John’s political affiliations spread across a number of influences but significantly his underpinning motivation was Home Rule and then Independence for Scotland. As a radical and progressive educationalist, the politics of the State placed pressures on him and his school as stated elsewhere in his relationship with the Department of Education.
. . . that every child, is said to be a potential neurotic capable of being saved from this prospect, if early, largely inborn, creative abilities were not repressed by conventional Education.
He was the author for Freedom Press of the short work entitled The Philosophy of Anarchism (1940):
The main thing is to establish your principles – the principles of equality, of individual freedom, of workers’ control. The community then aims at the establishment of these principles from the starting-point of local needs and local conditions. (page 31)
I think this contributes to the different evolution of Kilquhanity in relation to A. S. Neill’s Summerhill. The essence of Kilquhanity was the freedom of the individual and the individual’s responsibility to community.
Aitkenhead received the following from the Scottish National Congress
In other words, we propose, in face of the intolerable inertia of our present English-controlled representatives at Westminster to set up a SHADOW PARLIAMENT, pending the re-establishment in this land of democratic self-government.
In connection with the initial meeting, at which a draft Constitution and Rules for the Assembly at present under preparation, will be presented for adoption and amendment, and it is earnestly desired that you may be able to present as representative of the . . . . . . . . . .Constituency
I am not sure as to whether John took up this invitation but I he did continue to give support.
It is many years since I have seen you, and I missed the chance of Chairing your meeting with the Summerhill Society last year . . . but I get news of Kilquhanity through all sorts of sources, and am always pleased to hear you are flourishing.
I had a few days in the country recently, and found I was only eight miles from Summerhill, so of course went over, and Neill came to the cottage where we were staying for a visit. He was in fine form: a bit more cheerful through having a few more pupils this term – an influx of American kids as a result of his books being published there. Philip Sansom Freedom Press
1961
A meeting of the Committee of the Galloway Liberal Association on Thursday 2nd March.
1961 - May
Hope you will agree to continue as one of our representatives on the General Council of the Party which as you know meets quarterly. D. S. Macdonald, Acting Hon. Secretary.
John agreed. He continued to be a representative of Galloway Liberal Association through the General election of 1964
And again from the National Congress
Committee of Articles (a development of Scottish National Congress) Pledged to frame a new Scottish Constitution and promote the development and setting up of a Constituent Assembly as a basis for re-establishing the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. The Committee of Articles represents a majority of Scottish Nationalist bodies as well as unattached Scottish Nationalists.
A meeting of the Committee of Articles will be held in the Grand hotel, Charing Cross, Glasgow on Saturday 17th June . . . I hope you will make every effort to attend . . .
From the Office of The Commissioners: Statement: Private and Confidential: Not for Publication
The Commissioners in the exercise of their function and with the plenipotentiary powers vested in them, have after prolonged investigation, evaluation and serious deliberation, reached the conclusion at their plenary meeting on 6th October, 1962, that it is impossible and impractical at this time to proceed with the project of organising a National constituent Assembly.
The failure to secure the support and participation of the major self government organisations, notably the Scottish National Party precludes any hope of success and places in total isolation the sponsors of the project.
Scottish Nationalist Party
A letter from Roland. E. Muirhead:
. . . you could help the movement for Scottish Self Government if you would encourage local citizens to order copies of Forward Scotland the monthly Scottish National Paper. Arrangements have been made with Menzies the Edinburgh wholesale news agents for the distribution . . .
R. E. Muirhead was a pacifist and on the left of the SNP and served as President from 1936 – 1950. In 1950 Muirhead formed the Scottish National Congress (see above), a direct action group focussed on campaigning for Scottish Home Rule.
Roland Muirhead
In 1895 Muirhead and his brother Robert instigated and organised a visit to Glasgow by one of the fathers of Anarchism Prince Peter Kropotkin.
At his death, Muirhead was described as:
. . . the greatest patriot Renfrewshire has produced since William Wallace.
His life and work as a businessman, politician and patriot are well worth further research by the reader. In May 1941the state claimed, following raids on the homes of Muirhead, Arthur Donaldson, Douglas Young and Muriel Gibson, that
. . . subversive literature and a large cache of weapons was removed.
