Changing Images of American Democracy and the Scottish Labour Movement

James D. Young

doi:10.1017/S0020859000004193

Changing Images of American Democracy and the Scottish Labour Movement

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2008

James D. Young

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Mid-Victorian Scotland was a remarkably homogeneous society, and the milieu, in which the labour movement developed, had very long traditions of social repression and economic backwardness. A system of democracy inherited from the Calvinist revolution of 1559, social mobility and the comparatively superior educational opportunities of working class children were, in the considered opinion of a large number of journalists, clergymen and members of Parliament, the dominant characteristics of Scottish democracy. In practice, the educational opportunities and social mobility open to the working classes were severely circumscribed by the conditions industrial capitalism had engendered; and in the mid-1860s the labour movement, though influenced by the traditions – and the mythology – of Scottish democracy, looked to America for their model of a democratic society.

Type: Research Article
Information: International Review of Social History , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , April 1973 , pp. 69 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020859000004193 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1973

References

^{page 69 note 1} Hobsbawm, E. J., Industry and Empire (London, 1968), pp. 257–265.Google Scholar

^{page 69 note 2} For a perceptive critique of orthodox accounts of Scottish democracy in the nineteenth century, see the essay by Ross, Father Anthony entitled “Resurrection”, in Scotland, Whither, ed. by Glen, Duncan (London, 1971).Google Scholar

^{page 69 note 3} Professor Harrison has convincingly argued that “the Lib-Lab era in workingclass politics” began in 1868. Royden Harrison, Before the Socialists (London, 1965), p. 209.Google Scholar

^{page 70 note 1} Edinburgh Review, CXXVIII, No 262 (1868), p. 489.

^{page 70 note 2} Ibid., p. 490.

^{page 70 note 3} Reformer, 25 March 1871.

^{page 70 note 4} Report on Scottish Education for 1871 [Parliamentary Papers, 1872], p. 93. I owe this reference to Mrs Madeleine Monies, of the University of Edinburgh.

^{page 70 note 5} “Scottish democracy was the ideological basis of the Liberal Party in Scotland, but it could not apply to the Irish. Roman Catholic, uneducated, and not too concerned with the dignities of man in the face of a struggle for survival, the Irish working class (and there were not many in any other class) seemed a threat to the Scottish way of life.” James Kellas, The Development of the Liberal Party in Scotland, 1868–1895, Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1966, p. 26.

^{page 70 note 6} “Secondary Education in Scotland”, in: North British Daily Mail, 18 03 1868.Google Scholar

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^{page 70 note 8} Edinburgh Review, CXXVII, No 258 (1867), p. 452.Google Scholar

^{page 71 note 1} Edinburgh Evening Courant, 19 January 1867.

^{page 71 note 2} North British Daily Mail, 28 September 1867.

^{page 71 note 3} Edinburgh Evening Cours$$$nt, 19 January 1867.

^{page 71 note 4} The Scottish delegates informed the delegates to the British Trades Union Congress that they would not tolerate the textbooks being used by the Church of England. The Edinburgh delegate put the views of the Scottish trade unionists thus: “If articles of the nature in question were found in a book in Scotland, the school in which it was used would be shut tomorrow.” Report of the British TUC, 1879, pp. 34–35.Google Scholar

^{page 71 note 5} Ibid.

^{page 71 note 6} “It is quite within the scope of school instruction that correct views [on strikes and combinations] should be formed by the pupils in their schools.” William Ellis, Combinations and Strikes from the Teacher's Point of View (Edinburgh, 1865), p. 1Google Scholar, Edinburgh University Library, pamphlet 576/2; Wilson, A. D., Trade Unions and Self-Help (Edinburgh, 1873), p. 11Google Scholar, in the Arthur Elliot Papers, National Library of Scotland, Acc. 4246.

^{page 72 note 1} Proceedings and Debates of the Free Church of Scotland, 1867, p. 7.

^{page 72 note 2} In a letter to the editor of the North British Daily Mail, George Jackson, the secretary of the Scottish National Reform League, reaffirmed the League's programme of arbitration, legalising the trade unions, “liberating the churches and unlocking the land”. North British Daily Mail, 21 08 1867.Google Scholar

^{page 72 note 3} Proceedings and Debates of the Free Church of Scotland, 1870, p. 20.

^{page 72 note 4} North British Daily Mail, 17 February 1876.

^{page 72 note 5} Glasgow Sentinel, 4 May 1867; North British Daily Mail, 29 June 1876 and 6 November 1879; Minutes of the Edinburgh Trades Council, 29 September 1863 and 23 June 1868.

^{page 72 note 6} Ibid., 22 February 1870; North British Daily Mail, 4 March 1870.

^{page 72 note 7} Harrison, op. cit., p. 206.

^{page 72 note 8} Smout, T. C., History of the Scottish People, 1560–1830 (London, 1969), p. 448Google Scholar; Wright, L. C., Scottish Chartism (Edinburgh, 1953)Google Scholar, passim; Alexander Wilson, The Chartist Movement in Scotland (Manchester, 1970), passim.

