Comedian Billy Connolly, football manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond will all speak at the funeral of Jimmy Reid on August 19, 2010.
The UCS Work-in, Glasgow 1971
Jimmy Reid, who died on August 10, 2010 rose to sudden fame during the work-in at the Upper Clyde Shipyards in Glasgow in 1971. Edward Heath’s Tory Government had threatened to close the shipyards with the loss of over 6000 jobs but shop steward Reid organised, not a strike and a laying down of tools, but a work-in.
As Reid said in a famous speech reported around the world, ‘We are not going to strike. We are not even having a sit-in strike. Nobody and nothing will come in and nothing will go out without our permission. And there will be no hooliganism, there will be no vandalism, there will be no bevvying because the world is watching us.’
Jimmy Reid’s power of oratory in the speeches he made to the men made world headlines and gained the support of many organisations and individuals. John Lennon and Yoko Ono sent red roses and a cheque for £5000. Money poured into the worker’s fund and enabled the work-in to continue until, in February 1972, Heath’s government capitulated in the face of strong public opinion and allowed the shipyards to remain open.
New York Times Prints Speech in Full
In 1971, Jimmy Reid was elected Rector of Glasgow University, much to the alarm of some of the establishment. His rectorial address was described by one of the students there, as ‘electrifying’. The New York Times published the address in full, calling it ‘the greatest speech since President Lincoln’s Gettysburg address.’
Jimmy Reid opened with the words; ‘Alienation is the precise and correctly applied word for describing the major social problem in Britain today.
It is the cry of men who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control. It’s 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 real say in shaping or determining their own destinies.’
In his address he quoted from the New Testament, the novel Catch 22, a TV advert and Robert Burns but it was his comment about rats that gained him a standing ovation.
‘A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings.’
Much of what he said resonates all too clearly today.
Jimmy Reid: a LIfe
Jimmy Reid was born in 1932 into the ship-building community of Govan, Glasgow, becoming an engineering apprentice in one of the yards. His experiences there and in his community led him to join the Communist Party in an attempt to fight for better conditions for workers and their families. Three of his sisters had died in infancy as a result of poverty.
But he became increasingly disillusioned with Communism and eventually, he joined the Labour Party and stood for Parliament in 1979, losing to the Scottish National Party candidate. He turned to journalism but his honesty and outspokenness did not curry favour with newspaper editors. He also presented the Reid Report on BBC Scotland television and wrote a weekly column for the Herald. Eventually, he lost faith in the direction the Labour Party was heading and in 2005, he joined the Scottish National Party.
He was married to Joan Swankie for over 50 years and had three daughters and three granddaughters.
Jimmy Reid's Funeral
On August 19th 2010, Billy Connolly, a former Clyde shipyard worker himself, will pay his respects to the man who was the last of the Red Clydesiders, a distinguished orator, a fighter for fairness and justice and above all, one who was prepared to be honest with everyone and most of all, with himself.
As Robert Burns said,
‘The honest man, tho’ e’er sae poor,
Is king of men for a’ that.’
In the opinion of many who remember him, Jimmy Reid was a king.
Sources: The (Glasgow) Herald accessed 12-14 August 2010
BBC News accessed 12-14August 2010
Ann Burnett - Ann Burnett is an experienced writer of children's stories and scripts, short stories and articles, and comedy.
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