He devoted his spare time to wrestling until an injury force him to quit the sport, and in 1906 he decided instead to focus on trade unionism.
[1] However, he worked with Bell and Jim Gardner to unionise workers in smaller Scottish foundries; a three-week unofficial strike achieved this end, and he sat on a committee representing shop stewards.
[1] The Red Clydeside movement heated up again in 1919, when McBain was present at the Battle of George Square and received a head injury.
He found his way to other David Kirkwood and Willie Gallacher, two former leaders of the Clyde Workers Committee who had also been injured, and convinced them to address the crowd, to encourage them to move to Glasgow Green.
Unfortunately for him, this led to him losing his job, and although he was a founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), initially his involvement was in organising other unemployed workers.