On this day, 9 August 1914, Glasgow Green hosted one of Britain’s few mass mobilisations against the declaration of WW1. More than 100,000 Scots would die in the Great War, but at the commencement of hostilities it was dangerous to oppose the impending slaughter. Scotland’s first demonstration against the war with Germany was held on the Mound in Edinburgh on August 8th, and the participants were attacked and beaten by a jingoistic mob. So when the Independent Labour Party called a demonstration in Glasgow Green for the following day, many expected trouble and armed themselves with walking sticks for self-defence. The anti-war protesters in the Green numbered 5000: a huge turnout given the climate of jingoism and given the demonstration had been called with just 24 hours’ notice. The walking sticks proved an unnecessary precaution, and in fact the only opposition the rally encountered was from a military band that attempted to drown out the speakers by trumpeting martial songs from the People’s Palace. They were unsuccessful and to loud cheers the rally passed the following resolution: “That this meeting deplores the outbreak of War, and declares it to be the outcome of Capitalism allied with Militarism, which has been consistently opposed by the organised workers and pacifists in all the countries concerned; and this meeting sends fraternal greetings to the working classes and pacifists of Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia, France, Belgium, Serbia, and all other countries.” The war lasted four years and claimed the lives of over 16 million people.
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