On Monday, 31st of January, 1994, Glasgow Anarchist Group organised a meeting
cum social to celebrate the 75 years of Black Friday.

Black Friday was a police provoked riot of 30 000 Glasgow Strikers who
had attended a meeting in George Square. The strike was for a 40 hour
week. The police baton charged the crowd (using the excuse they were
blocking a tram) but the strikers stood firm and fought back. The police
ran for it with the strikers in hot pursuit.

Around 40 people attended the meeting, hearing how the strike had been
organised by shop stewards committees (made up of mandated delegates from
workplaces) against the wishes of the trade union officials. The Trade unions
tried to stop the strike spreading and succeeded in isolating the militant
areas. The unions played their usual role of controllers, not organisers.

Speakers pointed out the role of anarchists and syndicalists in these events
and how the conclusions drawn from these and earlier struggles were anarchist
in content (ie anti-parliamentarian, direct action, decentralisation, anti-
leader and so on) and were echoed across the world in the other revolutionary
struggles going on at the time (eg the politics of the German Communist Workers
Party, the rise of the syndicalist unions and anarchist groups in Spain and 
Italy and so forth).  In addition, they showed how the influence of Lenin
and the Bolsheviks side tracked the revolutionary movement into the dead
end of Leninism and the Communist Parties.

In addition they was discussion, music and poetry. A good night was had by
all.

