Tanks on the Streets?: The Battle of George Square, Glasgow, 1919

At 12.08pm on Friday 31 January 1919, Margaret Buchanan drives her tram into George Square in Glasgow’s city centre. She slows down to avoid the youths and men holding their arms up to stop her; some even jump onto the front of her tram. Swirling around her tram is a sea of heavy—coated men who have been on strike since Monday, demanding a reduction to a forty—hour working week. Crucially, the tram workers have not joined the strike; they are being abused as ‘scabs’. Constables and officers...