75th anniversary 1879-1923
30 November marked the 75th anniversary of the death of John MacLean (1879-1923), Glasgow schoolteacher, socialist and one of the leading figures in the history of the revolutionary working class. MacLean came from the same Marxist tradition as James Connolly, worked alongside James Larkin during the Belfast Dock Strike of 1907 and was often cited by Lenin – for his active condemnation of the 1914-18 imperialist war – as a revolutionary example. Throughout his life, MacLean championed the causes of Irish self-determination, the unemployed and working-class Marxist education. In 1918, he was appointed as Honorary President of the first Congress of Soviets and Bolshevik Consul in Scotland, while campaigning tirelessly for the socialist revolution in Britain.
We will deal with MacLean’s revolutionary activity during the war and its aftermath in forthcoming issues. Here we begin the story – and our assessment – of John MacLean and his consistently Marxist approach to class struggle by looking at his work in the period leading up to the war and his role as a Marxist educator.
Michael McGregor and Rory Beaton
From Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! No. 146 December 1998 / January 1999
