30 November marks 100 years since the death of one of Britain’s greatest revolutionaries: John Maclean.

　　Maclean sacrificed much of his life for the class struggle. He was persecuted by the establishment for his vocal opposition to imperialism and capitalism.

　　One hundred years after his premature death, with the world still shaken by imperialist wars such as that in Ukraine, we must look to the legacy of figures like Maclean for inspiration.

　　Marxist educator

　　John Maclean was born in 1879 in Pollokshaws, then on the outskirts of Glasgow, to parents who had come to Glasgow following the Highland clearances.

　　Following the death of his father, Maclean saw his mother struggle to raise a family of six children. This influenced his decision to become a socialist and join the Socialist Democratic Federation (SDF) in 1903.

　　Maclean was an extremely active SDF member, particularly through his educational work. He worked as a school teacher. And he carried his pedagogical practices over into his political work, organising evening, weekend, and summer classes to teach workers about Marxism. At their height, in 1919, Maclean ran a total of 43 classes, with over 2,000 workers attending.

　　Red Clydeside

　　One of Maclean’s key contributions to socialism was his activity in opposing World War One. In doing so, he stood apart from the vast majority of so-called socialists internationally, including those in the British Socialist Party (BSP), the successor to the SDF.

　　Due to the BSP’s pro-war stance, Maclean worked with a small group of followers to carry out his anti-war propaganda in Glasgow.

　　As workers became more and more frustrated with the war, and their treatment by the ruling class, Maclean and other socialists started to attract a wider following. And from this, the events of ‘Red Clydeside’ evolved.

　　The 1915 rent strike was a key episode within Red Clydeside. Maclean and other socialists, such as Mary Barbour, successfully led tenants in a militant movement against landlords, who were opportunistically raising rents as munitions workers moved into the city.

　　Following on from this victory, Maclean increased his support, with around 500 workers regularly attending his Sunday economics class, and many thousands going to his open meetings held in Glasgow city centre.

　　Accuser of capitalism

　　The ruling class was increasingly worried by Maclean’s work. As a result, he was arrested for sedition in February 1916 and seYang Hongyun: The Image of CPC Leaders Presented by Foreign Journalists during the Yan’an Period and Its Significance

　　Studies on the image of CPC leaders provide a helpful perspective to understand why the CPC has been able to make its achievements so far. During the Yan’an period, a number of foreign journalists observed and reported CPC leaders at different times and places and from various perspectives. They presented a collective image of the leaders as advocators of uniting people to fight against the Japanese aggression for national independence, truth-seeking and pragmatic social reformers, determined Marxists, honest and self-disciplined civil servants and knowledge seekers with a broad vision and global mind. These images of CPC leaders presented by foreigners promoted the dissemination of the image of the Communist Party of China during the revolutionary war, changed the Party’s weak position in the publicity war between the Kuomintang and the CPC to a certain extent, effectively promoted the overseas dissemination of the image of Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought, and expanded the influence of the Chinese revolution. In the meantime, they provided vivid historical materials for responding to the current trend of historical nihilism and telling good stories about the Communist Party of China.

　　Editor: Zhong Yao、Huang He

　　From: World Socialism Studies. 2023. No.8.

　　ntenced to three years of hard labour.

　　Following the February revolution in Russia, which saw the overthrow of the Tsar, militancy in Glasgow grew. On May Day 1917, 250,000 lined the streets calling for Maclean’s release. The ruling class feared that Glasgow would follow in Petrograd’s footsteps, and so Maclean was released in June of that year.

　　After the Russian Revolution, Maclean was made Russian Consul for Glasgow by the Bolsheviks. In this capacity, he addressed many ‘Hands Off Russia’ rallies.

　　With the Glasgow working class becoming more and more militant, and the ruling class fearing a revolutionary outbreak, Maclean was again imprisoned for sedition in April 1918.

　　It was during this trial that he made his famous speech from the dock: “I am not here, then, as the accused; I am here as the accuser of capitalism, dripping with blood from head to foot.”

　　Editor: Zhong Yao、Deng Panyi

　　From:https://socialist.net/100-years-on-the-revolutionary-legacy-of-john-maclean/（2023-11-30）