^{page 72 note 9} “In the mid-19th century the Scottish literary tradition – the writing by Scotsmen of fiction and poetry of more than parochial interest – paused; from 1825 to 1880 there is next to nothing worth attention. This was also a period of very heavy emigration – a landslide of people away from Scottish soil. It seems, prima facie, likely that the literary break was connected somehow with the social force which was then bursting in upon thousands of Scottish lives.” Craig, D., Scottish Literature and the Scottish People, 1680–1830 (London, 1961), p. 273.Google Scholar

^{page 73 note 1} “Emigration, as a cure for unemployment, was a panacea in which the trade union oligarchy itself had little faith, although as an established part of their credos, they turned to it on occasion.” Harrison, Royden, “The Land and Labour League”, in: Bulletin of the International Institute of Social History, VIII (1953), p. 185.Google Scholar

^{page 73 note 2} Glasgow Sentinel, 12 September 1868.

^{page 73 note 3} Blackwood's, CXLVI, No 885 (1889), p. 48.

^{page 73 note 4} Burn, J. D., A Social Glimpse of the Conditions of the Working Classes during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century (London, 1868), p. 148.Google Scholar

^{page 74 note 1} Glasgow Sentinel, 29 June 1867.

^{page 74 note 2} Ibid., 26 January 1867.

^{page 74 note 3} Ibid., 18 April 1868.

^{page 74 note 4} North British Daily Mail, 16 October 1873.

^{page 74 note 5} Spectator, 24 October 1868.

^{page 74 note 6} Harrison, op. cit., p. 206.

^{page 74 note 7} Spectator, 24 October 1868.

^{page 74 note 8} Pelling, H., America and the British Left (London, 1956), pp. 28–29.Google Scholar

^{page 74 note 9} Brown, Robert, the leader of the Mid and East Lothian miners, worked in the American coalfields during the years 1869–1871. Monthly Circular of the Northumberland Miners' Mutal Confident Association, February 1918.Google Scholar

^{page 75 note 1} See, for example, Glasgow Sentinel, 11 July 1868.

^{page 75 note 2} Address to the People of Scotland, Scottish National Reform League, Glasgow, 1867.

^{page 75 note 3} J. D. Burn, op. cit., p. 152.

^{page 75 note 4} Glasgow Sentinel, 11 January 1868.

^{page 75 note 5} Ibid., 30 March 1872.

^{page 76 note 1} Proceedings and Debates of the Free Church of Scotland, 1869, p. 229.

^{page 76 note 2} Glasgow Weekly Herald, 11 July 1868.

^{page 76 note 3} Alexander Robertson's letter indicating his desire to stand as “a Working Man's Candidate” is pasted into the Minute Book of the Labour Representation League.

^{page 76 note 4} See the essay on “Dundonachie” (Alexander Robertson), in Dryerre, H., Blairgowrie, Stormont and Strathmore Worthies (Blairgowrie, 1903), p. 283.Google Scholar

^{page 76 note 5} Miliband, Ralph, “Barnave: A Case of Bourgeois Class Consciousness”, in: Aspects of History and Class Consciousness, ed. by Meszaros, I. (London, 1971), p. 22.Google Scholar

^{page 77 note 1} The Manifesto of the Edinburgh Workmen's Electoral Council was only published in the newspaper press by the (Tory) Edinburgh Evening Courant during the general election of 1880 when the same working class leaders were again supporting the middle class Liberals. Edinburgh Evening Courant, 19 March 1880.

^{page 77 note 2} Glasgow Weekly Herald, 20 May 1876.

^{page 77 note 3} Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History, No 16 (1968), p. 9.Google Scholar

^{page 77 note 4} Proceedings and Debates of the Free Church of Scotland, 1871, p. 269.

^{page 77 note 5} Ibid., p. 272.

^{page 78 note 1} Quoted in Lynd, H., England in the Eighteen Eighties (London, 1954), p. 143.Google Scholar

^{page 78 note 2} R. Harrison, “The Land and Labour League”, loc. cit.

^{page 78 note 3} Johnstone, T., History of the Working Classes in Scotland (Glasgow, 1920), p. 289.Google Scholar

^{page 78 note 4} The Gateway, Mid-May 1919, p. 18.

^{page 79 note 1} Archives of the Socialist League, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, Amsterdam.

^{page 79 note 2} See James Leatham's letter pasted into the front pages of the Gateway, Vol. VI, in the National Library of Scotland.

^{page 79 note 3} Papers of Andreas Scheu, Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis.

^{page 80 note 1} Archibald McLaren to Muirhead, R. F., 16 11 1887, McLaren-Muirhead Correspondence, Baillie's Institute, Glasgow.Google Scholar

^{page 80 note 2} Minutes of the Scottish Liberal Association, 22 October and 22 November 1889.

^{page 81 note 1} Address to the Electors of Selkirk and Peebles, June 1886. Melgund contested Northumberland instead of Selkirk and Peebles. See the Minto Papers, Box 175, National Library of Scotland.

