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Clydeside: When the Workshop of the World Shut Up Shop |
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Dilution of skilled labour by female and unskilled male workers became a serious issue with the highly skilled Clydeside workforce. Also, full employment and increased demand for housing increased rents dramatically, and this was seriously resented, especially given that the housing stock was in such poor condition.
Window notice for the rent strike
© Scran |
Outrage ensued when rent rose by over 20% in Govan, and landlords were portrayed as unpatriotic villains, preying on poor women who not only worked in the factories but also brought up families by themselves whilst their men were away dying for their country in the trenches. By the winter of 1915, 25,000 tenants were refusing to pay rent at all. The largely female-instigated protest was only subdued by a government-enforced freeze on house rents. It was a taste of what working class solidarity could achieve.
When the remaining troops returned to a land that was hardly fit for heroes, the legend of Red Clyde was sealed. In 1919, 100,000 people protested in George Square, and the Red Flag was raised in the midst of a riot. The government ordered troops into Glasgow, who opened fire on men who had been part of the British Army a year before. The Scottish Secretary, Robert Munro, described the whole event as a ‘Bolshevist Rising.’
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