We Are Alive, From The Rent Strikes To Bloody Friday.

     No matter how the establishment historians and their sidekicks in the media, try to portray the Red Clyde as a wishy-washy very pale pink, the real history defies them. The people of the Clydeside have a proud history, they have a heritage, and it is one of continuous struggle for justice and a better world. There were more industrial strikes on Clydeside during the first world war than before or after, Hundreds of thousands organised rent strikes from Clydebank to Glasgow, and successfully forced the UK government to bring in the 1915 rent restriction act. The Clydeside history is littered with hard and sometimes brutal struggles, struggles of people who demanded more, who demanded change, and in many case got it. 

    However the struggle is not over, we are now in the midst of the most brutal attack on the living conditions of the ordinary people for many a decade. Despite the struggles and victories of the past, we are once again heading back to the poverty of the thirties. It is once again time to reignite that fighting spirit of the Red Clyde, time to call on that solidarity, that unity of purpose. We don't have the shipyards, we don't have the engineering factories, but we do have the people of Clydeside and their history of struggle, and their desire for justice.

  A poster from the 80's. calling on that Red Clydeside spirit. We are alive, from the rent strikes, to bloody Friday, to the poll-tax and beyond.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

MUTINY, POLICE STRIKES AND REVOLUTION!!

     As the financial Mafia continue their plunder of the public purse in countries across Europe, and austerity bites ever deeper into the daily life of the ordinary people, there are calls for strike action. Professionals, private and public sector workers, disabled, pensioners and unemployed are all calling for action against this policy of enforced deprivation. However, there are sections of society that we don't associate with direct/strike action against the state, the military and the police. Though these groups are somehow seen by most as outside that sort of action and that they are the bulwarks of the state, history tells us a different story. Britain around the 1900's was a very rebellious country and in 1919 20,000 British soldiers went on strike and occupied Southampton Docks. 

From Libcom 1919: The Southampton mutiny:

     Following the massacre of World War I, a reminder of the strength of ordinary soldiers came from Southampton, in the middle of January 1919, when 20,000 soldiers went on strike and took over the docks. Robertson, Commander in Chief of the Home Forces, sent General Trenchard to restore military authority. Trenchard had witnessed several mutinies in the French Army and was quite prepared to employ the most ruthless measures. Nevertheless he underestimated the men as he approached the dockgate and attempted to address a reluctant audience. A chorus of boos and catcalls accompanied his remarks. The meeting came to an undignified end when a group of men took hold of him and gave him a going over before ejecting him. Said Trenchard:

"It was most unpleasant.. . It was the only time in my life I'd been really hustled. They said they did not want to listen to me. They told me to get out and stay out."

Continue READING:

        Then we have the police strike of 1919 which took place in Liverpool.

Again from that wealth of information Libcom.

The 1919 Liverpool Police strike. By Pat O'Mara:

   Shortly after the Lusitania riots came the Liverpool Police strike.* Perhaps the bobbies had just cause for bitterness, for theirs were the only wages that hadn’t skyrocketed with the war. I thought they were getting ample pay at the time but, like everyone else – excluding the manufacturer, who was the first to raise the cry of traitor to a striker – they wanted much more. It required a piece of legislation to raise the salaries of the bobbies and, as none was forthcoming, they became very restless and finally, in direct opposition to the advice of their superiors who pointed out the severity with which such an unpatriotic act would be dealt, they struck.

Continue READING:

      Conditions have changed since then, but we are heading into uncharted waters as far as corporate capitalism is concerned. Greece is in turmoil as the fabric of society breaks down. There are mass protests in Spain, Portugal and Italy and anger is rising in other countries across Europe. There has been struggles and unrest a plenty since 1919 but will/can the situation turn the people into a revolutionary force that once and for all destroys this stinking system of greed, repression and exploitation?
Another quote from Libcom:

      How near was Britain to a full scale revolution during these weeks? This must remain a matter for speculation. The Army was in disarray: soldiers and sailors councils and demobilisation clubs were being formed. Delegates from various camps were beginning to combine their efforts and resources. The number of strikes in Liverpool and Glasgow were increasing. There were riots in Glasgow and troops sent to occupy the streets were beginning to fraternise with the strikers and demonstrators. There were riots in Belfast and a national railway strike was imminent. From August 1918 until mid-1919 even the police force was affected by militant strike action.

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WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY - GLASGOW WEAVERS STRIKE.

         We should never forget that in any industrial struggle you are not only fighting your employer, but the powers that be. The authorities will always throw the full extent of their power in support of the employer and against the workers. You elect them and they support your employer, that's how the system works. That power can be police intimidation/brutality/provocation, to bringing the troops onto the streets to crush the resistance of the group in dispute. Britain is no different in that respect, we have had the troops on the streets on numerous occasions. Troops were put on the streets in Liverpool during the 1911 dockers strike, resulting in two strikers being shot dead on the street. Later in Glasgow 1919 during the 40 hour week struggle, once again the state brought troops on to the streets. That event in Glasgow became known as Bloody Friday. We can go away back to what was probably the first organised strike in the country and the then authorities ran true to form and brought the troops out against the strikers, that was the 1787 Glasgow weavers strike. Don't ever expect "YOUR" elected representatives to support you in any workers dispute, they support the system, which is one of exploitation and business orientated, your are just the replaceable wee cogs in their greed machine.

Memorial at The Weavers Cemetery Calton Glasgow.

