William McLean (1919 – 28 September 1977) 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 ...

trade unionist A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. Born in

Larkhall Larkhall (, ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, around southeast of Glasgow. It is twinned with Seclin in northern France. Larkhall sits on high ground between the River Clyde to the East and the Avon Water to the West. Larkhall ...

, McLean left school at the age of fourteen to work at a local colliery. He followed his father in joining the

Scottish Area of the National Union of Mineworkers The National Union of Scottish Mineworkers (NUSW) is a trade union in Scotland, founded in 1894 as the Scottish Miners Federation. It joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and in 1914 changed its name to National Union of Scottish Minew ...

, and regularly attended miners' conferences."Leader of Scots miners dies", ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 29 September 1977, p.4 He 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 became a full-time agent of the union in 1956. He served as the Mineworkers' representative on the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh ...

' (STUC) General Council, and served as President of the STUC in 1967/68.Ian MacDougall, ''Voices from Work and Home'', p.514 In 1968, McLean became a vice-president of the Scottish Area, then the following year was elected as its general secretary. He led the union through the UK miners' strikes of 1972 and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

. Becoming ill in 1977, he planned to fly to

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

for treatment, but died in hospital in Edinburgh before he could leave the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLean, Bill 1919 births 1977 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members People from Larkhall Scottish trade unionists