Scots Abroad, Nationalism at Home: Kailyard and Kilt As Gatekeepers? 1885 – 1979
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Scots Abroad, Nationalism at Home: Kailyard and Kilt as Gatekeepers? 1885 – 1979 Graham David Robson University of Stirling PhD October 2015 1 The emigration of the Scots from the 18th to the 20th century has produced a diaspora. The thesis outlines how many diasporas are involved in the nationalist projects of their homeland. However, over the chronology of this study and beyond, whilst there were active movements to amend or end the Union of 1707, it has been found that the Scots were not. The thesis then proposes some explanations for this. Chapters one and two introduce methods, research material and context; they describe the Union, the emigrations and diasporas. The study uses for comparison purposes the Irish and Norwegian diasporas. Lines of enquiry such as nationalism, the use of soft power and gatekeeping behaviour are presented, with a discussion of Scottish nationalism. The study examines the approach to involving the diaspora of five groups; both SHRAs, the International Scots Home Rule League, the National Convention and the NPS/SNP. The response of Scottish MPs in the diaspora in England to the many attempts to legislate for home rule is also examined. The approach to the diaspora was found to be badly executed and targeted. Few visits were made, and only to the US and Canada. Communication was unfocussed and spasmodic. The Scottish associational clubs were frequently used as a conduit. A small part of the whole diaspora, these acted as gatekeepers, selectively mobilising for themselves as an elite which had no need of nationalism as they could succeed without it. Comparing the Irish, whose diaspora successfully supported its nationalist causes at home, is instructive. The study concludes that the spasmodic and amateurish nature of contact, the nature of the Associations and that of the diaspora itself were the main culprits in this case of a diaspora indifferent to the fate of nationalism in its home land. 2 List of Contents List of Tables and Figure 4 Chapter One. Introduction 5 Chapter Two. The Scots Abroad, Diasporas as International Actors 37 Chapter Three. Pressure Groups and Parties, 1885-1951 69 Chapter Four. Post-War Nationalism 108 Chapter Five. Home Rule and Devolution at Westminster 137 Chapter Six. Scots Abroad: Understanding Indifference 170 Chapter Seven. Context, Comparison and Discussion 204 Chapter Eight. Conclusion and Further Steps 240 Appendices 257 Bibliography 263 3 List of Tables and Figure. Table I: Diaspora Comparisons; Characteristics of Country of Origin Table II: Scottish Net Emigration by Decade, 1861-1901 Table III: Net Emigration from Scotland, 1901-81 Table IV: Main Types of Diaspora by Nature of Dispersal Table V: Summary of Case Study Attributes Compared with Scotland Table VI: Extension of the Franchise, Selected Countries Table VII: Progress towards Home Rule and Statehood, Selected Countries Table VIII. Scots-born in Diaspora Host Countries Table IX: Canadian Membership 1976 Table X: Approximate SNP Membership outside Scotland 1977 Table XI: Census records of Scots-born Populations in Selected Countries, 1950-54 Table XII: Enablers Identified for Diaspora Assistance to Homeland Nationalist Causes Table XIII: Assimilation Variables Table XIV: SHRA/NPS Membership, 1919-32 Table XV: UK General Election Results for Scotland – SNP % of votes cast, 1945-79 Table XVI: SNP Branches 1960-69 Figure I: Graphical Representation of Interactions, Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’ 4 Chapter One. Introduction For over two hundred years the Scots have demonstrated a significant mobility, both within the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond.1 Whilst significant, this emigration was not unusual for that period, with many Europeans leaving for the New World. Many of these nationalities formed diasporas. Diasporas are a force in identity formation.2 They reside outside of their kin-state but can in some ways claim a stake in it. It is claimed that the Scots formed a diaspora as a result of their emigration,3 an issue that will be examined in detail. Many diasporas are deeply involved in the nationalist projects of their homelands. Insofar as such projects are usually democratic and emancipatory, those in the diaspora can feel free to endorse ethnic and exclusionary movements.4 This can take many forms. Established generations of Irish-Americans made substantial funding available to the Provisional IRA in their military intervention in the politics of Northern Ireland.5 Other examples might be overseas Israeli nationals returning home en masse to vote in elections. Also, Croats abroad paying for the election campaigns of a favoured candidate such as Franjo Tudjman, in this case rewarded with 10 percent of the seats in parliament dedicated to represent the diaspora.6 The Kurdish PKK derived support from the Kurdish diaspora in Europe.7 An informal tax of 2% levied on Eritreans abroad sustained a war on the Ethiopian border as well as helping to shape peace and subsequent re-construction.8 There has been a political debate on whether Scotland should have a form of self-government from the late nineteenth century to the present day. This thesis is concerned with the Scots abroad and their support or otherwise for Scottish Home Rule or Nationalism. 