1885-1897
Smillie became secretary of the Larkhall Miners’ Association in 1885 after presiding over a mass meeting which ended in its formation and later when a county federation was formed he became the president in 1893. After some short lived attempts at its formation he became the president of the Scottish Miners’ Federation in 1894. Employers in a number of districts demanded wage reductions, some partial strikes began as a result of this. Following a special conference of the Miners Federation of Great Britain a full ballot was taken, in turn a strike followed which lasted June to October 1894. Controversy arose between Chisholm Robertson which came to head in 1900 with a debate at Glasgow Trades Council which undoubtedly Smillie won. The strikes left the Scottish miners in a greatly weakened position, they suffered further wage cuts in 1895 and 96, in 1897 less than twenty per cent of the workers were organised.
A founder member of the Scottish Labour Party in 1888 and of the Independent Labour Party in 1893, Smillie was a close associate of Keir Hardie during their early careers and remained a friend until Hardie's death. He campaigned for Hardie in many of his election contests, including the first in 1888; and Smillie himself stood for parliament on seven occasions between 1894 and 1910. Later, he could have had the nomination for winnable seats in Glasgow but chose to remain with his work for the miners.
His early commitment to socialism was moderate, LIB-LABs were predominant in the leadership however this clashed with the miners political views. Nevertheless Smillies qualities of leadership brought him to the forefront of the miners’ struggles, and with the growth of militancy amongst certain sections, opinion changed to his favour.
Read more about this topic: Robert Smillie, Biography