0:00:05 > 0:00:08In late November, 1918,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10in towns across Scotland,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14crowds of well-wishers gathered to welcome their troops
0:00:14 > 0:00:17as they began to arrive home from the horrors of war.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23The war to end all wars had left 100,000 of their comrades dead.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28No town, village or home was untouched.
0:00:30 > 0:00:35These soldiers came from all classes and all walks of life.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Many had volunteered to fight for King and country,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42others had been called up.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44These were not professional soldiers,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47these were citizens in uniform.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Conscription makes it far easier to talk about a people's war.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Going forward, if this was a people's war,
0:00:55 > 0:00:57it had to be a people's peace.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02This series is the story of that peace
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and of the people who shaped its tumultuous progress
0:01:05 > 0:01:08in the decade that followed the end of the war.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15It is a contested story of broken promises and political conflict.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Revolutionary moments
0:01:21 > 0:01:23and cultural clashes,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27as a generation of extraordinary characters battle over competing
0:01:27 > 0:01:30visions for a country's future,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32which still resonate today.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Among them is the first Socialist Prime Minister,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41a nationalist poet with the heart of a revolutionary,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45a radical landowner whose dream is one island's nightmare...
0:01:46 > 0:01:51..and a miner's daughter unable to vote because of her age and sex.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58In the turbulent decade ahead, a modern nation will take dramatic shape,
0:01:58 > 0:02:03as Scotland's people fight to discover their promised land.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27November 1918 - the certainty of total war gave way to
0:02:27 > 0:02:31an uncertain and unsettling peace
0:02:31 > 0:02:35and Scotland stood on the brink of a democratic revolution.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39Many of the poorest men who had been sent to fight and die
0:02:39 > 0:02:42for their country did not even have the right to vote
0:02:42 > 0:02:45and not a single woman was enfranchised.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Long before the war was over,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50it had been clear that this had to change.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54If the state could call you up and say
0:02:54 > 0:02:58you have to serve your country and potentially die, then it seemed
0:02:58 > 0:03:01ludicrous to say that you didn't have the right to vote.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04And so the democratic floodgates were opened
0:03:04 > 0:03:08and Scotland would change forever.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18It started with an election, just one month after the war ended...
0:03:20 > 0:03:24..when all men over 21 and women over 30
0:03:24 > 0:03:28were allowed to vote for the first time.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32But with many troops and munitions workers unable to register in time,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36the turnout was a paltry 43%.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Those that did vote, returned the same Liberal wartime leaders
0:03:43 > 0:03:48on a promise to build homes fit for heroes.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51EXPLOSION
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Elsewhere, the world was in turmoil.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02In Ireland, a nationalist rising developed into a full-blown war of independence.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08And in Russia, the revolution was threatening to spread west,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12instilling fear of the "red menace" across Europe.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Closer to home came isolated warnings of deepening discontent.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25When a political demonstration in Glasgow's George Square
0:04:25 > 0:04:31turned into a riot, a red flag was hoisted by the protesters
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and tanks were sent on to the streets to maintain order.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41And then...
0:04:41 > 0:04:42nothing.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Scotland remained in suspended animation,
0:04:49 > 0:04:54while under the surface, disillusionment continued to build.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01The reality, which soon kind of bites in,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05is that the war has cost Britain a huge amount of money.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08One of the ways in which the government is going to pay down its debt
0:05:08 > 0:05:11is through public expenditure cuts.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17So that you have this sense by 1922,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20that this is not a land for heroes.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22The idea that things are getting better
0:05:22 > 0:05:24doesn't actually come to pass.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42The simmering disaffection of the electorate came to a head
0:05:42 > 0:05:44in the city of Dundee.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52Dundee sent as many soldiers for the war as any city in Scotland
0:05:52 > 0:05:56and its jute mill workers played a crucial role in making sandbags
0:05:56 > 0:05:58for the trenches.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03But as the world's economy slumped and spending cuts bit,
0:06:03 > 0:06:08new long-term unemployment was heaped upon the old hills
0:06:08 > 0:06:12of overcrowding, malnutrition and high infant mortality...
0:06:14 > 0:06:17..and Dundee became a city with a reputation for despair...
0:06:18 > 0:06:21..drunkenness
0:06:21 > 0:06:23and disorder.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27This is the Dundee book of register of inebriates,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30it was dated from about the early 20th century
0:06:30 > 0:06:35and it is full of people who were fined in Dundee
0:06:35 > 0:06:38for breaking the Licensing (Scotland) Act.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41On this page here, we have Bridget Glancey
0:06:41 > 0:06:44and she lived in the East Poorhouse.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48She was described as being employed in Manhattan works as a mill worker.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51So, she was 60 years old.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56She was only five foot and her peculiarities or marks were listed
0:06:56 > 0:07:02as a broken nose, a blue mark on brow, and E. G. on her left forearm.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05And she was "found in a state of intoxication
0:07:05 > 0:07:08"and incapable of taking care of herself
0:07:08 > 0:07:11"and not under the care or protection of some suitable person."
0:07:12 > 0:07:17John Boyd, he was 46 years old and he was five foot four inches.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21His peculiarities included his "Left eye awanting."
0:07:21 > 0:07:26This person here, his eye was missing and he was
0:07:26 > 0:07:30"found in a state of intoxication and incapable of taking care of himself."
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Most of them have scars, they have broken noses,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36they have missing teeth.
0:07:36 > 0:07:42And they have cuts and tattoos, many of them have tattoos,
0:07:42 > 0:07:46This lady here is said to have been "behaving while drunk in a riotous
0:07:46 > 0:07:48"or a disorderly manner."
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and she just looks absolutely beaten by life.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54It's tragic.
