Red Clydeside: A history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932

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Lecture notes of John Maclean for Scottish Labour College class on economics, 1916

The Scottish Labour College (SLC) was founded in 1916, largely as a result of Maclean's efforts to educate workers in Marxian principles. The SLC was based on the existing scheme of the Central Labour College in London, formed by disaffected worker students at Ruskin College to propagate a movement for a Marxist-oriented programme of workers' education.

At the height of its popularity the SLC ran 13 different evening classes in Glasgow and a further 43 classes in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and elsewhere.

By 1921 the SLC had been absorbed into the newly created National Council of Labour Colleges, which were sponsored by the trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party, and the Marxist content of classes was greatly diluted.

Source: Gallacher Memorial Library, Glasgow Caledonian University Special Collections and Archives