page_title: Red Clydeside
section_title: Anti-war activism
hierarchical_section_title: Red Clydeside / Anti-war activism
caption_attribution_description: English: Willie Gallacher in 1919.
context_page_description: Red Clydeside was the era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, and areas around the city, on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. Red Clydeside is a significant part of the history of the labour movement in Britain as a whole, and Scotland in particular.
  Some newspapers of the time used the term "Red Clydeside" to refer, largely derisively, to the groundswell of popular and political radicalism that had erupted in Scotland. A confluence of charismatic individuals, organised movements and socio-political forces led to Red Clydeside, which had its roots in working class opposition to Britain's participation in World War I, although the area had a long history of political radicalism going back to the Society of the Friends of the People and the "Radical War" of 1820.
context_section_description: To mobilise the workers of Clydeside against the First World War, 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 coalition governments of H. H. Asquith and David Lloyd George and the Munitions of War Act 1915, which forbade engineers 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.
  Anti-war activity also took place outside the workplace and on the streets in general.  The Marxist John Maclean and the Independent Labour Party (ILP) member James Maxton were both jailed for their anti-war propagandizing.
  Helen Crawford was opposed to conscription and, although there were anti-war and anti-conscription campaigns in organisations such as the WIL being organised and run by middle class women, few workingclass women were involved in Scotland.  Frustration on her part on their lack of representation, Helen Crawfurd organised a grassroots meeting called 'The Great Womens Peace Conference' involving socialist-minded women in June 1916.  From this meeting, and alongside her fellow Rent Striker Agnes Dollan, The Women's Peace Crusade (WPC) arose  in November 1916 in Govan, Glasgow.  As intended, the organisation initially attracted workingclass women in Govan to activism, and with open air meetings throughout Glasgow, Edinburgh and within Lowland Scotland they began to extend their reach. By 1917, street meetings were regularly being held all around the districts of Glasgow and beyond, including Partick, Maryhill, Bridgeton, Parkhead, Govan, Govanhill, Whiteinch, Shettleston, Springburn, Possilpark, Bellahouston, Rutherglen, Paisley,  Overnewton Barrhead,, Cambuslang, Blantyre, Alloa, Cowdenbeath, Drongan, Drumpark, Douglas Water, Lanark, and as a further indicator of their success, a mass demonstration was organised by the WPC on Sunday, 8th July, 1917 where processions marched to the sound of music and the flying of banners from two sides of the city to the famous Glasgow Green in the centre of the city.  As the two streams of Crusaders approached the green they merged into a huge colourful and noisy demonstration of around 14000 participants. 
  By the time that the Peace Crusade disbanded it had become a UK-wide organisation.
caption: Willie Gallacher
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