Book review: Jimmy Reid, A Scottish Political Journey, by Kenny MacAskill

In 1971 Jimmy Reid became famous for his leading role in the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in. Articulate in his defiance of the Heath Government and in defence of his fellow workers, this young communist shop-steward seemed the authentic heir of the Red Clydesiders, John McLean, James Maxton and David Kirkwood. He was the public face of the work-in, while his colleague Jimmy Airlie, also a communist, took principal charge of its organization. Kenny MacAskill, the former SNP Justice Minister, says that Reid’s communism owed more to morality than to Marx and was a sort of Christian socialism without Christianity – whatever that means.