Scottish Vice-President of a country he never visited

From January 23 to January 31, 1918, the Scottish schoolteacher and politician John Maclean served as the deputy head of state of Russia. He was elected to this position by the Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. Incidentally, at that time, the Russian Communists had not yet established their exclusive rule; the Congress included representatives from numerous other parties alongside the Bolsheviks. Following his brief vice-presidency, John Maclean was appointed consul for the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in Scotland, despite never having visited Russia in his life.

Moreover, he was not even the undisputed leader of the socialist movement in Great Britain. John Maclean was politically active primarily in Scotland and was by no means fixated solely on socialism and communism; he was also a passionate advocate for Scottish independence and solidarity among Celtic peoples. His concept of "Celtic Communism" drew upon Scotland's traditional clan-based social order; he viewed clan society as an authentic, primordial Celtic form of communism. He also campaigned against the First World War, championed the establishment of cooperative enterprises, and fought for the rights of the unemployed.

John Maclean was certainly no typical mainstream leftist. While the biblical wisdom that a prophet is without honor in his own country might be an exaggeration in his case, given that John Maclean, who had become a schoolteacher under the auspices of the (Calvinist) Free Church of Scotland, is indeed respected in Scotland, his significance was nonetheless rated more highly abroad than in his homeland. Vladimir Lenin, for instance, called John Maclean one of the "best-known names of the isolated heroes who have taken upon themselves the arduous role of forerunners of the world revolution."

And so it came to pass that John Maclean was elected to Russia’s second-highest political office for a period of just under two weeks. This was likely an event unique in world history. While there had certainly been instances in the past where a nobleman was appointed to lead a country he had never set foot in, there has never been another case, before or since, of someone being elected to head a modern republic when he was not a citizen, did not speak the language, and had never visited the country in his life.

Despite his status as a former foreign deputy head of state and a diplomat, John Maclean was imprisoned by the British government in April 1918 and was not released until November 1918. The poor conditions of his imprisonment ruined his health. Although he continued his political activities, he died prematurely on November 30, 1923, at the age of 44, from the long-term effects of his imprisonment.

John Maclean in December of 1918 upon his release from prison, Wikimedia Commons