The Scottish Workers Republican Party (SWRP) was formed by the

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 ...

Marxist activist John Maclean (1879–1923) in 1923. It advocated the political doctrine of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society ...

, whilst also supporting Scottish independence. This dual communist-nationalist doctrine was heavily influenced by the thinking of

James Connolly James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the ...

who similarly believed in socialism and independence for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and had set up his

Irish Socialist Republican Party The Irish Socialist Republican Party was a small, but pivotal Irish political party founded in 1896 by James Connolly. Its aim was to establish an Irish workers' republic. The party split in 1904 following months of internal political rows. Hi ...

in 1896. MacLean argued that the break-up of the British state and empire would aid the cause of worldwide socialism and thus he supported the idea of an independent

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 th ...

. This inherent

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

alienated the SWRP from the mainstream British left though. The SWRP carried on its political activity for some time after the death of MacLean in 1923 but never made any real impact politically. An organisation which resurrected the name Scottish Workers Republican Party was formed in 1974 as a split from the Scottish Republican Socialist Clubs (forerunner of the Scottish Republican Socialist Party). In 1976 most of the members of the SWRP joined Jim Sillars'

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak o ...

and this SWRP Mark II party also became defunct.

External links

SWRP Manifesto, 1925SWRP Manifesto 1974
http://www.scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Documents/SWRP%20man%204-6.PD

http://www.scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Documents/SWRP%20man%2010-11.PDF] Communist parties in Scotland, Workers Republican Party, Scottish Workers Republican Party, Scottish Scottish republicanism Republican parties in the United Kingdom 1920s establishments in Scotland {{Scotland-party-stub