The Political Impact of Immigration on Scotland

Aim: Examine the political impact which different groups of immigrants had on Scotland. Success Criteria: For each immigrant group you can give one example of the political impact that they had on Scotland.

Glossary Home Rule – to give an area of a country more power to run its own affairs. Republicans – people who wanted Ireland to be an independent country. Uprising – an attempt to seize power by force. Trade Unions – an organisation which represents a group of workers and campaigns for better wages and working conditions.

Irish Immigrants In the 1800s and early 1900s Ireland was part of the British Empire. Many Irish people felt that the British government did not care about the problems in Ireland or do much to help. Some wanted Home Rule – they wanted Ireland to remain part of Britain but have more control of how it was governed. Others were Republicans – they wanted an independent Irish Republic and the end of British rule in Ireland.

The Easter Rising 1916 When the war broke out in 1914, all talk of home rule was suspended until the war was over. At Easter time in 1916 a group of Irish Republicans launched an armed uprising in Dublin. They planned to end British rule in Ireland by using force. The uprising lasted 6 days and all of its key leaders were executed with the approval of the Liberal Government.

Political Support After the Easter uprising many Irish Catholics moved their support from the Liberals to the Labour Party – this was a major reason why the Labour Party became more popular in Scotland. Many Protestant Irish immigrants voted for the Conservative/Unionist Party because they wanted Ireland to remain part of the UK.

Lithuanian and Jewish Immigrants Lithuanian and Jewish immigrants became politically active in two main ways. a) They joined trade unions and campaigned for better working conditions. a) The voted for and supported the Independent Labour Party (ILP) who campaigned for better living and working conditions for workers in Scotland.

Italian Immigrants Italian immigrants were less influential in politics as many of them were only concerned with earning enough money to return to Italy. In the 1920s and 1930s some Italian immigrants supported Mussolini’s Fascist Party. There were some minor outbreaks of violence in Scottish cities as tension grew between Italy and the UK in the 1930s.