Maltman Barry

Michael Maltman Barry (1842 – 5 April 1909), often known as Maltman Barry, was a Scottish political activist who described himself as a Marxist but stood in elections for the Conservative Party.

Barry was born in Glasgow and moved to London in 1864 to work as a journalist at The Standard, where he reported on parliamentary and labour matters. He became a friend and supporter of Karl Marx, who impressed him with his opposition to the Liberal Party, and thereafter described himself as a Marxist.

In 1871, Barry was appointed as Provisional Chairman of the International Working Men's Association but, after a year, he was compelled to leave the organisation for being too moderate and labelled a possible spy. Despite this, he continued to be active in radical circles, and became the secretary of the Manhood Suffrage League. He became an outspoken supporter of the Tory campaign to intervene in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Much of the group objected to this, and the organisation ceased to function by the end of the year. He launched the National Society for the Resistance of Russian Aggression and the Protection of British Interests in the East. Many of its early meetings led to riots, but Barry continued to campaign against Russia into the 1890s.

This experience led Barry to become a supporter of the Conservative Party, but he also worked with Henry Hyde Champion to call for an independent party of workers. At the 1880 general election, Barry unsuccessfully sought the Conservative nomination in Dundee, where he acclaimed the Tory's support for the Factory Acts and also the party's imperial policy.

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