Scottish Communists

Communists and many on the left have long fought for equality for women in society and in the work place.

Although we still have a distance to go today towards achieving these aims, it is inspiring to hear of the huge struggles of women in the past against massive obstacles in,  what was then, highly patriarchal society.

Marion Munro described her experiences as an engineering worker in the 1940s and 50s and the struggles on pay and equal conditions.  John Foster looked at the lives of Margaret Irwin, first secretary of the STUC, Helen Crawfurd, the Suffragette and Red Clydesider who met Lenin and became a leading Communist and Agnes Dollan, Red Clydesider and housing campaigner who went on to become a leading figure in the Labour Party.

Part of the Morning Star newspaper's "Our Class Our Culture" series from throughout Scotland.

Recorded December 2011 in Paisley Town Hall.

Professor John Foster

Marion Munro (to whom we give thanks for stepping in at short notice).