Carson became prominent as a leader of the Scottish Tin Plate and Sheet Metal Workers' Society.
Also that year, he was elected as secretary of Glasgow Trades Council.
[1] Carson was a founder member of the Scottish Labour Party in 1888.
When the Independent Labour Party was founded in 1893, Carson unsuccessfully moved that it be named the "Socialist Labour Party", and was elected to its first National Administrative Council.
[2][3] In 1910, he was elected to Glasgow City Council for the Labour Party in Maryhill.