Workers Struggles in the late 1910's

[Savage]

Other than the obvious examples of the Russian and German Revolutions, what were some prominent struggles taking place around this time? Usually in discussions about the possibility of a World Revolution at this time someone mentions various movements outside of Russia and Germany (that must have been no where near as successful) but no one ever elaborates on them.

[Rooster]

The battle of George Square (Bloody Friday) 1919

On Friday 31 January 1919 upwards of 60,000 demonstrators gathered in George Square in support of the 40-hours strike and to hear the Lord Provost's reply to the workers' request for a 40-hour week. Whilst the deputation was in the building the police mounted a vicious and unprovoked attack on the demonstrators, felling unarmed men and women with their batons. The demonstrators, with the ex-servicemen to the fore, quickly retaliated with fists, iron railings and broken bottles, and forced the police into a retreat.

On hearing the noise from the square the strike leaders, who were meeting with the Lord Provost, rushed outside to restore order. One of the leaders, David Kirkwood, was felled to the ground by a police baton, and along with William Gallacher was arrested by the police.

After the initial confrontation between the demonstrators and the police in George Square, further fighting continued in and around the city centre streets for many hours afterwards. The Townhead area of the city and Glasgow Green, where many of the demonstrators had regrouped after the initial police charge, were the scenes of running battles between police and demonstrators.

In the immediate aftermath of 'Bloody Friday', as it became known, other leaders of the Clyde Workers' Committee were also arrested, including Emanuel Shinwell, Harry Hopkins and George Edbury.

Government concerns about industrial militancy and revolutionary political activity in Glasgow reached new heights after the events of 31 January 1919. Fears within government of a workers' revolution in Glasgow led to the deployment of troops and tanks in the city.

An estimated 10000 English troops in total were sent to Glasgow in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of George Square. This was in spite of a full battalion of Scottish soldiers being stationed at Maryhill barracks in Glasgow at the time. No Scottish troops were deployed, with the government fearing that fellow Scots, soldiers or otherwise, would go over to the workers side if a revolutionary situation developed in Glasgow.

On 10 February 1919 the 40-hours strike was called off by the Joint Strike Committee. Whilst not achieving their stated aim of a 40-hour working week, the striking workers from the engineering and shipbuilding industries did return to work having at least negotiated an agreement that guaranteed them a 47-hour working week; 10 hours less than they were working prior to the strike.


http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/redclyde/redclyeve14.htm


Cheeky copy and paste....

[ComradeOm]

In terms of actual revolutions, the most obvious example is Hungary 1919 where a Soviet Republic was briefly declared. There was a similar state established in Slovakia, while in Austria mass demonstrations led the SPD (reformists) to declare a republic. [Edit: Plus of course civil war in Finland.] The situation in Central/Eastern Europe was exceptionally fluid given the collapse of state authority across much of the region

Elsewhere, the ending of the war led to mass protests from the working classes. In France, Italy (the 'red years') and Britain there were mass strikes and protests for higher wages, more rights, reduced hours, union representation, etc. Generally these were successful in forcing concessions from the bourgeoisie

[hatzel]

Everybody conveniently forgets the glorious (:rolleyes:) revolution in Sweden. I say revolution, but...well, it was really only a revolution according to some guy, Sigurd Klock, who wrote a book called 'The Swedish Revolution 1917-1918'. I can't find any information about this 'revolution' (really just a number of strikes and rallies) in English, but hey, Google translate and Swedish-language Wikipedia were invented for a reason!

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerupproret
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junikravallerna
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seskarö-upproret

There are a few songs about this stuff, if you feel like listening to some old school Swedish leftist music...

GEBW7YB7mXk

:lol:

[Tommy4ever]

Hungarian Soviet Republic - Communists took over, invaded all their neighbours to try to reclaim the land lost by Hungary due to WWI. They got their asses handed to them.

Finland - Communists took over southern Finland and were then curshed by the 'Whites'.

Glasgow - Large docker protests were crushed by the state.

Germany - German Revolution, succeeded in bringing down the Kaiser but failed to bring down the bourgeiosie.

Italy - There was a major period of chaos in which the Left surged forward. Ended with the Fascists taking power.

Ireland - Anglo-Irish war had heavy leftist influences and ended in Irish independence (then Civil War).

Russia (Obviously) - Russian Revolution and Civil War

That's all I can think of.

[RED DAVE]

Comrades, have you forgotten the USA?

The Seattle General Strike of 1919 (http://www.iww.org/culture/articles/zinn15.shtml)

RED DAVE

[Tower of Bebel]

When the Germans retreated there grew a soviet republic in Luxemb(o)urg but it was surpessed by the French who came to claim parts of the border region with Germany.

[ed miliband]

Conor Kostick wrote a book entitled 'Revolution in Ireland: Popular Militancy, 1917 - 1923'. It covers the factory occupations, uprisings, strikes, etc. that took place during that period.

Here's one example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_Soviet

[Crux]

Everybody conveniently forgets the glorious (:rolleyes:) revolution in Sweden. I say revolution, but...well, it was really only a revolution according to some guy, Sigurd Klock, who wrote a book called 'The Swedish Revolution 1917-1918'. I can't find any information about this 'revolution' (really just a number of strikes and rallies) in English, but hey, Google translate and Swedish-language Wikipedia were invented for a reason!

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerupproret
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junikravallerna
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seskarö-upproret (http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seskar%C3%B6-upproret)

There are a few songs about this stuff, if you feel like listening to some old school Swedish leftist music...

GEBW7YB7mXk

:lol:
From what I've understood the general strike of 1909 was bigger, but all through the 1920's sweden, incredibly did have the highest number of work days lost due to strike. So much for the idea of "the swedish model" being based on friendly consensus between worker's and employers.
1917 wasn't a revolution in sweden, but it certainly was a prerevolutionary situation.

[Red Commissar]

The Mexican Revolution is a good place to look. It had its roots in issues over land reform and exploded with quite a bit of radical elements mixed in.

Confusing too, it also illustrates the nature of politics in the midst of essentially a civil war.