ABSTRACT
London was viewed essentially as a bustling cosmopolitan metropolis concerned with government, commerce and entertainment. Unfavourable characteristics, which were reported by only small percentages of the respondents, referred to dirt and smoke and traffic congestion. The overwhelming impression of Glasgow, on the other hand, was negative, with a clustering of images centred on violence, depression and slums with the Gorbals featuring as the quintessence of environmental decay. The image of Red Clydeside owes much to popular protest related to housing conditions and industrial relations as manifested in the wartime rent strikes and the militant actions of Clyde shop stewards in defence of working conditions and union powers. The influx of munitions-workers exacerbated the position. In a situation of near monopoly landlords increased rents by up to 23 per cent in the industrial areas of Govan and Partick in proximity to the shipyards, with similar increases in the East End around Beardmore’s Parkhead Forge.
