SCOTLAND

Upon these hearts, sorrow falls
MEMORY'S PAIN

and though against their will -

even in their own defiance,

comes wisdom with

that sorrow.

LIVING IN GLASGOW

A community living on the razor’s edge
as violence rips it apart.

In a world where poverty slices deeper
than any flesh wound,
it takes more than a sewing machine
to make ends meet...

THE GLASGOW STORY

Mention Glasgow

and various stereotypes jump to mind,

shipbuilding, dreadful slums, random violence,

razor gangs, and hard drinking.

Although I never touch the stuff,

if you ever need a good “Hit Man”

just buy a bottle of Jack Daniels

and give me a call!
What else is written about the city usually

refers to
captains of industry, architects, inventors,

and medical men of note.

Scratch the surface,

and you find another Glasgow
with a long tradition, the real Glasgow

"RADICAL GLASGOW”

Glasgow can boast of a long tradition

of radical movements

growing from the ranks of ordinary people.

People

struggling not only to improve their own conditions,

but that of all working class people….

War, economic depression and social change

characterized Glasgow between 1914 and 1950.

The outbreak of the First World War

took most Glaswegians by surprise

but there were signs prior to this time that

conflict was coming.

In July 1914 King George V had visited the city

during a high-profile tour of Scotland's industrial communities.

Forming part of the itinerary was Fairfield's shipyard in Govan,

where he saw the super-Dreadnought battleship,

Valiant, under construction.

That the Govan shipyard served as a showpiece for

Glaswegian enterprise was significant.

Only two years previously, in 1912,

the Burgh of Govan had been formally

incorporated into the city's boundaries.

Along with other added areas, such as Cathcart,

Partick and Pollokshaws, Govan

had substantially boosted the number of

Glasgow's inhabitants to over 1 million,

making the extended city the most populous

in the British Isles after London.

FIRST WORLD WAR

Less than a month after the royal visit, on 4 August 1914, Great Britain and the Empire were at war with Germany. Tensions in the Balkans had undermined the fragile balance of European power, with the result that alliances and counter-alliances were invoked to protect strategic interests. The fast pace of mobilisation immediately transformed Glasgow into a major military recruitment centre, and the dual appeal of civic duty and defence of Empire engendered an enthusiastic response from volunteers for active service. Over 200,000 Glasgow men joined the armed forces between 1914 and 1918, either as volunteers, or, from January 1916, as conscripts.

On the home front it was inevitable that the productive capacity of Clydeside industry, especially shipbuilding, steel and engineering, should be directed overwhelmingly towards the war effort. Glasgow became the centre of massive munitions output and the workforce was placed under extraordinary pressure to ensure that the steady flow of armaments and military equipment was maintained. During 1915 and 1916 the drive to boost manufacturing provoked industrial unrest. In particular, engineering trade unionists viewed "dilution" of labour as a conscious attempt to deskill the workforce and thus reduce wage rates. Yet labour shortages meant that women were increasingly recruited, especially for shell-making and the eventual female predominance in production indicated how far conventional work patterns were temporarily reshaped by war.

PEACE and UNREST

The Armistice of 11 November 1918 did not herald an immediate return to peacetime conditions as the process of demobilisation was prolonged and elements of the war economy still survived. Nevertheless, the wartime dislocation of global markets aroused fears of mass unemployment, a factor that contributed to a brief resurgence of strike activity in January 1919. The city's inter-war reputation as the heart of radical "Red Clydeside" was defined in the violent climax to a demonstration called by the engineers, when police and protesters clashed outside the City Chambers in George Square. For the first time in fifty years the Riot Act was read in Glasgow, the army was summoned to restore order and strike leaders were arrested and imprisoned on incitement charges.

The Coalition Government's alarmist reaction to the events of "Bloody Friday" was based on the belief that there was a revolutionary dimension to the strike, an assumption that was exaggerated but which nevertheless reflected the polarised political climate in Glasgow. From 1918 allegiances were starkly divided between "socialist" and "anti-socialist" and although the labels masked a diversity of opinion, they came to dominate inter-war election campaigns at both civic and parliamentary levels. Left-wing organisational strength had been consolidated during the war, particularly within the Independent Labour Party. The ILP benefited from the 1918 franchise reforms which substantially extended the electorate, even though women under thirty years of age could not vote for Westminster MPs until 1928.

