John Maclean was a man whose dedication to justice was an act of profound kindness to the working people of Scotland.
John Maclean (1879–1923) was a Scottish schoolteacher and revolutionary socialist from the “Red Clydeside” era, who dedicated his tragically short life to educating and organising the working class.
A Life Rooted in Empathy
Maclean was born in Pollokshaws, Glasgow, in 1879. His Highland parents had been victims of the Highland Clearances, and he grew up keenly aware of the injustices suffered by working families. Losing his potter father to silicosis when he was just eight cemented his lifelong commitment to fighting for the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Short video of John’s daughter Nan Milton speaking about him HERE
Despite this hardship, his mother ensured he received an education. He trained as a schoolteacher and later attended Glasgow University part-time, graduating with a Master of Arts (MA) degree in 1904. He saw education not just as a career, but as the essential tool for working-class liberation.
The Marxist Educator
Maclean was convinced that only a revolutionary change to society could truly improve the lives of workers. He became a committed Marxist and began a relentless campaign of working-class education.
- Teaching for Change: By day, he taught in schools, but by night, he became a revolutionary figure. He ran highly popular free evening classes in Marxist economics and industrial history, which he believed would give workers the knowledge to understand and overthrow capitalism. It’s often said these classes were instrumental in creating the generation of activists who powered the ‘Red Clydeside’ movement.
- A Tireless Organiser: His devotion was extraordinary. He would spend his summer holidays touring Scotland, holding up to five open-air meetings a day to spread his message. He led demonstrations of the unemployed—once famously marching them into the Glasgow Stock Exchange—and actively campaigned alongside the women who led the 1915 Glasgow Rent Strikes.
Kindness as Solidarity and Sacrifice
Maclean’s kindness wasn’t a soft charity, but a fierce solidarity with the exploited. This was most evident in his uncompromising opposition to World War I, which he saw as an imperialist conflict where working people were simply being slaughtered for capitalist profit.
- Anti-War Stance: His powerful anti-war speeches saw him arrested several times under the Defence of the Realm Act.
- The Accuser of Capitalism: At his 1918 sedition trial, he famously refused to defend himself, declaring, “I am not here as the accused; I am here as the accuser of capitalism dripping with blood from head to foot.”
- Sacrifice: His political courage came at a brutal personal cost. His multiple spells in prison, including a severe period of force-feeding during a hunger strike in Peterhead, utterly destroyed his health. It was a cruel fate for a man who often expressed such a deep, generous commitment to humanity. He even opened his own home to a Russian revolutionary émigré, Peter Petroff, teaching him English and offering him safe refuge.
In a poignant turn, in 1918, in recognition of his steadfast anti-war stance, he was appointed as the Bolshevik Consul for Scotland by Vladimir Lenin.
John Maclean died in 1923 at the tragically young age of 44, his health broken by his time in prison. Yet, his legacy of fighting for a better world—a Scottish Workers’ Republic—was a lasting gift of conviction and hope to his countrymen, and thousands of mourners lined the streets for his funeral to pay their respects to the man who truly sacrificed everything for the common good.