1 Brock, 1999, p.232 2 Shain and Barth, 2003, p.450 3 Harper, 2005, p.139 4 Werbner, Diaspora, 2000, p.5 5 Byman, D., 2005, p.246 6 Vertovec, 2009, pp.94-5 7 Romano, 2006, pp. 58-9 8 Vertovec, 2009, p.95 5 This introduction will lay out the theoretical framework of the thesis. It contains a methods section proposing the use of a comparative case study approach and the case selection process. It will also introduce the main concepts employed. The chapter also examines chronology and introduces matters of contextualisation; that of the formation of the Union of 1707, an introduction to the migration of the Scots over the period from the Union to the end of the chronology of the research and a description of Scottish Nationalism. Finally the chapters and their contents will be introduced. Theoretical Framework The Scots abroad have been described as ‘relatively disinterested’ in Scottish nationalism, and have hardly ever become involved in campaigning or political organising.9 The first question to be addressed will test the hypothesis that the Scots abroad did not support the nationalist movements in their many forms in any way which impacted upon their success. If the results support this hypothesis then reasons for this failure will be proposed and defended. This question drives out several sub-questions which lead to the key concepts the study will employ. Firstly, the propensity of diaspora to engage with the nationalist projects of their home lands must be gauged. Secondly, the conditions which foster such an interest must be understood. Thirdly, the conditions that obtain where there is no interest should be investigated. The history and nature of emigration, particularly the great nineteenth century European emigrations, underpins much of the narrative. There will also be four main concepts deployed in the arguments; those of nationalism, diasporas, ‘soft power’ and gatekeepers. This section will lay out an analytical strategy for the study. The focus will be the choice and deployment of comparative case studies and the method of case selection. It will further lay out the sources used for the enquiry. The purpose of this section is to defend an approach, rather than present competing tools. Whilst it is the intention to use comparisons in this thesis, the limitations of this method should be recognised and accounted for. 9 Sim, 2011b, p.213 6 Systematic comparative case study is one of the primary means for establishing social scientific generalisations in macro political enquiry.10 It is one of the basic methods of general empirical propositions.11 Comparison serves several purposes in political analysis. Comparison across several cases, usually countries, enables research to assess whether a particular phenomenon is simply a local issue or part of a broader trend. A further useful function is that of developing, testing and refining theories about causal relationships.12 This thesis will identify and attempt to explain why the Scottish diaspora had little interest in nationalist projects in its home land. It will therefore be appropriate to compare the Scottish diaspora with other diasporas to find causal relationships between its nature and its behaviour. However, the principal problem facing the method in such research is that there are many variables and few cases.13 The first issue faces all social research, in that the number of relevant variables is very high. The second is a reflection of the highly limited number of societies, political cultures and countries,14 around two hundred, available for analysis. There are methods available for the mitigation of these difficulties. One is to combine two or more variables that express an essentially similar underlying characteristic. Thus the number of cells in the matrix describing the relationship is reduced. The difficulty of the restricted number of cases available can be overcome by focussing the analysis on comparable cases. Comparable cases in this context means similar in a number of important characteristics that can be treated as constants.15 This allows the analysis to concentrate on variables not so controlled. It will be demonstrated below that the selection of cases in this enquiry has deployed these techniques in order to mitigate the perceived difficulties with the comparative method. Case selection will be dealt with first, followed by the selection of variables. 10 Goodin and Klingemann, 1992, p.749 11 Lijphart, 1971, p.682 12 Marsh and Stoker, 2010, p.285 13 Lijphart, 1971, p.685 14 Przeworski and Teune, 1970, p.30 15 Lijphart, 1971, p.687 7 This chapter began with a list of diasporas which had intervened in some way in nationalist or political projects in their home lands.