Leaving

The chapter explores his vain attempts to be elected as a full-time national official of the AEU defeated by the right-wing of the union’s leadership. It also exposes the organisational deficiencies of Reid; a man capable of motivating and inspiring workers but unable to build a mass power base within the political or industrial arenas. It also discusses critically Reid’s narrative concerning the road to leaving the CPGB as well as the reception to his decision both within the media and among the party membership. We contend that international events such as the Prague invasion were secondary influences, rather we argue it was events nearer to home that were more influential. Thus, we discuss how the rejection of the concept of the revolutionary party by the CPGB in favour of broad-based parliamentary alliances narrowed the ideological chasm between communists and the Labour left. Indeed, the only issue dividing them was the continued support by the former for the Soviet Union; something that Reid had begun to reject. The other factor was his dissatisfaction with party democracy. Reid left in 1976 and joined the Labour Party two years later. Fast tracked by the left he stood as Labour candidate in 1979 in Dundee where he suffered the same fate as in 1974.

UCS Work-in

Chapter four deals with the UCS work-in: an event to which Jimmy Reid owes his fame and his place in the pantheon of Scottish radicalism. Although he was not the only leader of the workforce, it was his powers of communication and leadership which became the symbol of the coalition of resistance that developed on the Clyde in response to the Tory government's attempt to close the down the yards and throw the men on the industrial scrapheap. The decision by the leadership to stage a work-in rather than go on strike or stage a sit-in caught the imagination of constituencies of people way beyond the geographical parameters of the upper reaches of the River Clyde. The chapter challenges the received triumphal narrative in several ways: firstly, by stressing the role of the forgotten liquidator, Robert Smith, in keeping the yards open and the men working; and, secondly, by examining the legacy, arguing that although the work-in undoubtedly constituted a victory of sorts for the UCS workers the road ahead proved a rocky one. The analysis differs from previously published material on the event in as much as it is the only study to utilise the transcripts of meetings and interviews with the UCS shop steward’s committee and the only one to establish the chain of relationships between the CPGB leadership, the local cadres and the work-in.

Beginnings: ‘I’m from Govan’

Chapter one discusses the appalling socio-economic circumstances of poverty and squalor that Reid was born into in 1930s Glasgow and how this impacted on his attitude to towards capitalist society. As part of this we look at the problems faced by his father in providing for his family and his mother’s ability in a hand-to-mouth culture to use the meagre resources in such a way as to ensure food and clothing for her children. We stress the fact that music and literature were embedded in the family. Reid himself became the personification of the auto-didact. We emphasise that it was the library rather than the classroom which moulded and shaped him culturally and politically. After engaging with a number of youth organisations Reid joined the YCL at the age of 15; the year he began his working life in a stockbroker’s office before leaving to become an apprentice engineer.

Reborn

A new decade, a new political affiliation? Chapter eight examines Reid’s growing disillusion of Labour, particularly Tony Blair’s New Labour. Reid objected to Labour’s lurch towards the political centre and, much like his positioning on the miners’ strike, he faced intense criticism of other members and supporters of the Labour party for voicing his opposition. In this final chapter, we reflect on the political contexts of New Labour before and after the 1997 general election, focussing on the particular events on which Reid was publicly vocal, as well as Reid’s exploration into other Scottish socialist organisations such as the Scottish Socialist Party and the Scottish Nationalist Party, of which he later became a member.

Strike

Chapter seven commences with Reid’s post-1979 defeat and his new career in journalism against the backdrop of a decade of Thatcherism, apartheid in South Africa, the troubles in Northern Ireland and the Falklands war. This is the political preface to the miners’ strike which undoubtedly dominated mid-1980s British politics and so naturally it dominated this chapter of Reid’s public life. During his time as a columnist for the Glasgow Herald, Reid became at odds with the Labour party over his criticism of Arthur Scargill’s leadership of the miners’ strike and of how the strike might impact Labour’s potential for victory in future elections. Objectively looking back at this pivotal time in British history, we analyse Reid’s interpretations of the strike, Scargill and Labour’s losses as well as evaluating how far Reid’s political background, experience and principles influenced his attitudes towards them.

Transitions

Chapter five focusses mainly on two events: the rectorial campaign of 1971 and the general election of 1974. Because of his leadership of the UCS work-in, Reid became the poster boy of the CPGB, the human face of British communism. He was probably the only communist that most people in Britain had ever heard of. Recognition came with his installation as Rector of Glasgow University in late 1971. As part of the process the Rector gave an Address. Reid chose the subject of alienation and his speech not only electrified the audience but reverberated round the world. Although publicly popular doubts were beginning to surface regarding his membership of the CPGB. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 played a part but a much more important event we argue was the general election of 1974. Reid stood as candidate for Central Dunbartonshire which had at its heart Clydebank – the centre of shipbuilding in Scotland. Although considered a shoo-in by the press Reid was defeated by the Labour candidate in the first and the second elections of 1974. He was the victim of a largely sectarian campaign run by the Labour party, but it was clear that he would never be elected as a communist. We now are reaching the moment of the unmaking of a communist.

Cadre

Chapter three examines Reid’s elevation in the Party. When he finished his national service, Reid became a full-time officer of the YCL which entailed a move from Govan to London. From the provincial working-class culture of Govan he found himself rubbing shoulders with the metropolitan elite which include Michael Foot, Claude Cockburn, James Cameron and others. The first test of his commitment to the party came with the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. The event provoked high profile resignations of some leading Marxist historians, such as EP Thompson and Christopher Hill, but was not enough to shake Reid’s belief in the party and its leadership; indeed, it strengthened it. The chapter also deals with Reid’s domestic life in London as he married in 1958 and became a father soon after. A full-time official’s salary was too meagre to raise a family forcing Reid to resigned his post and return to Glasgow.

Apprenticeship

Chapter two examines the making of a communist activist focussing on the 1952 apprentices' strike in Britain; an event that accelerated Reid's rise within the CPGB. Drawing on autobiographical material of various activists, we emphasise the fact that being a communist involved the complete immersion of one’s self in a political culture whose ties extended way beyond the factory floor or the conference hall into the wider society. Mutual assistance, socialising and politics were fused in Party lives. All of this in a small, embattled political party produced an intimacy that stretched across generations. This helps to explain why leaving the Party, as he did in 1976, was such a 'heart-wrenching' moment for him.

Introduction

Why write a biography of Jimmy Reid? What did he achieve that makes for compelling reasons to chronicle his life? He was, it is almost universally agreed, a great orator: ‘the most authentic, radical, working-class political orator north or south of the border’, according to the ...