Long out of print this edition of Harry McShane No Mean Fighter has been brought back into print after 40 years by Tramp Trust Unlimited.
Harry McShane's life is the story of Red Clyde itself. He served his political apprenticeship in the anti-war struggles of 1914-18, and became a leader with a national reputation in the unemployed workers' movement and hunger marches of the twenties and thirties. Harry McShane survived the post-war years of political apathy to participate - in his eighties - in its resurgence today.
Harry McShane told the story of his life and times to Joan Smith over a period of three years. He remembers his school days in Glasgow, his time as an engineering apprentice, his friends and comrades John MacLean and Wal Hannington, his entry into the Communist Party and his break with it. He gives an uninhibited view of the giants of the labour movement - Gallacher, McGovern, Wheatley, Maxton and many others.
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Reviews
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Lost my copy many years ago glad to find another copy
No mean fighter first read this about age of 20 (now 65) met Harry at a troops out March in Glasgow many years ago when Tommy Kayes and I persuaded him to leave the demo as the bottles were raining down on us. He was a hardy character. Highly recommend this book for great insight to a real character in challenging times
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No Mean Fighter by Harry McShane
McShane, an engineer his entire life, was a political activist and trade unionist with a genuinely fascinating life spanning the ‘short twentieth century’. One of its strengths is McShane's ability to convey the complex evolution of political movements in such an accessible way. There are many references to, and his thoughts on, various books and pamphlets, as well as his arrests for sedition (a law rarely spoken about now) which I found particularly interesting. McShane's analysis of the political and social climate also provides valuable historical insights. For example, he writes about the Russian Revolution: ‘We began to now realise what was meant by revolution. We had only known working-class revolt: now we could talk about working-class power’ (p.94). The 1930’s he observes: ‘The German Communists were behaving just as we were in Britain: calling the other workers’ parties ‘fascists’ and not co-operating with them at all, even against the real fascists’ (p.231). And ‘[..] our job as revolutionaries is to see the economics in the philosophy as well as the philosophy in the economics. The intellectuals are writing for one another instead of for working-class people; they seem to think that workers can’t read!’ (p.265). No Mean Fighter is well worth reading, and I would recommend it for anyone interested in twentieth-century history and politics, not just the Red Clyde but Marxism and left-wing workers’ movements more generally.
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Great Book
It's a great read and very interesting to see the inside story of the working class movement in Glasgow
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Book
Another of Scotland's great inspirational socialists, book was great to read.