A General Secretary of the Labour Party (Morgan Philips) once said that the Labour Party owed more to Methodism than it did to Marxism. There is a lot of truth in this remark but it is also undeniable particularly in a Fife context that from the earliest days there always was a Marxist influence.
The figure of John MacLean was very influential with many people who were or were to become Labour Party activists. Members of Parliament like Jim Clunie and Tom Kennedy are well known but MacLean’s teachings were influential through the mining communities of Fife in places like Buckhaven and Methil miners and councilors like David Proudfoot and Robert Eadie would acknowledge the contribution of John MacLean.
It has to be said that John MacLean is similar to Robert Burns as a Scottish icon. Just as almost any politician can find a part of Burns to support their view, MacLean has been claimed by the whole spectrum of the Left.
In the general election of 1918 MacLean was the official Labour candidate for Glasgow Gorbals until the last moment when the Party's Scottish Executive disallowed him as a candidate. Both Scottish Nationalists and Trotskyites can find plenty of material to support them and the Communist Party made a determined effort to claim MacLean.
The fact is that MacLean not only never joined the Communist Party he opposed it very vociferously. The Party line on this was that MacLean was mentally ill this was always denied by Clunie. While there may be some evidence of paranoia John MacLean’s objections to the Communist Party were logical from his point of view and cannot surely be dismissed as the ravings of a mad man.