Reid made his mark with famous speech

LAST week I completed the second of two columns on the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders’ work- in during 197172 and I promised to return to one of the most astonishing events which took place during, and as a result of, the workers’ occupation of their yards in Glasgow and Clydebank.

Jimmy Reid was seen as the leader of the workers, though the quartet of shop stewards who led the successful work- in and saved thousands of jobs consisted of Reid, Jimmy Airlie, Sammy Gilmore and Sammy Barr, all of whom made crucial contributions to the workers’ action.

Reid had become the public face of the work- in, however, and despite the fact that he was a leading member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and a Communist councillor, even the right- wing press had to grudgingly admit that Reid was an inspirational figure.

Born in Govan during the Great Depression, Reid became an apprentice in the shipyards and from his early years, he was politically active, leading an apprentices’ strike while still a teenager. He rose through the trade union movement and by the 1960s he was chief shop steward in the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers.

He was on television and in the newspapers from the start of the work- in, yet no- one expected the intervention of the student body of Glasgow University where a swift campaign saw Reid elected as Lord Rector of the University, one of the most ancient and noble titles in this city. It was a shocking development to many of the upper echelons of Glasgow society, but with the huge support in the city for the work- in, many more people were delighted to see the Govan- born shipyard worker elected.

The list of rectors going back to the 17th century includes many nobles, judges, clergymen, soldiers and generally upper class types, including major political figures such as Prime Ministers Sir Robert Peel, William Ewart Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. The rectorial list also includes the philosopher Edmund Burke and Adam Smith of ‘ Wealth of Nations’ fame, and in the 20th century the students started to diversify in their choices for political reasons and elected the novelist Compton MacKenzie, the pacifist Dick Sheppard and the famous nationalist and former student ‘ King’ john MacCormick as well as South African anti- apartheid campaigner Albert Lutuli.

Though some rectors did little other than enjoy the honour, many of them took an active role in the University as the students’ representatives. Reid pledged he would do so, and in October 1971, he was duly elected, comfortably beating his opponents, the Conservative MP Teddy Taylor and Labour’s Peggy Herbison.

His electoral address was not delivered until Friday, April 28, 1972, and he finalised the speech the day before, having earlier been inspired by watching burly Clydeside shipworkers moved to tears at the blaze which gutted the former liner Queen Elizabeth, built at John Brown’s yard in Clydebank.

I make no excuses for quoting at length from that address which was entitled ‘ Alienation’ but has come down to us as the ‘ rat race’ speech.

Reid began: “Alienation is the precise and correctly applied word for describing the major social problem in Britain today. People feel alienated by society. In some intellectual circles, it is treated almost as if it is a new phenomenon. It has, however, been with us for years.

“What I believe to be true is that today it is more widespread, more pervasive than ever before. Let me right at the outset define what I mean by alienation. It is the cry of the men who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control. It is the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the processes of decision- making. The feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no say in shaping or determining their own destinies.”

Reid then made a direct appeal to the students in a famous passage which is still quoted regularly 52 years on: “A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings.

“Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self- advancement.

“This is how it starts, and, before you know where you are, you’re a fully paid- up member of the rat

A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings

pack. The price is too high.”

His oratory reached new heights as he continued: “Real fulfilment for any person lies in service to his fellow men and women… the challenge we face is that of rooting out anything and everything that distorts and devalues humanity…

“Our aim must be the enrichment of the whole quality of life. It requires a social and cultural or, if you wish, a spiritualist transformation of our country... to unleash the latent potential of our people requires that we give them responsibility. The untapped resources of the North Sea are nothing compared to the untapped resources of our people.

“I am convinced that the great mass of our people go through life without even a glimmer of what they could have contributed to their fellow human beings.

“This is a personal tragedy. It is a social crime.

“The flowering of each individual’s personality and talents is the precondition for everyone’s development.”

The end of the address was met by a two- minute standing ovation, and despite some of the press playing it down, the speech was heard around the world. The New York Times, no less, called it the greatest speech since Gettysburg. In 50 years of following politics, I’ve heard nothing better.

Jimmy Reid eventually left the shipyards and became a noted journalist, helping to found the Scottish Left Review, and making award- winning documentaries. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament for the Communist Party before joining the Labour Party and later the SNP. Perhaps had he lived, Reid might have made a difference to the result at the 2014 referendum, but he died aged 78 on August 10, 2010, after years of ill health and a brain haemorrhage. He was survived by his wife, Joan, three daughters and grandchildren.

The Jimmy Reid Foundation was founded in his memory.