Morgan, Sylvia (2010) The crisis of capitalism in interwar Glasgow and its realistic representation. MPhil(R) thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2031/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Crisis of Capitalism in Interwar Glasgow and its Realistic Representation. Candidate: Sylvia Morgan B.Soc.Sci., B.A.(Hons), M.Ed. Matric 0412445 Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy University of Glasgow Department of Scottish Literature and Department of Scottish History Faculty of Arts September 2009 1 Abstract The dissertation examines the economic and social consequences for Glasgow of the global crisis of capitalism known as the ‘Great Depression’, and how this is represented in five realist novels published during the 1930s. It argues that the interwar era was a time of both cultural renaissance and political revolution. It was a liminal moment in Glasgow’s history, defining economic and social conditions in the city for most of the twentieth century. It was also a significant phase in the development of the narrative of the city, creating a new form of literary representation of Glasgow, and a new genre of urban realism in Scottish literature. The Novels Hunger March (1934) by Dot Allan Major Operation (1936) by James Barke The Shipbuilders (1935) by George Blake No Mean City (1935) by Alexander McArthur and H. Kingsley Long Gael Over Glasgow (1937) by Edward Shiels 2 The dissertation will ask and attempt to answer, the following questions: Chap 1 Second City How was the interwar era a defining moment of revolution and renaissance in the history of Glasgow, and in the development of the diverse representations of the city? Do the five realistic novels have value as documentary evidence of life in Glasgow during the interwar era? Chap 2 City in Crisis What do the novels reveal about the effects of the crisis of capitalism of the Great Depression during the interwar era, the reasons for the economic decline of Glasgow as Second City of Empire, and how realistically do they document the subsequent social changes and political consequences when compared with contemporary journalism? Chap 3 City as Protagonist How realistically do the tropes used to signify the city in the novels, and the representations thereof, correspond to contemporaneous non-fictional depictions of social conditions in Glasgow during the interwar era? Chap 4 Revolutionary City Did the crisis of capitalism and the phenomenon of Red Clydeside create the necessary and sufficient conditions for a radical political revolution in Glasgow during the interwar era, and what evidence is there for this in the novels and in contemporaneous and subsequent political analyses? Chap 5 Consciousness and the City Was false consciousness a major reason for the failure of the ongoing class struggle to evolve nascent revolutionary potential in Glasgow during the interwar era, and how is this supposition substantiated in the novels? Chap 6 Liminal City Why did the former Second City of Empire, and the novels that represent it so realistically during the interwar era, enter into a state of permanent liminality? 3 Abbreviations The novels will be referenced throughout the dissertation using the following acronyms: HM - Hunger March MO - Major Operation SH - The Shipbuilders NMC - No Mean City GG - Gael Over Glasgow Other acronyms used: ILP - Independent Labour Party BSP - British Socialist Party SLP - Socialist Labour Party NUWM - National Unemployed Workers’ Movement NSS - National Shipbuilders Security Limited TUC -Trades Union Congress 4 Table of Contents Chap 1 Second City - page 7 Historical context and introduction to the novels. Chap 2 City as Protagonist - page 25 Realistic representations of interwar Glasgow. Chap 3 City in Crisis - page 44 Interwar economy and the Great Depression. Chap 4 Revolutionary City - page 65 Interwar politics and Red Clydeside. Chap 5 Consciousness and the City - page 84 Ideological hegemony and false consciousness. Chap 6 Liminal City - page 99 Literary and historical evaluation. Bibliography - page 121 5 Acknowledgements Thanks to my supervisors in Scottish Literature Alan Riach, and Gerry Carruthers when Alan was on sabbatical. Thanks to my supervisor in Scottish History Irene Maver, from whom I learned much about Glasgow, for her generous sharing of time and source material, and her profound knowledge of the city and its history. Thanks to David for seeing things I could not. Thanks to my colleagues for believing it could be done along with the day job. Author’s Declaration I declare that, except where explicit reference is made to the contribution of others, that this dissertation is the result of my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree at the University of Glasgow or any other institution. Signature ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Printed