Andrew MacLaren

Andrew MacLaren (28 May 1883 – 1975) was an Independent Labour Party politician. His passions were economic justice and art; he persistently campaigned for Land Value Taxation, and he was a painter. He represented Burslem for three separate terms during the 20th century.

Andrew MacLaren was born in a poor district of Glasgow. Early influences were Christianity, Mozart, Palestrina, and recent Irish history. An engineering apprentice from age 14 (working alongside John later Lord Reith), he attended art classes in the evening when able. From 17, when his father died, he had to provide for the family.

With an innate sense of justice and freedom, he looked for the causes of the poverty and deprivation observed around him, hoping to find solutions. He studied Marx extensively, but failed to find answers. However, on discovering Glasgow’s single tax movement and reading Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty” (c 1905) he was set ablaze. From then on, his fine oratory was used to demand that everyone looked to the one issue that (as he believed) could solve the social and economic problems and hence men free: Land Value Taxation.

Andrew MacLaren moved to London in 1914 and joined the Independent Labour Party. He was MP for Burslem 1922-3, 1924-31, 1935-45. In 1943 he resigned from the Labour Party and finally lost his seat when standing as Independent Labour. He died in 1975 after a short illness. He had 2 sons, Leon and John.

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