Red Clydeside

Timeline of events

Newspaper notice advertising the order of procession for May Day demonstration in Glasgow

6 May 1916

As can be seen by this 1916 May Day notice, the wider Labour movement on Clydeside was made up of a network of disparate left-wing parties, organisations and workers groups.

These included socialist, Marxist and syndicalist political parties as well as a full range of trades unions involved in organising workers in industries ranging from farming to medical bottle-making to textiles.

Also notable is the extent to which Glasgow's immigrant populations were organised within the Clydeside labour movement. The 1916 May Day procession included groups such as the Lithuanian Socialist Federation, the Jewish Federation of Social Democrats, the Catholic Socialist Society and the Workers' League for Jewish Emancipation.

Source: Gallacher Memorial Library, Glasgow Caledonian University Special Collections and Archives