Allan Armstrong

Allan Armstrong
(February 6th 1949-April 19th 2024)

It is with great sadness that the RCN/RCF acknowledges the death of our great comrade and friend Allan Armstrong.

Allan was a founding member of our organisation and played a pivotal role in working class politics across Scotland and beyond over many decades. In the coming weeks we will print a detailed reflection and celebration of Allan’s positive impact on numerous political campaigns and organisations.

In the meantime we are privileged to print Allan’s own reflections on his life just before he died.

Allan Armstrong
(February 6th 1949-April 19th 2024)

Founder member of Edinburgh RIC and National RIC

In his own words…..

His body made from that shared stardust, common to everything in this universe. His physical remains will pass from a braeside burn to the sea and re-enter the continuing cycle of life.

His mind shaped by experiences, shared with family, friends and comrades, and by past and present experiences and struggles. Loving partner to Myra, loving and proud dad to Caitrin an Eilis, on shared journeys of discovery in a world of stories and music. And now on to a third generation with Aoife, who also seems to be filled with wonder at the world.

From his dad’s side, an Armstrong – the name of Border reivers, Tyneside shipyard workers, Fermanagh farmers and the first man on the moon. From his mum’s side, Handwercks – a local name from Saxony for a particular artisan family; and Smiths – a generic name for artisans across borders before the days of national frontiers.

A seeker of the life well-lived. A ‘child of 68’ and dweller in the ‘republic of the imagination’. A freethinker. A militant and a republican at work and in politics. A Scottish internationalist and communist in the global struggle for human emancipation, liberation and self-determination. An advocate of the ‘internationalism from below’ legacy bequeathed by Eleanor Marx, James Connolly, John Maclean, Mary Brooksbank and Hamish Henderson. A people’s remembrancer and activist in the struggles from below. An admirer of Hamish Henderson and Gwyn A. Williams.

Lived in constant awe of the beauty of the natural world and of those human-made wonders from our greatest cities to those defiant works built in the harshest of environments. An admirer of humanity’s profound ingenuity in the face of formidable natural and social challenges.