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James Thompson Bain
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James Thompson Bain
James Thomson "JT" Bain (6 March 1860 – 29 October 1919) was a socialist and syndicalist in colonial South Africa.
Bain was born into poverty in Dundee, Scotland on 6 March 1860 to Andrew Bain and Eliza Thomson. At the age of 16, he enlisted in the British Army and in 1878 he was sent to Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, annexed by Britain the previous year. He fought for the British against the Zulus in Natal in 1879. From 1880 to 1882 he was stationed in India.
After leaving the Army he returned to Scotland where he trained as a fitter. As a skilled artisan, he became active in the labour movement and became familiar with the thought of Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish socialist. He became active in socialist circles, joined the Scottish Land & Labour League and met William Morris, a leading figure in European socialism, in Edinburgh.
In 1890 he moved to South Africa, initially settling in Cape Town. He immediately became known as a zealous proponent of socialism. Bain moved north to Kimberley and soon after to the Transvaal (which had after the victory at Majuba in 1881 regained its independence from Britain as the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek).
He settled in Johannesburg, which had become a major mining settlement after the discovery of gold in 1886, and became active in the Labour Union, launched in August 1892.
During the 1890s Bain was politically active in a range of ways, including spying for the Kruger government in the Transvaal and Natal. He became editor of the Johannesburg Witness in 1899 and became a leading figure in Johannesburg Trades Council (founded October 1893). With Tom Mathews (Cornish-born ex-US mining union activist in Butte, Montana) and Johannesburg Trades Council's secretary Robert Noonan (aka Robert Tressell, author in 1914 of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists) he founded the International Independent Labour Party.
When the Second Boer War broke out between the ZAR and Britain in October 1899, Bain joined the Transvaal forces and fought for his adopted country. On 31 July 1900, the day Johannesburg fell to the British, he was captured there and faced the prospect of a charge of treason, but was eventually treated as a POW on the basis of his naturalisation to the Transvaal. He was held in Ceylon, and after his release in 1903 returned to Johannesburg.
From then to 1905 Bain maintained a low profile in the labour movement. But in 1906 the Transvaal Independent Labour Party was formed and, after its merger with another grouping, Bain was elected president. Bain went to work on a mine outside Pretoria in 1908 and remained active in politics and trade unions.
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James Thompson Bain
James Thomson "JT" Bain (6 March 1860 – 29 October 1919) was a socialist and syndicalist in colonial South Africa.
Bain was born into poverty in Dundee, Scotland on 6 March 1860 to Andrew Bain and Eliza Thomson. At the age of 16, he enlisted in the British Army and in 1878 he was sent to Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, annexed by Britain the previous year. He fought for the British against the Zulus in Natal in 1879. From 1880 to 1882 he was stationed in India.
After leaving the Army he returned to Scotland where he trained as a fitter. As a skilled artisan, he became active in the labour movement and became familiar with the thought of Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish socialist. He became active in socialist circles, joined the Scottish Land & Labour League and met William Morris, a leading figure in European socialism, in Edinburgh.
In 1890 he moved to South Africa, initially settling in Cape Town. He immediately became known as a zealous proponent of socialism. Bain moved north to Kimberley and soon after to the Transvaal (which had after the victory at Majuba in 1881 regained its independence from Britain as the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek).
He settled in Johannesburg, which had become a major mining settlement after the discovery of gold in 1886, and became active in the Labour Union, launched in August 1892.
During the 1890s Bain was politically active in a range of ways, including spying for the Kruger government in the Transvaal and Natal. He became editor of the Johannesburg Witness in 1899 and became a leading figure in Johannesburg Trades Council (founded October 1893). With Tom Mathews (Cornish-born ex-US mining union activist in Butte, Montana) and Johannesburg Trades Council's secretary Robert Noonan (aka Robert Tressell, author in 1914 of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists) he founded the International Independent Labour Party.
When the Second Boer War broke out between the ZAR and Britain in October 1899, Bain joined the Transvaal forces and fought for his adopted country. On 31 July 1900, the day Johannesburg fell to the British, he was captured there and faced the prospect of a charge of treason, but was eventually treated as a POW on the basis of his naturalisation to the Transvaal. He was held in Ceylon, and after his release in 1903 returned to Johannesburg.
From then to 1905 Bain maintained a low profile in the labour movement. But in 1906 the Transvaal Independent Labour Party was formed and, after its merger with another grouping, Bain was elected president. Bain went to work on a mine outside Pretoria in 1908 and remained active in politics and trade unions.