How did the First World War affect Scottish politics?

This issue is about how the war made people think more about politics, how people became more political and what happened to the political parties.

To cover the syllabus you should know about the following:  What radicalism is and how Scots were affected by it.  What the ILP was and why many Scots supported it.  What was meant by Red Clydeside.  Why many Scots supported the union and wanted to be part of Scotland within Britain.

Radicalism and post-war Scottish politics?  What were the main changes in Scottish politics caused by the war?  The great war made many Scots more politically aware.  A word used to describe that increasing awareness and willingness to become politically involved is ‘radicalisation’.

The main changes in the political parties involved the Liberals and the Labour Party.  Before the war the Liberal Party was the most powerful political party in Scotland.  After 1918 the Liberal Party was split and after the mid-1920s they would never again be such a significant force in British politics until the coalition government of 2010.

The Independent Labour Party was stronger in 1918 than it had been in 1914, and the mainstream Labour Party was about to become one of the two big parties in British politics.  The Conservative and Unionist Party recovered from their pre-war unpopularity and began to attract new voters from the middle classes living in the cities.

What does radicalisation mean and what effect did it have on post-war politics in Scotland?  To become politically radicalised means to want fundamental changes in the way politics operate.  During the war, the radicalisation of politics in Scotland at times meant people taking direct action to cause or prevent changes to their own lives. (rent strikes)

Examples..  Women who were involved in the rent strikes went on to became local councillors in Glasgow.  Shop steward in the CWC went on to become MPs representing the ILP and the UK Parliament.  Others became much more involved in trade unions or anti-war groups of the 1920s.

The radicalisation of politics in Scotland greatly affected the main political parties.  Many voters began to support the ILP or the Labour Party as a way of challenging the old ways of doing things.  In that sense support for Labour could be seen as the radicalisation of Scottish politics.

The radicalisation of Scottish politics also had an effect on those who did not want to change.  Those people who were against the political changes supported by Labour also became stronger and more confrontational in their views.

The Conservative and Unionist Party became the party of choice for many who saw it as the only way of stopping Scotland from sliding into ‘Red Revolution’.

The events of ‘Red Clydeside’ had given hope to people who wanted change in Scottish society but had also scared the middle and upper classes, who saw it as the possible start of revolution.  In that sense Red Clydeside was a major cause of the radicalisation of Scottish politics

The revolutionary flags flying during the Russian Revolution were all red so the nickname of ‘red’ for revolutionary stuck.