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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The AI stuff has dried up for me, they haven't put me on any projects in a month or two. My account probably got marked for time theft, but whatever. My next thing is maybe operating a sex chat for european users on some other site. No luck on tech jobs, been about a year since I last had a salary and im just getting really worried and stressed out.
I am not at all saying that that isn't exactly what happened, but it could also be that they or IT (as in all of the automated parts of the platform in failing concert) just fucked up. By repeatedly stating an issue I was having multiple times over the course of a week in the "daily help thread" of one of the projects' Discourse I developed a small amount of rapport with a QM that I think may have gone some way in keeping tasks and missions in my queue. My experience has been that there are "higher-ups" that do actually want to help when you reach out but the entire thing is so poorly managed that they don't always know how. I don't at all mean to shortchange the idea/reality that your account has been flagged- just trying to tie my personal experience to some degree of optimism. I've never had a salary though, damn, what a thought. I'm combining outlier with a local part-time gig to get by atm, definitely not ultimately sustainable but the outlier dough has given me a small amount of breathing room. You gotta let me know how being a paid sex chatter goes if (WHEN) you get that gig. Sounds like it'd be funny but I bet it'll be a bit of work and I certainly hope there would be some good money there! Personally I've had my eye perpetually on a post-office gig for like two years now and I'm running out of road to kick the can down.
glad outlier is helping ya! I'm still waiting for some more info on that chatting gig, so we'll see. Don't wanna get got by a scam, but also, if its legit, I've got no issue doing that for some income. Good luck with the PO gig!