Alienation (speech)
Jimmy Reid was a shop steward of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).
[4] Reid had no prior involvement with the university which was traditionally middle-class and conservative in leaning; indeed it was not a member of the National Union of Students at the time as they were considered too left-wing.
[7] Reid's inaugural address took place in Glasgow University's Bute Hall on 28 April 1972, the same day as the government approved the rescue deal for UCS.
[7] The address formed part of a grand ceremony with the university court present in academic dress; Reid wore the rector's robe and, for the first time in his life, white tie.
[11] Some disruption was caused when two students dressed as a pink pantomime horse attempted to enter the hall but otherwise Reid was not interrupted during his address, except for rounds of applause from the audience.
[13] Reid had been inspired to write on the subject of alienation after witnessing, in Connolly's Bar in Glasgow, the tearful reaction of shipyard workers to news of the sinking of the Clyde-built Seawise University (the former RMS Queen Elizabeth) in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour on 9 January 1972.
Reid thought that recent modernisation of industrial practices and the purchase of Scottish shipbuilders by English and foreign companies would lead to a loss of such a connection between workers and their products.
[14][15] Reid considered that the new shipyard owners lacked knowledge of the long history of shipbuilding in Scotland and were focused only on the economic benefits of largescale production and centralisation.
[12] Reid stated in his address that a lack of social support by the government exacerbated alienation and its effects on young people led to anti-social behaviour and the use of drink and drugs.
He lamented wasted potential, saying "I am convinced that the great mass of our people go through life without even a glimmer of what they could have contributed to their fellow human beings.
[20][nb 2] Reid's biographers William Knox and Adam McKinlay stated that the address had a liberal, middle-class and "almost Victorian" tone in the way it espoused the virtues of public service.
[23] In the Glasgow newspaper The Evening Times it was afforded only 57 lines and placed lower in prominence than the council's plan to invest in a radio station and a bus that crashed into a tree.
[10] The coverage of the speech helped raise Reid's profile to the highest levels of his career, and led to appearances on national television such as Open to Question in May 1972 and A Chance to Meet in November.
CPGB leaders praised the speech and Alex Murray told the party's Scottish Congress: "Previous Rectors, among them Gladstone, Disraeli and Sir Robert Peel, must be spinning in their graves ...
[26] Reid stood for the CPGB in Central Dunbartonshire (which included Clydeside) in the February and October 1974 general elections, losing decisively to the Labour candidate both times.