The accused were taken off to Barlinnie Prison for questioning. The MI5 mastermind behind the raid was Richard Brooman-White, later conservative MP for Rutherglen (Glasgow). Brooman-White later claimed that an anonymous informant told him that Muirhead et al. were intent on welcoming the Nazis to Scotland. The boss of this MI5 investigation and other ‘Celtic Movements’ was Guy Liddell, the man who was once accused as the mysterious fifth man of the Philby, Burgess, Blunt, McLean Soviet spy ring gang. Liddell wrote in his diaries:
we have formed a new section under Dick Brooman-White to deal with the Celtic movements. The Germans had obviously done a good deal of work in the Breton movement and it may be that to some degree they have done the same work here.
. . . alas, there is just now no form of the old Home Rule Association. The Scottish covenant Association has three office-bearers . . . but carries out no political activities. The Scottish Secretariat continues only with a monthly newsletter, ‘Forward Scotland’, but is unlikely to continue beyond May. The SNP is currently growing, but on a strongly anti-Home Rule Association line. What is needed is an all-party group to agree on policy and then publicise it. The lead would have to be taken by well-established MPs, Labour and Liberal, and, if possible, Tory.
Thirty-eight years later would see the opening of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
John also received a letter from George H. Thompson: Assistant to the National Secretary of the S.N.P. and a teacher at Kirkcudbright Academy:
. . . I understand that you are deeply interested in promoting the movement for Scottish self-government. . . writing to tell you of the possibility that a branch of the SNP may shortly be established in Castle Douglas. I realise that you are a member of the Scottish Liberal Party at present and that you may not be at all interested in the doings of the SNP . . .
And a letter from Matt Mundell:
John had had enough of the Scottish Liberals and resigned his membership. The letter from SLP headquarters in Edinburgh remarked:We were delighted to see you along at the SNP meeting recently in the Lower Town Hall, Castle Douglas. . . . just to let you know another meeting is being held in the Carpet Bowlers’ Hall, Cotton Street, August 31. Our main speaker will be the National Organiser, Mr Ian Macdonald of Glasgow.
I am very disturbed to read your remarks about ‘a crossroads in political thinking.
1967 - 12th March
From a Liberal Party associate (author unknown)
Your letter of the 8th March came as no surprise. Reading in the Galloway News in recent months of the establishment of branches of the S. N. P. all around you – Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright, and Dalbeattie – and, only in the last couple of weeks, of how membership of these branches has grown., I kept saying to Mrs Macdonald that I wondered how long you would be able to stand aside. So now your letter brought the answer I really expected.
I feel sure that if the First World War had not broken out in August 1914, or better still never occurred, half a century would not have passed without our having had a Liberal Government in this country and that the pledge to set up a Scottish Parliament given by Liberal Prime minister Asquith in 1909 would long ago have been fulfilled, rendering unnecessary the struggle of today. My adherence to that pledge has never wavered, although I am conscious of the fact that some Liberals have not attached the same importance to it – shame on them!
In late ’67 John began his association with the 1320 Club.
The Founders of the 1320 Club, whose objects and rules are attached, would feel honoured if you would agree to join them. In replying to this invitation, it would be helpful if you would inform them whether you would be prepared to serve on any of the planning Committees which it is proposed to establish. . .
Max Bancroft LRIC (Secretary)
Patron: Lord Boyd Orr of Brechin
President: Oliver Brown
Vice President: Ian Taylor
Treasurer: Edwin D. White
Organiser: Major F.A.C. Boothby
Co-ordinator: J. Russell Thomson.
Oliver Brown, possibly in Bannockburn (1970s)
F.A.C. Boothby was an avid Nationalist who in 1963 launched his own newsletter Sgian Dubh. He was founder of The 1320 Club which united radical nationalists including Hugh MacDiarmid, Wendy Wood and Douglas Young. However, Boothby was unique in calling for a ‘Scottish liberation Army’. The SNP prohibited its members from also joining the Scottish Liberation Army.
Christopher Murray Grieve aka Hugh MacDiarmid (Photo Gordon Wright)
Boothby went on to form ‘The Army of the Provisional Government’ aka ‘Tartan Army’ a ‘paramilitary group’ whose activities included bomb hoaxes, brick throwing and in 1975 bombing of electricity pylons and an attempted Bank robbery. This was a disaster as the Bank was closed! Boothby was convicted and jailed for three years.
