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.

Biography 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, 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.

The Conservative Central Office gave Barry £340 to pass to H. M. Hyndman of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in order to fund two of its candidates in the 1885 general election, in the hope that they would defeat Liberal Party MPs. This "Tory gold" was not successful,

Barry changed the spelling of his name to Michael Maltman Barrie, in order for it to appear more Scottish. He worked with Champion to set up an anti-liberal labour alliance in Aberdeen, and published The Labour Elector newspaper from 1888 to 1890 and 1893 to 1894, supporting the Independent Labour Party and campaigning against Jewish immigration.

At the 1892 general election, he stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in Banffshire, then Morpeth in 1895 and 1900 and North Aberdeen in 1906.