Emancipation & Liberation, Issue 18, Autumn 2009

Issue 18 of Emancipation & Liberation is out now. If you would like to buy this issue or subscribe, contact us. Comments are open, so until articles are online, feel free to discuss the articles below. When they are online you can discuss the article in it’s comment section. Editorial: Can the SNP deliver Independence?,…

The Need for Socialist Unity

A contribution from Allan Armstrong of the Republican Communist Network. This is immediately followed by a supplement analysing the European election results, which assesses the current balance of political forces in the EU. In Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales the main lesson of the 2009 European elections is clear – we need Socialist unity. In…

SSP Conference Bulletin March 2009

The RCN urges Conference delegates and visitors to apply the following principles when they discuss, debate and vote on this year’s Conference motions. Do they enhance the political independence of our class? Do they promote greater democracy both in our own organisations and in wider society? Do they develop genuine internationalism? Do they oppose British…

Edinburgh People’s Festival: Inspirational and Educational

Colin Fox speaks to Allan Armstrong about the vision and mission of the Edinburgh People’s Festival What made you revive the Edinburgh Peoples Festival after almost 50 years? We didn’t start off with the intention of reviving the Edinburgh Peoples Festival (EPF). At Hamish Henderson’s funeral in 2002, a group of us, including Bill Scott,…

Half truths, mistruths and anything but the truth— a brief history of a century of wartime propaganda

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. —Voltaire The government of the United States had a major problem. It was April 1917, and on the sixth day of that month, eager to get into the First World War, they declared war on Germany. Their big problem was this. Although the…

Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People –What does it stand for?

When the RCN used the image of the bare-breasted Liberty from the iconic Delacroix painting as a front cover for our pamphlet, Republicanism, Socialism and Democracy, this provoked a debate in the SSP. Catriona Grant, leading socialist feminist, and member of SSP Edinburgh no 2 branch contributes to the debate. Why are Liberty’s breasts bared…

Latinos: The US Election And The Immigrant Rights Struggle

Dave Moore, a socialist in the US, reports on what an Obama administration means for immigrants’ rights. This is an updated version of an article Dave wrote for Red Banner. In the spring of 2006, immigrant uprisings swept across the United States, sparked by a vicious bill to criminalize undocumented workers. In city after city,…