Editing Scottish National Party (section)

===Foundation and early breakthroughs (1934–1970)===
[[File:Mcewan.jpg|thumb|right|190px|[[Alexander MacEwen]], the first [[leader of the Scottish National Party]] from 1934 to 1936.]]

The SNP was formed in 1934 through the merger of the [[National Party of Scotland]] and the [[Scottish Party]], with the [[James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose|Duke of Montrose]] and [[Cunninghame Graham]] as its first joint presidents.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dinwoodie |first=Robbie |date=7 April 2014 |title=From radicals and Tartan Tories to the party of government |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/wider-political-news/from-radicals-and-tartan-tories-to-the-party-of-government.23890738 |url-status=live |journal=The Herald |location=Glasgow |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518033243/http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/wider-political-news/from-radicals-and-tartan-tories-to-the-party-of-government.23890738 |archive-date=18 May 2015 |access-date=10 July 2019}}</ref> [[Alexander MacEwen]] was its first chairman.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=James |title=Scottish National Party Leaders |last2=Hassan |first2=Gerry |publisher=Biteback |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-7859-0092-1 |location=London}}</ref>

The party was divided on its approach to the [[Second World War]]. [[Douglas Young (classicist)|Professor Douglas Young]], who was SNP leader from 1942 to 1945, campaigned for the Scottish people to refuse [[conscription]] and his activities were popularly vilified as undermining the [[Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II|British war effort]] against the [[Axis powers]]. Young was imprisoned for refusing to be conscripted. The party suffered its first split during this period with John MacCormick leaving the party in 1942, owing to his failure to change the party's policy from supporting all-out independence to [[Devolution in the United Kingdom|Home Rule]] at that year's conference in Glasgow. McCormick went on to form the [[Scottish Covenant Association]], a non-partisan political organisation campaigning for the establishment of a devolved Scottish Assembly.

However, wartime conditions also enabled the SNP's first parliamentary success at the [[1945 Motherwell by-election|Motherwell by-election]] in 1945, but [[Robert McIntyre (politician)|Robert McIntyre]] MP lost the seat at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|general election]] three months later. The 1950s were characterised by similarly low levels of support, and this made it difficult for the party to advance. Indeed, in most general elections they were unable to put up more than a handful of candidates. The 1960s, however, offered more electoral successes, with candidates polling credibly at [[1961 Glasgow Bridgeton by-election|Glasgow Bridgeton]] in 1961, [[1962 West Lothian by-election|West Lothian]] in 1962 and [[1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election|Glasgow Pollok]] in 1967. This foreshadowed [[Winnie Ewing]]'s surprise victory in [[1967 Hamilton by-election|a by-election]] at the previously safe [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] seat of [[Hamilton (UK Parliament constituency)|Hamilton]]. This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of the [[Kilbrandon Commission]].