Red Clydeside

1. Red Clydeside Denny High History Department

2. Walt Today we are learning about Red Clydeside. By the end of the lesson you will be able to: • Know what was meant by Red Clydeside. • Explain what the two phases of the Red Clydeside were. • Why the Red Clydeside protests started. • Why tension grew between the government and the workers on the Clydeside.

3. Task • Watch the rest of the video from 4 minutes onward on the Red Clyde • http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/video/n/video_tcm4573300.asp

4. Read pages 102-105 and answer the following questions. Use the above heading. What is meant by Red Clydeside? Describe fully the reasons behind the first phase of the Red Clydeside. How did the government feel about the first phase of the Red Clydeside? Why? What was the CWC? Who led this group? Describe fully their activities. Why was the government worried about this group? How did the government try to calm things down and outcome of meeting? Why did strikes break out in early 1916? What happened to the leaders of the CWC? Explain fully why unrest continued in the summer of 1916? Did people support the strikers? Provide a quote to support your answer. Red Clydeside First Phase

5. What was meant by the Red Clydeside? • 1915-1919 parts of Glasgow and surrounding area. • Unrest due to unfair rent rises and the worry of skilled working men seeing jobs and futures under threat. • Government and middle classes feared that the protests were signs that a communist revolution was on its way.

6. Phase One - confrontation: Engineers Vs Ministry of Munitions. Dilution & Rent Strikes Phase Two - Strikes and conflict: The Workers Vs The Police. Fears of Communist revolution The Two Phases of Red Clydeside

7. Reasons behind first phase • Triggered by the confrontation between engineers and the Ministry of Munitions over the issue of dilution and rent strikes. • Even before war new working practices and mass production methods changed the engineering factories. New machines and quicker processes meant less staff. Craftsmen worried about their futures!

8. Reasons behind first phase • As demand increased for munitions even more new technology and working methods were introduced. • Skilled jobs were broken down into separate processes completed by less well trained and less paid workers – even women.

9. Reasons behind first phase • This was called dilution. The skills and wages that went with that skill were being lessened or diluted by the use of unskilled labour. • This created tension the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) declared that ‘no woman shall be put to work a lathe and if this were done the men would know how to protect their rights’.

10. Reasons behind first phase • Appointment of William Weir (hard man who disliked TUs) as controller of munitions for Scotland caused even more concerns for workers. • 1915 Fairfield Shipbuilding went on strike for an extra 2 pennies an hour as Weir had hired American engineers and were paying them more. Strike settled but set scene for more problems.

11. Reasons behind first phase • Introduction of leaving certificates – employees had to get permission to leave one job for another. Engineers felt that they were being controlled as to what jobs they did and where they worked. 1915 tension was high between government and workers.

12. Reasons behind first phase • Rent Strikes unsettling effect of the war. Workers felt they had been successful as the government had backed down and Rent Restriction Act had met demand of strikers.

13. Reasons behind first phase • Government gave in to avoid disruption to production of munitions. Workers thought united action would make government take action if it threatened munitions. Government believed that the women’s demands were fair, however government were very sensitive to any threat to production.

16. How did the government feel about the first phase and why? • Very concerned that the protests and strikes would affect the productions of munitions needed for the war. • They were concerned because Clydeside was the heart of the war effort and would affect British success in the war.