Subjects of 1.1 include (transcript page numbers given in brackets): his parents and their ancestry (A1-A2); differences in religion and social status between his grandparents (A2-A3); attendance at St Margaret’s Roman Catholic school (A4-A5); attending lectures and debates on religious and political questions on Glasgow Green around 1904-1905 (A6-2nd page A7); controversy arising from support of Labour candidates in 1906 general election by United Irish League in Dundee and Gorbals, in defiance of League policy of support for Liberals (A7-A8); McShane’s annoyance of apparent unfairness of attacks on John Wheatley for arguing that Catholics could also be socialists (A9-A10); ); joining the Kingston branch of the Independent Labour Party in 1909 (A12); notable members of the branch (A13); breaking completely with religion on reading Blatchford’s ‘Not guilty – in defence of the bottom dog’ (A14-A15); giving a short talk after reading ‘A summary of Marx’s ‘Capital’’ by A P Hazel (A17); leaving the ILP after failing to persuade the Kingston branch to join the British socialist party advocated by Victor Grayson (A18-A19); provisional formation of British Socialist Party and its activities and membership in Glasgow (A19-A20); McShane’s dislike of the influence in the party of Henry Hyndman and Harry Quelch (A21); influence of electoral success of German social democrats (A21-A22); socialist campaigning against the threat of war (A23-A24); McShane’s continuing interest in the influence of religion (A25); influence on him of James Connolly’s, 'Labour in Irish History' (A25-A27); John Maclean’s belief in the importance of organisation and education as the means of bringing about socialism (A28-A29); wide range of socialist speakers at meetings in Glasgow in 1910-1911 (A29-A30); McShane’s belief in a revolutionary mass movement to which members of parliament should be subordinate (A30-A31); lectures on atheism, evolution and religious issues by Emmanuel Shinwell and others (A31-A33).
Subjects of 1.2 include (transcript page numbers given in brackets): John Wheatley’s work on housing (B3, B14-B15) and hardship suffered by miners (B5-B6); condemnation of socialism in 1891 papal encyclical ‘Rerum novarum’ and later catholic statements (B6-B7); speech on socialism by John Maclean to Catholic Truth Society in 1912 and subsequent debate (B8-B10); hostile reaction of catholic press to support of Labour candidates in 1906 general election by United Irish League in Gorbals, in defiance of League policy of support for Liberals, and to John Wheatley’s assertion of the compatibility of Catholicism with socialism (B11-B12); Wheatley’s opposition to the First World War and support for the Clyde workers’ committee (B15-B16); John Maclean’s strong opposition to Catholicism and John Wheatley (B18, B20); awareness of McShane and colleagues of foreign socialist writers in period before 1917 (B25-B26); their rejection of the Fabianism of Ramsay Macdonald and Kier Hardy (B28); dullness of ‘Labour leader’ (B28); attractive variety of content in ‘Forward’ (B28-B29); high quality of John Maclean’s lectures on subjects such as economics (B29-B30); wide range of socialist speakers at meetings in Glasgow (B30-B31); increased interest in organising unions on an industrial basis from around 1910 (B32-B33).
Brand: Mastertape C120.