Subjects of 2.7 include (transcript page numbers given in brackets): strike in Smiths factory in Wales June-July 1914 to get McShane’s predecessor as shop steward reinstated (1-2, 4-5); influence of Gustave Herve’s anti-militarist ‘My country, right or wrong’ (3, 13); belief that the First World War would be short when it broke out (9-10, 11-12); anti-Tsarist sentiment in Britain (10-11); joining the Royal Engineers in September 1914 to carry out socialist propaganda work (14-15); McShane and other Royal Engineers stationed in Dorset refusing to be inoculated (thereby delaying their dispatch to France) as a protest against allowances not being paid to their wives (20-22).
Subjects of 2.8 include (transcript page numbers given in brackets): encountering racial segregation whilst working in Texas around 1915 (4-5); helping to repair the ship on voyage out there (5-6); good conditions on board for engineers (7); trade union and political activity while working at Park Head Forge during First World War, including being threatened with charges under the Defence of the Realm Act for promoting a pro-peace petition, and a dispute about a bonus scheme (14-20); bonus scheme in Smiths factory in Wales where McShane worked (21-22).
Brand: BASF C90.