0:07:56 > 0:08:02They're Dundee's poorest people who are trying to escape life through alcohol.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Many of them, if you look at their faces, you can see that they're broken,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09they're used to brutality and poverty
0:08:09 > 0:08:15and you can't imagine the conditions that they were living under at this time.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20Low wages, long hours, little food.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23So, life was hard.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27You can read history books, but as soon as you start to look at
0:08:27 > 0:08:30the faces of the people in this book, it starts to make sense,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33the conditions and the lives that they were leading.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40By 1922, working class voters of Dundee,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42like those documented in this book,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46were registered to vote and ready to have their say.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52So, too, were ex-servicemen, promised decent houses
0:08:52 > 0:08:55that never materialised and penniless war widows.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59As the election approached, the candidates lined up
0:08:59 > 0:09:05in a remarkable battle for hearts, minds and souls
0:09:05 > 0:09:10and Dundee became a key battleground in the new democratic Scotland.
0:09:14 > 0:09:20The sitting MP was one of the "big beasts", Sir Winston Churchill
0:09:20 > 0:09:25of the ruling Liberal party, who had represented the city since 1908.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30He was loved by the working class people of Scotland,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32in particular in Dundee in 1908.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38But from 1910, a series of events start to happen that Churchill
0:09:38 > 0:09:40is seen to have a hand in.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Not least, he wouldn't back women's suffrage.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46When somebody asked him in an election one time,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49"Why will you not give women the vote and give them their political rights?"
0:09:49 > 0:09:52And he said, "Well, you the vote and you have political rights
0:09:52 > 0:09:54"as exercised through your husband."
0:09:55 > 0:09:59He brings the troops in massively into the transport strike
0:09:59 > 0:10:02in Liverpool in 1911.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06He was very popular with the Irish in Dundee, as well.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09But can you imagine how that popularity would wane very quickly
0:10:09 > 0:10:13when he was seen to be sending the troops into Ireland.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17We get ourselves to 1922, the women are out for him,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21the Irish are out for him and the Dundee working class are out for him.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27The next candidate was a local politician whose slogan was,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Vote As You Pray.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Edwin Scrymgeour was a strict teetotaller convinced that
0:10:34 > 0:10:38banning alcohol would solve the city's desperate social problems.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42A devout Christian and a socialist,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Scrymgeour couldn't fit into the mainstream parties,
0:10:46 > 0:10:48so he formed his own.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Edwin Scrymgeour was very, very well known in Dundee politics.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56The man who headed up the Scottish Prohibitionist Party.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58They wanted outright prohibition of alcohol -
0:10:58 > 0:11:02not control of alcohol - utter, total prohibition.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06But he was a pacifist - he supported the No-Conscription Fellowship -
0:11:06 > 0:11:10erstwhile socialist, as well, but fundamentally a prohibitionist -
0:11:10 > 0:11:12controlling the drink trade.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Scrymgeour is Dundee born and bred.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16He's unique.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Standing against them was Willie Gallacher.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24A Revolutionary Communist who had just returned from Bolshevik Russia
0:11:24 > 0:11:26and a meeting with its leader.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33Gallacher was very much of the view that you cannot change society
0:11:33 > 0:11:37by just simply getting other representatives in Parliament.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40If you're going to change society, it has to be entirely -
0:11:40 > 0:11:43the old has to go and you have to bring in the new.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48You do not take part in the Parliamentary system.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50So, it was anti-parliamentarianism.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53A big word, but that's exactly what he stood for.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57He was only convinced to go down the route, the Parliamentary route,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59in Moscow in 1920.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Basically, as the story goes,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Lenin put a fatherly hand around his shoulder and said,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07"If we can't do it physically, then we have to do it
0:12:07 > 0:12:11"through the Parliamentary system."
0:12:11 > 0:12:15A former conscientious objector, Edmond Morel stood for the Labour Party,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19as a total of six candidates contested two seats to make
0:12:19 > 0:12:23the campaign one of the most memorable the city had ever known.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31Churchill arrived late, recuperating from a major operation.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34This is the Secretary of State for the Colonies
0:12:34 > 0:12:38being carried round the streets on a chair like an imperial viceroy.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46The Dundee Courier, one of the most powerful regional daily newspapers,
0:12:46 > 0:12:50captured the moment in vivid detail.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00As we came up to the last week of polling, Winston Churchill finally,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03as it says here, "enters the fray."
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Here he is being carried into the Caird Hall by four men.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09Now, apocryphally, the men were paid
0:13:09 > 0:13:13£1 each to carry him into the hall because he was very weak.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17He even got a lot of sympathy. Instead of being this hostile welcome
0:13:17 > 0:13:21that we all anticipated, because he was in such poor condition,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24he actually got quite a muted reception.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28But of course, famously, these guys were meant to be paid £1,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32but a wag in the crowd shouted, "We'll give you £2 if you drop him!"
0:13:35 > 0:13:37"Huge gathering in Caird Hall"
0:13:37 > 0:13:40"Scathing attack on Morel and Gallacher."
0:13:40 > 0:13:45Edmund Morel was a Frenchman, but he'd been pretty much brought up
0:13:45 > 0:13:48in Britain, but Churchill got stuck into him.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Winston Churchill, more or less played the racist card,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55said that nobody who wasn't a Britisher should be represented
0:13:55 > 0:13:57in the British Parliament.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02So, it was that sort of depth of personal attack that was going on.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05If we move on to the 14th,
0:14:05 > 0:14:10this was the day before the 1922 election - the polling -
0:14:10 > 0:14:14"Drill hall meeting wrecked. Reptiles and Featherheads."
0:14:14 > 0:14:17So, Churchill actually called the communists and socialists -
0:14:17 > 0:14:19he was assured that they were disrupting his meetings -
0:14:19 > 0:14:21and he called them reptiles.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Even today, that would be considered quite strong language.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28"Crowds rush the gates and police make baton charge."
0:14:28 > 0:14:32You know, it must've been hugely exciting, if nothing else.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35As long as you weren't in the way of a policeman with a baton.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37But it was a terrific campaign.
0:14:37 > 0:14:43There were stories in Dundee of the Drill Hall having 6,000 people inside
0:14:43 > 0:14:46packed like herring in barrels
0:14:46 > 0:14:50and a queue of half a mile outside trying to get in.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54That was the sort of excitement during the 1922 election.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59The day of the result, "A huge poll at Dundee."
0:14:59 > 0:15:03"Unprecedented activity and lively scenes."
