Siol nan Gaidheal (, meaning "Seed of the Gaels") is a minor Scottish
ultranationalist
Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...
and
ethnic nationalist
Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentrism , ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocracy, ethnocratic) ...
group which describes itself as a "cultural and fraternal organisation".
The first incarnation of the group was founded by Tom Moore in 1978, though it became defunct twice and was re-established by Jackie Stokes in 1987 and again in 1997.
Though the group publicly disavows politics, SnG has been variously described by commentators as anywhere from "traditionalist"
to "crypto-fascist" or "proto-fascist".
Members of the group have been banned from membership of the mainstream nationalist
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...
since 1982.
Name
The name, properly spelled (), is
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
for 'Seed of the Gaels'. The term has numerous meanings, most commonly translated as "breed, brood, lineage, progeny, seed".
History
First incarnation (19781985)
The first incarnation of Siol nan Gaidheal was founded in 1978 by Tom Moore, a Scot who spent his childhood in the USA.
It grew in the immediate aftermath of the
1979 devolution referendum, despite being shunned by the mainstream nationalist SNP, whose ruling executive attempted to ban SnG from the party as early as 1980. In September 1980, the SNP launched an inquiry into the group, with
Colin Bell as vice-chairman. SnG was fully proscribed after the SNP's 1982 conference. The
1320 Club, which was banned by the SNP in 1968, merged into SnG in the same year.
[Barberis et al, ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations'', p.409.]
Throughout the 1980s, Siol nan Gaidheal published a magazine called
ic(''Scottish Truth''), which has been described as having a rhetoric which was "anti-communist, neo-fascist and sometimes violent in tone".
[Barberis, Peter; McHugh, John; Tyldesley, Mike (2003). ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups''. p. 408.] Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
's personal security was stepped up in Scotland after members of SnG tried to accost her outside the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
conference in
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
in 1982. Some members of SnG formed an unofficial paramilitary wing called (AnG; "Army of the Gael"), which was responsible for a number of
petrol bomb
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammab ...
attacks in 1982 and 1983.
Against the background of internal division and arrests of members, the first incarnation of Siol nan Gaidheal eventually folded in 1985.
Second incarnation (198790s)
Siol nan Gaidheal was re-established in 1987 by Jackie Stokes, a member of 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 ...
. This second incarnation of the group explicitly rejected violence.
By 1988, it claimed a membership of 300.
Its activities included, in 1989, erecting a cairn in memory of
Willie McRae
Willie McRae (18 May 1923 – 7 April 1985) was a Scottish lawyer, orator, naval officer, politician and anti-nuclear campaigner. In the Second World War he served in the British Army and then the Royal Indian Navy. He supported the Indian inde ...
—who was sympathetic to SNG, and possibly at one point a member—along with Michael Strathern. By the early 1990s, however, Stokes had suffered a heart attack and then kidney problems, which effectively killed the organisation.
Third incarnation (1997present)
![IMAG0028](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/IMAG0028.jpg)
Jackie Stokes eventually re-established Siol nan Gaidheal for a second time in 1997, this time concentrating mainly on its website and online discussion forum. Chapters were set up in the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
and in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
as a focus for the Scottish diaspora in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. Stokes died on 24 July 2001, leading to a downturn in the group's activity. In May 2006, SnG held its first
Ard Fhèis (party annual conference) in 14 years, in
Dalwhinnie
Dalwhinnie ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Dail Chuinnidh'' "meeting place") is a small village in the Scottish Highlands. Dalwhinnie is located at the head of Glen Truim and the north-east end of Loch Ericht, on the western edge of the Cairngorms Natio ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Siol nan Gaidheal actively campaigned during the
2014 independence referendum, though the mainstream
Yes Scotland
Yes Scotland was the organisation representing the parties, organisations, and individuals campaigning for a ''Yes'' vote in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. It was launched on 25 May 2012 and dissolved in late 2014 after Scotland voted ...
campaign distanced itself from SnG.
The group made headlines in the run-up to the referendum for heckling Labour MP
Jim Murphy
James Francis Murphy (born 23 August 1967) is a Scottish former politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2014 to 2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2008 to 2010. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ren ...
on his visits to Dundee and Montrose.
On 11 January 2020 the ''All Under One Banner'' pro-independence demonstration in
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 ...
marched behind a banner badged with the Siol nan Gaidheal symbol.
In June 2022, SNP MSP
Evelyn Tweed
Evelyn Tweed is a Scottish politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Stirling since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been a councillor in Stirling for Trossachs and Teith ward since 201 ...
apologised after being photographed holding the flag of Siol nan Gaidheal.
Aim and ideology
The Siol nan Gaidheal website summarises its views as follows:
They have been branded as like "
proto fascists" by former SNP leader
Gordon Wilson.
See also
*
Ailtirí na hAiséirghe, an Irish fascist political party active 1942–1958
Footnotes
References
*''The Hollow Drum'', Arnold Kemp, , pp166–172
*''Britain's Secret War'', Andrew Murray Scott and Iain Macleay, , pp 113–131.
Notes
External links
Official website
{{Nationalism in the United Kingdom
1978 establishments in Scotland
Proto-fascists
Ethnic nationalism
Far-right politics in Scotland
Political advocacy groups in Scotland
Scottish nationalist organisations