POLITICS

Glasgow's political reorientation became apparent in the 1922 general election when Labour won ten out of the fifteen parliamentary seats. Outspoken ILP-ers like James Maxton (1885-1946) and John Wheatley (1869-1930) ardently promoted welfare issues at a time of bitter controversy over the city's deteriorating living standards. Labour also made significant inroads at the municipal level, becoming the majority party on Glasgow Corporation for the first time in 1933. However, the left was by no means politically dominant and Glasgow voters still returned influential figures from the Conservatives and Unionists. For instance, Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923) was Conservative Prime Minister between 1922 and 1923

From the 1920s the decline of Glasgow's once influential Liberal Party meant that politics became particularly fluid and new parties emerged, such as the Communists and Scottish Nationalists, which attracted considerable minority support.

DEPRESSION

Glasgow's economy dominated political debate from the 1920s as unpredictable international markets precipitated a downswing in the shipbuilding industry. This, in turn, affected other key sectors such as steel. The world depression from 1929 cut across hopes of recovery as output collapsed and unemployment levels soared. By 1931, in contrast with buoyant attitudes immediately before the war, one official civic publication was decrying the negativity that undermined industrial confidence. However, motivational encouragement to proclaim Glasgow's "value and virtues" was not enough to halt the crisis. At the height of the depression, in 1933, some 30 per cent of the city's insured population was out of work. By this time practical measures of regeneration were identified as beyond local solutions, with state intervention and economic planning actively promoted to help investment in new industries

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Inevitably the depression exacerbated social problems, especially housing shortages and overcrowding. Certain communities experienced the disproportionate weight of congestion, the most notorious being Hutchesontown and the Gorbals, to the south of the River Clyde. In 1931 almost 85,000 people inhabited the area, which covered only 2 per cent of the city's total territory. It had long been a magnet for immigrants, particularly from Ireland and eastern Europe, and thus demonstrated an unusual cosmopolitan quality for Glasgow. Yet sensationalist journalism embellished the "facts" of inter-war slum life and perpetuated an unsavoury image of the city that survived for decades.

A favourite literary device was the metaphor of infestation, whether by rats, street gangs, immigrants or socialists, to illustrate Glasgow's crowded and corrosive slum environment.

Be still, sad heart!
and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all:
Into each life some rain must fall;
Some days must be dark and dreary.

HISTORY OF THE "GORBALS"

1900 GLASGOW

The influx of people looking for employment spawned the emergence of tenement accommodation. The poorest families were forced to live in "single ends", one roomed homes where the entire family, often including grandparents, would live together.
Many families had to share common lavatories and wash facilities.

However, the struggle for survival generated a common bond between the tenement dwellers and a great sense of community spirit, kindness and sharing dominated everyday life.

1900 GORBALSs

It had become a true community with a mix of a succession of immigrant groups: Highlanders, displaced by sheep, land confiscation and poverty; Irish fleeing famine and political upheaval; and Jews leaving behind persecution in Europe.

'The hub of Glasgow Catholic life up to the 1950s'.

Glasgow's rapid growth as an industrial city in the 19th and 20th centuries created a legacy of poor, cramped housing, with frequent bouts of high unemployment. The social problems were probably at their worst in the Gorbals area, just south of the river Clyde. This is where Glasgow got its reputation as "No Mean City" and gang fights with open razors as weapons.

After the Second World War, attempts were made to rehouse those in sub-standard tenement blocks by moving them to new estates on the edge of the city - though the sprawling local council estates of Castlemilk, Easterhouse, Pollok and Drumchapel created just as many social problems. In the Gorbals, the old buildings were demolished and new high-rise flats arose in their place - as filing cabinets for people. The old community spirit of the area was thus largely destroyed.

"Where’s the coward that would not
dare to fight for such a land?"

SCOTLAND

Scotland

During the early 1900s strikes in the Scottish coal mines, on the railways, and on the docks paralyzed the economy and showed the power of a unified labor movement. Government attempts to break the unions not only failed, they instilled greater resolve in those who were arrested, locked out of their jobs, or denied employment because of their union activities. The Labor Party was created to gain representation in Parliament for workers; the result was the election in 1906 of 29 Labor members, who entered into a coalition with the Liberals. The Liberal government responded by passing the Trade Union Act of 1913, which allowed union dues (fees paid by union members) to be used for political purposes.