0:15:03 > 0:15:05"Churchill's car kills a black cat."
0:15:05 > 0:15:07So, that's quite interesting.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17Voting day brought a huge turnout of 83% in Dundee.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23The candidates gathered together at a first floor window of the Caird Hall,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27from where the returning officer read the results to the crowd below.
0:15:27 > 0:15:33Churchill was voted out and after decades of dominating Scottish politics,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37his Liberal party was humbled.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41The revolutionary communist came bottom with 5,000 votes.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48The victor - with one of the biggest majorities ever known in Dundee...
0:15:49 > 0:15:52..was the prohibitionist Edwin Scrymgeour.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58The only prohibitionist MP ever to be elected
0:15:58 > 0:16:01and that still remains the case.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06It's safe to say, that the women's vote here would have been important, as well.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09It has been argued that many women had been drawn towards temperance
0:16:09 > 0:16:11during the First World War.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16So, a lot of women were voting on that - an antiChurchill ticket, but a prohibitionist ticket.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19The engagement of the electorate in '22 is phenomenal,
0:16:19 > 0:16:24eight in every ten people in Dundee turned out to make that vote count and it clearly did.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30The other MP elected was E. D. Morel
0:16:30 > 0:16:35and his election heralded a breakthrough for the Labour Party right across Scotland.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40They took 29 of 71 Scottish seats.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Five times more than they'd ever had before.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Labour in Scotland had been talking the language of the class
0:16:48 > 0:16:51since the 1880s, it hadn't worked.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54It hadn't caught light.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58The working class is the majority of the electorate after 1918,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02so after 1918, class matters.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Among the new Labour MPs were a group of hardened class warriors.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15Heroes of Glasgow's tumultuous politics,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17known as the Red Clydesiders.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21STEAM TRAIN HOOTS
0:17:21 > 0:17:25A few days after the vote, they departed on the overnight train from Glasgow
0:17:25 > 0:17:29with their plans and pledges still ringing in the air.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34'We, the Labour members of parliament for the city of Glasgow
0:17:34 > 0:17:36'and the West of Scotland,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39'inspired by the zeal for the welfare of humanity
0:17:39 > 0:17:42'and the prosperity of all peoples.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45'And strengthened by the trust imposed in them
0:17:45 > 0:17:49'by our fellow citizens, have resolved to dedicate...'
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Among them was James Maxton.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Maxton was a middle class teacher, radicalised by the sight
0:17:56 > 0:18:00of the hungry, dirty children he taught in Glasgow's East End.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05Jailed as a conscientious objector during the war,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08he was a brilliant speech-maker.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12'We will bear in our hearts the sorrows of the aged,
0:18:12 > 0:18:18'the widowed mothers and the poor, that their lives will not be without comfort.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21'We will urge without ceasing the need for houses,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25'suitable to enshrine the spirit of the home.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27'We will have regard...'
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Travelling with him was John Wheatley,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32the godfather of Red Clydeside.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37He left school at 12 and spent the next 12 years working as a miner
0:18:37 > 0:18:40before escaping to become a successful printer.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45All together, they were bound for the Commons hellbent on making scenes.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Politically, the influence of the Clydesiders is that they reinforce
0:18:53 > 0:18:56the image of a Scotland as more left wing.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00The Tories bait them endlessly by asking them questions
0:19:00 > 0:19:04using arcane Latin phrases and do they agree?
0:19:04 > 0:19:08But they got quite good at responding to that in Scots,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12which really foxed the Tory backbench MPs.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18For the leader of the Labour Party, they were both a gift and a curse.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Ramsay MacDonald had the difficult job of turning his bold new
0:19:25 > 0:19:30Labour MPs into a disciplined and effective force in Parliament.
0:19:32 > 0:19:38Within a few months, the Red Clydesiders were causing him trouble
0:19:38 > 0:19:42by accusing a Tory MP of being a murderer for withdrawing free milk.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Four of them were suspended from the House.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51When McDonald tried to assert control, they refused to back down.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Their wild behaviour threatened the one thing McDonald craved
0:19:58 > 0:20:01for his party and for himself -
0:20:01 > 0:20:03respectability.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Ramsay MacDonald was the illegitimate son of farm workers
0:20:16 > 0:20:19from Lossiemouth on Scotland's north-east coast...
0:20:21 > 0:20:24..where he returned regularly all through his life.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30'I come here for peace and quiet,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33'to be amongst old neighbours.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36'To be reminded of my young days
0:20:36 > 0:20:41'and above all, to breathe the fresh air of the hills in the Moray Firth.'
0:20:45 > 0:20:49And today his granddaughter still lives in the same house.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57This was my grandmother's dress -
0:20:57 > 0:21:02there she is, Margaret Ethel Gladstone MacDonald.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05She was married to Ramsay MacDonald
0:21:05 > 0:21:11and the dress must've been made by her mother-in-law Annie Ramsay.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17All this lacework, all these beads - all hand-threaded together.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20and his mother had spent the whole day
0:21:20 > 0:21:26cleaning houses for the richer folk in Lossiemouth, gutting fish,
0:21:26 > 0:21:32doing work on the farm and then she'd come home and make things like this.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Quite amazing.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Yes.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41As a young man, Ramsay MacDonald travelled to London where he forged
0:21:41 > 0:21:45a reputation as a socialist campaigner
0:21:45 > 0:21:48and caught the eye of his wife-to-be.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53Her father, Dr Professor Gladstone, wrote up to Lossiemouth
0:21:53 > 0:21:59wanting to know, "Who is this long-haired,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02"red tie-wearing, gypsy type?"
0:22:02 > 0:22:07He wrote up to the Bailey of Lossiemouth wanting to know about Ramsay.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13He was called Barefoot Donnelly in the village.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Donnelly because he was Donald - MacDonald -
0:22:16 > 0:22:19and barefoot because the child had no shoes.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21He had a very bad time.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23Illegitimate, in those days,
0:22:23 > 0:22:28that was really a criminal offence against the church.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33But as soon as he got to school, I think his school teachers realised
0:22:33 > 0:22:36this boy's very clever, he's exceptional.
