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Although opposed to the war, there was no thought of using it to overthrow the government. The Russian Revolution of October 1917, however, did put the idea in a few heads. Mass demonstrations were held to celebrate the establishment of the Bolshevik state, but there was no attempt to emulate it. As ILPer John Wheatley remarked, ‘everyone pointed to the Russian road, but none was ready to lead the way’.
It was only John Maclean and those grouped around him who saw in the war a potentially revolutionary situation. But in spite of his popularity with the Glasgow working class (thousands turned out to welcome his release from jail in July 1917), his views were unrepresentative. At no time was he able to translate his popularity into a mass movement. However, the government, taking no chances, kept him out of the way for most of the war.
In the end, it was not the revolutionaries who gained much by the war; instead, it was the more moderate ILP that saw its support grow. There was a 300 per cent increase in ILP membership and a 50 per cent increase in the number of branches. Disillusioned Liberals, housewives, skilled workers and the Irish began an irreversible shift in allegiance away from the party of Gladstone to the party of Labour.
Unionists
The Unionists had been trounced at the polls in Scotland in 1906 and twice in 1910. Any electoral gains made since that time up to the war were due to Labour splitting the vote. In a straight contest with a Liberal, the Unionist stood no chance of victory. It was boys against men.
However, the war brought an electoral truce between the parties, and this benefited the Unionists – all they had to do was act more patriotically than Labour or the Liberals. They were pretty good at this and were well to the fore in recruitment campaigns. Moreover, they never endured the arguments, debates and splits suffered by their rivals. Thus, the Unionists were becoming, in the eyes of the Scottish people, the party of empire and patriotism, ready to stand up for king and country.
They also enjoyed the support of the Church of Scotland, which was vociferous in its support for the war and the campaign at the end to hang the kaiser. So much for the Christian value of loving your neighbour! The business community, seeing the deep divisions in the Liberal Party after 1916, and worried about the rise of Labour and the trade unions, was also moving closer to the Unionists. This signalled the class divisions that were opening up in Scottish society – divisions that would destroy the Liberal Party as a force in Scottish politics (see Chapter 15).
Interestingly, of the Unionist candidates in the 1918 general election, 46 per cent had a military prefix. Of the victorious ones, 11 were businessmen, 9 were landowners and military men, 9 were lawyers and the other 3 were from various other professions.
Putting it all together
Although the First World War did not create a revolutionary situation on Clydeside, it generated important political and social changes. Fundamental shifts in the balance of power occurred:
The free market in housing rents was destroyed.
The state was forced to co-operate with the trade unions in ru
The dominance of the Liberals was broken.
The personal standing of those in the ILP who had opposed the war was raised immediately – James Maxton, John Wheatley and others became household names.
These changes would shape the social and political agenda in the immediate post-war years.