"The will to do,

the soul to dare."

BRIEF HISTORY OF SCOTLAND

Ireland
At the same time, all of the Irish members of Parliament stood for home rule and threatened to withdraw their support from the Liberal government if home rule was not granted. The situation in Ireland had deteriorated since the failure of home rule in 1893. Irish citizens were divided into two camps: Irish republicans supported independence for Ireland, while British unionists supported continued union with Britain. Tension continued to escalate between the two groups and eventually led to the Irish Revolution (1912-1922). The revolution began in 1912 as Irish on both sides of the issue armed themselves for war after the introduction of the third home rule bill in Parliament.

Los Angeles
In 1872, the Southern Pacific railroad came into Los Angeles from San Francisco - allowing the city to get in touch with the rest of the state. Throughout the rest of the 1870's the area around Los Angeles became a farming center, with industry and manufacturing only shortly behind.
In the early 1900's east coast filmmakers descended upon Los Angeles - for the weather, and to escape patent legal trouble for using Thomas Edison's movie camera patent. The studios blossomed, and put Los Angeles on the map. In 1932, the Olympics were held there. During World War II, Los Angeles factories produced huge amounts of weapons, airplanes, and war machinery.

The Block of Granite,
which is an obstacle in the
Pathway of the Weak,
becomes a stepping-stone in the
Pathway of the Strong.

SCOTLAND THE BRAVE

Oh! Ye'll take the high road

And I'll take the low road,

And I'll be in Scotland

afore ye;

But me and my true love

Will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks of

Loch Lomond.

CHARACTER

Go without a coat when it's cold;

Find out what cold is.

Go hungry;

keep your existence lean.

Wear away the fat,

get down to the lean tissue

and see what it's all about.

The only time you define your

CHARACTER

is when you go without.

In times of hardship,

you find out what you're made of

and what you're capable of.

If you're never tested,

you'll never define your

CHARACTER.

However mean your

LIFE is

MEET it,

LIVE it,

do not shun it
and call it hard names.

FATE:

how small a role you play in it.

HUMAN LIFE

Duration: momentary.
Nature: changeable.
Perception: dim.
Condition of Body: decaying.
Soul: spinning around.
Fortune: unpredictable.
Lasting Fame: uncertain.

Sum Up:

The body and its parts are a river,
the soul a dream and mist,
Life is warfare
and a journey far from home,
lasting reputation is oblivion.

WALKING IN THE AIR

I am as bold, I am as bold,

I am as bold and more, Lady;
Any man that doubts my word,

May try my gude claymore, Lady.
Then be content, be content,
Be content with me, Lady;

For now you are my wedded wife,

Until the day ye die, Lady.

It is with our passions
as it is with fire and water;
they are good servants,
but bad masters.

LIVING A SIMPLE LIFE

TOGETHER…

Mature as he was,

she might yet be able to help him

to the building of the rainbow bridge

that should connect the prose in us

with the passion.

Without it we are meaningless fragments,

half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches

that have never joined into a man.

With it love is born,

and alights on the highest curve,

glowing against the grey,

sober against the fire.

It must be hard being an

ANGEL

When the DEVIL

in your HEART

Won't set you free.

It must be hard being an angel,

When the world has let you down.
There's no perfect reason and
no perfect rhyme for most of the time
that's what we're looking for.

Can you please support the notion
of what I'm saying here-
That the people here in question must
be angels here on earth,
If one can't see us as human beings.
Nobody's perfect all of the time-

Nobody's perfect, we are what we are,

The Crossans!

THE HELLRAISERS

See you all in

HEAVEN
One day.

Although, a few of you,
I’m not too sure about.
You were, after all,

HELLRAISERS

Given the many times
I have cursed God,

I might be joining

YOU!

Accounts are not quite settled

between us, said she,

with a passion that equaled my own.

I can LOVE and I can HATE.

You had your choice.

You chose to spurn the first;
Now you must test the other.

THE CROSSAN MEN
These were not men, they were battlefields.

And over them, like the sky, arched their sense of harmony,
their sense of beauty and rest against which
their misery and their struggles were an offense,
to which their misery and their struggles
were the only approaches they could make,
of which their misery
and their struggles were an integral part.

And until we meet again,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.

Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
May you live as long as you want,

And never want as long as you live.