0:22:36 > 0:22:4011-year-old, 12-year-old, he only had four years of schooling.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44No Eton and Cambridge and Harrow - no, thank you.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48She was upper-middle class, I suppose,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51and she was very important to him
0:22:51 > 0:22:55because she had a little money from an annuity and this money
0:22:55 > 0:23:01they used to educate him, really, in a wider sense, in a social sense.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07He was getting to speak to ambassadors and kings and queens,
0:23:07 > 0:23:12talking to all sort of levels and he could do it.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16He was very relaxed there, he was better at that, I think,
0:23:16 > 0:23:21than he was among his own people where he was sneered at in Lossiemouth.
0:23:29 > 0:23:35Through 1923, MacDonald the statesman-in-waiting kept his rowdy Clydesiders
0:23:35 > 0:23:41in order and soon his moment came to walk on the world stage.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Following a snap election, the Conservative government fell
0:23:53 > 0:23:55and Labour took the reins of power...
0:23:57 > 0:24:03..and Ramsay MacDonald, a pacifist who had opposed the great patriotic War,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06a committed socialist, an illegitimate boy from
0:24:06 > 0:24:09the most humble Scottish background,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12led the biggest empire in the world...
0:24:13 > 0:24:16..and governed it as the leader of the Labour Party.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23The shock waves were felt throughout Britain's entire political system.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Many people are thinking, what's going to happen?
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Are they going to be respectful to the King?
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Are they going to behave themselves?
0:24:34 > 0:24:36What's actually going to happen?
0:24:36 > 0:24:39And for the Labour Party, what they really want,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43is to establish themselves as a credible party.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46MacDonald reached out to one of the Red Clydesiders
0:24:46 > 0:24:50and made John Wheatley his Minister for Housing.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Wheatley was determined to deliver on his election promises
0:24:56 > 0:25:01and skilfully built support for a new law to fund cottage-style houses
0:25:01 > 0:25:03with front and back gardens.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09These were the "homes fit for heroes" that had been promised
0:25:09 > 0:25:11since the war.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Today, they are still known as Wheatley houses.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20The lasting achievement of the first Labour government that survived
0:25:20 > 0:25:22just nine short months.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Ramsay MacDonald lost a vote of confidence
0:25:27 > 0:25:30and called another general election.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35And Scotland's new electorate had the chance to vote again.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50But the forces of conservatism were mustering
0:25:50 > 0:25:53and strange conspiracies were forming.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Just four days before the election,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02a peculiar document showed up in London and passed from the hands
0:26:02 > 0:26:07of British intelligence to reporters at the Daily Mail.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11It has become known as the Zinoviev letter.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17This is a letter purportedly - it's in this file here -
0:26:17 > 0:26:19purportedly sent by Grigory Zinoviev,
0:26:19 > 0:26:24who was the head of the Comintern, the Bolshevik propaganda arm,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28to the Communist Party of Great Britain inciting them to
0:26:28 > 0:26:32greater efforts in fighting the bourgeoisie and to
0:26:32 > 0:26:38destabilising industry and in particular to incite the military to revolt.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43And it was this letter, when it was made public in the middle of October,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47which created a great deal of negative publicity.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52The Daily Mail got hold of it, essentially.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57It became the prime example of why Labour cannot be trusted,
0:26:57 > 0:26:59you must vote against them.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02And it wasn't only the Daily Mail, other papers, obviously.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05And you have to remember that primarily the press is owned
0:27:05 > 0:27:10by right wing interests, that is just how things were.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12But it's a very peculiar document
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and it's almost certainly a forgery.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19Zinoviev famously said later on, "Well, I didn't actually write this,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21"but I might have."
0:27:21 > 0:27:26And actually that's part of it, it was very much in character.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29There wasn't anything particularly surprising in it,
0:27:29 > 0:27:33but the fact is in a very frenzied political atmosphere
0:27:33 > 0:27:36during an election campaign,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38something that the press can pick up on.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42Here is a government that is in thrall to the reds,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45that is under the command of the Soviet butchers -
0:27:45 > 0:27:49this kind of thing - reds under the beds, literally.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53These are the sort of people who cannot be trusted to run our country.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56It was a major psychological blow to the Labour movement,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59which was just trying to build some confidence.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07The Zinoviev letter confirmed the worst fears of many of Scotland's voters.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12That a vote for the Labour Party was a vote for uncertainty.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21At the election, the Conservatives won a landslide across the UK
0:28:21 > 0:28:24and Scotland went partly blue for the very first time.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33The Conservatives are natural class warriors.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35They will take on the Bolshies.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38They never talk about socialists, they always talk about Bolsheviks
0:28:38 > 0:28:41because it sounds more foreign and threatening
0:28:41 > 0:28:45and the Conservatives do have that image that they are hard,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48that they are tough, that they can protect property,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52they will protect business and that they stand for tradition.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02And if there was a Red Clydeside,
0:29:02 > 0:29:05it was now obvious there was also a blue Clydeside...
