“rent strikes against increases. we are not removing“

March 18, 2020 10:30 AM

“In When the Clyde Ran Red, Maggie Craig quotes an article published in the Times just after the 1922 election which suspiciously lists some of the things organised by the ILP: ‘Socialist study circles, socialist economics classes, socialist music festivals, socialist athletics competitions, socialist choirs, socialist dramatic societies, socialist plays – these are only a few of the devious ways in which they attempted to reach the unconverted.’ There were also socialist Sunday schools, cycling and hiking clubs, several newspapers and, unsurprisingly, endless meetings. The city in 1915 was described by the Daily Herald as ‘a place of many meetings; a place rumbling with revolt ... I seemed to see a meeting at every street corner, and late in the evening the theatres poured forth huge masses of people who had been, not at entertainments, but at serious deliberations.’ There was a belief that the people, once properly informed, would seize the opportunity to control their own fate: ‘We are out for life and all that life can give us,’ the revolutionary John Maclean said at his trial for sedition in 1918.” Socialist Glasgow During The First World War
posted by The Whelk (2 comments total)

Kirkwood was woken at 3 a.m. and told by armed detectives that he had been court martialled the day before and sentenced to deportation from the Clyde Munitions Area. He was asked where he wanted to go. He said Edinburgh …

as a Glaswegian, I can think of no worse punishment.
posted by scruss at 11:39 AM on March 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

I used to have some pamphlets by John McLean. A brilliant man!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 4:43 AM on March 19, 2020