Red Clydeside

Key political figures of the Red Clydeside period

Election address of James Maxton, Labour candidate for Bridgeton

15 Nov 1922

James Maxton won the seat of Bridgeton in the east end of Glasgow at the second time of asking in 1922, having contested the seat in the 'khaki' general election of 1918 when he came second to the Liberal McCallum Scott. Labour won ten of the 15 Glasgow constituencies, in stark contrast to the 1918 general election result when Labour won only one Glasgow seat.

Maxton was one of the commanding figures of the Independent Labour Party, both in Scotland and in the UK as a whole, and was elected as national leader of the ILP in 1926. Like many of his ILP colleagues, he was a pacifist and campaigned against Britain's involvement in the first world war and against the introduction of conscription. He also campaigned on industrial issues and was imprisoned in 1916 for delivering pro-strike speeches at a demonstration in Glasgow to oppose the Munitions Act.

On several occasions Maxton attempted to steer the Parliamentary Labour Party in the direction of a strictly socialist programme of policies. As co-author of the 1924 policy document, 'Socialism in our time', he urged the Labour Party to abandon its reformist outlook and to adopt policies based on socialist doctrine. Although gaining support in some quarters of the party, the right-wing Labour leadership largely ignored Maxton's advice. Following the 1929 general election, he was again highly critical of the Labour government for its failure to enact strong socialist measures. Once Ramsay MacDonald had formed the National Government in 1931, Maxton successfully persuaded the ILP to disaffiliate from the Labour Party in 1932.

Source: McCallum Scott Papers, Glasgow University Special Collections