Aitken Ferguson (1891 – 1975)Ian MacDougall, ''Voices from the hunger marches: personal recollections by Scottish hunger marchers of the 1920s and 1930s'', p.212 was a

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 ...

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

activist. Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Ferguson was named after his father.Graham Stevenson,
Ferguson Aitken
, ''Compendium of Communist Biography'' He worked as a boilermaker, and was active in the Socialist Labour Party. He was a founder of the

Clyde Workers Committee The Clyde Workers Committee was formed to campaign against the Munitions Act. It was originally called the ''Labour Withholding Committee''. The leader of the CWC was Willie Gallacher, who was jailed under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 t ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

,Chris Cook and John Ramsden, ''By-Elections In British Politics'', p.52 and soon after joined the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

(CPGB), and his local Labour Party. He stood in Glasgow Kelvingrove at the 1923 general election as a communist candidate, with the support of the Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers and of the local Labour Party, but not the national body. Despite this, he performed strongly, coming 1,000 votes behind the successful Conservative Party candidate. At the 1924 Glasgow Kelvingrove by-election, Ferguson stood again. The

Independent Labour Party 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 Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

opposed his candidacy, initially championing

Patrick Dollan Sir Patrick Joseph Dollan (3 April 1885 – 30 January 1963) and his wife, Agnes, Lady Dollan (née Moir; 16 August 1887 – 16 July 1966) were Glasgow activists in the Scottish Independent Labour Party. During the First World War th ...

as a possible Labour candidate, but Dollan withdrew his name, and on this occasion, Ferguson became the official Labour candidate. However,

Arthur Henderson Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour Party (UK), Labour politician. He was the first Labour Cabinet of the United Kingdom, cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniqu ...

objected to an advert in '' Workers Weekly'', the CPGB newspaper, asking for donations for Ferguson's campaign, and setting out radical policies. Official sponsorship was not withdrawn, but Ferguson received no practical support from the national Labour Party. He increased his vote total to over 11,000, but again missed out as many

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

supporters voted tactically for the Conservative. In 1925, most of the CPGB leadership was arrested, and Ferguson was appointed to an emergency committee, alongside Bob Stewart,

George Hardy George Hardy may refer to: * George Hardy (actor) (born 1954), American dentist and star of cult film ''Troll 2'' * George Hardy (labor leader) (1911–1990), Canadian-American labor leader * George Hardy (artist) (1822–1909), British genre pa ...

Andrew Rothstein Andrew Rothstein (26 September 1898 – 22 September 1994) was a British journalist. A member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), Rothstein was one of the leading public faces of the British Communist movement, serving as a member ...

, and

Emile Burns Bernard Emile Vivian Burns (16 April 1889 – 29 November 1972) was a British communist, economist, translator and author as an active member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Early life and family Emile Burns was born in Basseterre ...

. Following this, he addressed the executive of the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

in 1926 on the perspectives of the

National Minority Movement The National Minority Movement was a British organisation, established in 1924 by the Communist Party of Great Britain, which attempted to organise a radical presence within the existing labor union, trade unions. The organization was headed by l ...

. He also polled strongly in

Anderston Anderston (, ) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is on the north bank of the River Clyde and forms the south western edge of the city centre. Established as a village of handloom weavers in the early 18th century, Anderston was an independent ...

ward, standing for

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Glasgow, Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was former ...

in 1927, and stood for the CPGB in Aberdeen North at a 1928 by-election and the 1929 general election. Although he was well behind the victor on both occasions, his result was considered respectable by the CPGB leadership, as the Aberdeen branch of the party had only ten members. Perhaps because of his experiences with the Labour Party, Ferguson was an enthusiastic supporter of the "New Line", in which the CPGB distanced itself from Labour; Ferguson only complaining that the line was not being enforced strongly enough. As a result, he was appointed to the CPGB's central committee in 1929. He stood in

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

at the 1931 general election, placing third but not far behind the Labour Party candidate. In 1932, he was sent to

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

to try to strengthen the party there, and he stood for

Carlisle City Council The City of Carlisle ( , ) was a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city. It was named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covered a far larger area which included the towns of Brampton and Longtown, ...

. Following this stint, he was a key figure in the Scottish CPGB for many years, and led calls for

Scottish devolution Scottish devolution is the process of the UK Parliament granting powers (excluding powers over reserved matters) to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish Parliament within the United ...

within the party. He worked with

John MacCormick John MacDonald MacCormick (20 November 1904 – 13 October 1961) was a Scottish lawyer, Scottish nationalist politician and advocate of Home Rule in Scotland. Early life MacCormick was born in Pollokshields, Glasgow, in 1904. His father was D ...

and

Roland Muirhead Roland Eugene Muirhead (24 July 1868 – 2 August 1964) was a Scottish businessman and Scottish nationalist politician. Muirhead was born in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, the second son of Andrew Muirhead, a businessman and owner of the Gryffe T ...

of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

and developed a policy calling for a

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

. This was unpopular within the Scottish party, but Ferguson won the support of the national executive, and it became party policy.

Harry McShane Harry McShane (7 May 1891 – 12 April 1988) was a Scottish socialist, and a close colleague of John Maclean. Life and career Born into a Roman Catholic family, he became a Marxist. He was involved in the Clyde Workers Committee and the an ...

, ''No Mean Fighter'', p.229

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Aitken 1891 births 1975 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members Politicians from Glasgow