Small, as he was generally known, undertook a legal apprenticeship, but then in 1903 followed in his father's footsteps by becoming an agent of the Lanarkshire Miners' County Union (LMCU).
[4] Small also became active in the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), and during the 1900s was secretary of its Lanarkshire District Council.
[2] The following year, he won election as the union's assistant general secretary, then in 1921 he was elected to the executive committee of the National Union of Scottish Mineworkers.
In 1922 he was elected as general secretary of the Lanarkshire Miners on a permanent basis.
[6] Now seen as being on the right-wing of the movement, dissatisfaction with his leadership during the 1926 UK general strike meant that in 1927 he lost a bid for re-election to William Allan, a communist influenced by John Maclean.