14.05.1998

John Maclean’s trial and sentence

From The Call, paper of the British Socialist Party, May 16 1918

The trial of comrade John Maclean MA, Scottish representative on the BSP executive and Bolshevik consul in Glasgow, on a charge of sedition, took place in the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh on Thursday last.

The interest taken in the trial was considerable, and long before the proceedings commenced the court was crowded. For the first time in the history of criminal trials in the high court the quota system of admission was introduced and many who sought admission were turned away. On the Wednesday evening a body of Clyde comrades and workers left the International Hall in Stockwell Street, Glasgow, and marched to Edinburgh, as a demonstration against the trial, reaching the court after a 13-hours’ journey through the night.

... Comrade Maclean conducted his own defence and, on being asked if he adhered to his plea of ‘not guilty’, replied: “I refuse to plead.” The lord justice general intimated that that would be taken as a plea of ‘not guilty’.

There were 11 charges in the indictment, which accused Maclean of making statements which were likely to prejudice the recruiting, training and discipline of his majesty’s forces; and to cause mutiny, sedition and disaffection among the civilian population; and to impede, delay and restrict the production, repair and transportation of war material and other work necessary for the successful prosecution of the war, contrary to the Defence of the Realm Acts ...

The sort of statements Maclean was alleged to have made were that tools should be downed, that a revolution should be created, that the Clyde district had helped to win the Russian Revolution, and that the revolutionary spirit on the Clyde was at present 10 times as strong as it was two years ago.

In another he was stated to have said the workers on the Clyde should take control of the city chambers and retain hostages, and take control of the post offices and the banks; that the farmers in the country districts should be compelled to produce food for the workers; that the present House of Commons should be superseded by a soviet, and that he did not care if they met in the usual place of Buckingham Palace ...

On another occasion he was said to have suggested that the food stores on the Clyde and the ships should be seized; that the soldiers and sailors were with them; that the workers should profit by the experiences of their Russian brothers; that he was prepared to run any risk if he thought he could bring about a social revolution; and that the workers should leave the owners of the land, mines and factories to man the trenches.

The only witnesses were those called by the prosecution. Comrade Maclean stated that he had been locked up and had been unable to get evidence, and he declined to go into the witness box himself.

The lord advocate said ... there was nothing in the law to prevent any man talking about socialism ... But there came a point at which discussion of socialist questions changed its character; they could not afford at the present time to have the people invited to active violence and rebellion while the enemy was at their gates.

Comrade Maclean, addressing the court, said that ... nobody was going to take from him his right to protest against wrong, to tell the truth and do anything for the good of mankind ... His trial was the most historic that had ever taken place in Scotland, in that the working class and the capitalist class met face to face. He was not there as the accused; he was there as the accuser of capitalism dripping from head to foot with blood.

If he went to prison he would take no food, and if anything happened as a result, it would not be his responsibility, but that of the British government.

The jury brought in a verdict of guilty without retiring, and the judge pronounced sentence of five years’ penal servitude, which will begin after the remaining year of Maclean’s previous sentence had been served.

Before his removal by the gaolers, our comrade turned to the public gallery, courageously crying, “Keep it going, boys. Keep it going”.