  

GLASGOW’S WEAVERS’ STRIKE, 1787

BACKGROUND.

Glasgow’s population at this period was around 60,000. Weaving was the main occupation in Glasgow and surrounding districts after the collapse of the tobacco trade due to the American War of Independence. The movement for parliamentary reform was still a seed in people’s hearts. It took the French Revolution to cause it to shoot and grow. Attempts by workers to unite in defence of their living standards were deemed an offence under common law. The weavers’ strike of 1787 was the first recorded strike in Glasgow’s history.

Around June 1787 the Glasgow weavers and those of surrounding areas learned that the payments for weaving muslin were to be cut. This would be the second cut to the weavers income in eight months. Many meetings were held around the districts and on June the 30th 1787 seven thousand attended a meeting on Glasgow Green. On the 4th of July terms of a unanimous resolution from the meeting appeared in a letter printed in the Glasgow Mercury. The letter was sent by James Mirrie on behalf of the committee appointed by the weavers. The letter pointed out that the cut suggested by the manufacturers would bring weavers income down by one-fourth while other trades had been rightfully rising in face of an increase in house rents and other means of subsistence. It also stated that they would not 'offer violence to any man or his work'.

STRIKE.

The strike started in June and lasted through July, August, September in to October. Calton was a district then just outside Glasgow’s boundary. Most of the population of the district were weavers. Around mid-day on Monday 3rd September, the authorities of Glasgow learned that a large crowd of weavers had formed at Calton near the city boundary at Gallowgate. The Lord Provost and Magistrates arrived to disperse the crowd but were driven back by stones thrown by the weavers. Later in the day the authorities were informed that the weavers were again assembling and proposed to march to Glasgow Cathedral.

RIOT ACT.

The 39th Regiment of Foot, under the command of Colonel Kellet was sent. With them went the Lord Provost, the Sheriff-Substitute, a Magistrate and others intent on dispersing the weavers. The groups met at a spot near Drygate Bridge. The soldiers were ordered to open fire, 3 weavers were killed outright and three were mortally wounded. A considerable number were wounded. How many can only be guessed at.

It is now accepted that the Riot Act was not read, it is claimed that the Sheriff-Substitute was preparing to read the Riot Act when the soldiers opened fire in self defence. After the riot Magistrates offered rewards for information leading to the arrest of activists. As well as James Granger, one of the main organisers of the strike, others were arrested but not brought to trial. On the 4th September the Magistrates brought in another regiment from Beith.

Towards the end of September Colonel Kellet and Major Powlet were presented with the freedom of the city. At the Tontine Tavern a dinner was given for the officers. Each soldier stationed in Glasgow was given a new pair of shoes and stockings.

TRIAL AND SENTENCE.

James Granger’s trial, he was then aged 38, married and had six children, took place in Edinburgh in the year 1788. It was the first case of “forming illegal combinations” in Scotland. He was found guilty on Tuesday 22nd July and sentenced on Friday 25th The sentence was that he be carried to the Tollbooth, to remain there until the 13th August, on which day he would be publicly whipped through the streets of the city at the hands of the Common Executioner; that he should then be set at liberty and allowed till the 15th October to settle his affairs, after which he is to banish himself from Scotland for seven years, under the usual certifications, in case of his again returning during that term. A severe price to pay for trying to prevent a wage cut. James Granger returned and took part in the 1811-1812 strike and lived to the age of 75.

      This was the scene at Glasgow Trongate 1919 after the events of the 40 hour week strike which resulted in what became know as "Bloody Friday", look closely and you will see the troops have "fixed bayonets".

More on Glasgow's working class history can be found HERE.

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OUR SECOND CHANCE!!!

                                          Glasgow George Square 1919.

    Since the failure of the 1936 Spanish Revolution the working class movements have battled on a more or less reformist agenda and it is fair to say that they have won major reforms to their advantage. However at the same time they have become integrated into the modern capitalist system of production. From the late 19th century through to the middle of the 20th century pre the Spanish Revolution there were mass movements with a more revolutionary agenda, In Europe this continued up until the start of the second world war and it was probably this war that saved the European capitalist class. Since then there has been no real revolutionary mass movement in Europe. However with the corporate class making a massive push to devour all the public assets in Europe there has been considerable anger among the working class as the pain to be inflicted on the ordinary people begins to become apparent. The corporate world are probably looking at this as their final victory to take control of anything and everything that can turn a profit, from health to prisons, from social welfare to education and more. This anger can and should be the start of what can only be called the second chance of the working class revolutionary movements. The ordinary people are beginning to see that no matter the government they vote in, nothing changes and that what is happening in this country under a Con/Dem coalition government is happening all over Europe with a 57 varieties of governments from Social-this to Christian Democrats that, from left of centre to right of centre. They all preach a different agenda but follow the same grand plan, the corporate plan.

      There is more pain to come from the corporate plan, and before it decimates the working class population, we have to organise a Pan-European mass resistance to this attempt to plunder all public assets. We mine, make and distribute everything in this world, it is our world paid for by the toil, sweat and blood of our forefathers, we are idiots if we let it fall from our grasp in to the hands of a bunch of pampered parasites. We have this second chance we can't lose it without the mother of all fights. They will do what ever they think is necessary for them to attain victory, our defeat. We likewise, must do everything in our power to achieve that final victory. We owe it to our children and our grandchildren.

                                           France, 2010. 

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