0:29:07 > 0:29:13..where the comfortable middle and upper classes enjoyed tremendous status and wealth
0:29:13 > 0:29:17and hoped things would stay just the way they were.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22What I've got out here are four dresses that were made
0:29:22 > 0:29:24by Muriel's in Glasgow.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29Muriel's was a top-end establishment at 432 Sauchiehall Street.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31Glasgow had been the second city of the Empire
0:29:31 > 0:29:35and there was still a lot of money in Glasgow, so you could get the shops
0:29:35 > 0:29:39that could cater for the wealthier sections of society.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44You have a beautiful dress from 1924.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46You can see that it's made out of a silk and gold lame,
0:29:46 > 0:29:50that's then been embellished with beadwork and some embroidery.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54A fantastic green silk chiffon,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58with a slight crepe feel to it and then it's got these beautiful
0:29:58 > 0:30:01silver beads, which makes the dress actually very heavy to wear.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05It's unlikely that a dress like this would have been widely seen
0:30:05 > 0:30:08in Glasgow, because it was worn by an upper middle-class woman, so you
0:30:08 > 0:30:12may have just seen the brief glimpse as she got out of maybe a taxi
0:30:12 > 0:30:17and went into the venue that she was wearing such a beautiful dress for.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21So, these are the sorts of garments that you can wear to social occasions.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26Muriel's also made sure that she only bought or had made one dress
0:30:26 > 0:30:28in each particular style or colour,
0:30:28 > 0:30:32so that you could buy it reassured to know that you're not going to
0:30:32 > 0:30:35turn up at a social event and have that embarrassing moment
0:30:35 > 0:30:38of bumping into somebody wearing the same dress.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40There were no prices advertised
0:30:40 > 0:30:43and the bill would have been sent discreetly to your husband.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47The clientele Muriel would have been working for was very much
0:30:47 > 0:30:52that upper-middle classes in Glasgow. Not gentry, but probably the wives
0:30:52 > 0:30:56of the top doctors, physicians, the stockbrokers in Glasgow.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01In the big houses, maybe, in Pollokshields, in Hyndland.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11In Glasgow's wealthy Southside, the voters turned to
0:31:11 > 0:31:15a politician called Sir John Gilmour,
0:31:15 > 0:31:20whose election literature promised not only to battle socialism,
0:31:20 > 0:31:22but to defend Ulster.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26An idea that was right at the heart of Scottish conservatism.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31So much so, that their official name was the Scottish Unionist party.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37And the union it referred to wasn't between Scotland and England,
0:31:37 > 0:31:39but between Britain and Ireland.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47Here in the city's Langside Halls, just two miles from Red Clydeside,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51the voters of Glasgow Pollok returned Gilmour by a landslide,
0:31:51 > 0:31:55beating the Labour candidate by almost 15,000 votes.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00Glasgow Pollok, although it's difficult to appreciate now,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04at that point was one of the safest Unionist or Conservative seats.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Not just in Scotland, but in the UK.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11You know, it was rock solid Unionist territory and Sir John
0:32:11 > 0:32:15wouldn't have had much difficulty getting elected and re-elected.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Conservatism at that time didn't have the sort of
0:32:18 > 0:32:21bogey man credentials that it does now.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Although, it was seen as an establishment party of the upper classes,
0:32:25 > 0:32:30it had always had a cross-class appeal
0:32:30 > 0:32:36and of course unionists and conservatives in that period were much more paternalistic.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40So, there would have been deference to a figure like Sir John Gilmour
0:32:40 > 0:32:43and a general expectation, however misguided,
0:32:43 > 0:32:47that he would be an effective political figure.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52With a huge country estate based around the now demolished
0:32:52 > 0:32:55Montrave House in Fife,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Sir John Gilmour was a class warrior of the landed gentry
0:32:59 > 0:33:03and just the man to defend Scotland from the perils of socialism.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08He inspired such confidence that he was soon appointed Scottish Secretary
0:33:08 > 0:33:12and his credentials were impeccable.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Landed gentry, member of the Orange Order,
0:33:16 > 0:33:21and war hero who had served at the front in not just one but two wars.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Today, his descendants still live around the estate.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33This must be GCVO, I think.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36By order of the sovereign, for some reason.
0:33:40 > 0:33:46Yes, that must be the GCVO. Transvaal Free State...
0:33:46 > 0:33:50- That's a campaign medal, isn't it? - That's a campaign medal.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Do we know what he was awarded his DSO for?
0:33:53 > 0:33:59I don't know in particular, but it was probably in Gallipoli.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01I can just remember him as a small boy.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05I was born in 1933, but I do remember him walking up the drive
0:34:05 > 0:34:11of Montrave in a very baggy old pair of rather well-worn
0:34:11 > 0:34:16plus fours and a flat hat, with his gun over his shoulder,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19looking quite the country squire and gentlemen.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23But knowing, I suppose with hindsight, underneath his flat hat
0:34:23 > 0:34:28was a good brain and a kind man and an efficient man.
0:34:28 > 0:34:33This is a fascinating election leaflet actually,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36from grandfather's time and some of these words at that time
0:34:36 > 0:34:40"Within the bounds of our empire, there exist great prospects
0:34:40 > 0:34:44"of prosperity and happiness for the future of our race and those many
0:34:44 > 0:34:49"other nationalities whose interests are our care and responsibility."
0:34:49 > 0:34:54Loyalty and patriotism were sort of inbred
0:34:54 > 0:34:58into people of his ilk.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00Part of their upbringing, I think.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13It's easy to be scornful about patriotism,
0:35:13 > 0:35:16but if you think about victory
0:35:16 > 0:35:20and if you think about what victory meant to those who had lost so much,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23I think it's easier to understand
0:35:23 > 0:35:28why some people voted for parties that seem to have had a good war.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44As monuments to the fallen began to appear in almost every town and village,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48they confirm the patriotic unionist vision of Scotland
0:35:48 > 0:35:51that endures to this day.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53One that has very deep roots.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02If you're asking why people would vote Unionist in the interwar years,
0:36:02 > 0:36:07the answer, to a certain extent, is unchanged since the early 19th century -
0:36:07 > 0:36:09it's faith.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13Many of them, a great many of them, are Protestant.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Secondly, it's monarchy, it's loyalty to the crown,
0:36:16 > 0:36:20but the biggest aspect in all of this is empire.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23Scots still had the empire to call their own.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28They still had places in the world where they too could aspire to greater things.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31There was that imperial frontier
0:36:31 > 0:36:35that Scots always had when they dreamed dreams
0:36:35 > 0:36:40about what Britain meant beyond the bounds of the United Kingdom.
0:36:47 > 0:36:53Whether they liked it or not, the world the Unionists believed in was changing.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59By the mid-1920s, around 12% of the Scottish population was
0:36:59 > 0:37:03Roman Catholic, mostly having emigrated from Ireland.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Catholic churches, schools
0:37:07 > 0:37:11and sports clubs had all become part of Scottish life...
0:37:12 > 0:37:17..and so too had anti-Catholic sectarianism.
