The Calton Weavers
"The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles." An afternoon remembering our martyrs the Calton Weavers, who were shot down in the street for striking for better working conditions, in what was Scotland's first major industrial dispute. This action inspired further uprisings across the West of Scotland, at a time when being a union member or taking strike action was punishable by long term imprisonment, banishment, public flogging and execution. This inaugural event was organised as a way to commemorate those whose lives were lost to the cause and educate current generations on this largely forgotten but vitally important time in working class history. It was an informative and inspiring day of social history, politics, poetry and song and I look forward to watching the event grow each coming year. Spending time with people who in some cases have 50+ years in the labour movement under their belt, including the 7x great grandson of one of the martyrs, was humbling and made me feel a real connection to our shared radical history. I would thoroughly recommend picking up the new pocket radical edition The Strike of the Glasgow Weavers by Dr Elspeth King, who gave a fantastic lecture after the memorial event, available from Calton Books.