Scottish Workers' Representation Committee was the parliamentary outfit of the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the National trade union center, national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation ...

from 1899 until 1909. It was known as the Scottish Workers Parliamentary Elections Committee until 1903. In contrast to the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, SWRC was able to maintain organisational unity between different strands of ideological tendencies in

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 ...

, ranging from

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 ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and Fabian socialists.

History

The SWPEC's first contest was the 1900 UK general election. It sponsored radical journalist A. E. Fletcher in Glasgow Camlachie. He received 3,107 votes and did not win the seat. It then stood

Robert Smillie Robert Smillie (17 March 1857 – 16 February 1940) was a Scottish trade unionist and Labour Party politician. He was a leader of the coal miners, and played a central role in moving support from the miners away from the Liberal Party to the La ...

, a leader of the miners' trade union, at the 1901 North East Lanarkshire by-election, and was also defeated. When another by-election arose in North East Lanarkshire, in 1904, another miners' leader was selected,

John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to: Politicians United Kingdom politicians * J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918 *John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926) ...

, who again failed to win the seat.Frank Bealey and

Henry Pelling Henry Mathison Pelling (27 August 1920 – 14 October 1997) was a British historian best known for his works on the history of the British Labour Party. Life Pelling was born in Prenton, Wirral, the son of a wealthy stockbroker. He was educate ...

, ''Labour and Politics, 1900-1906'', p.296 At the 1906 general election, The SWRC stood five candidates: John Robertson in North East Lanarkshire, Joseph Sullivan in North West Lanarkshire,

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

in Falkirk Burghs,

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...

, and Robert Smillie in Paisley. The candidates altogether won a total of 14,877 votes, but all failed to win a single seat. Following this failure, the party decided to align itself more closely with the successor of the LRC, the Labour Party, and it took the name Labour Party (Scottish Section). In 1909, it merged fully with the Labour Party. In 1915, a Scottish Council was formed within the Labour Party.

Election results

1900 UK general election

By-election, 1900 - 1906

1906 UK general election

References

Workers' Representation Committee, Scottish Trade unions in Scotland History of the Labour Party (UK) Political parties established in 1899 Political parties disestablished in 1909 1899 establishments in Scotland Organisations associated with the Labour Party (UK) 1909 disestablishments in Scotland {{UK-party-stub