0:37:18 > 0:37:24The bigot-in-chief was a senior minister called reverend John White,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28who preached from this church in Glasgow's East End.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33He started an official church campaign to limit immigration
0:37:33 > 0:37:39and commissioned an astonishing report about Irish racial inferiority
0:37:39 > 0:37:42to justify his actions.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47Today, it's kept at the Scottish National Records Office in Edinburgh.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51We have here what is in essence a very frightening document,
0:37:51 > 0:37:55a report which was prepared for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
0:37:55 > 0:37:59and it's called The Menace of The Irish Race to Our Scottish Nationality.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03And this report considers the impact
0:38:03 > 0:38:07of the Irish population on Scotland
0:38:07 > 0:38:11and the problem is defined as "They cannot be assimilated and absorbed
0:38:11 > 0:38:15"into the Scottish race, they remain a people by themselves,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18"segregated by reason of their race, their customs,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22"their traditions and above all, by their loyalty to their church."
0:38:24 > 0:38:27There's some interesting points in the document about when
0:38:27 > 0:38:31the Irish move into an area, that the Scots start leaving.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35So, one area which is cited is the Croy district in Cumbernauld.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40It said, "..is practically Irish and the Scottish mining population
0:38:40 > 0:38:42"refusing to stay, have gone elsewhere."
0:38:42 > 0:38:48We can't underestimate the power of the Kirk in 1920s Scotland
0:38:48 > 0:38:54and the Kirk, in a sense, fulfils the duties
0:38:54 > 0:38:58and obligations of what one might call a devolved administration now
0:38:58 > 0:39:01in the sense that the Kirk is where these key issues about
0:39:01 > 0:39:05the development of Scottish society are debated.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08One of the objections to Irish immigration
0:39:08 > 0:39:11is that Irish immigrants tend to vote Labour
0:39:11 > 0:39:17and in a sense that this mass proletariat are changing
0:39:17 > 0:39:22the political complexion of Scotland in the 1920s.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24A key phrase in here is that,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27"The Irish seem to be very good at organising themselves politically."
0:39:27 > 0:39:31So there's that fear, as well, that not alone are you going to have
0:39:31 > 0:39:34this lumpen proletariat, but you're going to have a lumpen proletariat
0:39:34 > 0:39:37which has a political voice and that political voice is essentially
0:39:37 > 0:39:41the one of Labour and the Labour movement more generally.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46It might have stirred up sectarianism...
0:39:47 > 0:39:49..but it didn't fly politically.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55By the time the report landed on Sir John Gilmour's desk,
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Scotland was no longer a land of opportunity.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Immigration from Ireland fell away as Scotland's economy began
0:40:04 > 0:40:08to collapse.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12By 1925, unemployment in Scotland reached a new high
0:40:12 > 0:40:15of 100,000.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18Wages for those in work were cut
0:40:18 > 0:40:22and workers began to talk about a general strike
0:40:22 > 0:40:24as 20th-century economics caught up
0:40:24 > 0:40:29with Scotland's 19th-century industry.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31One of the big problems with the Scottish economy is that
0:40:31 > 0:40:35it's very much tied to industries that you would associate with
0:40:35 > 0:40:38the 19th century. And if we think about the 20th century,
0:40:38 > 0:40:42it's the era of the motor car, the petrol engine,
0:40:42 > 0:40:47the wireless, and Scotland doesn't produce any of those.
0:40:47 > 0:40:51Scotland has coal, steel, ships, locomotives.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Very much all part of the 19th-century world.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59So the predominant argument in Unionism is that Scotland
0:40:59 > 0:41:03needs England to survive and Scotland couldn't go on its own.
0:41:07 > 0:41:12With the Scottish economy in crisis and Ireland gone its own way,
0:41:12 > 0:41:14London drew Scotland closer.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21In early 1926, Sir John Gilmour's position as Secretary of Scotland
0:41:21 > 0:41:24was elevated to a full Secretary of State.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29For the first time since 1746,
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Scotland was given a seat in the cabinet
0:41:32 > 0:41:35and a government department in Whitehall.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41Power devolved to Scotland and retained in London.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48In the summer, Sir John visited Fife.
0:41:51 > 0:41:52Not to tour the mining villages
0:41:52 > 0:41:56where striking miners were holding out after the general strike...
0:41:58 > 0:42:02..but to visit St Andrews to receive the honour of being made
0:42:02 > 0:42:05captain of the Royal And Ancient Golf Club.
0:42:12 > 0:42:13When playing himself in,
0:42:13 > 0:42:16the caddie that retrieves the new captain's ball
0:42:16 > 0:42:19traditionally would claim a sovereign,
0:42:19 > 0:42:21as this footage shows.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25But as Sir John teed off,
0:42:25 > 0:42:30the ranks of caddies were swelled by unemployed miners.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34To Gilmour's critics, the obvious stood out.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38An aristocrat on the fairway, unemployed miners in the rough...
0:42:39 > 0:42:42..waiting for the chance of a sovereign.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47His vision of Scotland couldn't last forever
0:42:47 > 0:42:49and in 1928, the final stage of
0:42:49 > 0:42:53the decade's democratic experiment approached.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Men could vote at the age of 21 -
0:43:08 > 0:43:10but women, not until they were 30.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15Now discussion turned to whether
0:43:15 > 0:43:17they should be given equal franchise.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21It was called the flapper vote, after the carefree image
0:43:21 > 0:43:24of the independent young woman.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35Though the reality for many women under 30 was anything but carefree.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39Most were mothers several times over.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45A book of maternity letters
0:43:45 > 0:43:48collected by the Women's Co-operative Guild
0:43:48 > 0:43:52documented their remarkable experiences in their own words.
0:43:56 > 0:44:01"Besides two stillborn children, I have had two miscarriages.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03"The last miscarriage I had,
0:44:03 > 0:44:06"I lost that much blood it completely drained me.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09"I was three whole months unable to sleep.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14"My hair came off and left bald patches about my head.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17"The doctor told me if he had not had the presence of mind
0:44:17 > 0:44:20"to lay me flat in the bed when the miscarriage took place,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22"I should have bled to death.
