Scotland and the Cold War (review)

Scotland and the Cold War, the product of a 2003 conference titled "Scotland's Cold War: An Introduction," is intended both to present and to inspire scholarship on the Scottish experience in the Cold War. Many first-rate studies have surveyed the regional effects of Cold War politics on various parts of the world, but Brian Jamison believes that Scotland offers an untapped source for scholarship. Consisting of eight essays, the book covers a wide range of topics ranging from the role of Scottish churches during the Cold War to the experience of Scottish regiments in Cold War–era military postings. The authors portray the Cold War as having affected every aspect of Scottish political, economic, and social life. The editor notes several areas of focus in the book: the Scottish experience with Polaris nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), the environmental effects of military installations, and the economic impact of the Cold War on Scotland. These topics are mentioned at the beginning of the book but are not thoroughly addressed until the chapter on disarmament movements. The collection provides some excellent information but suffers from a lack of continuity.

The essays cover a range of topics, though with differing amounts of attention. Chapters on the Scottish Communist Party (SCP) during the Cold War and the disarmament movement in Scotland account for more than a fourth of the book. The disarmament movement receives particular emphasis. In an essay on Scottish disarmament movements, Jamison charts the development of Scottish attitudes toward Cold War politics and military deployments by comparing Scottish responses to Polaris and Trident SLBMs. The section on Scottish Communists provides additional insight into the Scottish psyche during the Cold War, displays the shifting allegiance of local Communists to the Soviet Union, and is linked to the anti-nuclear movement. The chapters on the SCP and the disarmament movement are the most useful, whereas the six other chapters seem out of place and of much less significance. For instance, the nine-page chapter on the Scottish churches during the Cold War contributes little if anything to the book. Everything in this compilation builds to the chapter on nuclear disarmament.

Willie Thompson's essay on the SCP provides an excellent portrayal of the ebb and flow of the party. Despite coming under pressure from the 1940s on, the SCP was able to maintain a level of support within the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and circulated petitions in support of abolishing nuclear weapons in the 1950s. The inception of Nikita Khrushchev's de-Stalinization campaign in the Soviet Union in February 1956 and the Soviet invasion of Hungry eight months later profoundly affected the SCP. The leaders of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) applauded the Soviet Union's decision to crush the Hungarian revolt, a stance that prompted a mass exodus from the party. One-quarter of CPGB membership was lost, and Scottish miners demanded the resignation of Communists from the TUC leadership (p. 54). Despite these setbacks, the SCP regained support through its role in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), a movement that revived the party. The resurgence of the SCP through support of CND adds to the centrality of the disarmament movement in this book.

Jamison, in his chapter on Scottish responses to the Polaris and Trident missile programs, shows that in the late 1950s and early 1960s CND and allied groups acted in opposition to nuclear testing and nuclear warfare. The Scottish branch of CND (SCND) arose and gained favor because of the presence of the U.S. Polaris system in Scottish lochs and the demands put forth by SCND for the removal of the submarines. The highpoint of the opposition was a demonstration on 4 March 1961 opposing the presence of U.S. nuclear weapons. Although opposition to Polaris later petered out, the initial fervent response was a far cry from the reaction to the Trident system in the 1990s. By the 1990s, the lack of public interest, the long record of Polaris's safe operation...