Resisting labour: Unionists, liberals, and moderates in Glasgow between the wars

Historical Journal

Volumn 46, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 375-401

  Smyth, James J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 77950080474     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X0300298X     Document Type: Article

References (168)

1. R. I. McKibbin, 'Class and conventional wisdom: The Conservative party and the 'public' in inter-war Britain', in idem, The ideologies of class: social relations in Britain, 1880-1950 (Oxford, 1991), P-259.
2. P. Williamson, Stanley Baldwin: conservative leadership and national values (Cambridge, 1999);.
3. D. Jarvis, 'British conservatism and class politics in the 1920s', English Historical Review, III (1996), pp. 59-84;.
4. I. G. C. Hutchison, 'Unionism between the two world wars', in C. M. M. Macdonald, ed., Unionist Scotland, 1800-1997(Edinburgh, 1998), pp. 87-8.
5. The phrase is that of Professor Marquand, in D. Marquand, Ramsay MacDonald (London, 1977), p. 792.
6. E. F. Biagini and A.J. Reid, eds., Currents of radicalism: popular radicalism, organised labour and party politics in Britain, 1850-1914 (Cambridge, 1991), p. 19.
7. T. Blair, New Britain: my vision of a young country (London, 1996), p. 10;.
8. P. Gould, The unfinished revolution; how the modernisers saved the Labour party (London, 1998).
9. The 'inevitability' view is expressed in H. Pelling, 'Labour and the downfall of liberalism', in idem, Popular politics and society in late Victorian Britain (London, 1979).
10. R. I. McKibbin, The evolution of the Labour party, 1910-1924 (Oxford, 1924).
11. H. C. G. Matthew, R.I. McKibbin, and J. A. Kay, 'The franchise factor in the rise of the Labour party', English Historical Review, 91 (1976), pp. 723-52;.
12. C. Cook, The age of alignment: electoral politics in Britain, 1922-1929 (London, 1975).
13. M. Hart, 'The Liberals, the war and the franchise', English Historical Review; 97 (1982), p. 826.
14. D. Tanner, Political change and the Labour party, 1900-1918 (Cambridge, 1990), p. 427.
15. I. G. C. Hutchison, Scottish politics in the twentieth century (Basingstoke, 2001), p. 39.
16. What Wrigley, paraphrasing Marx, terms 'The spectre haunting Europe'. C. Wrigley, LIoyd George and the challenge of labour: The post-war coalition, 1918-1922 (Hemel Hempstead, 1990), p. 13.
17. S. Ball, The Conservative party and British politics, 1902-1951 (London, 1995), p. 65.
18. Cowling sees the 1924 election as having 'destroyed all hope of a centre Party', M. Cowling, The impact of Labour, 1920-1924 (Cambridge, 1921), p. 2.
19. Cook, Age of alignment, pp. 287-94;.
20. Hutchison, Scottish politics, pp. 46-7.
21. Cook, Age of alignment, chs. 3 and 4;.
22. Wrigley, Lloyd George, pp. 243-4.
23. General election information is taken from F. W. S. Craig, British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 (Glasgow, 1969).
24. For Sheffield municipal politics, see H. Mathers, 'The city of Sheffield 1893-1926', .
25. A. Thorpe, 'The consolidation of a labour stronghold', both in C. Binfield et al., eds., The history of the city of Sheffield, 1843-1993, 1: Politics (Sheffield, 1993), pp. 53-84, and pp. 85-118.
26. Cook, Age of alignment, pp. 290-1.
27. Hutchison, Scottish politics, p. 57.
28. Cook, Age of alignment, p. 52;.
29. Mathers, 'City of Sheffield';.
30. Thorpe, 'Consolidation'.
31. S. Davies and B. Morley, County borough elections in England and Wales, 1918-1938: A comparative analysis, II: Bradford - Carlisle (Aldershot, 2000) p. 653.
32. W. Miller, 'Politics in the Scottish city, 1832-1882', in G. Gordon, ed., Perspectives of the Scottish city (Aberdeen, 1985), p. 181.
33. I. Maver, Glasgow (Manchester, 2000), pp. 153-61;.
34. see also idem, 'Glasgow's civic government', in W. H. Fraser and I. Maver, eds., Glasgow: 11: 1830-1912 (Manchester, 1996), pp. 475-7;.
