JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

ESSAYS 93McCowie played a key role in the birth of Scottish socialism. With the death of AlexanderMacDonald in 1881, McCowie, 'an enthusiastic Scoto-lrishman, thought he saw in William Small(1847-1903) a successor to Mr. MacDonald'.27 A member of the SDF, the Socialist League and theIndependent Labour Party (ILP), Small was a pivotal figure in Scottish trade union and socialist circlesuntil his death. Supported by John Ferguson, an Ulster born Protestant nationalist, and John Murdoch(1818-1903), the Scottish crofters' leader whose five volume manuscript autobiography I found inGlasgow in 1968, Small 'taught Keir Hardie and Robert Smillie the principles of socialism\28With Michael Davitt and rank-and-file Roman Catholic priests, Small toured the Lanarkshirecoalfields in 1884-85 setting up branches of the Scottish Anti-Royalty and Labour League. 29 Theillegitimate son of a wealthy Dundee manufacturer, Small was converted to Catholicism just before hejoined the SDF. 30 Furthermore, Small's prominence in the SDF, Socialist League and ILP did not vitiatehis warm and intimate relations with John Ferguson, John Murdoch, Chisholm Robertson or theCatholic priests who worked hard to organise the miners and unskilled workers in the West of Scotland.Indissolubly linked with the land agitations in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland, the ScottishAnti-Royalty and Labour League agitated for the nationalisation of the land and mineral royalties. Incommon with John Ferguson, J. Shaw Maxwell,31 John Murdoch, Michael Davitt, ChisholmRobertson,32 Keir Hardie and Dr. Charles Cameron, the editor of the left-wing Liberal North BritishDaily Mail and MP for Glasgow ,33 Small was a passionate advocate of Home Rule for Scotland as wellas Ireland.Despite his lack of Irish ancestry, William Small became increasingly identified with the Irishimmigrants in Scotland. When the Irish National League extended its political activities in Scotland,Small, Chisholm Robertson and other Irish immigrants articulated their double-identity as Scots andIrish sympathisers. In its opening issue in 1885, the Glasgow Observer approved of the efforts of theIrish National League to mobilise the Irish vote in the cause of Home Rule for Ireland. 34 But theGlasgow Observer did more than that; it also helped to organise Irish immigrants and native Scots intonew trade union and labour organisations, and became the voice of the Irish-Catholic immigrants in theWest of Scotland. In 1885, for example, the Glasgow Observer published an article byWilliam Smallon 'A New Labour Movement' .35 At the same time, Small, Michael Davitt, and Chisholm Robertsonorganised branches of the American organisation, the Sons of Labour, in the Lanarkshire coalfields.RObertson, a young electrical engineer in Slammanan, canvassed 'the Irishmen of the locality' whowere interested in forming a branch of the Irish National League; and he gave a lecture in Glasgow onthe question, 'Should an Irishman be ashamed of his nationality?' .36In the general election of 1885 Small, Chisholm Robertson,37 J. Shaw Maxwell, J.G. Weir, BruceGlasier and others devoted equal attention to the agitation for Home Rule in both Scotland and Ireland.Yet despite their double-identity as Scots and Irishmen, Robertson, John Leslie, Andrew McCowie; J.Shaw Maxwell and John L. Mahon owed this basic allegiance to organised labour. R. ChisholmRobertson made this crystal clear when the leaders of the Irish National League in Glasgow asked,theIrish electors to vote for the Liberal candidate, R. Caldwell, against J. Shaw Maxwell, the Land andLabour candidate in the Blackfriars constituency. In Slammanan Robertson persuaded the Irish­Catholic activists to pass the following resolution:'That we, the members of the Daniel O'Connell branch of the Irish National League, deeply regret theaction of the executive in withdrawing the Irish vote from Mr. Shaw Maxwell, the candidate for theBlackfriars division of Glasgow, and that the motion be sent to the Glasgow Observer for publication. '38In those years, Chisholm Robertson, later to be the first secretary of the ILP, was a passionate socialistwho was proud of his dual-identity as a Scot and an Irishman.By 1895 an increasing minority of the Irish-Catholic immigrants were arguing for the nationalisationof the means of production. In supporting the ongoing agitation for the nationalisation of the landand mineral royalties, Catholic priests were now creating problems for themselves. As well as