Science Fair Project Encyclopedia James Maxton was a Scottish
politician. Born in the burgh of Pollokshaws (now part of the
city of Glasgow) in 1885, he was the son of two schoolteachers,
the profession he would later enter himself. He is viewed as one
of the leading figures of the Red Clydeside era. Maxton had
whilst studying at the University of Glasgow described his
political loyalties as lying with the Conservatives. He later
embraced the ideology of socialism and in 1904 he joined the
Barrhead branch of the Independent Labour Party (ILP). Maxton's
move to socialism was heavily influenced by John Maclean, a
fellow student at Glasgow University, who would also become a
schoolteacher. Maclean was not alone in influencing Maxton; it
was directly following a meeting in Paisley addressed by the
socialist Philip Snowden that he decided to join the ILP. Maxton
in his later life claimed that the biggest influence in his
decision to become a socialist was the grinding poverty
experienced many of the children he ta