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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Eves and welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that uncovers a little bit more about history

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Speaker 1: every day. Today is January one. The day was January

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Speaker 1: thirty one, nineteen nineteen. It had been just over two

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Speaker 1: months since World War One ended. In Scotland was feeling

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Speaker 1: the economic impact of its resolution. People frustrated with the

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Speaker 1: lack of jobs in the long fifty four hour work week,

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Speaker 1: had already been striking for days, but on this day,

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Speaker 1: those frustrations rose to a climax. Somewhere between twenty thousand

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Speaker 1: and twenty five thousand people gathered in George Square in Glasgows, Scotland,

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Speaker 1: to protest, and all this commotion scared the British government.

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Speaker 1: Government officials were already on edge because of other uprisings

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Speaker 1: around Europe. Scotland's Secretary, Robert Monroe had even declared that

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Speaker 1: the Glasgow situation wasn't just a strike but a Bolshevist uprising.

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Speaker 1: So the protests became a battle of police versus demonstrators

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Speaker 1: on a day that came to be known as Bloody Friday.

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Speaker 1: Nobody died in the riots, but accounts of the day's

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Speaker 1: events have gone on to reach a mythical status in

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Speaker 1: Scottish history. Scotland had sent a lot of its men

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Speaker 1: to fight in the First World War. Glasgow alone had

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Speaker 1: enlisted two hundred thousand men. In Glasgow was a hub

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Speaker 1: of industry during the war. Clydeside, the region along the

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Speaker 1: Clyde River in Scotland, was home to a bustling shipbuilding industry.

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Speaker 1: The shipyards at Clydeside were the biggest provider of vessels

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Speaker 1: to the Royal Navy and the region produced a lot

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Speaker 1: of armaments. So when Scottish men left for war, a

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Speaker 1: bunch of women joined the workforce to keep cranking out

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Speaker 1: ships and munitions for the fight. But just because business

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Speaker 1: was booming didn't mean business was good. Workers conditions were poor.

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Speaker 1: People worked long days and weren't paid well for it.

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Speaker 1: Tensions were rising between factory owners and industrial workers. Civil

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Speaker 1: unrest was brewing and the organized labor movement was growing

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Speaker 1: in Glasgow. So after the war ended in November nineteen eight,

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Speaker 1: troops were demobilizing and returning to Scotland looking for work.

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Speaker 1: But munitions factories were closing and both industrial workers and

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Speaker 1: returning soldiers found themselves out of work. So the Clyde

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Speaker 1: Workers Committee, made up of engineering shop stewards from different

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Speaker 1: trade unions, decided to advocate for less hours for current workers.

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Speaker 1: If people only worked forty hours a week, there would

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Speaker 1: be more jobs available for the soldiers who were coming

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Speaker 1: home from war, but factory owners, on the other hand,

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Speaker 1: wanted to keep a longer work week so there would

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Speaker 1: be less jobs in a reserve of unemployed people. On January,

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Speaker 1: leaders of the Clyde Workers Committee called a strike to

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Speaker 1: demand a forty hour work week, and on January the

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Speaker 1: strikes began. At first, employers, trade union officials and the

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Speaker 1: government just waved off the strike, dismissing it as a

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Speaker 1: minor dispute that would fizzle out soon enough. But by

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Speaker 1: the thirtieth of January it was clear that was definitely

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Speaker 1: not the case. Tens of thousands of workers in Clyde

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Speaker 1: Side were striking. Electricity supply workers and miners had even

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Speaker 1: gone on strike. In sympathy. The Clyde Workers Committee sent

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Speaker 1: out flying pickets, or people who travel to places where

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Speaker 1: workers are on strike to incite more people to strike

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Speaker 1: to help spread the mission faster. On January twenty nine,

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Speaker 1: strikers rallied in Glasgow and marched to George Square. A

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Speaker 1: group of leaders from the Clyde Workers Committee, including Willie Gallagher,

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Speaker 1: Manny Shinwell and David Kirkwood, met with the Lord Provost

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Speaker 1: of Glasgow at the Glasgow City Chambers. They requested he

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Speaker 1: asked the Council to tell employers they needed to grant

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Speaker 1: workers a forty hour work week. The Lord Provost said

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Speaker 1: he couldn't give them an answer just yet and to

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Speaker 1: come back on at thirty one. But as people waited

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Speaker 1: in the square to hear the Lord Provost reply, the

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Speaker 1: police began attacking demonstrators seemingly unprovoked. The police baton charged

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Speaker 1: the crowd and the demonstrators fought back. Gallagher punched the

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Speaker 1: Chief Constable and was beaten. Kirkwood was hit with batons.

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Speaker 1: People through water bottles at police, smash windows and looted.

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Speaker 1: As the violence escalated, police retreated, but the fighting continued

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Speaker 1: for hours. Nineteen police officers and thirty four strikers were injured.

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Speaker 1: Martial law had not been declared, so the government didn't

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Speaker 1: have the authority to send out troops. The War Cabinet

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Speaker 1: met in London and discussed the problem in Glasgow, but

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Speaker 1: it was the Sheriff of Lanarkshire, who requested a military deployment.

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Speaker 1: The troops arrived after the riots were over, and they

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Speaker 1: started patrolling the power stations and set up tanks in

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Speaker 1: the area. By Sunday, the city settled down and the

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Speaker 1: troops left After about two weeks. Gallagher and Shinwell were

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Speaker 1: arrested for inciting a riot and put on trial. They

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Speaker 1: were convicted and got jail time, but other strike leaders

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Speaker 1: put on trial were acquitted. Workers had not won the

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Speaker 1: strike for a forty hour working week, so they returned

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Speaker 1: to an agreement union officials had already reached with employers

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Speaker 1: for a forty seven hour work week. I'm Eave Jeffcote,

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little bit more about history

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Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. Hey guys, I know that

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Speaker 1: I sound a little bit raspy today. I'm recovering from

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Speaker 1: a cold, but thank you so much for bearing with me.

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Speaker 1: You can subscribe to This Day and History Class on

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts that I Heart Radio app or wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Tune in tomorrow for another Day in History.

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Speaker 1: H