John William Muir (15 December 1879 – 11 January 1931) was the editor of ''The Worker'', a newspaper 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 (politician), Willie Gallacher, who was jailed under the Def ...

, who was prosecuted under the

Defence of the Realm Act The Defence of the Realm Act 1914 ( 4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 29) (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after the country entered the First World War. It was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging ...

for an article criticising

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 ...

. 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 ...

, by the early 1910s, Muir was the editor of ''

The Socialist ''The Socialist'' may refer to: * ''The Socialist'', the newspaper of the Socialist Party (England and Wales) The Socialist Party () is a Trotskyist political party in England and Wales. Founded in 1997, it had formerly been Militant, an en ...

'', the newspaper of the Socialist Labour Party. However, he resigned the post in 1914, as he was in favour of the war. He became involved in the Shop Stewards' Movement and was a member of the

, an organisation that had been formed to campaign against the Munitions Act, which forbade engineers from leaving the works where they were employed. For publishing an article in ''The Worker'' entitled "Should the workers arm?", Muir was jailed for twelve months, alongside Willie Gallacher. In 1917, Muir joined 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 ...

and became close to

John Wheatley John Wheatley (19 May 1869 – 12 May 1930) was a Scottish socialist politician. He was a prominent figure of the Red Clydeside era. Early life and career Wheatley was born to Thomas and Johanna Wheatley in Bonmahon, County Waterford, Irel ...

. In the

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

election, he stood for the Labour Party in Glasgow Maryhill but was unsuccessful. He won the seat in the 1922 general election and retained the seat in

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

. He lost his seat in the 1924 election after which he ran the

Workers Educational Association Workers' Educational Associations (WEA) are not-for-profit bodies that deliver further education to adults in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. WEA UK WEA UK, founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult edu ...

until 1930.

References

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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muir, John William 1879 births 1931 deaths British anti–World War I activists Independent Labour Party MPs Scottish Labour MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies Prisoners and detainees of the United Kingdom Red Clydeside Socialist Labour Party (UK, 1903) members Scottish prisoners and detainees Scottish socialists UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 Scottish trade unionists Maryhill Workers' Educational Association