Issue 4

1
Issue 4

• How did the First World War affect Scottish
  politics?

2
This issue is about how the war made people
think more about politics, how people became more
political and what happened to the political
parties.
3
To cover the syllabus you should know about the
following

• What radicalism is and how Scots were affected by
  it.
• What the ILP was and why many Scots supported it.
• What was meant by Red Clydeside.
• Why many Scots supported the union and wanted to
  be part of Scotland within Britain.

4
Radicalism and post-war Scottish politics?

• What were the main changes in Scottish politics
  caused by the war?
• The great war made many Scots more politically
  aware.
• A word used to describe that increasing awareness
  and willingness to become politically involved is
  radicalisation.

5
The main changes in the political parties
involved the Liberals and the Labour Party.

• Before the war the Liberal Party was the most
  powerful political party in Scotland.
• After 1918 the Liberal Party was split and after
  the mid-1920s they would never again be such a
  significant force in British politics until the
  coalition government of 2010.

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The Independent Labour Party was stronger in 1918
than it had been in 1914, and the mainstream
Labour Party was about to become one of the two
big parties in British politics.

• The Conservative and Unionist Party recovered
  from their pre-war unpopularity and began to
  attract new voters from the middle classes living
  in the cities.

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What does radicalisation mean and what effect did
it have on post-war politics in Scotland?

• To become politically radicalised means to want
  fundamental changes in the way politics operate.
• During the war, the radicalisation of politics in
  Scotland at times meant people taking direct
  action to cause or prevent changes to their own
  lives. (rent strikes)

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Examples..

• Women who were involved in the rent strikes went
  on to became local councillors in Glasgow.
• Shop steward in the CWC went on to become MPs
  representing the ILP and the UK Parliament.
• Others became much more involved in trade unions
  or anti-war groups of the 1920s.

9
The radicalisation of politics in Scotland
greatly affected the main political parties.

• Many voters began to support the ILP or the
  Labour Party as a way of challenging the old ways
  of doing things.
• In that sense support for Labour could be seen as
  the radicalisation of Scottish politics.

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The radicalisation of Scottish politics also had
an effect on those who did not want to change.

• Those people who were against the political
  changes supported by Labour also became stronger
  and more confrontational in their views.

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The Conservative and Unionist Party became the
party of choice for many who saw it as the only
way of stopping Scotland from sliding into Red
Revolution.
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The events of Red Clydeside had given hope to
people who wanted change in Scottish society but
had also scared the middle and upper classes, who
saw it as the possible start of revolution.

• In that sense Red Clydeside was a major cause of
  the radicalisation of Scottish politics

13
The revolutionary flags flying during the Russian
Revolution were all red so the nickname of red
for revolutionary stuck.