Doubts by others considered that Boothby might be working as a double-agent for the British Secret Service. In 1972 MacDiarmid wrote in The 1320 Club magazine:
If Boothby is playing a double-game, he must be exposed and got rid of.
The 1320 Club Constitution
1. The body shall be known as The 1320 Club
2. Membership shall be by invitation only – and exisitng members may suggest useful new members to the Executive which shall have the final word.
3. Etc.
Aims of The 1320 Club
1. The Club has its object the re-establishment of the sovereign Independence of Scotland.
2. It seeks to assist in this aim by the publication of controversial literature, and by the holding of debates, conferences and rallies.
3. It seeks to ensure that Scotland, on regaining her freedom, shall not fall victim to English-style party politics.
4. It seeks to ensure that the ancient Scottish tradition of the Sovereign People shall be maintained and that politicians shall ever be the servants, not the masters, of the Scottish State.
5. Its attitudes to the Scottish State are precisely those of the Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 and require no further clarification.
6. The Club is not established as a rival to any existing organisation, but rather as a means of maintaining liaison between them all.
7. The 1320 Club is composed of men and women who have rendered or are rendering signal service to the cause of Scottish Freedom. Membership lists are not available either to the public, or to members who are not on the Club Executive, which is solely responsible for the choosing of members.
8. Thus, further to article 7 above, one of the objectives of the Club is the spreading of information and the exercise of pressure within existing organisations of all sorts.
9. The Club shall concentrate its research on the field of Contingency Planning, in order to have programmes ready whenever Independence may come.
Letter from Boothby of The 1320 Club
Dear John,
. . The ‘Billy Wolfe Edition’ is sold out. He had committed a major indiscretion about Scotland’s share of the National Debt, in stating that we would disown it. Consequently I leapt in to attack him for discrediting our fair name. . . Yes things go well. I hear today of a 10% unemployment figure for Galloway. This is terrible, but I suppose it is worth it if it is to bring the ‘facts of life’ home to the public.
William Wolfe came second in West Lothian for the SNP - the claymores he forged for tourists (February 1968)
The 1320 Club invited John to participate in a forum at Dundee University on Scottish Education present and future. The following is a copy of his speech.
John Aitkenhead: Galloway and Home Rule for Scotland
A year ago we were fighting to save the Galloway railway – and we lost. There was a time when we didn’t really believe they would ever lift those rails, demolish the viaducts, and sell the iron road for scrap. (This is probably how the folk in the Borders are thinking today). But we were wrong, and clever Dr Mabon was right. [Mabon worked as a Bevin Boy in coal mines of Lanarkshire during the World War II, he was elected Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Greenock in 1955] British Rail intended to sell the lot.
We swallowed our hurt and licked our wounds as the actual cold-blooded demolition commenced; and we have watched heavy-hearted, as it continued all through 1968. Heavy-hearted but with the conviction growing that somewhere along the line we had missed the boat – to mix metaphors. The truth is clear now and unmistakeable; we had allowed decisions about Galloway’s railway to be made in London.
The important point is the principle involved. If the line was in fact uneconomic and merited closure, did this warrant destruction of assets? Surely not, British Rail had no mandate to act as vandals. We were wrong again, for B.R. now propose to demolish the viaduct across Loch Ken at Boat O’ Roan, a viaduct which provides an excellent footbridge between Mossdale and Parton.
Unless they receive a sufficiently high offer B.R. will spend more to destroy this bridge than the sale of scrap will fetch. Further, they will leave ugly metal pillars to disfigure the landscape, which is in fact protected from building in the interests of scenic beauty. This can only be prevented if we stop them selling our property. Yes, our property, the property of the people.
This is only one instance of what follows from remote control. Another is the ‘summer-time in mid-winter’ nonsense, termed British Standard Time. The proper name is Central European Time but the London Government thought we wouldn’t wear that one as we are not in Central Europe. If Londoners are prepared to believe they are, good luck to them. Would any Scottish Government, however crazy, propose such a stupid measure that has us all up in the dark of night on winter mornings? What about the iniquitous S. E. T.? No Scottish Government, left or right, would be stupid enough to introduce a tax so patently unsuited to Galloway and Scotland. Only remote government, ignorant of facts and folk, could legislate in these ways.
Scotland’s people had the 1707 Union of Parliaments foisted on them. For the last 260 years Scots have been misguided in accepting the Union. The people of Galloway have been wrong in thinking that any British Government, London based, could have the interests of this corner of Scotland in mind.
