140 years after the Highland Land League drew up a list of its demands in Dingwall, the land justice movement is developing new strategies, writes Tara Wight.
In May, I wrote with Heather Urquhart that the left in Scotland is disconnected from issues of land. I am pleased to say that I have been proved wrong, or at least shown that my perspective was woefully central-belt. On September 8th, Dingwall Community Centre was completely packed out when people gathered to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the Highland Land League’s “Dingwall Programme” and plan how to revive a movement for land justice in Scotland. This was perhaps the first political meeting I have ever organised where far more people showed up on the day than had signed up in advance. Almost all the folk attending were already actively engaged with land issues at a local or national level, and many work on the land themselves.
In 1884, the Napier Commission published a report which was meant to tackle the widespread problems of overcrowding and mass hunger caused by more than a century of clearances and dispossession in the Highlands and Islands. The report’s recommendations completely failed to meet the needs and demands of affected communities, and it was rejected by the Highland Land League. The League gathered in Dingwall to compile a list of their own demands and plan a programme of coordinated political action.
While the context is very different 140 years later, with second homes and short-term lets posing more of a threat than sheep to Highland communities, there are some clear parallels. After endless government consultations pointing to predetermined answers, and with a meaningless land reform bill making its way through parliament, the enthusiastic turnout for our own Dingwall gathering showed that folk are clearly ready once again to take matters into their own hands.
The event was organised by the Landworkers’ Alliance and the Scottish Crofting Federation, and named for the slogan of the Highland Land League, Is Treasa tuath na tighearna (the people are mightier than a laird). It brought together multiple generations of crofters, radical historians, and land activists to discuss current land issues and lay out our own demands for land in Scotland. The day began with a galvanising introduction to our history of land resistance from the archivist and activist Catherine MacPhee of Skye, followed by a morning of short talks and discussion. Participants touched on the increasing marketisation of the crofting system (Andrew Airnes), the ingrained power structures of the ‘rewilding’ agenda (Isla Macleod), and the need to address questions of racial justice in relation to land (Iain MacKinnon). Participants then joined workshops to develop a list of demands and begin planning action for land justice.
I led a workshop on tactics for movement building and direct action, rooted in a historical context. It was only when I researched the Highland Land League before the event that I realised just how diverse their tactics were. From rent strikes, boycotts and raids to targeted engagement with electoral politics, 19th-century comrades used eclectic but coordinated strategies to ensure they could not be ignored. I particularly enjoyed stories of communities ostracising factors and land agents until they felt compelled to leave an area. They made me wonder why, even in close-knit rural communities, there seem to be no social consequences today for those who abuse the power that comes with owning land and wealth. We surely all know people who have been socially excluded for a lot less. Burning effigies of wealthy landowners was another historically popular move. Such moves might not always bring a clear material impact, but creatively channelling collective rage at aristocratic and corporate landlords must be good for general morale.
The workshop discussion reflected the calibre and experience of the historians and activists, as well as the lineage that connected some participants to folk who led land raids in the 19th century. In line with the historical traditions of the land movement, workshop participants came up with a wide array of different strategies to tackle land inequality today. These included political education and storytelling to engage the wider population with land struggles, attention-grabbing stunts and spectacles like hosting feasts of poached venison, developing alternative systems such as community energy projects, and – my personal favourite – coordinated occupations of second homes across Scotland. I found this last idea underlined several times in the notes I gathered at the end of the session. Clearly others shared my enthusiasm.
A recurring theme throughout the day’s discussions was the importance of connecting urban communities with land issues and building a movement which speaks to the material needs of both Highland and Lowland Scotland. Prior to my workshop research, I knew a fair amount about resistance to clearances in the Highlands and Islands, but I was entirely unaware of the importance of the Highland diaspora in the Lowlands in lending strength and support to the Highland Land League. While many descendants of that diaspora have become disconnected from the land over the course of generations, urban and rural Scotland today share significant struggles related to access to housing, quality food, and functioning public spaces. Staggering inequality in terms of property ownership is evident in our cities, in our countryside, and everywhere in between.
In just one day we could only begin to explore how we might begin to link these struggles and build a connected movement, but I hope the conversation will continue and expand to incorporate more urban perspectives at the upcoming Glasgow Land Moot this winter. In Dingwall, we rounded off the day by collectively learning and singing Òran nan Croitearan/The Crofters’ Song. The words by Niall MacLeòid describe his wish and belief that despite years of injustice, his people will get back their land. We parted with a promise that this meeting was only the beginning.
The Landworkers’ Alliance and the Scottish Crofting Federation have further land justice events planned in Uist (2nd Oct), Skye (4th Oct) and Perthshire (date TBC). Scottish Histories of Resistance and the Galgael Trust are organising the Glasgow Land Moot 29th Nov – 1st Dec.
Tara Wight has a PhD in agricultural science and currently works for the Landworkers Alliance, campaigning for land justice and a fairer farming system in Scotland.