Welcome to Glasgow (2)

Riches came to Glasgow from the West Indies, India, Africa, Australia and Canada.  The advent of the railway cut journey times and opened up areas of Scotland which had never been accessible to most people before.  Food improved with shorter journey times and refrigeration.  Leisure time became something that more people could aspire to and the opening up of music halls, tea rooms and pubs gave many Glaswegians something to do with that spare time.  Edwardian and Victorian Glasgow was designed as a vast commercial centre in a "grid", like northern American cities such as New York.  As a result of this period of energetic construction Glasgow can still claim some of the finest examples of Edwardian and Victorian architecture in the British Isles.  Two architects in particular stand out: Alexander "Greek" Thomson (1817-1875) whose innovative reinvention of the classical Greek style can be seen in buildings such as St Vincent Street Church and Holmwood House; and the world renowned Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) whose buildings include Glasgow Art School, Scotland Street School and Queen's Cross Church.  These architects are to Glasgow what Guadi is to Barcelona.

The growing metropolis pulled in workers from all over the Highlands and Ireland.  Scottish Catholicism, which had all but died out during the Reformation, had a resurgence with the influx of Catholic immigrants from Ireland.  By the late 19th century Glasgow and the Clyde Valley had a population about 2 million.  At this time it was the region with the world's highest concentration of industrial workers.  However, overcrowding, poor housing and horrendous working conditions would inevitably result in industrial disputes and strikes.  The Catholic population, who were most often relegated to poorly paying manual jobs by protestant dominated skilled workers' unions, strove for fair conditions.  Religious bigotry found expression in sectarian organisations and in football.  General discontentment with working conditions found an outlet through unionism and politics and the legend of "Red Clydeside" was born, which has influenced the Scottish psyche ever since.  In 1893 the first Labour Party was formed by Keir Hardie, who later became the first socialist member of parliament.  In the early 20th century folk heroes such as John Mclean rallied workers and preached communism on the Clydeside.

Indeed, if Karl Marx had been asked which city would have been at the forefront of The Revolution, he could have picked none more appropriate than Glasgow.  The decisive moment came on the 31st of January 1919, 18 months after the Russian Revolution, on what has gone down in history as "Bloody Friday".  On this day, in excess of 60,000 strikers gathered in George Square to hear the Lord Provost's response to their demands for a 40 hour week.  While the strike leaders were in the City Chambers the police mounted an unprovoked attack on the unarmed demonstrators, assaulting men and women with their batons.  On hearing the commotion outside, the strike leaders ran out to try and calm the situation, but one was felled by a police baton before being arrested, together with his comrades.  At this point all hell broke loose.  The demonstrators, some of whom would have been not long back from WWI, retaliated with fists, iron railings and broken bottles, forcing the police into retreat.  Running battles continued in the city for many hours.  That night the government deployed an estimated 10,000 troops from England: not a single Scottish soldier was deployed, although there was a full battalion stationed in Maryhill barracks in Glasgow at the time, for fear that they would support the demonstrators.  The next day, however, was Saturday and Glasgow's men were watching the football - so the impetus was lost.  Divisiveness had won against solidarity and with Glasgow like an armed camp the opportunity for revolution passed by.

The confidence and dynamism born in the industrial revolution lasted, in part, until the end of WWII.  The overworked munitions workers and shipyard labourers of wartime Glasgow would scarcely have believed that within 30 years almost all but a tiny portion of the heavy industry that surrounded them, exhausted them, injured them, but fed them and identified them, would be gone.  The catastrophic decline started with the failure of the Scottish shipbuilding industry.  This was a result of low investment, new competition (in particular, from the far east), undercutting by foreign shipyards whose governments were willing to provide subsidies, as well as other factors like a decline in immigration and cheaper air travel.  This started a downward spiral from which Glasgow's industry, and Glasgow's industrial labourers would never recover.  Today a new economic base has emerged founded on the service sector and tourism, but many Glaswegians remain bitter at the way the "Workshop of the World" has been so unceremoniously closed down.

But Glasgow is still Scotland's metropolis.  Being the economic and cultural centre to the west of Scotland, which is home to not much less than half of Scotland's population, at home and abroad (and for good and for bad) no Scottish city has contributed more to the emergence of a modern Scottish identity: tough but fair, wily, self reliant, cynical to the point of being fatalistic, prone to alchohol abuse, at times threatening, at times sentimental, as sharp as a razor: stereotypes which have emerged, in large measure, from the furnaces of the industrial revolution and the collapse that followed.  Now that the thick black smoke of Glasgow's industrial past is gone, many people are rediscovering a more subtle history and culture.  Glasgow has come a long way from Kentigern's "dear green place" of pilgrimage; through political maneuvering and extremes of success and failure.  But from once smog filled streets, Glasgow's historical and architectural gems are re-emerging.  The success of recent events like the "Glasgow Garden Festival", and accolades such as the "European City of Culture" and "European City of Architecture" have in some ways restored some confidence in this once proud giant.  No-one can deny that Glasgow has some of Europe's most alarming social problems, but this is just one of the many layers which have been bequeathed to the city by its long history.  Standing on the top of Glasgow Tower (one of Glasgow's most recent landmarks and part of the Glasgow Science Centre) one can see up towards the Cathedral, the junction of the Clyde and Kelvin Rivers, into the heart of the old city as well as along the Clydeside, its old abandoned quays and wharfs, now with modern developments towering above.  One cannot help but wonder what else may be out there to discover. Back<<<

Related topics:
A Brief History of Scotland