The women who make the guns: the munitionettes in Glasgow and Paris and their lack of interaction with the far-left agitators

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the relationship between women munitions workers, the ‘munitionettes,’ in WWI-era Glasgow and Paris and the radical anti-government labor unions. These two cities were the centers of industrial production in Britain and France during the war, and each contained radical, male-dominated labor unions that frequently challenged state authority. In hindsight, the munitionettes were ideal candidates for these radical unions, as they were underpaid and increasingly militant. Despite this, these unions undermined the munitionettes’ work and opposed their movements for better wages and working conditions. This article explores how male-dominated WWI-era labor radicalism failed to incorporate women in the workplace due to gendered notions of work, patriotism and identity. It demonstrates how women developed their own working-class identity, militancy and unions, as they became the most effective strikers during WWI, despite their rejection by the radical labor unions.