name …………………………………………………………………… Date …………………………………………………… 6 Chap 1 Second City: Context of the Novels Sylvia Morgan Chapter 1 Second City Context of the novels Introduction The era between the First and Second World Wars was a defining moment in the history of Glasgow, and in the narrative of the city. It was a time when the once powerful ‘Second City of Empire’ was losing its status and transforming into the post-industrial city it was to become for most of the twentieth century . It was a period of economic crisis and depression created by the inherent instability of capitalism and the shifting demands of the global economy, similar to that occurring at time of writing in 2009. The interwar era gave rise to the phenomena of the Scottish Cultural Renaissance and the revolutionary Red Clydeside. The argument taken in this dissertation is that prevailing socio- economic conditions set the context for a particular form of literary representation of Glasgow during the 1930s, creating a new genre of urban social realism 1 in Scottish literature: what became known as ‘the realistic proletarian novels of Clydeside’. The aim of the dissertation is to examine this literature for its historical value as documentary evidence of Glasgow during the interwar era. The dissertation examines the five novels, with interwar Glasgow as both their subject and date of publication, that realistically represent the effects of the Great Depression on the city and its people 2. Through a comparative analysis with non-fictional texts in the form of contemporary journalism and autobiographical writing, it will investigate how realistically the social and political consequences of the economic crisis of capitalism in interwar Glasgow are represented in these five novels published during the 1930s. The novels are Hunger March (1934) by Dot Allan, Major Operation (1936) by James Barke, The Shipbuilders (1935) by George Blake, No Mean City (1935) by Alexander McArthur and H. Kingsley Long, and Gael Over Glasgow (1937) by Edward Shiels.3 The five realistic novels are examined here in terms of their specific sociological context, and the methods by which they reinforce and reproduce, or subvert and 1 The term ‘social’ realism is employed in the dissertation, rather than ‘socialist’ realism - now tainted with negative connotations of the literary doctrine contrived by Stalin, Gorky and Zhdanov for the 1934 Congress of Soviet Writers. 2 It is only the five novels examined here that fall within this particular narrow definition. 3 The tropes of the novels’ titles signify: MO – Glasgow society in need of a major operation to make it well; HM - first recorded hunger march of Jacob’s sons to Egypt [Genesis]; NMC -‘I am Paul of Tarsus a resident of no mean city’ [Corinthians, Christian Bible]. 7 Chap 1 Second City: Context of the Novels Sylvia Morgan challenge, the dominant class structure of the period. The relationships of power suggested by the texts are deconstructed, with reference to the ideologies and institutions, and also the political, economic, social, and aesthetic concerns within that historical moment. The underlying assumption is that all representations contain revelations about economic forces and social hierarchies, individual struggles and larger class interests, which serve to bestow or divest agency in relation to certain social groups. The terms ‘ Glasgow’ and ‘Clydeside’ are both employed throughout the dissertation. By the interwar period, the conurbation around the Clyde was Scotland’s largest and most industrialised area, stretching forty miles along the Clyde river valley, from the Firth of Clyde on the west coast eastwards to Wishaw in Lanarkshire. The industrial towns were either contiguous or separated only by narrow strips of rural land. There was the phenomenon of ‘Greater Glasgow’ at this time, a result of the desire of Glasgow Corporation to absorb surrounding communities. Govan, Partick, and Pollokshaws were separate but adjoining towns until 1912 when, along with other areas, they were incorporated into Glasgow’s boundaries, boosting the city’s inhabitants to over one million and making it the most populous city in the United Kingdom after London. 4 Therefore definitions of ‘Glasgow’ are subject to ebb and flow, much like the river at the centre of the city’s geographical and historical existence. The spatial and temporal character of the city was intrinsically bound up with the River Clyde. The river runs through the city and deep in the collective consciousness. ‘The Clyde made Glasgow and Glasgow made the Clyde’ is a popular saying. 5 The river shaped the shared identity of the Clydeside communities, it underpins the region’s history, it was Glasgow’s gateway to the world, and so functions as a protagonist in its own right in the novels and in reality.