The 1915 Rent Strikes: an east coast perspective

Ref: ABT-B17

One of the most famous episodes in civvie street during the First World War was the 1915 rent strike in Glasgow which saw the government bow to the rights of the strikers and cap housing rents for the duration. However, the success of the west-coast strikers owed much to the national mood, especially along the east coast of Scotland, in Dundee, Aberdeen, Kirkcaldy and Leith.

Dr Ann Petrie’s book, The 1915 Rent Strikes: An East Coast Perspective uncovers for the first time instances of the east coast’s involvement in the strike action for justice. Next to Glasgow the rent strike in Dundee was the second largest to affect Scotland. Children paraded the streets singing and shouting ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ and ‘Are we Downhearted?’ Their parents organised an illegal flag day, and a tenement in Bellefield Avenue was barricaded ready for an assault by the landlords. These scenes all took place against a background of what the strikers considered a particularly insensitive period of class injustice carried out by landlords against the women and children of men fighting in the trenches of the Western Front active in infamous battles such as Loos.

Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, a single man defending the actions of the landlords during the city’s rent strike swiftly left the Gallowgate with his ears ringing after being abused by a crowd of women protesters. Aberdeen’s was the third largest rent strike in Scotland, and along with other examples from Kirkcaldy and Leith, The 1915 Rent Strikes documents and, for the first time, offers readers a compelling view of class relations on the home front of Scotland during the First World War.

The author, Dr Ann Petrie, is currently a Course Leader at Arbroath.Angus College.

£7.50