Thomas Tait (11 January 1881,

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

– 12 May 1941) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

socialist and

industrial unionist Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...

active in the Revolutionary Socialist Party. He was noted as a powerful orator. Tait was the son of William Campbell Tait and his wife, Isobel White. After a brief spell working as a labourer, he joined the Cameron Highlanders at the age of 18 in 1899. He served in the army for 12 years, and fought in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

. It was during this period he came across a pamphlet by Daniel de Leon which led him to become a convinced socialist. In 1912, he joined the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) after he had left the army. He was in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

at the time where the SLP had their headquarters. Almost immediately he followed the British Section of the International Socialist Labour Party when it broke away from the SLP. He was involved in setting up the

Workers' International Industrial Union The Workers' International Industrial Union (WIIU) was a Revolutionary Industrial Union headquartered in Detroit in 1908 by radical trade unionists closely associated with the Socialist Labor Party of America, headed by Daniel DeLeon. The organiz ...

in Edinburgh. He was employed as a driver and was also active in the Scottish Horse and Motormen’s Union. He stood for the local council 17 times, but was never elected. His son, William Campbell Tait, donated Tommy's archive to the University of Stirling.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tait, Tommy (socialist) 1881 births 1941 deaths Scottish socialists