The Voice of Radicalism

Radicalism Fractured - Twentieth Century

Before 1900 the Aberdeen Trades Council had broken with the Liberal radicals. The Trades’ Council supported socialist parties in council and general elections. In 1918 Labour took Aberdeen North from the Liberals for the first time. The Liberals co-operated with the Unionists (Conservatives) to oppose Labour’s ambitions to get control of the town council.

The New Radical Politics

New Radical Politics considered disputes within the working class movement and its parties over attitudes to:

• The First World War
• The Russian Revolution
• The Russo-Polish War.

The General Strike

This was a country-wide strike which lasted only nine days, but which caused a lot of disruption.

• It took place between 3 rd and 12 th May 1926
• Locally, the strike was organised by the Trades’ Council and the Northern Co-operative Society
• It highlighted the class nature and the limits of the new politics.

Those features were well illustrated through the strike-breakers:

• Aberdeen University students drove the trams, even though the council had threatened striking tram drivers with dismissal.

Twentieth Century >>

Historic Collections · Kings College · Old Aberdeen · AB24 3SW

Tel:(0)44 1224 274312 · E-mail: radicalism@abdn.ac.uk

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