Red Clydeside

Key political figures of the Red Clydeside period

Election address of James Maxton, Labour candidate for Bridgeton

Dec 1918

James Maxton was born in 1885 in Pollokshaws, an affluent district on the south side of Glasgow. His parents were schoolteachers and they encouraged him to excel in his academic pursuits. He attended Hutcheson's Grammar School and then Glasgow University where he took an Master of Arts degree and joined the teaching profession.

Exposed to the writings of Marx and others during his student days, Maxton soon converted to socialism. He joined the Independent Labour Party and began to make a name for himself as a political orator at meetings throughout Scotland. He also became involved in the formation of teachers' unions in Scotland, including the Educational Institute of Scotland and the Scottish Socialist Teachers' Society. By 1912 he was a leading figure in the ILP and, being a pacifist, was strongly opposed to Britain's involvement in the first world war, finding himself imprisoned for a year in 1916 for anti-war agitation. He was defeated in the 1918 general election and for the next four years was divisional organizer for the ILP and a member of the Glasgow Education Authority. In the 1922 he was elected as MP for Bridgeton alongside nine of his fellow 'Red Clydesiders'

The Red Clydesiders were constant critics of the moderate policies of the Labour leader, Ramsay MacDonald, and were seen as irritants by the more sedate members at Westminster. Maxton was on occasion abusive towards members of the Conservative Party and was several times suspended from the House of Comments for his comments. He served the constituency of Bridgeton until his death in 1946.

Source: McCallum Scott Papers, Glasgow University Special Collections