John Maclean, born on this day in 1879, was a Scottish schoolteacher and revolutionary Marxist, sometimes referred to as “Scotland’s Lenin”. His Marxist evening-classes produced many of the activists who became instrumental in the Clyde revolts during and after WWI. MacLean was appointed both an Honorary President of the first Congress of Soviets and Soviet Consul to Scotland in recognition of his consistent socialist position on the imperialist war and his tireless work in support of the Bolshevik revolution.
Maclean’s revolutionary politics were well-known, and in 1915, he was arrested under the Defence of the Realm Act and fired from his job as a primary school teacher. As a consequence, he became a full-time Marxist lecturer and organizer, educating other Glaswegian workers in Marxist theory.
Maclean supported Irish independence on an anti-imperialist basis, describing the Irish War of Independence as “The Irish fight for freedom” and even condoning the assassination of a magistrate, Alan Bell. He saw the war in Ireland as strengthening the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, arguing that “Irish Sinn Féiners, who make no profession of socialism or communism…are doing more to help Russia and the revolution than all we professed Marxian Bolsheviks in Britain”.
MacLean was at odds with much of the British left and dismissive of the newly-formed Communist Party of Great Britain. He had already turned his back on economism and the syndicalism favoured by the Clyde Workers’ Committee, had recognised the nature of British imperialism and come to the conclusion that revolution could only come about through the destruction of the British Empire.
Maclean was also noted for his outspoken opposition to World War I, and, in 1918, he was arrested for sedition. During the trial, Maclean gave the now legendary “speech from the dock”, expounding on his position. He was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude, but was released after the November armistice.
In captivity, Maclean had been on hunger strike, and prolonged force-feeding had permanently affected his health. He collapsed during a speech and died of pneumonia, aged forty-four.
"I have taken up unconstitutional action at this time because of the abnormal circumstances and because precedent has been given by the British government. I am a socialist, and have been fighting and will fight for an absolute reconstruction of society for the benefit of all. I am proud of my conduct. I have squared my conduct with my intellect, and if everyone had done so this war would not have taken place…
…I appeal exclusively to [the working class] because they and they only can bring about the time when the whole world will be in one brotherhood, on a sound economic foundation. That, and that alone, can be the means of bringing about a re-organisation of society. That can only be obtained when the people of the world get the world, and retain the world." -
–John MacLean, from the “Dock Speech”
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I read Captain Momo’s Secret Base yesterday, a manga by Kenji Tsuruta about a woman who lives on a spaceship with her cat, Grandpa John. Momo is on a three-year space flight to deliver cargo on behalf of the company she works for, but she’s basically unnecessary, she’s only there because someone wrote on the form for her ship that it would be crewed. Its a very cute story about a woman who doesn’t give a shit about her job at all and spends all her time reading on company time.
But the thing I want to talk about is the nudity. Momo is nude for nearly the entire manga, except for one chapter where she puts on a top for what is basically a zoom call, and is still bottomless. I think its nice to see actual good nudist representation, there’s nothing sexualised about her nudity, she is just a character who is naked all the time, and it makes sense for her to be naked all the time. She lives alone on a spaceship and is lazy and presumably doesn’t like wearing clothes. She is basically me during lockdown. The nudity is never even mentioned, its just a part of her character in a way that isn’t at all exploitative or weird. I’m glad it exists and normalises nudity a bit, and shows nudism as a comfortable lifestyle.
Its very rare to find nudist characters in stories that aren’t either sexualising nudity or about nudism. Stories about nudism are basically all the same - its about how nudity is good and comfortable and body positive, etc etc, but there’s not much there to actually make a story out of. And stories that sexualise nudism just annoy me.
Good nudist representation. Funny story. Cute cat. Vaguely anti-capitalist. It gets the Moss seal of approval
TLDR nudity good take off your clothes
That sounds cool. I’ll check it out, i need more cozy slice of life sci fi.