35. J.J. Smyth, Labour in Glasgow, 1896-1936: socialism, suffrage, sectarianism (East Linton, 2000), pp. 51, 63, 71-3.
36. I. Maver [Sweeney], 'Local party politics and the Temperance crusade: Glasgow, 1890-1902', Scottish Labour History Society Journal, 27 (1992), pp. 44-63, at p. 58.
37. In Sheffield, 'A municipal alliance between the Conservative and Liberal parties was effectively in existence from 1913': Mathers, 'City of Sheffield', p. 75.
38. For similar anti-Labour alliances in London, Leicester, and West Yorkshire see P. Thompson, Socialists, Liberals and Labour: The struggle for London, 1885-1914 (London, 1967);.
39. B. Lancaster, Radicalism, co-operation and socialism: Leicester working class politics, 1860-1906 (Leicester, 1987);.
40. K. Laybourn and J. Reynolds, Liberalism and the rise of Labour, 1890-1918 (London, 1984).
41. I. G. C. Hutchison, A political history of Scotland, 1832-1924: parties, elections and issues (Edinburgh, 1986), pp. 322, 325-8;.
42. sec also idem, Scottish politics, p. 36.
43. Idem, Political history, p. 314.
44. Glasgow Herald, 2 Nov. 1922. The municipal poll was on 7 Nov. with the parliamentary contest eight days later.
45. Hutchison, Political history, pp. 325-8;.
46. G. Brown, 'The Labour party and political change in Scotland: The politics of five elections' (Ph.D., Edinburgh, 1982), pp. 335-40.
47. Glasgow Herald, 30 Dec. 1918.
48. Quoted in I. McLean, The legend of red Clydeside (Edinburgh, 1983), p. 125.
49. I. McLean, The legend of red Clydeside, 1983, Ibid., p. 120.
50. For an alternative view of Glasgow's industrial militancy see J. Foster, ' Strike action and working class politics on Clydeside, 1914-1919', International Review of Social History, 35 (1990), pp. 33-70.
51. Wrigley, Lloyd George, p. 13.
52. S. White, 'Ideological hegemony and political control: The sociology of anti-Bolshevism in Britain 1918-20', Scottish Labour History Society Journal, 9 (1975), pp. 3-20, at p. 14.
53. Glasgow Herald, 23 Oct. 1919.
54. On the burgeoning of anti-Bolshevik and pro-property organisations and their links with busi-ness, see White, 'Ideological hegemony';.
55. Wrigley, Lloyd George, pp. 16-17.
56. I. G. C. Hutchison, 'Scottish Unionism between the two world wars', in C. M. MacDonald, ed., Unionist Scotland, 1800-1997 (Edinburgh, 1998), pp. 81-2;.
57. idem, Scottish politics, pp. 31-2.
58. Glasgow Herald, 4 Nov. 1991.
59. Davies and Morley, County borough elections, p. 654.
60. Glasgow Herald, 8 Nov. 1893, 8 Nov. 1933.
61. Wrigley, Lloyd George, p. 245.
62. Glasgow Unionist Association (GUA), 'minute book', General Committee, 22 Dec. 1919. Scottish Conservative and Unionist (SCUA) Archive, National Library of Scotland (NLS) ACC. 10424/73.
63. NLS, 'Sir Lewis Shedden's file relating to Glasgow municipal elections, 1896-1939', ACC. 10424/9 (xii).
64. 'Sir Lewis Shedden's File Relating to Glasgow Municipal Elections, 1896-1939', xii, Ibid.
65. Hutchison, Political history, p. 321.
66. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 30 Aug. 1920, ACC. 10424/73. There is a degree of confusion over titles as the Unionist Association minutes clearly refer to this as a 'new body', while there would appear to be a definite connection with the Good Government Committee first established in 1919.
67. Glasgow Herald, 30 Sept. 1920.
68. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 26 Nov. 1919, ACC. 10424/73.
69. NLS, Shedden, 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii).
70. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 30 Sept. 1920, ACC. 10424/73;.
71. Shedden, 'municipal file', 10424/9 (xii).
72. The terms 'Moderate' and 'Progressive' were basically interchangeable. In Edinburgh, the Progressive party was formed in 1928 and in Glasgow the moderates became the progressives in 1936.
73. Miller, 'Politics in the Scottish city', p. 199.
74. 'The most derelict of all areas was Glasgow itself.' Cook, Age of alignment, p. 35.
