Battle of George Square

Battle of George Square
Part of Red Clydeside
David Kirkwood and Willie Gallacher being detained by police at the City Chambers
Date	31 January 1919
Location	Glasgow, Scotland
Causes	Anger with 53-hour working week Unemployment
Goals	Reduced working week Reduced unemployment
Methods	Strike action Rioting throughout Glasgow Running battles with police
Result	Army units deployed to Glasgow Workers return to work under guarantee of 47 hour week Growth of Labour movement in Scotland
Parties to the civil conflict
British Government Glasgow Corporation Glasgow City Police Protesters Striking workers
Lead figures
Lord Provost Sir James Watson Stewart Sheriff MacKenzie De-Centralized Leadership
Number
60,000+ Protesters (Not all involved in violence)
Casualties
Many injured

Protesters

60,000+ Protesters

The "Battle of George Square", also known as "Bloody Friday" and "Black Friday", was one of the most intense riots in the history of Glasgow; it took place on Friday, 31 January 1919. The dispute revolved around a campaign for shorter working hours, backed by widespread strike action. Clashes between the City of Glasgow Police and protesters broke out, prompting the Secretary of State for War Winston Churchill to order soldiers and tanks to the city to prevent the violence from escalating due to fears by the UK government of a Bolshevist uprising. It was described as a "socialist revolution" by supporters, as had happened in the 1917 Russian Revolution, and was occurring in Germany and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire while the 'Forty Hours' strike unfolded.

Before the First World War, the standard working week was 54 hours. National negotiations had established a 47-hour working week for men in the shipbuilding and engineering trades, to be introduced in 1919. A Joint Committee of shop stewards, members of the Scottish TUC and Clyde Workers' Committee however proposed a campaign to limit working-hours to 30 per week, which was altered to 40 per week after the Glasgow Trades Council became involved. It was, however, opposed by the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and most other unions.

The immediate objective was to alleviate unemployment, exacerbated by the post-World War I recession, by sharing out available working hours more widely at a time when unemployment was rising as war contracts were completed and when tens of thousands of ex-servicemen were returning to the civilian labour force. Many workers also resented the fact that the new 47-hour week agreement removed their traditional morning break.