The idea of ‘Home Rule’ is far to often equated with protest. This is probably inevitable considering the history of empires and tier victims, the history of England and Britain, and the struggles of Ireland, Wales and Scotland to retain some independence. But home Rule is far more than protest based. Home Rule is the very essence of good government, because self-government is the only kind of government guaranteed to express the wishes and will of the people concerned, and therefore just and fair.
Moreover, it is the mark of mature people, of men and women aware of their group and prepared to take responsible decisions, as distinct from a group of servile people prepared to allow their laws to be made for them and administered from afar. Home Rule is the badge of freedom and distinguishes free nations. Galloway has a part to play in restoring this status to Scotland. Simply stated – at the next General Election we must win Galloway for the Scottish National Party.
John Aitkenhead: Constituency Organiser SNP
John invited to address the Kirkcudbright Branch of the SNP - possibly used the ‘speech’ above.
I write to thank you on behalf of the SNP for your support in subscribing to the ‘Winnie Covenant 1000 Club.
Winnie Ewing
1970 - 27th May
The 1320 Club
Many thanks for your note and cheque in aid of Sgian Dubh.
1970 - 29th May
The 1320 Club
Major Boothby has passed on to us your request for 100 copies of’ The Disunited Kingdom’ in English.
By now C. M. Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid) had been appointed Honorary President.
The 1320 Club
Letter from Ronald MacDonald Douglas director foreign Affairs Bureau.
. . . Yes; something must be done – and before very long – to shake and to shock the Establishment; but where are the young men who are going to do these things. I don’t know how old you are. But you obviously cannot be a youth, and I am too old nowadays to take part in field exercises – not because I would not, but simply because I might fail at the crucial moment. There are times when I feel quite heartbroken. But – ‘Old age ne’er cooled the Douglas blood . . . !’ and I suppose the few of us who have this thing deep within our bloodstream will just go on doing our damnedest – for whatever our damnedest may be worth.
Ronald MacDonald Douglas
1970 - Late
The 1320 Club letter from Marjorie Brock: Secretary
This is just a little note to thank you for your several subscriptions to Catalyst . . . and to tell you that the first issue of the newly organised magazine will be published on or about January 25th. . . The first issue will contain articles by Hugh MacDiarmid and F.A.C. Boothby.
SNP Galloway Constituency Association: Press Release
Congratulations to our Chairman was the unanimous cry at the Executive Committee Meeting of the Galloway Constituency Association of the SNP. . . The Chairman, Mr John Aitkenhead has been invited, it was revealed, to go on a seven week lecture tour of America, starting on 14th May.
Association Secretary Mr Tom Anderson, remarked that he was sure that wherever he went Mr Aitkenhead would tell his audience of the plight of Scotland that he loved and of the growing strength of the SNP throughout Scotland and in Galloway in particular. . .
Readers of Mr Aitkenhead’s political persuasion will be interested to note the parallel between his advocacy of freedom and self-government for Scotland and his basic philosophy of freedom and self-government in education.
J. Elliott Murray Organiser, Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebleshire Constituency SNP
We are looking for a candidate to represent us at the next General Election, we have not been able to produce a home-grown one and an acquaintance of mine gave me your name. . . . He mentioned you were on the short-list for Dumfries at the last election.
1973 - 5th May SNP
Glen Trool Rally
. . . it was suggested that you might, at some stage in the proceedings, you might, on behalf of those present, take the oath –
‘for as long as there remain but one hundred of us alive, we will never . . . . . . no true man will lose but with his life.
John agreed.
John won £300 pounds in Winnie’s Covenant 1000 Club! Yea!
Letter from William Wolfe
Thank you for your letter and your congratulations and for sending me a copy of your pamphlet ‘Nationalism and Home Rule’ which, not unexpectedly, coming from you, gets right down to the philosophical and human essentials of our case.
I hope that throughout Scotland the Party will set the heather on fire in a scorching campaign so that when we next have an opportunity in the General Election, our seven (MPs) will be multiplied seven times.
In June 1969, Wolfe was elected as leader of the SNP. He supported the ‘It’s Scotland’s Oil’ campaign and associated the SNP with the Trade Union campaign against Shipyard closures on the Clyde.
