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Bloody Friday

People's Palace, Social History File

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Bloody Friday

Emanuel Shinwell (left) and Harry Hopkins address the crowd in George Square from the front of the City Chambers on "Bloody Friday", 31 January 1919.

On the morning when union leaders met with civic leaders in the City Chambers, thousands of people gathered in George Square in support of the engineering unions' call for the introduction of a 40-hours week. Shinwell, the Independent labour Party activist and chairman of the Glasgow Trades Council, and fellow-ILPer Hopkins, an engineering union leader, were among those to address the crowd.

After the police launched a series of baton charges to clear the square and surrounding streets, Shinwell and Hopkins were two of those arrested by the police. Hopkins was subsequently acquitted, but Shinwell was among those found guilty of incitement to riot and he was sentenced to five months in prison.

Reference: PP.1979.107.4

Reproduced with the permission of The Herald and Evening Times, (c) SMG

Keywords:
Bloody Friday, demonstrations, engineering unions, George Square, Glasgow City Chambers, Glasgow Trades Council, ILP, Independent Labour Party, Jews, orators, political activists, Red Clydeside, riots, socialism, socialists, strikers, strikes, trade union leaders, trade unions, trades unions



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