Strike Action and Working-Class Politics on Clydeside 1914–1919

In: International review of social history, Band 35, Heft 1, S. 33-70

Abstract

SUMMARYThe record of strike activity on Clydeside is used to explore the interaction between workplace organisation and political attitudes in working-class communities, focussing in particular upon the shipyard labour force in the years immediately preceding the 1919 General Strike. The findings are used to question research by Iain McLean which minimised the political significance of industrial militancy during the period of the Red Clyde and that by Alastair Reid, which argued that the main consequences of wartime industrial experience were to strengthen social democratic perspectives. It is suggested that a limited but significant radicalisation did occur and that this was related to the specific labour relations practices of employers in the west of Scotland and the structural weakness of Clydeside's economy.