The Workers City group was formed in 1988 as a response to Glasgow’s nomination as the European City of Culture in 1990 (ECoC). The name ‘Workers City’ specifically challenged the branding of an inner-city area as the ‘Merchant City’. While you might read everywhere that this is the oldest quarter of Glasgow, this was a new name introduced through urban renewal by the Scottish Development Agency and the city council in the 1980s, during the Glasgow’s miles better campaign. This was a process whereby a restoration of the reputation of Glasgow’s colonial Tobacco Merchants was made public by Glasgow City Council. Enshrined in numerous Glasgow street names – Buchanan St., Miller St., Ingram St., etc – the Tobacco Lords were deeply implicated in the colonial slave trade, yet the Labour Party-led council reconstructed a narrative of being daring entrepreneurs for them, while encouraging the shopping of the present. James Kelman, like Alasdair Gray, was a member of the group: he wrote in 2006 that these merchants made their money by “the simple expedience of not paying the price of labour. Those legendary heroes our children are taught to honour – Buchanan, Miller, Ingram and so on – were men who trafficked in degradation, causing untold misery, death and suffering to scores of thousands of men, women and children. Yet this myth is perpetuated by the present-day Labour authorities who see themselves as far-sighted and fearlessly donate financial and other inducements to the ‘merchants’ of the late 20th century”. The name ‘Workers City’ was coined to emphasise the class-based nature of that labour.