75. Hutchison, Political history, p. 321.
76. NLS, Shedden, 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii);.
77. Glasgow Herald, 6 Oct. 1920, 22 Feb. 1929.
78. NLS, Shedden, 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii).
79. The 1920 municipal election was held simultaneously with a poll to determine the licensing arrangements in ever war. Most wards voted against the local veto and in favour of'no change'. Sec McLean, Legend, pp. 182-3.
80. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 26 Apr., 3 May 1920, ACC. 10424/73.
81. This was the Citizens' Vigilance Association which was regarded by the Unionists as a Liberal body. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 31 May 1920, ACC. 10424/73.
82. Glasgow Herald, 21 Oct. 1920.
83. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 30 May 1921, ACC. 10424/73.
84. Minute Book, Ibid, 25 Oct. 1925.
85. 'The name Moderate has been adopted as covering all opponents of the Labour Programme'. Glasgow Herald, 3 Nov. 1920.
86. NLS, Shedden, 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii).
87. Glasgow Herald, 4 Nov. 1926.
88. For Sheffield see Thorpe, 'Consolidation', pp. 86-8.
89. H. K. Hauson, Sheffield: The growth of a City, 1832-1926 (Sheffield, 1968), pp. 286-99.
90. For Glasgow and the political impact of the General Strike see Smyth, Labour in Glasgow, pp. 107-9.
91. Glasgow ILP Federation, 'minute book', Management Committee, 23 May 1930. Mitchell Library, Glasgow 891745.
92. M. Dyer, Capable citizens and improvident democrats: The Scottish electoral system, 1884-1929 (Aberdeen, 1996), p. 105.
93. M. Pugh, Electoral reform in war and peace, 1906-1918 (London, 1978), p. 112.
94. D. Tanner, Political change and the Labour party, 1900-1918 (Cambridge, 1990), p. 389.
95. D. Tanner, 'Elections, statistics, and the rise of the Labour party, 1906-1931', Historical Journal, 34 (1991), pp.883-908, at pp. 906-7.
96. S. Davies, Liverpool labour: social and political influences of the development of the Labour party in Liverpool, 1900-1939 (Keele, 1996), pp. 125-6.
97. S. Davies, Liverpool labour: social and political influences of the development of the Labour party in Liverpool, 1900-1939, 1996, Ibid., pp. 101-9.
98. Figures taken from the Glasgow Post Office Director 1922-3 and 1928-9.
99. Scottish Advisory Council of the Labour Party, Report of Fourth Annual Conference 1918, p. 4.
100. See also Report 1919, pp. 11, 45-6, and Report 1921, p. 37.
101. This contrasts with the virtual silence of labour in Liverpool over the electoral system. See Davies, Liverpool labour, pp. 153-63.
102. Forward, 13 Nov. 1920;.
103. Brown, 'Labour party', p. 142.
104. High female electorates were a sign of middle-class areas. See J. Turner, British politics and the Great War: coalition and conflict, 1915-1918 (London, 1992), pp. 412-14.
105. M. Childs, 'Labour grows up: The electoral system, political generations, and British politics, 1890-1929', Twentieth Century British History, 6 (1995), pp. 123-44.
106. Forward, 2 Dec. 1922.
107. Election data taken from Craig, Parliamentary election results, and Glasgow Herald.
108. Labour's single victory in Kinning Park between 1921 and 1931 occurred on a poll of 573 per cent, compared to an average poll 56.0 per cent. In Kingston labour's seven victories were achieved on an average poll of 57.0 per cent, while the moderates' four victories were secured on an average of 58.5 per cent. Tanner has commented on the different turnout between national and local politics, and does not find it a convincing explanation of labour's better performance at parliamentary elections.
109. Tanner, 'Rise of labour', p. 907.
110. An account of the moderate candidate's unexpected victor in Parkhead is given in his autobi-ography. Captain H.J. Moss, Windjammer to Westminster (London, 1941), pp. 131-8.
111. Thorpe, 'Consolidation', p. 86;.
112. see also Mathers, 'City of Sheffield', p. 76.
113. Davies and Morley, 'County borough elections', p. 654.
114. See Cook, Age of alignment, pp. 83-4;.
115. and Miller, 'Politics in the Scottish city', pp. 202-3. Both authors use census data on numbers of persons per room.
116. Data taken from Report on the Thirteenth Census of Scotland, 1, Part 2: City of Glasgow, p. 53, Table 4.
117. See Smyth, Labour in Glasgow, pp. 30-1, for a more detailed picture of the municipal wards.
118. Hutchison, Political history, p. 23;.
119. J. Mitchell, Conservatives and the union; a study of Conservative party attitudes to Scotland (Edinburgh, 1990), p. 39:.
