ewing became Deputy Leader and the two worked tirelessly to promote an independent Scottish political voice. In 1970, the NSP won Ayr for the first time and in February 1974 won a majority of seats in Scotland for the first time, taking seats in the Highlands and lowlands for the first time.
The minority Conservative Government of Ted Heath asked Wolfe to join a coalition but Wolfe agreed only if a referendum on devolution for a restored Scottish Parliament were granted. Heath agreed and three NSP members joined the Government. In June 1975, Scottish voters voted by nearly two to one in favour of a devolved Parliament and this met for the first time in Glasgow on November 30th 1976 with William Wolfe chosen as First Minister.
Wolfe found the transition to power difficult at first and the NSP found itself in a changed political landscape with the Scottish Liberal Party emerging as a powerful opposition on the centre-right. As Wolfe would later admit, the first NSP administration made many mistakes and was thrown out of office in 1980 with David Steel becoming First Minister.
Relations with Westminster deteriorated sharply in the 1980s with England dominated by the right-wing Thatcher Government. Its attempts to subvert the authority of Glasgow led to increasing calls for a referendum on independence and NSP leader Alex Salmond voiced these. He became First Minister of Scotland in 1990 and almost immediately found himself in confrontation with Margaret Thatcher over the imposition of the Poll Tax.
Thatcher used the Courts to try and compel Scottish authorities to collect the tax but Salmond refused and on April 1st 1991 Salmond unilaterally repealed the Poll Tax in front of thousands of cheering supporters at Glasgow City Hall. Thatcher responded by instructing Police to arrest Salmond but the Police dared not attempt such an action in front of City Hall.
Margaret Thatcher was furious and demanded Salmond’s resignation and threatened military action. This provoked memories of the Glasgow Soviet and mass demonstrations across Scotland calling for independence. Salmond himself proved unable to ride the tiger and proclaimed Scotland’s independence on the steps of Glasgow City Hall on April 16th 1991.
Thatcher ordered the army to Glasgow but before military action could take place, found herself politically isolated and challenged by Michael Heseltine. After an inconclusive first ballot of Conservative MPs, Thatcher resigned on April 25th 1991. Salmond stood down twenty-four hours later and was replaced by his Deputy, John Smith.
Tensions cooled and at the General Election in October 1991, the Liberals under Paddy Ashdown defeated the Conservatives. Ashdown and John Smith met at Westminster and agreed on a Constitutional Convention to be chaired by Donald Dewar and Menzies Campbell. This reported in early 1992 and urged a referendum on independence.
The result was never in doubt and on November 30th 1993, the Republic of Scotland was founded in Glasgow. The new Scottish President, Menzies Campbell, laid a wreath at the Glasgow Memorial to those who fell in the days of the Soviet and said:
“Today we move forward in unity and freedom. Yet we also look back and pay tribute to those who fell in the name of Scottish freedom and independence. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten”.
More about an alternative path to Scottish independence...