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The rise of Scottish socialism

To get from where Burns was with his dangerous interest in the French revolution to where Ewan MacColl got to with re-working “Jamie Foyers,” we have to take a brief look at the development and progress of socialism in Scotland. Socialism was of interest in Scotland, and in particular Glasgow and the west, for a long time. Following the Act of Union between Scotland and England in 1707, Glasgow started to expand; firstly from the tobacco trade with America, and then as industrialization kicked into top gear. Glasgow’s population exploded, as the demand for workers rose to meet the demand of the heavy industries booming along the River Clyde. Along with the rise of industry came the demand for workers rights and the development of trade unions to campaign for better pay, better conditions, and paid holidays. This was to prove a long campaign. It is worth remembering that full universal suffrage only came to the United Kingdom in 1928. Prior to this, having the vote depended on various qualifications such as sex, age, property ownership, and who your father was.

The rise of organized left wing organizations such as trade unions and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) was viewed with great suspicion by the government. These suspicions reached fever pitch when in 1919, following the Russian Revolution, the British government became convinced that Glasgow was about to have its own socialist Russian-style revolution. A strike had been called for a shorter working week. A gathering of workers was called to gather in George Square, the main municipal centre in Glasgow. Panicked by the possibility of such an event, the British government sent thousands of troops (all Glasgow-based troops were restricted to barracks, as they weren’t to be trusted) to surround the rooftops around George Square. A riot broke out, and a battle between the police and the strikers ensued.

In the end, the actual chances of a Soviet-style revolution in Glasgow were always very small. However, given that this took place just after the Russian Revolution, and only three years after the Easter Rising in Dublin, the fears and concerns of the British government were very real. Stories such as this show that this was a city in which many were inspired to take collective action to ensure a better life. Glasgow was a very wealthy city at this time. It was known as the second city of the British Empire. The underside of this prominence was the often dreadful working and living conditions that many of the citizens of Glasgow had to endure.

A brief, personal illustration

My Grandfather aged 23.

Scotland in the 1930s was much like the rest of the Industrial West. The 1929 Wall Street Crash had impacted badly, and there was a great deal of unemployment. My own family history illustrates life in Scotland at this time, particularly for the west of Scotland, where MacColl develops his version of “Jamie Foyers.” My grandfather, also named Thomas Britton, worked in the shipyards along the River Clyde in Glasgow. He turned 23 on the 1st of December 1931. He had been employed at John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank working on a large cruise ship known then as “Hull number 534.” When the brutal reality of the Depression kicked in, work stopped on “534,” and my grandfather like so many working class folk in so many places found himself without a job just after turning 23.

The huge hull of “534” came to symbolize the economic failure of the times as it sat idle like a half-built skyscraper. My grandfather shared stories of having to queue up for food, being turned away as food ran out, and of walking for miles to try and get a job. He described it as a dark time of great hopelessness. Work didn’t restart again until 1934, and eventually in September 1934 hull no. 534 was launched as the RMS Queen Mary, now based in Long Beach, California.

A short introduction to the Spanish Civil War

Spain was neutral in World War I. After a military dictatorship ended in 1930, the then King Alfonso XIII agreed to elections, and in 1931 socialists and communists formed a government, proclaiming the Second Spanish Republic. Nationalists and monarchists in Spain viewed the government with great suspicion. Things came to a head in 1936 when, with rumors of an imminent military coup, the government sought to strike first. It removed General Franco from his post. Conflict quickly erupted, a full scale war developed between the Government forces (made up of republicans, socialists and communists) and the nationalists and monarchists, who were led by the military.

In 1936, the shadow of fascism was rising across Europe. Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany saw in Franco and his generals a fellow fascist, and supplied arms and soldiers to help him; including the terrifying Stuka dive-bombers that came to be known in World War II as a large part of the blitzkrieg. The only countries that actively supported the elected Spanish government were the Soviet Union and Mexico. The democratic nations of the west such as France, the United Kingdom, and the United States adopted neutrality policies.

This led to the creation of the International Brigades, where citizens of these neutral countries came on their own to Spain to fight against fascism. Over two thousand Americans joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight for the Spanish government. This is the setting into which Ewan MacColl puts his new Jamie Foyers, as a shipyard worker from the Clyde who goes to Spain.

The statue of “La Passionara” a memorial to the Scots who fought in the Spanish Civil War, Glasgow.

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