Name: The centenary of the General Strike in Scotland
Start: 2026-05-12T17:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-05-12T19:00:00+01:00
Location: National Library of Scotland

The centenary of the General Strike in Scotland

In this year's Ian MacDougall Memorial Lecture, learn about the General Strike of 1926.
About this Event

Join us for a special lecture offering fresh perspectives on the 1926 General Strike in Scotland. The first and only national strike in Britain, the ‘Nine Days in May’ are a landmark in trade union history, still debated by historians and labour activists today.

Dr Andy Clark will present new research from the extensive archive of pioneering labour historian Ian MacDougall, including his exploration of over twenty boxes of papers MacDougall gathered for his unfinished project on the strike. This talk will explore the legacies, myths, and memories of the strike in its centenary year.

About the speaker

Dr Andy Clark is a Lecturer in Scottish History at the University of Stirling. His research focuses on labour history, deindustrialisation, and industrial relations. He has led oral history projects on Scottish women’s workplace activism during the 1980s, experiences of mining in the northeast of England, deindustrialisation in Newcastle, and the memories of first responders to the Lockerbie Bombing. He is a committee member of the Scottish Labour History Society.

The Ian MacDougall lecture series is dedicated to the memory of Dr Ian MacDougall (1933 to 2020). A pioneering oral historian, he played a central role in documenting and preserving the archives of the Scottish labour and trade union movement. His own extensive archive now forms part of the National Library of Scotland’s collections.

Partners

This event is hosted in partnership with the Scottish Labour History Society and Scottish Working People’s History Trust. In 2026, it will also mark the 75th anniversary of the School of Scottish Studies.

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