He joined the Central Marylebone Democratic Association[1] and the Manhood Suffrage League,[2] but it was reading Friedrich Engels' articles in the Labour Standard that convinced him of socialism.
[1] In 1891, MacDonald was elected to the executive of the London Trades Council, and in 1896 he became its secretary, a post he held until 1913.
Despite being based in London, he twice stood for Parliament in Dundee as an ILP candidate, failing to win a seat.
[1] He also spent some time on the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress and in 1893 successfully proposed an amendment requiring it to support only those Labour candidates who accepted the principle of collective ownership.
[5] Some reports claimed that Ramsay MacDonald was elected Secretary of the LRC in part because he was confused with James,[6] although Arthur Henderson strongly denied that this was the case.