120. E. McFarland, Protestants first: Orangeism in nineteenth century Scotland (Edinburgh, 1990), p. 213.
121. G. Walker, 'The Orange Order in Scotland between the wars', International Review of Social History, 37 (1992). pp.185-9.
122. See T. Gallagher, Glasgow the uneasy peace: religious tension in modern Scotland (Manchester, 1987), p. 136;.
123. S.J. Brown, '"Outside the covenant": The Scottish Presbyterian churches and Irish immigration, 1922-1938', Innes Review, 42 (1991), pp. 19-45.
124. Brown, 'Outside the Covenant', pp. 26-8;.
125. S.J. Brown, 'The social vision of Scottish Presbytcrianism and the Union of 1929', Records of the Scottish Church History Society, 24 (1992), pp. 92-3.
126. Glasgow Observer, 24 Oct. 1931.
127. Brown, 'Outside the Covenant'.
128. Walker, 'Orange Order', pp. 182-5.
129. Walker, 'Orange Order', Ibid., pp. 189-91.
130. On the Irish vote see Smyth, Labour in Glasgow, ch. 4.
131. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 29 Nov. 1926, ACC. 10424/73.
132. Minute Book Ibid., 29 Aug. 1927.
133. Minute Book, Ibid., 24 Nov. 1930.
134. Minute Book Ibid., 25 Feb., 7 Oct., 28 Oct. 1929;.
135. Hutchison, Scottish politics, p. 47.
136. KLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 25 Feb. 1929, ACC. 10424/74.
137. Glasgow Herald, 28 Feb., 27 Mar. 1928.
138. Glasgow Herald Ibid., 14 June 1920.
139. Glasgow Herald Ibid., 19 June 1930.
140. Glasgow Herald, Ibid., 11, 18, 22, 24 Aug., 28 Sept. 1933.
141. The story of Ratcliffe and his SPL is expertly told in Gallagher, Uneasy peace, pp. 150-7.
142. See also the same author's 'Protestant extremism in urban Scotland, 1920-1939: its growth and contraction', Scottish Historical Review, 64 (1985), pp. 143-67;.
143. S. Bruce, No Pope of Rome:anti-Catholicism in modern Scotland (Edinburgh, 1985).
144. Glasgow Herald, 4 Nov. 1931.
145. See Smyth, Labour in Glasgow, pp. 190-4.
146. Forward, 4 Nov. 1933.
147. Forward, 1933, Ibid.
148. The Vanguard, 15 Nov. 1933, quoted in NLS, Shedden 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii).
149. Gallagher, Uneasy peace, p. 153.
150. Gallagher, Uneasy peace, Ibid., pp. 153-4, 156.
151. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', Local Elections Sub-committee, 22 Oct. 1934, ACC. 10424/74.
152. Gallagher, Uneasy peace, pp. 156-7.
153. For a detailed account of Protestant Action see T. Gallagher, Edinburgh divided (Edinburgh, 1987).
154. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 9 Jan., 27 Mar. 1933, ACC. 10424/74.
155. NLS, Shedden 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii), .
156. 'minute book', General Committee, 24 Feb. 1936, ACC. 10424/74.
157. Glasgow Herald, 14 Sept. 1936.
158. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', Local Elections Sub-committee, 22 Dec. 1936, ACC. 10424/74.
159. MS, Shedden 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii).
160. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 26 Nov. 1934, ACC. 10424/74, Shedden 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii).
161. Shedden, Minute Book, Ibid., 25 May 1925, 29 Mar. 1926, 7 Jan. 1935, 30 Mar., 27 Apr. 1936.
162. The Glasgow figure was slightly above the Scottish total of 20 per cent adult men unemployed. See Ministry of Labour, Local unemployment index.
163. NLS, GUA, 'minute book', General Committee, 28 Oct. 1929, ACC. 10424/74. This dilemma occurred in the Cathcart ward.
164. minute book, Ibid., 28 Nov. 1938.
165. Gallagher, Uneasy peace, p. 135.
166. Brown, 'Outside the Covenant', pp. 22-5.
167. NLS, Shedden 'municipal file', ACC. 10424/9 (xii).
168. The argument was threefold: That the Act remedied the injustice whereby Catholics paid education rates but got no benefits in return; that the religious instruction provided in non-denominational schools was 'Protestantism pure and simple'; and that religious education appropriate to both types of school was better than eliminating religious education altogether.