 red clydeside is the era of political radicalism that characterised the city of glasgow in scotland, and urban areas around the city on the banks of the river clyde such as clydebank, greenock and paisley. the history of red clydeside is a significant part of the history of the labour movement in britain as a whole, and in scotland in particular. this period in clydeside's history lasted from the 1910s until roughly the early 1930s, although its legacy is still visible today. popular newspapers of the time used the term "red clydeside" to refer to the political militancy of the time. an amalgamation of charismatic individuals, organized movements and socio-political forces led to the enduring notion of red clydeside. this period has its roots directly in working class opposition to the united kingdom's participation in world war i, although the area had a long history of political radicalism going back to its involvement in the friends of the people society and the "radical war" of 1820. == 1911 strike at singer == the 11,000 workers at the largest singer sewing machines factory, in clydebank, went on strike in marchâapril 1911, ceasing to work in solidarity of 12 female colleagues protesting against work process reorganisation. this reorganisation involved an increase in workload and a decrease in wages.http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/redclyde/redclyeve01.htm following the end of the strike, singer fired 400 workers, including all strike leaders and purported members of the iwgb, among them arthur mcmanus, who later went on to become the first chairman of the cpgb between 1920 and 1922.the singer strike 1911, glasgow digital library labour unrest, in particular by women and unskilled labour, greatly increased between 1910-1914 in clydeside, with four times more days on strike than between 1900 and 1910. during these four years preceding world war i, membership of those affiliated to the scottish trades union congress rose from 129,000 in 1909 to 230,000 in 1914. ==anti-war activism==  to mobilise the workers of clydeside against world war i, the clyde workers' committee (cwc) was formed, with willie gallacher as its head and david kirkwood its treasurer. the cwc led the campaign against the liberal government of david lloyd george and their munitions act, which forbade engineers from leaving the company they were employed in. the cwc met with government leaders, but no agreement could be reached and consequently both gallacher and kirkwood were arrested under the terms of the defence of the realm act and jailed for their activities. [[an
20th_century_in_Scotland British_trade_unions_history Economic_history_of_Scotland History_of_Glasgow History_of_socialism History_of_the_Labour_Party_(UK) Political_history_of_Scotland Politics_of_Glasgow Protests_in_Scotland Red_Clydeside Trade_unions_in_Scotland World_War_I