1919 (January 31)

When forty thousand workers marched on the city, Secretary Munro knew the situation was serious. This had already happened in St. Petersburg, he thought to himself, and they were tearing up Munich and Berlin as he spoke. He would allow no bloody Bolsheviks to take over his beloved Alba. The first order was to call out the police, which he promptly did. When they arrived on the scene, they were overwhelmed by the number of people they saw, but they tried nevertheless to keep order. Shinwell addressed the crowd on behalf of the workers, and when it appeared that the crowd might explode, the police moved. Lister and his grandfather were at the top of the stairs of the St. Andrew's Halls, and in marching to apprehend Shinwell, Lister's grandfather was knocked down the stairs. The crowd saw what happened and descended on the police. The riot had begun.