Abby, as far as I know it wasn't so much maximum egalitarianism that kept Hamish from publishing the Ballads under his own name, but some problem with the Censor. The collection was brought out by a (fictitious) 'Lili Marlene Club' because an 'open' publication would not have been allowed, and the author's name was given as 'Seumas Mor Maceanruig' (alias Hamish Henderson). So he DID claim authorship - in a roundabout way.

Another reason may have been that he had already published his collection of war poems, 'Elegies for the Dead of Cyrenaika', and didn't want the two publications to be too closely connected in the public mind.