Matthew (Matt) Lygate (26 December 1938 – 10 January 2012) was a Scottish

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

revolutionary, political activist, tailor, poet, artist and founder of the Workers Party of Scotland. Convicted of bank robbery in 1972, he served the longest ever sentence in Scottish legal history for robbery despite not committing bodily harm, serving 11 years of a 24-year sentence in

HM Prison Edinburgh His Majesty's Prison Edinburgh is located in the west of Edinburgh on the main A71 road, A71, in an area now known as Stenhouse, Edinburgh, Stenhouse, and, although never named as such, has commonly been known as Saughton Prison from the Saugh ...

. He is noted for his strong

anti-revisionist Anti-revisionism is a position within Marxism–Leninism which emerged in the 1950s in opposition to the reforms of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Where Khrushchev pursued an interpretation that differed from his predecessor Joseph Stalin, ...

stance and adoption of

Maoism Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

in the 1960s.

Early life

Lygate was born in Govan,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and he was educated at St Gerard's Senior Secondary School in Glasgow, leaving aged fifteen. His family moved to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

as a teenager. At a young age he joined the

CPGB The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

. When called for National Service, Lygate refused to join the British Army because he considered it "imperialist" and fled to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He spent six years in New Zealand and visited some other countries before his return to Scotland.

Return To UK

Upon return to the UK, Lygate became active in the Scottish and Irish republican movements. He was also a leading socialist, and in 1967 founded the Workers Party of Scotland, and was a founding member of the John Maclean Society. The WPS claimed to be, "based fundamentally upon the Communist Manifesto of

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...

and

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
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Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

, Mao Tsetung,

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist politician who was the authoritarian ruler of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 unt ...

and John Maclean". Lygate supported Scottish home-rule and advocated to socialism in Scotland in tradition with John Maclean and the

Red Clydeside Red Clydeside was the era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, and areas around the city, on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. Red Clydeside is a sig ...

. The WPS grew slowly and mimicked similar far-left groups that were sprouting across Europe in the 1960s. The WPS supported the revival of Gaelic and published works of Mao Tsetung in Gaelic. Lygate contested numerous by-elections, however, firmly believed that socialism could only be established through revolution. He and the WPS defended the actions of the Army of the Provisional Government, often referred to as the "Tartan Terrorists".

Bank Robbery

Lygate knew that the party was short of funds, stunting its growth. In 1971, along with 3 others (William "Bill" McPherson, Colin Lawson and Ian Doran), Lygate robbed two banks, netting the party £14,000. However, McPherson and Doran committed two more robberies on their own; it was then that a shotgun was fired and gave police a lead, eventually leading to the arrest of the four.

In Court

Lygate appeared at the High Court in Glasgow, with the trial lasting eleven days. On the tenth day of the trial, Lygate dismissed his counsel. He pleaded not guilty, arguing that he robbed capitalist institutions who had robbed the working-class, and that his case was a matter of the working-class versus the state. He made an infamous long speech about capitalism's violence against the working man, however was sentenced to 24 years in

. He was sentenced on 20 March 1972. Upon being sentenced in the public gallery Lygate clenched his fist and shouted, "Long live the workers of Scotland!". The sentence given to him was on par with the Great Train Robbers and some of the worst

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convicts. Many criticisms of his sentence would arise arguing that it was politically motivated. A lawyer commented later on Lygate's case that he was given 8 years for robbery and 16 for politics.

Prison

In prison Lygate still agitated the Crown, refusing to wear his prison uniform and spent time on hunger strike. He devoted much of his time to teaching his fellow inmates how to read, write and paint. He wrote many poems and sent portraits done by him to families of inmates. He protested for prisoners rights and set-up numerous organizations for prisoners' rights. He also spent some time reading and taking a course in sociology. During Lygate's imprisonment his father died. More than five years of his term was spent as a category A high risk prisoner. The

Scottish Republican Socialist Party The Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) is a political organisation that was formed out of the now defunct Scottish Republican Socialist Party (SRSP), a political party that operated in Scotland. The SRSM campaigns for Scottish inde ...

(SRSM) used the Queen's Park by-election to protest for the release of Lygate in 1982. Siol Nan Gaidheal also supported his release. On 19 September 1983, after serving 11 years of his sentence, Lygate was released on parole.

After Prison

After prison, the WPS became active again and its membership grew. Lygate and the WPS participated in anti-Poll Tax demonstrations across the UK and actively organised the working class. Lygate founded the small bookshop 'Phoenix Press', it was during this time he meet his partner, Linda, and had 3 children. Lygate claimed, "I am not a Trotskyist... I am a Marxist-Leninist and an anarchist in the true sense." According to a report of one conference which he attended in November 1983: "As befits a conference attended by such veteran anti-imperialist supporters of the Asian socialist countries as Comrade Matt Lygate, delegates repeatedly stressed the vanguard role of the Asian communist tradition and the teachings of the great leaders Comrade Mao Zedong and Comrade Kim Il Sung. A reception was held in a warm atmosphere overflowing with proletarian internationalism, at which the delegates joined together in singing revolutionary songs including the ‘Song of General Kim Il Sung’, ‘Scots wha hae’, ‘the Soldier’s Song’ and ‘the Internationale’." Lygate was nominated to become

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Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, Lygate was the first of the six candidates to be knocked out. He was twice nominated for honorary degrees at Glasgow and

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

, he rejected both of them believing that they might corrupt him from his working class route. Lygate claimed to be an early driving force of the anti-poll tax movement, however his health worsened. Finally in the late 1990s he was forced out of politics completely due to ill health.

Death

In latter life, Lygate suffered from

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

disease which deteriorated his short-term memory. It was noted that even in the final stages of the disease he could still recite poems by

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

. He died on 20 January 2012, having been hit by a train.

References

External links

Herald Scotland obituary

AWL obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lygate, Matt 1938 births 2012 deaths People from Govan Scottish communists Scottish prisoners and detainees Communist Party of Great Britain members