Appeal is to fund the publishing the memoirs from the Living Memories of James Oag Charleston.
The editorial team, of Jim Smith, Barbara (Smith) Robertson, Rab Jeffery, Willie Black, Helen Jeffery, and Dr Henry Dee (Glasgow University). All the above with the exception of Henry had the privilege of witnessing Jim Charleson’s recordings, which form the basis for this book.
Born in 1903 in Anthony Street, Leith which he describes ‘Life in the slums, the industrial slagheaps of Scotland in the early 1900's was anything but pleasant, especially when you were one of a family whose breadwinner had died when you were all just young.’
He goes on to describe his first inklings to his socialist future in reading Jack London and discovering the class struggle. As a fourteen-year-old he was picketing against troops being sent to Russia to defeat the Bolsheviks.
His description of searching for a socialist group in Edinburgh and one that reflected an understanding of the class struggle is endearing and shows how discerning this self-taught teenager was his search included joining the ILP and writing articles for Sylvia Pankhursts Dreadnought in 1918 before joining the Young Communists in 1921
It was from this standpoint that Jim conducted the rest of his life wherever he was, principled, committed and dedicated. His story is one that is aspirational a must read for any socialist or student of Industrial history. He travelled throughout the world campaigning for workers’ rights.