First we have Bob Goupillots introduction for speakers: 2.10 Bob Goupillot. I met Allan during the Great Miners Strike but really got to know him during the Poll Tax. Since then Allan and I were in an alphabet soup of organisations including The Red Republicans, the SSP, The Republican Communist Network, the Radical Independence Campaign…
Mary McGregor memorial for Allan Armstrong
Fields of Athenry At Allan’s funeral I was privileged to say a few words about how much Allan meant to so many of us and one thing I mentioned was Allan’s love of music, poetry, song film and all aspects of culture. So much so we enshrined culture as one of the main aspects of…
Iain Robertson memorial for Allan Armstrong
I met Allan through Myra over 40 years ago when I started working at Firrhill High School where Myra was teaching. I was quickly drawn in to the politics of the teachers Rank and File group of which both Myra and Allan were active members. This began a process of political awakening for me and…
Nick Steff memorial for Allan Armstrong
The Republican Communist Network was originally set up in 1999 and Allan was one its primary architects. The aim of the RCN was to bring together 2 key aspects of Allan’s beliefs. Firstly, Internationalism from Below, which involved the RCN joining, on a principled basis, with republican communists from Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. The…
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…
What we have learned up to 2021
1) Another world is possible – a joyful, creative, new world communism which emancipates us all from oppression and frees us all from exploitation, and which forms a new sustainable relationship between humanity and the environment. 2) “The history of all hitherto existing class society is the history of class struggles.” The enforcement of patriarchy…
Announcing the Republican Communist Forum
The Republican Communist Network came together as one of the Platforms in the Scottish Socialist Alliance (SSA), then the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in 1997. Our Network originally consisted of two main groups, the Red Republicans and the Campaign for a Federal Republic, but also included a former member of Peoples Democracy and other comrades.…
Moving On Song
by Ewan McColl with 2 verses added by Eileen Penman (Dec 2005) Born in the middle o’ the afternoon In a horse-drawn wagon on the old A5 The big twelve-wheeler shook my bed You can’t stop here the policeman said Chorus: You’d better get born in some place else Move along, get along, Move along,…
RCN: What We Stand For – From Theory to Practice
1) Another world is possible – a joyful, creative, new world communism which emancipates us all from oppression and frees us all from exploitation, and which forms a new sustainable relationship between humanity and the environment. 2) The history of all hitherto existing class society is the history of class struggles. The enforcement of patriarchy…
Free Steve Kaczynski
Steve Kaczynski has been held in a Turkish prison since April 2nd. He was taken, along with centre workers and the best-selling political band Grup Yorum, in a raid on the Idil Cultural Centre in the Ortaköy district of Istanbul. Steve has not been charged with any offense, has been held in severe isolation, and…