The 1911 Singer strike: labour geographies and radical histories

During the early twentieth century, numerous places and regions developed a ‘red’ association. Alongside the 1917 revolution taking place in Russia, worker-led movements emerged to stamp their historical imprint on social-economic landscapes through organizing and resistant acts. Red Clydeside is one such region, and this chapter will draw upon the radical histories from the West of Scotland to indicate how labour activism established a historical presence. This relationship between place and radical history is pertinent for labour geography and is suggestive of the contributions of workers and workers’ movements in the formation of place identities. The chapter questions how best to revisit these radical forms of usable pasts and warns against a simple revisiting of radical history. It is argued that a geographical approach to labour histories illuminates factors and influences previously downplayed. In particular, the chapter foregrounds the making of connections by key labour activists during this period.