Tom Johnston wrote an epitaph for James Maxton which could equally apply to himself, Helen Crawfurd, Mary Barbour and so many more of the Red Clydesiders:
He played a forever memorable part in changing a public opinion which was complacent and acquiescent in face of needless suffering in the midst of plenty, to one that was resolutely determined upon fairer shares for all.
Warm and witty, kind-hearted and generous, interested in everything and everyone, the spirited men and women of Red Clydeside had one goal they set above all other things. It came before their own self-interest and self-advancement. Some sacrificed their liberty for it, some their health, some even their lives. Their aim was this: to create a fair and just society, one in which the children of the poor had as much right as the children of the rich to good health, happiness, education, creative expression and opportunity.
The world has changed. Politics has changed. We’ve all become deeply cynical about politicians. Political earthquakes or not, we all recognize the truth in the old saying that we Scots don’t need enemies, we have each other.
Yet one thing does not change: the democratic spirit of the Scottish people, the belief that we’re all Jock Tamson’s bairns. Whatever our political views and the nuances within them, many of us still hold the ideals of the Red Clydesiders close to our hearts. It’s what makes us who we are.
Select Bibliography
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Brown, Gordon, Maxton, Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 1986
Buchan, Alasdair, The Right to Work: The Story of the Upper Clyde Confrontation, Calder and Boyars, London, 1972
Canning, Audrey, ‘Margaret Irwin – S.T.U.C. 100 Years’, Scottish Marxist Voice, Issue 6, 1997
Casciani, Elizabeth, Oh, How We Danced!, Mercat Press, Edinburgh, 1994
Chalmers, A.K., The Health of Glasgow, 1818–1925, Glasgow Corporation, Glasgow, 1930
Crawfurd, Helen, Unpublished Memoir, Marx Memorial Library, London (copy held by Gallacher Memorial Library, Glasgow Caledonian University)
Damer, Seán, Rent Strike!: The Clydebank Rent Struggles of the 1920s, Clydebank Library, Glasgow, 1982
Gallacher, William, The Chosen Few, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1940
Gallacher, William, Revolt on the Clyde: An Autobiography, Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1980
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Hanham, H.J., Scottish Nationalism, Faber and Faber Ltd, London, 1969
Hood, John, The History of Clydebank, Parthenon Publishing/Clydebank District Council, Carnforth, 1988
Johnston, Thomas, Our Scots Noble Families, Forward Publishing Co. Ltd, Glasgow, 1909
Johnston, Thomas, The History of the Working Classes in Scotland, Forward Publishing Co. Ltd, Glasgow, 1922
Johnston, Thomas, Memories, Collins, London, 1952
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Kinchin, Perilla, Tea and Taste: The Glasgow Tea Rooms 1875–1975, White Cockade Publishing, Dorchester, 1991
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King, Elspeth, The Hidden History of Glasgow’s Women, Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 1993
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Leneman, Leah, The Scottish Suffragettes, NMS-Publishing, Edinburgh, 2000
Lewenhak, Sheila, Women and Trade Unions, Ernest Benn, London, 1977
MacCormick, John, The Flag in the Wind, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2008
Maclean, John, Condemned from the Dock: John Maclean’s speech from the dock 1918, International Marxist Group, London, undated
McKean, Walker & Walker, Central Glasgow: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (Limited Edition), The Rutland Press, Edinburgh, 1999
McLean, Iain, The Legend of Red Clydeside, John Donald, Edinburgh, 1983
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McShane, Harry, Three Days That Shook Edinburgh, AK Press, Oakland, California, USA, 1994
Milton, Nan, John Maclean, Pluto Press, London, 1973
Muir, James Hamilton, Glasgow in 1901, White Cockade Publishing, Dorchester, 2001
Rowbotham, Sheila, New World for Women: Stella Browne, Socialist Feminist, Pluto Press, London, 1977
Sanger, Margaret, The Autobiography of Margaret Sanger, Dover Publications, 2004
Smyth, J.J., Labour in Glasgow, 1896–1936, Socialism, Suffrage, Sectarianism, Tuckwell Press, East Linton, 2000
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Young, James D., The Very Bastards of Creation: Scottish International Radicalism 1707–1995: A Biographical Study, Clydeside Press, Glasgow, 1996
Newspapers Consulted
The Bailie
The Bulletin
Daily Record
Evening Times
Forward
Glasgow Herald
The Scotsman
Online Resources
Glasgow Digital Library: gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk
Hansard Online: hansard.millbanksystems.com
National Library of Scotland: www.nls.uk
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: www.oxforddnb.com
Scran: www.scran.ac.uk
Spartacus Educational: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk