The renewed campaign was launched on Maclean’s birthday, August 24, and aims to raise £32,000.
The campaign has been running since 2023, with a previous fundraiser bringing in 29% of the total cost of the statue.
Those behind the campaign say erecting the memorial to Maclean would be a “victory for the working class”.
Following a meeting with Glasgow’s Lord Provost, they said they reached an agreement that it would be placed close to the McLennan Arch at Glasgow Green on the Saltmarket, facing the High Court.
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The life-sized bronze statue would be pointing, with the intended inscription accompanying to say: “I am not here, then, as the accused; I am here as the accuser of capitalism dripping with blood from head to foot.”
The total cost of the statue has been quoted at £58,480. This includes £18,500 for the sculpture, £22,000 to mould and cast it in bronze, £3800 for the base and £1100 for a plaque.
Delivering and installing the statue is set to cost £1500, while preparing the site where it will be housed will cost £2200.
Powderhall Bronze Ltd in Edinburgh would undertake the work when the fundraising target has been met.
(Image: John Maclean statue campaign) The crowdfunding page states that Maclean “was not only Scotland’s greatest socialist but internationally renowned”.
“Maclean is one of Scotland’s heroes, yet the city which he called home is yet to pay the respect that is due and suitably commemorate his life and works with a public statue,” it adds.
“This is why we have started this campaign, as a public statue of Maclean will be a victory for the working class, a permanent thorn in the side of the British establishment, and a focal point and beacon for the changes that we want to see in Scotland; and internationally.”
Who is John Maclean?
Born 24 August 1879, Maclean is a hero of the socialist movement but is not such a widely known figure in history.
Maclean campaigned for a workers’ revolution and was vehemently against World War One. He was jailed on several occasions during the war for the content of his speeches. He was a committed Marxist who campaigned for workers’ rights, and said nothing would be gained by the workers of Europe killing each other. He also played a part in Glasgow’s rent strikes.
John Maclean with his family (Image: Unknown) Maclean was a leading figure in the Red Clydeside movement, which began in 1915, where workers in Glasgow factories were opposed to government-imposed control of working hours, staff, and wages during the First World War.
He lost his job as a school teacher at Lorne Street Primary after his first time being jailed. In 1918, he was jailed again, this time for sedition. He made a speech from the dock that is still celebrated by many in the Scottish left.
Maclean told the court he wished “no harm to any human being” but would exercise his freedom of speech.
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“No human being on the face of the earth, no government is going to take from me my right to speak, my right to protest against wrong, my right to do everything that is for the benefit of mankind,” he said.
“I am not here, then, as the accused; I am here as the accuser of capitalism dripping with blood from head to foot.”
He would be imprisoned in Peterhead where he would go on hunger strike, where he would be force-fed twice daily through a stomach tube.
When he was released from prison after the war, it was to great public fanfare.
However, he would die aged 44 in 1923, with a statue in his memory erected in Pollokshaws, where he was born. Thousands lined the streets for his funeral (pictured above).
Maclean has been described as the “Scottish Lenin”, and was celebrated by the Russian leader and Leon Trotsky. He was the representative of the Bolshevik government in Scotland, and was twice freed from prison due to public pressure.
The head of British Military Intelligence once branded him “the most dangerous man in Britain”.
You can donate to the crowdfunder here.