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

Literature

The Proletarian Catechism, 18 Mar 1933

by Tom Anderson

Tom Anderson, the author of this pamphlet, was a member of the Marxist SDF and the person responsible for establishing the Proletarian Sunday Schools in Glasgow.

The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established in 1891 by H.M. Hyndman and was the first Marxist political organization founded in Britain. Its early membership was intellectual and middle-class, including Eleanor Marx and William Morris although the party was also able to attract able young working-class radicals such as James Macdonald and Harry Quelch.

The aim of the SDF was to provide a political voice for the working class independent from the conventions of late Victorian liberalism. In 1912, the SDF merged with the newly-formed British Socialist Party and affiliated with the British Labour Party in 1916.

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