James Maxton was a British left-wing politician, and leader of the Independent Labour Party. He was a pacifist who opposed both world wars. A prominent proponent of Home Rule for Scotland, he is remembered as one of the leading figures of the Red Clydeside era. He broke with Ramsay MacDonald and the second minority Labour government, and became one of its most bitter critics. As the leader of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), he disaffiliated the ILP from the mainstream party in 1932. Afterwards, he became an independent dissident outside front-line politics.
James Maxton
Campaign leaflet from Maxton's first unsuccessful bid for parliament, 1918.
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates. A sitting independent MP and prominent union organiser, Keir Hardie, became its first chairman.
Portrait of ILP leader Keir Hardie painted at the time of the foundation of the organisation in 1893
Kingsley Hall, Bristol headquarters of the ILP in the early 20th century
Cover of a pamphlet by the Left Wing Group of the ILP, published in Glasgow in the summer of 1920
A leaflet from Jimmie Maxton's first campaign for Parliament