0:44:23 > 0:44:28"I confess without shame that when a well-meaning friends said,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31"'You cannot afford another baby, take this drug,'
0:44:31 > 0:44:34"I took their strong concoctions to purge me
0:44:34 > 0:44:36"of this little life that might be mine."
0:44:38 > 0:44:41"I was married at the age of 22
0:44:41 > 0:44:44"and by the time I reached my 32nd birthday,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46"was the mother of seven children.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50"When, at the end of ten years,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53"I was almost a mental and physical wreck,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57"I determined that this state of things should not go on any longer.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01"And if there was no natural means of prevention, then of course
0:45:01 > 0:45:04"artificial means must be employed."
0:45:04 > 0:45:07As the 1920s progressed,
0:45:07 > 0:45:12voices like these challenged some of society's deepest taboos.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16There is this whole kind of general idea that women should be
0:45:16 > 0:45:21having babies, you know, motherhood is the foundation of the nation.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23And they're actually saying, "We're having babies under these
0:45:23 > 0:45:28"really awful conditions, this is an occupational health issue.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32"It is more dangerous than mining."
0:45:32 > 0:45:37So, you know, childbirth is more dangerous than going down the mines,
0:45:37 > 0:45:41so women should actually be able to control how often they get pregnant.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45I mean, at that time, the people who were talking about this were
0:45:45 > 0:45:48mostly men, in Parliament,
0:45:48 > 0:45:51or as medical officers of health,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56and they're saying, "Women this, women that. Motherhood, motherhood."
0:45:56 > 0:46:00And this was women actually coming back from the grassroots and saying,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03"Well, this is what motherhood is actually like."
0:46:05 > 0:46:08It's quite a complicated story, early contraception,
0:46:08 > 0:46:10because it was a very surreptitious thing.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14People didn't like to say that they were doing it
0:46:14 > 0:46:19and it was very unmentionable that people were actually purveying this.
0:46:19 > 0:46:24You got a lot of commercial firms which are producing these
0:46:24 > 0:46:28little catalogues, so that people can buy things discretely
0:46:28 > 0:46:32by mail order, rather than having to go into a shop
0:46:32 > 0:46:35and actually face-to-face with somebody,
0:46:35 > 0:46:38ask for some rubber johnnies or whatever.
0:46:38 > 0:46:44This is the Anglo-Scottish Surgical Stores of Glasgow.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48Mostly, they're selling condoms.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Some female methods, like Patterson's pessaries.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55The condoms have names like Confiance
0:46:55 > 0:46:57and Premiere
0:46:57 > 0:47:02and Samson - "Guaranteed washable and unbreakable."
0:47:02 > 0:47:05Parcels sent privately sealed.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10So it's reassuring people that this is all conducted
0:47:10 > 0:47:14in a way that is not going to be traceable to them
0:47:14 > 0:47:17and it's all going to be very, very discreet.
0:47:17 > 0:47:23These kinds of booklets, which are stealth advertising,
0:47:23 > 0:47:29they're about wisdom in marriage and their advice to husbands and wives,
0:47:29 > 0:47:34but they're actually concealed catalogues for birth control.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39You do get the sense that it's addressed largely to the more
0:47:39 > 0:47:45middle classes than the working classes, because it says things like
0:47:45 > 0:47:47"How to fit the rubber cap -
0:47:47 > 0:47:50"It should be fitted at any convenient time,
0:47:50 > 0:47:54"preferably when dressing in the evening."
0:47:54 > 0:47:57Which I think positions it socially.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Inspired by the Women's Co-operative Guild, Scotland's first
0:48:03 > 0:48:08contraception clinic opened in Glasgow's Govan in 1926.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12It was called the Married Woman's Welfare Centre
0:48:12 > 0:48:15and it brought information about birth control within reach of
0:48:15 > 0:48:19the city's young working-class women for the very first time.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23Society was clearly changing, but Parliament hadn't caught up.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31In Scotland, tens of thousands of young women under 30 were
0:48:31 > 0:48:35still unable to take part in the democratic process
0:48:35 > 0:48:38and one of them would show the world
0:48:38 > 0:48:40just how ridiculous that situation was.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48Jennie Lee was a miner's daughter from Lochgelly in Fife.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51It was then a major industrial and political centre
0:48:51 > 0:48:53in the heart of the Fife coalfield.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00Jenny was raised in this house,
0:49:00 > 0:49:03this was where her political universe took shape.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11Among her schoolmates in Lochgelly, Jenny noticed children
0:49:11 > 0:49:15in torn clothes and without jackets, with holes in their shoes
0:49:15 > 0:49:18and who were often cold, wet and exhausted.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23Her father explained why.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27Her father taught her from the
0:49:27 > 0:49:32age of six or seven that there was a battle between us - the workers
0:49:32 > 0:49:34who produce the wealth
0:49:34 > 0:49:37and them who were the capitalist layabouts,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40who took wealth of the labour
0:49:40 > 0:49:44and property from the miners into their own private profits.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47And she had to choose her side, and Jenny was born
0:49:47 > 0:49:48into the side she was on -
0:49:48 > 0:49:51the miners, the poor, the dispossessed and,
0:49:51 > 0:49:53frankly, the increasingly angry.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58Jenny left Fife on a scholarship to university where
0:49:58 > 0:50:00she threw herself into Labour politics.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Beautiful, argumentative and eloquent,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08she seemed to epitomise the spirit of change.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13She glowed with life and passion and energy.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16She was sexually uninhibited.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20I mean, she slept with anybody that she was close to that she
0:50:20 > 0:50:22wanted comfort from.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26She was generous, I think, in her private life,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29but casual, also.
0:50:29 > 0:50:32Could never understand why men kept falling in love with her
0:50:32 > 0:50:36when she'd given them no inclination that she was inclined to reciprocate,
0:50:36 > 0:50:38but she just bowled them over.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41'Not myself, but you...
0:50:41 > 0:50:43She was extraordinary.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48I mean, she could storm a meeting to anger, she could warm it
0:50:48 > 0:50:52into solidarity, she could lift it into hope for the future.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55She was undoubtedly not only the best woman orator in Scotland,
0:50:55 > 0:50:59she was probably the best platform orator that Scotland produced.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03..to bring either work, chances of work,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06or prosperity to the working people.