^{page 81 note 2} Young, James D., “John Murdoch: A Scottish Land and Labour Pioneer”, in: Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Labour History, No 19 (1969), pp. 22–24.Google Scholar

^{page 81 note 3} Hamilton Advertiser, 20 September 1884.

^{page 81 note 4} Hanham, H. J., “The Problem of Highland Discontent, 1880–1885”, in: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, XIX (1969), p. 33.Google Scholar

^{page 81 note 5} Obituary notice, Scottish Co-operator, February 1903.

^{page 81 note 6} James Keir Hardie in Review of Reviews, June 1906, pp. 57ff.

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^{page 82 note 1} Hamilton Advertiser, 20 September 1884.

^{page 82 note 2} See the Papers of William Small, National Library of Scotland, Mss Acc. 3359.

^{page 82 note 3} Dunfermline Journal, 27 September 1884.

^{page 82 note 4} Wall, Joseph F., Andrew Carnegie (New York, 1970), pp. 447–48.Google Scholar

^{page 82 note 5} Dunfermline Journal, 11 October 1884.

^{page 82 note 6} Glasgow Observer, 11 September 1886.

^{page 82 note 7} Proceedings and Debates of the Free Church of Scotland, 1884, pp. 151–59.

^{page 83 note 1} Glasgow Observer, 15 October 1887.

^{page 83 note 2} See the biographical sketch of John Ferguson in Labour Annual, 1895.

^{page 83 note 3} Obituary notice, Glasgow Herald, 7 January 1929.

^{page 83 note 4} Scottish Leader, 21 May 1888.

^{page 83 note 5} Andrew Carnegie to J. Stuart Blackie, 22 April 1884, Blackie letters, 1883–4, Ms. 2635, National Library of Scotland.

^{page 83 note 6} Saville, John, “Ideology and the Miners, 1880–1914”, a paper read to a conference on Welsh labour history on 17 April 1970.Google Scholar

^{page 84 note 1} North British Daily Mail, 27 August 1888.

^{page 84 note 2} Hamilton Advertiser, 25 January, 23 March and 20 April 1889.

^{page 84 note 3} Ibid., 11 May 1889.

^{page 84 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 84 note 5} Reid, Fred, “Keir Hardie's Conversion to Socialism”, in: Essays in Labour History, 1886–1923, ed. by Briggs, Asa and Saville, John (London, 1971), pp. 17–46.Google Scholar Reid, I think, underestimates the extent to which William Small was also searching for new ways forward.

^{page 84 note 6} William Small to Comrade Binning, 2 January 1889, Archives of the Socialist League.

^{page 84 note 7} North British Daily Mail, 20 January 1890.

^{page 85 note 1} Shaw Maxwell to Terence V. Powderly, 27 February 1890. I am indebted to Moreau B. C. Chambers, the archivist of the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., for sending me a copy of this letter.

^{page 85 note 2} North British Daily Mail, 17 April 1890.

^{page 85 note 3} Andrew Carnegie on Socialism, Labour and Home Rule, an interview reprinted from Northern Daily News, Aberdeen, September 23, 24, 26 and 29, 1892.

^{page 85 note 4} Wall, op. cit., p. 573.

^{page 86 note 1} North British Daily Mail, 18 September 1867.

^{page 86 note 2} Rules and Constitution of the International Cigarette-makers Union, F.S.7/99, in the Scottish Records Office, Edinburgh.

^{page 86 note 3} Rules and Constitution of the International Tailors' Union, F.S.7/101, in the Scottish Records Office.

^{page 86 note 4} Arbeiter Freind, 25 July 1896. I owe this reference to my friend, Dr Joseph Buckman.

^{page 87 note 1} Glasgow Weekly Mail, 3 February 1900.

^{page 87 note 2} Dunfermline Press, 14 January 1900.

^{page 87 note 3} Lennox, D., Working Class Life in Dundee, 1878–1905 unpublished typescript (n.d., probably 1905), p. 54Google Scholar, St Andrews University Library, Ms. DA 890.

^{page 88 note 1} Hamilton Advertiser, 22 June 1889.

^{page 88 note 2} William Nairne, Scottish Co-operator, 25 January 1901.

^{page 88 note 3} Payne, Peter, “The Savings Bank of Glasgow, 1836–1914”, in: Studies in Scottish Business History, ed. by Payne, Peter L. (London, 1967), p. 165.Google Scholar

^{page 89 note 1} “A conference of unofficial delegates from all the Socialist and progressive districts in Lanarkshire was summoned at Hamilton in July 1917, and as a result of its deliberations the Lanarkshire Miners' Reform Committee was founded and the heads of a Manifesto, of which 50,000 copies were to be printed and distributed at the pits, were agreed upon. It is worthy of remark that a prominent part was played in this conference by Lanarkshire men who had experience as officials or members in the United Mineworkers' Union of America, either in Illinois or in British Columbia. Other Scots-Americans were very active in spreading the movement into the eastern counties. Many features of the new programme were consequently drawn from the practice of the American mine-workers.” MacDougall, James D., “The Scottish Coalminer”, in: The Nineteenth Century and After, 12 1927, p. 767.Google Scholar

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