The Leith dockers strike of 1913 was a
strike of the dockers of
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
,
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, from 26 June to 14 August 1913. The Dockers were part of the
National Union of Dock Labourers
The National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1889 and 1922.
History
It was formed in Glasgow in 1889 but moved its headquarters to Liverpool within a few years and was thereafter ...
(NUDL) union. The strike is said to have brought Leith to a standstill.
Demands
The dockers were demanding an increase in pay, better conditions,
a ban on hiring workers outside of the union, and shorter hours.
Response from employers
With the help of the
Shipping Federation
{{no sources, date=August 2020
The Shipping Federation was an association of employers in the shipping industry. It was formed in 1890 in response to the London dock strike of 1889 and the successes of the National Union of Seamen and various do ...
, The
Leith Dock Employers Association responded by bringing in 450 non-union workers or "free labourers" to break the strike, housing them in "free labour" ships, the ''Lady Jocelyn'' and the ''Paris''. They were protected by the local police forces from Edinburgh and Leith, as well as by others who had been drafted in from
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland.
Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...
, and the
Lothian
Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Sco ...
s.
Access to the docks was restricted to police, free labourers, federation and harbour officials, and those with a valid permit. The dockers were unable to pass the dock's perimeter wall, so picketed in shifts. They were only allowed six pickets at a time and always escorted by the police. Questions were raised about the legality of closing a public dock. The authorities argued it was necessary to protect people and property.
The strike grows
On 13 July the
National Union of Railwaymen met and resolved to refuse to
blackleg. Other workers and seamen also joined. The Lothian Miners soon came out in support of the dockers, and the Leith Dockers were supported by other dockers across the east coast of Scotland.
In July, there was a massive outburst in strikes, at the time being described as a "strike epidemic", after female ropeworkers also went on strike, followed by shipmasters.
The local newspaper reported this was unheard of, and that the "free labourers" brought in to do the strikers' jobs were unable to match the speed of those on strike, and were costly in terms of upkeep for the employers.
Rioting
From 16 to 18 July, there was mass rioting.
Those workers brought in to replace the strikers were attacked and there is said to have been an attempt to blow up the perimeter wall. During this time, naval boats were sent in at the request of the authorities, but this only led to hostility from sailors and marines, who did not want to be used in this way.
Effect on Parliament
Questions were raised in Parliament about the use of ships to attempt to break up the strike. The response given was that they came as a form of aid but were found to be unnecessary. MPs expressed unease about the secrecy surrounding the use of the ships.
Union officials attempted to control the situation but to no avail. The local press were sympathetic, reporting that the police had often provoked the situation.
Demonstration of 20 July 1913
Around the middle of July, Edinburgh Tramwaymen and Boilermakers joined the strike, and on 20 July 1913, demonstrated together with dockers, seamen, firemen and other
trade unionists.
The local paper ''
The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'' reported there were 3,000 dockers, 600 firemen and sailors, 500 tramwaymen, 150 boilermakers, mill girls and 350 children of the striking workers, led by two labour school board teachers, totalling about 4,600. During the procession, banners called for a living wage and protested the use of force. A loaf of bread painted green to look mouldy was held high, which the strikers suggested symbolised their share of profits.
The dockers and tramwaymen separated with the dockers and others heading along to Leith Links, where speeches were made. The French
Anarcho-Syndicalist Madame Sorgue
Antoinette Cauvin, known as Madame Sorgue (1864–1924), was a French anarcho-syndicalist orator and journalist. She was associated with many strikes in Europe and travelled widely in France, Portugal, Italy, Wales, England (Hull), Scotland, ...
was one of the speakers.
A later speaker suggested the solution lay in electoral politics, and advocated voting for the
Labour party in upcoming elections. James Airlie from the Boilermakers union also spoke, pointing out the army had been used more times during the strike — 20 times, he claimed — than during the war.
Pledges of financial support
The Tramwaymen's strike was called off on 2 August but they, along with the
Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE), the Leith and Edinburgh Labour Party councillors and Edinburgh and Leith Trade Councils pledged financial support to the continuing dockers strike.
The end of the strike
By the sixth week of the strike, those charged with rioting were in court, and soon found guilty. The local paper ''
The Leith Observer'', under the cover of a pseudonym, lambasted the decision.
The strike finally ended on 14 August, when
James O'Connor Kessack informed a mass meeting of dockers at the
Gaiety Theatre that more strike-breakers ready to cross the picketline were coming from
Newcastle.
Advised by the leadership of the NUDL, the assembled mass meeting voted by a large majority to end the strike. This came as a surprise to all, as no one had expected it to end so suddenly.
The dockers returned to work on the same conditions as before. As things returned to normal, many faced court for their part in the riots.
Repeated strikes of the dockers of Leith would continue into modern times, with another strike in 1983 when the
Henry Robb Ltd shipyard was closed, and as part of the
UK National Dock Strike 1989.
The Leith Dockers' Strike is covered in 4 pages of the book ''Red Scotland! The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left.''
References
{{reflist
1913 in Scotland
1910s in Edinburgh
Labour disputes in Scotland
Dockers strike 1913
Protests in Scotland
1913 labor disputes and strikes