0:51:06 > 0:51:12She could take an audience with her, she could hold 300 miners -
0:51:12 > 0:51:15working men, solid, hard to impress -
0:51:15 > 0:51:17she had them spellbound.
0:51:19 > 0:51:23While working as a teacher, Jenny began to look around
0:51:23 > 0:51:27for a constituency where she could stand for Parliament
0:51:27 > 0:51:29and she found it in central Lanarkshire.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36Shotts was a mining village where many of the homes had earth floors,
0:51:36 > 0:51:39water running down the inside walls
0:51:39 > 0:51:43and filthy outside toilets.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47Even in Fife, Jenny hadn't seen such conditions.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51Here, she felt she could make a difference.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56It was a landscape of desolation and despair.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59At best, despondency,
0:51:59 > 0:52:05and Jenny had this ability to lift up their hearts and give them hope.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11Jenny promised to fight to alleviate the terrible poverty
0:52:11 > 0:52:13in which the miners' families lived
0:52:13 > 0:52:16and brought up their children.
0:52:18 > 0:52:23And at the tender age of 24, still too young even to vote herself,
0:52:23 > 0:52:26Jenny was elected to Westminster.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30The Commons were seduced by her.
0:52:30 > 0:52:35I mean, she gave her maiden speech in which she pitched into them
0:52:35 > 0:52:39fearlessly, controversially and powerfully and polemically.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42I mean, she basically recycled her election speeches.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46She didn't seem to realise she was meant to be noncontroversial
0:52:46 > 0:52:51and courteous and appear to be timid and nervous and so on and so forth.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55But the older Tories thought this was really rather fun,
0:52:55 > 0:52:59being assailed by this rather beautiful, passionate young woman
0:52:59 > 0:53:04and they always filled the chamber up whenever Jenny was up to speak.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11As the decade drew to a close,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14the voices of all young women would finally be heard.
0:53:20 > 0:53:25In 1929, the Equal Representation Act brought the vote
0:53:25 > 0:53:29to every woman over the age of 21.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31For the first time in history,
0:53:31 > 0:53:35there would be more women casting their votes than men.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39Ramsay MacDonald made a recording reaching out to the new voters.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45'I speak to you of the Labour Party,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48'its ideas and its immediate objects.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51'The party was born from the hearts and the needs of the people.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56'Its program is based on the problems of the home.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01'That is the dread of an ever-overhanging poverty.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06'Many who have, have not earned their possessions,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10'multitudes who have not,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13'have toiled all their days, and at the end
0:54:13 > 0:54:16'are no better off than when they began.
0:54:17 > 0:54:22'This is a political and moral, as well as an economic issue.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26'It is the greatest problem of our civilisation.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31'Let me welcome the goodly company of new electors,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34'whom we have long striven to get on the register,
0:54:34 > 0:54:37'and whom we are now glad to appeal.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41'May they govern their country well.'
0:54:44 > 0:54:48There was no knowing what impact they would have on the next stage
0:54:48 > 0:54:50of the democratic experiment.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03It turned out that the flappers didn't vote with one voice,
0:55:03 > 0:55:08instead they voted much like everyone else, based on the issues.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12Some for Conservatives, but mostly, in Scotland, for Labour.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17As these socialists return to government,
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Ramsay MacDonald was back in power.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24And Jenny Lee was voted back in.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28Miss Jenny Lee represents North Lanark.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33She's successfully fought twice in one month, in two months.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37She was a teacher by profession, she is the daughter of a miner,
0:55:37 > 0:55:39she is an MA...
0:55:39 > 0:55:43But just as Westminster was seduced by Jenny,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45Jenny was seduced by Westminster.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48In the corridors of power,
0:55:48 > 0:55:52she grew remote from the concerns of her constituents.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55She wasn't the first Scottish MP to do so,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58nor would she be the last.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01She eventually cut her ties with Shotts
0:56:01 > 0:56:03and found a Labour seat in England.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08..and now we must all get back to work. Good day.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13The 1929 election brought the birth of a new political movement
0:56:13 > 0:56:16that would set itself against Westminster.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20Two candidates stood for a fringe nationalist party called
0:56:20 > 0:56:22the National Party Of Scotland
0:56:22 > 0:56:26and between them, they won just 3,000 votes.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31Five years later, it would become the SNP.
0:56:38 > 0:56:43As the decade drew to a close, Scotland was a changed place.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48Not only was a new kind of nationalism stirring,
0:56:48 > 0:56:52but the once all-powerful Liberals were eclipsed,
0:56:52 > 0:56:56never to be a dominant force in Scotland again.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59The Labour Party had become electable,
0:56:59 > 0:57:03but a deep conservatism had also been revealed.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10Crucially, though, the future of the country was in the hands
0:57:10 > 0:57:14of its people, regardless of their sex or class.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19The left will claim it under the guise of Red Clydeside.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23The right will claim it as a patriotic generation.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26I think the important thing to realise is that
0:57:26 > 0:57:30the story of Scotland in the interwar years is a contested one,
0:57:30 > 0:57:32it's a contradictory one,
0:57:32 > 0:57:35and it's one that cannot be owned by any interest.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41But these interwar years also saw the birth
0:57:41 > 0:57:43of a new story for Scotland,
0:57:43 > 0:57:48as seeds of change were sown that would take root deep in British
0:57:48 > 0:57:50political thinking.
0:57:50 > 0:57:57Scotland is increasingly portrayed as being dependent on England,
0:57:57 > 0:57:59largely because of its economic difficulties.
0:57:59 > 0:58:04That becomes a template that exists in some places
0:58:04 > 0:58:07right up till the present day.
0:58:09 > 0:58:14In the next episode, the story of Scotland's most isolated communities
0:58:14 > 0:58:19and their struggle for survival in a turbulent decade after the war.
0:58:20 > 0:58:25The battle for who owns Scotland and the story of the tens of thousands
0:58:25 > 0:58:30of Scots who crossed oceans in search of their own promised land.