[2] In the early 20th century Stewart moved to South Africa, but returned to Dundee to become the full-time organiser of the Scottish Prohibition Party.
In 1908, he was elected to the town council, but he soon led a Marxist and anti-religious split, the Prohibition and Reform Party.
In his autobiography he claimed it was renamed the Socialist Prohibition and Reform Party, but there is no documentary evidence to support this.
[4] He began working with the Communist Unity Group and was a founder member of the CPGB, serving on its first Executive Committee.
[2] He stood for the party in the Dundee Town Council election in June 1921, polling 6,160 votes, and two months later in a by-election at Caerphilly.
The three volumes of Stewart's MI5 file open in September 1920 with a report from SIS that identified him as a Communist and 'a secret agent for England on behalf of the Third International'.
[3] In May 2023, Dundee-based journalist Graham Ogilvy gave a talk about Stewart at an event held by Dundee Trades Union Council.