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The Cause: A History of Scottish Nationalism

The Cause: A History of Scottish Nationalism: Episode 3

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Episode 3

BBC Radio Scotland - The Cause: A History of Scottish Nationalism, Episode 3

Billy Kay on the rise of nationalism in the 1960s and the effect of Winnie Ewing's victory

Billy Kay examines the rise of nationalism in the 1960s and Winnie Ewing's sensational victory in Hamilton, which transformed the SNP from a marginalised sect to a mainstream party.

3/5

Flower of Scotland

"It was a sect.it was curiously like Trotskyism actually, and it was something that at that time was a blind alley." The intellectual Tom Nairn on Scottish nationalism in the early 1960's. 

Nationalist activists describe how they were regarded as disloyal in a very unionist society and treated with a mixture of contempt and disdain and sometimes outright hostility - one man Gordon Caseley recalls his father's horror when his friend in the Special Branch told him that his schoolboy son had joined the SNP! Billy also traces the rise of Scottish cultural nationalism and the effect of the folk revival that swept Scotland and produced songs like the Corries' anthem "Flower of Scotland" We hear from Mary McCabe and former SNP leader Gordon Wilson of a nationalist pirate radio station called Radio Free Scotland and the SNP's struggle to get recognition for the nationalist movement on radio and television. 

We detail the gradual transformation of the SNP from a small, marginalised "sect" to an organised political machine capable of achieving sporadic but spectacular successes such as Winnie Ewing's victory in the Hamilton by election of 1967. Winnie herself describes the 
personal abuse she endured at Westminster until Harold Wilson and Emrys Hughes put a stop to it. Profesor James Mitchell of Strathclyde University traces the hostility between Labour and the SNP to this period when Labour was challenged in its former heartland. 
The victory though began a seismic shift in Scottish politics which had long lasting effects, bringing thousands into the nationalist camp and dramatically improving the image and profile of the SNP..."a wee nudge of the earth, a wee earthquake" as Jimmy Halliday describes it.

BBC Radio Scotland

Billy Kay explores the history of Scottish nationalism from the 14th to the 21st century.

Billy Kay traces the story of Scottish nationalism from the Wars of Independence to the rise of the SNP and what was perceived as the anglicisation of Scotland in the 20th century.

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The Cause: A History of Scottish Nationalism

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