He stood in Glasgow Kelvingrove at the 1923 general election as a communist candidate, with the support of the Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers and of the local Labour Party, but not the national body.
However, Arthur Henderson objected to an advert in Workers Weekly, the CPGB newspaper, asking for donations for Ferguson's campaign, and setting out radical policies.
[4] In 1925, most of the CPGB leadership was arrested, and Ferguson was appointed to an emergency committee, alongside Bob Stewart, George Hardy, Andrew Rothstein, and Emile Burns.
He also polled strongly in Anderston ward, standing for Glasgow City Council in 1927,[2] and stood for the CPGB in Aberdeen North at a 1928 by-election and the 1929 general election.
[5] Although he was well behind the victor on both occasions, his result was considered respectable by the CPGB leadership, as the Aberdeen branch of the party had only ten members.