radicalism

How Far does source E show the impact of war on the growth of radicalism, the ILP, and Red Clydeside?Source mentions workers took strike action against the local problems such as dilution, and some opposed the war like John Maclean. Who was imprisoned and banned from Glasgow after the war. The engineers mainly took strikes, in support of those opposed to rent rises, and dilution as they were affected by it. - source does not mention the red clydeside committee. They were set up by shop stewards, who had been elected by workers, the people chosen included David Kirkwood, and John Maclean. The committee was feared by the government who were scared of any threat to wartime production. They were scared of a revolution, they were so scared of Red Clydeside starting up a revolution, Lloyd George went to meet with the leaders of the committee, however he was laughed at and heckled by  them. The CWC opposed the munitions act, whereby workers could not leave their jobs, and were expected to work overtime with or without pay,, they were under complete rule by the government. Source does not mention the CWC at the end of the war wanted shorter working hours, demanding it be 40 hours a week instead of 54. This lead to a general strike amongst Glasgow where 40,000 people took part.January  31st 1919- 90,000 protestors in George square Glasgow. This lead to a battle between police and protestprs, police used batons on protestors, who in response used bottles and fences on police. The governemet sent in 6 tanks, 12,000 English troops, and estabilished machine gun posts all over the city, This battle only lasted for a week. Many believe the gov overacted and exaggerate the seriousness of the attack, but some say they saw red flags among the protestors, and that they were stopping the trams. The source mentions the ILP leaders were elected in 1922, this was due to increase in popularity for the labour pary and the due to the decrease in the liberal party's popularity which is not mentioned by the source. The labour party acquired the votes of the working class, when they were given the vote in 1918. They also arose in popularity because the of change in irish catholic voting behaviour, the irish catholics had abandoned liberals in 1916 and now voted for labour, also the ILP were a huge factor in the rise of labour. The ILP were opposed to the war, and had 3000 members in 1914 but by the end of the war had 9000 supporters. It was also reported 70% of ILP party were conscientious objectors. In scotland a third of all membership accounted for the membership of the overall party in Britain. It does not mention the rise of the labour partyit went from 800,000 votes to 2 million in 1918. It does not mention the decline of the liberals- who were split over arguments about Britains involvement in the war and over the issue of conscription. Then matters were worsened by the shell scandal in 1915, General French said the reason to failure of brittish attacks was due to low ammunition which lead to accusations of incompetence. And suggested to the public liberals needed support from the conservative party. The coalition government did not work well, constant arguments between Asquith and L.G, resulted in the king having to ask Lloyd George to be primeminsiter and to form a new government. 

New Page