This chapter examines the quarterly Gairm which Thomson co-founded and (co-)edited for fifty years, as one of his most influential contributions to the revitalisation of Gaelic in the second half of the twentieth century. It comments on the role of periodicals in the Gaelic revival before the magazine, with special focus on those with a similar outlook. Most of the chapter is devoted to a detailed account of Gairm itself: its foundation and funding arrangements; the gradual transformation of its aims and focus; topics related to Gaelic revitalisation addressed in the editorials; and contributors who provided content for the magazine. It concludes with an overview of Thomson's own writing which appeared in the quarterly and the way these pieces reflect his revivalist preoccupations.

Periodicals in the Gaelic revival

Due to the relative cheapness of production, regularity, collective nature, capacity to promote new writing and ability to quickly respond to contemporary issues, the magazine has been an important tool in the revitalisation of minoritised languages in the nineteenth and especially in the twentieth centuries. Similar examples of revivalist media ventures can be found in Celtic countries other than Scotland. In Wales, Kate Roberts (1891–1985) published the weekly Y Faner as part of the Welsh-language press Gwasg Gee. In the Isle of Man, activist, folklorist and poet Mona Douglas (1898–1987) founded the periodicals Manninagh and The Manxman with similar aims in mind. In Brittany, author and scholar Roparz Hemon (1900–78) ran the periodicals Gwalarn, Sterenn and Arvor, with the aim to prove that high culture could emerge in Breton and which stimulated the production of new literature in the language, representing an interesting parallel, but their appreciation has been overshadowed by the founder's wartime involvement with Nazi Germany.

As McLeod notes, in comparison to other European minority languages, ‘the Gaelic periodical press has been distinctly underdeveloped’, which ‘has had significant consequences for Gaelic language movements in terms of limiting the opportunities for ideological, policy and cultural debates’. In this realm of distinct underdevelopment, several magazines stand out. Donald John MacLeod observes that ‘at the centre of each was one man or a very small nucleus of enthusiasts, usually motivated by nationalistic fervour’ who ‘ran periodicals in which Gaelic was used for discussing the latest intellectual problems and in which the work of experimental writers of fiction was welcomed’.