Class Struggle: Film from the Clyde

In 1971, the Cinema Action film collective, set up to document working class struggle and to produce campaign films to accompany protests, was the only film crew allowed into the occupied shipyards on the Upper Clyde near Glasgow, where the collective had previously shot the short campaign film . Under the leadership of Jimmy Reid (later a Labour Party politician), the union had occupied the yards after the British Conservative government had decided to stop financial support to the big four shipyards, meaning redundancy for the vast majority of personnel. This was followed by a work-in, in which the workers took over every aspect of the day-to-day operation of the yards. It was 18 months before negotiations were brought to a successful conclusion. This unique piece of reportage by Cinema Action was filmed from inside the heart of the protest movement: in the workplace, during press conferences and in smoky back rooms where the union leaders discussed what exactly the final aim of the movement was: to protect thousands of jobs or to go further and take on capitalism itself. The documentary is a model of activist cinema, which – according to director and co-founder of Cinema Action Ann Guedes – sets itself apart from the mainstream media by actually devoting attention to workers’ views.