1320 Club

{{Short description|Scottish pro-independence group (1967-1982)}} {{Infobox organization | name = 1320 Club | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = | logo = | logo_size = | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | map = | map_size = | map_alt = | map_caption = | map2 = | map2_size = | map2_alt = | map2_caption = | abbreviation = | nickname = | pronunciation = | pronounce_ref = | pronounce_comment = | named_after = Declaration of Arbroath | predecessor = | merged_into = | successor = | formation = {{start date and age|1967}} | founder = Figures including Frederick Boothby, Hugh MacDiarmid, Oliver Brown, Douglas Young and Wendy Wood | founding_location = | dissolved = {{end date and age|1982}} | merger = Siol nan Gaidheal | type = | vat_id = | registration_id =  | status = | purpose = Scottish nationalism, Scottish independence | professional_title = | headquarters = | location = | coordinates =  | origins = | region_served = | products = | services = | methods = | fields = | membership = | num_members_year = | language = | owner =  | secretary_general =  | leader_title = | leader_name = | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | board_of_directors = | key_people = | main_organ = Catalyst | parent_organization = | subsidiaries = | secessions = | affiliations = | budget = | budget_year = | revenue = | revenue_year = | disbursements = | expenses = | expenses_year = | endowment = | endowment_year = | num_staff = | num_staff_year = | num_volunteers = | num_volunteers_year = | num_students = | num_students_year = | website =  | remarks = | former_name = | footnotes = | bodystyle = }}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Use British English|date=February 2018}} The '''1320 Club''' was a Scottish nationalist campaign group.

The club was named after the date of the Declaration of Arbroath, a document proclaiming Scotland's independence,<ref name="barberis" /> It was founded in 1967 by figures including Frederick Boothby, Hugh MacDiarmid, Ronald MacDonald Douglas, Oliver Brown, Douglas Young and Wendy Wood.<ref name="secret">Andrew Murray Scott and Iain Macleay, ''Britain's Secret War'', pp.28-32</ref> Most of its founders were members of the Scottish National Party (SNP) who had recently worked together in the Scottish National Congress, which had dissolved in 1964.<ref name="barberis">Peter Barberis ''et al'', ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations'', p.409</ref> The club was not limited to SNP figures, but claimed to seek a wider consensus, similar to the early days of the SNP or to the Scottish Covenant Association.<ref name="harvie">Christopher Harvie, ''Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics 1707 to the Present'', p.172</ref> In order to further this, membership of the organisation, other than among its leading figures, was kept secret,<ref>Gordon Wilson, ''SNP: The Turbulent Years, 1960-1990'', p.42</ref> and was by invitation only. This prompted sharp criticism from Hamish Henderson, who rejected his invitation to join.<ref>Ed. Michael Ekers ''et al'', ''Gramsci: Space, Nature, Politics''</ref>

Internally, the group initially had a structure based on a political cabinet, led by a "Co-ordinator of Committees", supported by a team of convenors, each with responsibility for a different policy area.<ref name="secret" /> Soon, Boothby was appointed Secretary, MacDiarmid as President and Ian Taylor as Vice-President, in a more traditional approach,<ref name="harvie" /> while later still, some leading members of the organisation were given the title "Scottish Knight Templar".<ref name="rodwell">Warwick Rodwell, ''The Coronation Chair and Stone of Scone'', p.260</ref>

The club published a journal named ''Catalyst'', edited by Ronald MacDonald Douglas,<ref>Ed. Alan Norman Bold, ''The Letters of Hugh MacDiarmid'', p.729</ref> which covered both cultural and political matters, with poetry by MacDiarmid, and a clear declaration that it would not intervene in elections, which it intended to leave to the SNP.<ref name="secret" /> One of the club's first acts was to published a proposed constitution for an independent Scotland, based on that developed by the Scottish National Congress.<ref name="barberis" /> Another early campaign was for the SNP's parliamentary candidates to commit to a policy of abstentionism in the Westminster parliament, and instead to convene their own body in Edinburgh. It also argued that such a body would have the right to arm itself in defence against England, and this advocacy of paramilitary action led the SNP to expel its members in 1968,<ref name="barberis" /> amid claims that the group incorporated fascist ideology.<ref>Edward J. Cowan, ''For Freedom Alone: The Declaration of Arbroath''</ref> Boothby in particular was keen on this approach, having previous called for a "Scottish Liberation Army",<ref name="secret" /> and he secretly formed such a group, the "Army of the Provisional Government", which conducted some bombings and a robbery.<ref name="barberis" /> In 1975, he was convicted of conspiracy and left the group.<ref name="harvie" />

During the 1970s, the club strongly suggested that the Stone of Scone which had been returned to London following its theft in the 1950s was not the original, and they gave a stone to St Columba's Church in Dundee which they claimed was genuine. This was not widely believed, and the stone was later transferred to Dull, Perthshire and then in 1989 given to a person who self-identified as a "Scottish Knight Templar".<ref name="rodwell" />

In 1982, the club merged into Siol nan Gaidheal.<ref name="barberis" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Organizations established in 1967 Category:Organizations disestablished in 1982 Category:Scottish nationalist organisations Category:Scottish National Party

1320 Club

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