Letter from Billy Wolfe:
My dear John,
Thank you very much for your stirring and valuable contribution to the National Council Meeting yesterday.
John Aitkenhead: Nationalism and Home Rule: with special reference to Scottish Nationalism 1974)
Few things are more powerful, or to the unaware more astonishing, than an idea whose hour has come. Principles with positive potential, almost akin the physical laws of nature, are seen to be at work in society: people are ‘chosen’ by the moment in time; the hour finds its man or the century its woman; and later, students of human affairs talk of movements in history.
Scotland today, Scotland entering the last quarter of the 20th century is an embodiment of these principles. The whole sentient world is in revulsion at the spendthrift wanton destructive tendencies of bigness: empires are seen for the crazy concept they represent, and the paradox of the small nation as the real cohesive unit in world affairs is recognised. Schumacher had the right of it: ‘small is Beautiful.’
If the idea of democracy, so dear to the hearts of modern men and women, is to remain with us, it is obvious that some alternative to the infernal logical development of the huge conglomerates of the modern world must be found. America and Russia (and probably China) make an obvious mockery of the basic democratic political machinery. Such societies seem to threaten even human survival let alone human institutions. The world on the other hand as at no risk from the Denmarks, the Finlands, the Norways (and sore-tried Ireland is only the exception that proves the rule.)
In such a case stands Scotland 1974. On such a brink. The province repudiating the remote control of a centralist government. The ancient nation that would again be self-governing after nearly 300 years of inferior subservient dangerous immaturity.
Suddenly we see ourselves. The prospect is intoxicating, almost in the degree that the present portrait is horrifying. (We are five million people presenting some of the worst human statistics in the modern world, including a tendency only now diminishing, to run away from the scene, to shut our eyes, to emigrate.) The challenge may be insuperable; but fortunately, it suits our style. Always at our best with the odds against us, are we Scots.
The opposition, within as well as without, must look to itself. Our bard gave us the clue, just on 200 years ago, about the quislings then:‘what a parcel of rogues in a nation.’
Scotland in the comity of nations; the free interchange of responsible self-governing units. That is the aim. Home-rule, once a protest vote, is now, in Scotland, as anywhere in human society, the only sane politics.
The opportunity to exercise the choice for this is ours on 28th February, and for anything like a majority of the Scottish electorate this will be only the second time since 1707 that the choice has been available. A score of times and more, the Union of 1707 has been defied – twice in armed rebellion – but always the challenging movement has fallen away.
The Scottish National Party has however proved itself to have a strong survival element and the coming election will undoubtedly prove that across the whole country support is strong for those policies of independence which in the last Parliament gave the SNP a member from the depopulated Hebrides and one from the devastated city centre of Glasgow. The heather is on fire in Galloway.
Sinn Fein agus Alba gu brath (ourselves and Scotland forever)
1975 - 10th March
Letter from F.A.C. Boothby (The 1320 Club)
. . . .I think that if a Scottish count is refused us in the referendum it will do nothing but good. SNP will get the figures anyway.
The Special Branch was through this house (Hopeheid) like a dose of salts on 16th Feb. Only just got my files back – in chaos. They are looking for trouble and, I would guess, trying to promote it.
The Kirkpatrick Durham Branch of the SNP
The Springholm Branch of the SNP
John addressed the AGM of the Dalbeattie Branch of the SNP.
Letter from F.A.C. Boothby (The 1320 Club)
. . . Chris (Grieve) is not really well and has to make repeated trips to Chalmers Hospital, but he has been fit enough these last few weeks for Valda to take a holiday in Woking – of all places.
By this year John would have become aware of the formation of the Scottish Patriots a 'voice' for Independence without a desire to engage in elections with candidates.
The Scottish Patriots
Leader: Wendy Wood: Wendy was founder of the Scottish Patriots; she was also an artist and writer.
Wendy Wood (1892-1981) (1923 - Stewart Carmichael)
In 1928 Wood was one of the founders of the National Party of Scotland which later became the SNP. In 1932 Wood led a group of nationalists into Stirling Castle, tore down the Union Flag and replaced it with Scotland’s Lion Rampant. In 1949 she founded The Scottish Patriots.
