Matthew (Matt) Lygate (26 December 1938 – 10 January 2012) was a Scottish
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
revolutionary, political activist, tailor, poet, artist and founder of the Workers Party of Scotland. Convicted of bank robbery in 1972, he served the longest ever sentence in Scottish legal history for robbery despite not committing bodily harm, serving 11 years of a 24-year sentence in
HM Prison Edinburgh
HMP Edinburgh is located in the west of Edinburgh on the main A71, in an area now known as Stenhouse, and, although never named as such, has commonly been known as Saughton Prison from the old name for the general area. The prison is situat ...
. He is noted for his strong anti-revisionist stance and adoption of
Maoism
Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
in the 1960s.
Early life
Lygate was born in Govan,
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 ...
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
as a teenager. At a young age he joined the CPGB.
When called for National Service, Lygate refused to join the British Army because he considered it "imperialist" and fled to
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. He spent six years in New Zealand and visited some other countries before his return to Scotland.
Return To UK
Upon return to the UK, Lygate became active in the Scottish and Irish republican movements. He was also a leading socialist, and in 1967 founded the Workers Party of Scotland, and was a founding member of the John Maclean Society. The WPS claimed to be, "based fundamentally upon the Communist Manifesto of
Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
,
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
,
Mao Tsetung
Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 and led the country ...
,
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the Secretary (titl ...
and John Maclean". Lygate supported Scottish home-rule and advocated to socialism in Scotland in tradition with John Maclean and the
Red Clydeside
Red Clydeside was an era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. It also referred to the area around the city on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley. Red C ...
. The WPS grew slowly and mimicked similar far-left groups that were sprouting across Europe in the 1960s. The WPS supported the revival of Gaelic and published works of Mao Tsetung in Gaelic. Lygate contested numerous by-elections, however, firmly believed that socialism could only be established through revolution. He and the WPS defended the actions of the Army of the Provisional Government, often referred to as the "Tartan Terrorists".
Bank Robbery
Lygate knew that the party was short of funds, stunting its growth. In 1971, along with 3 others (William "Bill" McPherson, Colin Lawson and Ian Doran), Lygate robbed two banks, netting the party £14,000. However, McPherson and Doran committed two more robberies on their own; it was then that a shotgun was fired and gave police a lead, eventually leading to the arrest of the four.
In Court
Lygate appeared at the High Court in Glasgow, with the trial lasting eleven days. On the tenth day of the trial, Lygate dismissed his counsel. He pleaded not guilty, arguing that he robbed capitalist institutions who had robbed the working-class, and that his case was a matter of the working-class versus the state. He made an infamous long speech about capitalism's violence against the working man, however was sentenced to 24 years in
HM Prison Edinburgh
HMP Edinburgh is located in the west of Edinburgh on the main A71, in an area now known as Stenhouse, and, although never named as such, has commonly been known as Saughton Prison from the old name for the general area. The prison is situat ...
. He was sentenced on 20 March 1972. Upon being sentenced in the public gallery Lygate clenched his fist and shouted, "Long live the workers of Scotland!". The sentence given to him was on par with the Great Train Robbers and some of the worst IRA convicts. Many criticisms of his sentence would arise arguing that it was politically motivated. A lawyer commented later on Lygate's case that he was given 8 years for robbery and 16 for politics.
Prison
In prison Lygate still agitated the Crown, refusing to wear his prison uniform and spent time on hunger strike. He devoted much of his time to teaching his fellow inmates how to read, write and paint. He wrote many poems and sent portraits done by him to families of inmates. He protested for prisoners rights and set-up numerous organizations for prisoners' rights. He also spent some time reading and taking a course in sociology. During Lygate's imprisonment his father died. More than five years of his term was spent as a category A high risk prisoner. The
Scottish Republican Socialist Party
The Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) is a political organisation that was formed out of the now defunct Scottish Republican Socialist Party (SRSP), a political party that operated in Scotland.
The SRSM campaigns for Scottish ind ...
(SRSM) used the Queen's Park by-election to protest for the release of Lygate in 1982. Siol Nan Gaidheal also supported his release. On 19 September 1983, after serving 11 years of his sentence, Lygate was released on parole.
After Prison
After prison, the WPS became active again and its membership grew. Lygate and the WPS participated in anti-Poll Tax demonstrations across the UK and actively organised the working class. Lygate founded the small bookshop 'Phoenix Press', it was during this time he meet his partner, Linda, and had 3 children. Lygate claimed, "I am not a Trotskyist... I am a Marxist-Leninist and an anarchist in the true sense."
According to a report of one conference which he attended in November 1983: "As befits a conference attended by such veteran anti-imperialist supporters of the Asian socialist countries as Comrade Matt Lygate, delegates repeatedly stressed the vanguard role of the Asian communist tradition and the teachings of the great leaders Comrade Mao Zedong and Comrade Kim Il Sung. A reception was held in a warm atmosphere overflowing with proletarian internationalism, at which the delegates joined together in singing revolutionary songs including the ‘Song of General Kim Il Sung’, ‘Scots wha hae’, ‘the Soldier’s Song’ and ‘the Internationale’."
Lygate was nominated to become Rector of
Glasgow University
The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...
, Lygate was the first of the six candidates to be knocked out. He was twice nominated for honorary degrees at Glasgow and
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...
, he rejected both of them believing that they might corrupt him from his working class route. Lygate claimed to be an early driving force of the anti-poll tax movement, however his health worsened. Finally in the late 1990s he was forced out of politics completely due to ill health.
Death
In latter life, Lygate suffered from
Alzheimer's
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
disease which deteriorated his short-term memory. It was noted that even in the final stages of the disease he could still recite poems by
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
. He died on 20 January 2012, having been hit by a train.
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...
*
Scottish Republicanism
Scottish republicanism () or republicanism in Scotland is an ideology based on the belief that Scotland should be a republic; the nation is currently a monarchy as part of the United Kingdom. Republicanism is associated with Scottish nationalis ...