 Upon return to the UK, Lygate became active in the Scottish and Irish republican movements.He was also a leading socialist, and in 1967 founded the Workers Party of Scotland, and was a founding member of the John Maclean Society.The WPS claimed to be, "based fundamentally upon the Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels and the subsequent development of Marxism by Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tsetung, Enver Hoxha and John Maclean".