She protested about the use of Elizabeth II in Scotland as Scotland had not Elizabeth I. In 1972 she undertook a hunger strike for home rule, and it was not until 1979 that Scotland was given a referendum on the matter. The hunger strike resulted in the publication on a government Green Paper on Devolution for Scotland which was the most important step towards Scottish self-determination in the 20th century.
The Patriots recognised that there are many ways for patriotic activity apart from political work, and at the same time they gave their support to the SNP at election time. They were freer than a political party to take symbolic action on occasions than a political party which is dependant on votes.
Wendy Wood: Scottish Patriots Leader, wrote:
. . . I was delighted when Val (Graham) came in this afternoon and showed me wee Daniel. I am so glad they have been so sensible and kind – not only what a wonderful life ahead for that bairn and they grow so like their foster parents. . . .
I will write something for your September number – that account of the burning of the treaty is splendid. I doubt we are being hoodwinked and cheated more than ever. As I have said in a later article, we did not hate the English soldiers at Bannockburn and we do not hate the English people today, but we have to know what side we are on. I am worried re the SNP (as we have tried kindly to warn them – you can get too enmeshed with politics and give too much opportunity to argue and differ).
The Scottish Patriots: letter:
Dear Mr Aitkenhead,
I very much appreciated your ‘Editorial’ in the latest Newsletter.
From The Scottish Patriots:
. . . . would you be willing to head a Group (Group Co-ordinator) in the Castle Douglas area? . . . You will appreciate that a number of small groups throughout the country, taking action in an efficient and synchronised manner will engender the right kind of publicity, and show the enemy that nationalism is alive and widespread.
Action will take the form of stickie campaigns and, where necessary, civil disobedience, together with the regular function of selling ‘The Patriot’.
From The Scottish Patriots
I appreciate your predicament re Group Organiser and that your time is limited.
1979 - 27th November
From Wendy Wood: The Scottish Patriots
With the realisation that unemployment is going to be almost the normal condition of our people, there will need to be a different approach and development in education, and a different outlook. I was unemployed (deliberately) for most of my life because I didn’t have time. Life was much too interesting. I know how much my unusual education (Woods was raised in south Africa in the 1890s) was to be credited with the freedom and happiness I have had. Please would you who know so much about this and practise it, give us a short article on the subject for The Patriot?
Wendy Wood died in June 1981.
Letter from The Scottish Patriots
‘. . . I hope we will still enjoy your membership as it was Wendy’s special wish that the Patriots would continue and though no one can fill her shoes we can at least try.
The Scottish Patriots: letter
Thank you so much for your donation to the Wendy Wood Memorial Fund.. I am sure Wendy would have liked the idea for her memorial as she was always perturbed that the teaching of Scottish history is so neglected in most schools. Anyway we are trying to remedy that.
Wendy Wood demonstrating in 1959
The Scottish Patriots: letter
. . . .This issue of the Patriot does seem to have struck a chord with most people, which is all to the good. I agree that things seem to be moving our way again. Witness the new approach to Scotland in this morning’s ‘Scotsman’ with Labour saying they will give more power to Scotland with regard to drawing up of the manifesto. Mind you they hedge their bets by saying that it will need a two thirds majority vote, and that various issues such as energy and defence will still be in the hands of the Central party, which means Westminster.
John writes to the newspaper (the Scotsman I presume)
The MP for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale is patently out of his depth as Minister for Home Affairs at the Scottish Office: witness his performance during the prison crisis. As the Scottish minister for Industry, he promises well as a Minister for Misinformation, echoing his Master’s Voice as accurately as any tape recorder.
You published a letter of mine a couple of weeks before the turn of the year, in which I challenged Mr Lang’s (yes it is he!) repeated claim on the drop in Scottish unemployment. A week later, in your issue of Christmas Day there he was again on the same tack, assuring two Stewartry constituents visiting the House, ‘we are doing what we believe is right. We have only to present our record to the Scottish people.’ The gall of the man!
He followed on with the hoary old discredited statistic of Whitehall spending £1.25 on Scotland for every £1 spent on England. (This when the Chancellor consistently refuses to publish separate Scottish figures for expenditure on defence and refuses to include oil revenue to Scotland’s credit.)
Well, Sir, now that we have entered 1987, long heralded as the year to see a General Election, it is more important than ever to nail every Government statement like this and for us in Galloway and Upper Nithsdale to hold our representative responsible when he expresses such opinions.
This week, then, very timeously, the cold facts emerge published by the Government’s own Department of Employment Job Census: since the Conservatives came to power Scotland has lost 149,000 jobs. By contrast South East England lost only 73,000 with East Anglia recording an increase of 23,000 jobs. Mr Lang, your readers should know, told his visitors from Dalbeattie in Xmas week that he did not think the Conservatives faced a difficult task in Scotland. Just ‘present our record to the Scottish people.
1990 - 22nd October
William Wolfe: letter
Dear Morag and John,
Wendy Wood : It has been suggested that recollections of the late Wendy Wood might be gathered together. Her daughters Miss Cora Cuthbert and Mrs Irralee Scott-May, have asked me to help in establishing such an archive from people who knew their mother, not only in the national movement, but also socially or as an artist or writer.
1992 - 25th June
That this house, mindful of the result of the General Election in Scotland, when 75% of Scots voters supported parties committed to establishing a Scottish Parliament, calls upon Her Majesty’s Government to conduct a multi-choice referendum on the future governance of Scotland.
William McKelvey
Following the General Election (1992) Democracy for Scotland was established to promote the call for a referendum and sought to promote this argument around Scotland through the use of the ‘tent’ which eventually became the base for the vigil at Calton Hill in Edinburgh. The vigil was maintained until indeed, Scotland was granted its own Parliament in September 1997 a total of 1,980 days of continuous occupation.
Statement of Aims
1. To put pressure on the government to provide the people of Scotland with a referendum on the establishment or recall of a Scottish Parliament elected by a fair voting system. To this end use all peaceful means necessary.
2. To put pressure on all political parties and politicians at national and local level to campaign on this issue as matter of priority.
3. To investigate, develop and promote a form of referendum and fair voting system which is as democratic and consensual as possible and empowers all of the people of Scotland.
4. To investigate, develop and promote decentralisation of the decision-making process from centralised government to the regions, districts and communities of Scotland.
1993 - 1st March
. . . I have pleasure in enclosing detailed information about the Whithorn March and some more general information about the Destiny Marches and Democracy for Scotland.
We are very grateful to you for offering us accommodation for the nights 24th and 25th March. Our party will consist of a maximum of four adults, one child and a puppy.
To mark the anniversary of the vigil, members undertook a Destiny March from towns across Scotland to converge on Edinburgh.
Letter to the Editor, The Scotsman.
Sir, Your front-page article today introducing the Scotsman’s new editor, Andrew Jaspan, raises a nice point in using the word ‘nation’.
Mr Jaspan is quoted as saying ‘the Scottish press has a duty and responsibility to play a full role in the affairs of the nation’. My question is ‘which nation?’ And further, ‘would different Scottish newspapers give different answers to that question?’
A thought, Andrew Jaspan, of French descent, micht ken o’ an Auld Alliance atween France and another nation lang syne.
Front page to back page: Roger Cardell, looking to introduce American football to Murrayfield and Scotland seems in no doubt in this connection. He and his fellow organisers are ‘appealing unashamedly to the nation for their venture to be a success’, his first revelation being that he has some Scottish blood in him.
John Aitkenhead. (1)
It is interesting to note that all through the years that John supported Home Rule and Independence for Scotland his engagement with several political groups, I think, helped to bring those Groups together without too much disagreement between them in the furtherance of their common cause.
I like the links between Art in Education promoted by John, Herbert Read and Wendy Wood with their equally important attitudes to freedom in learning.
John was a 'lad o' pairts' one of which was his love for Scotland and a desire to see it independent from the rest of the United Kingdom. He was devotee of Scots language and Gaelic (a subject which he successfully took at the 'O' Grade examination in his later years). His poetry was mainly written in Scots a style greatly influenced by his friend the poet Hugh MacDiarmid.
In 1963 John read Joe Grimond's book The Liberal Challenge - Democracy Through Participation and at some point a young David Steele met John at Kilquhanity to discuss Liberal Party politics. The Liberal party at that time were the only UK party represented in parliament to promote 'home rule' for Scotland.
His interest in politics extended to his visit to Russia and to his physical involvement in many political meetings across Scotland.
Although Kilquhanity was his love, his childhood experiences, his own education at Glasgow, his state school teaching, the World War his friendships with poets and politicians all entwined to make him a Nationalist. Sadly he died before this dream was made a reality.
