WORLD WAR I – THE CATASTROPHIC RESULT OF IMPERIALIST RIVALRIES On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, A Serbian nationalist, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire. This incident sparked World War I, that soon engulfed much of the world and led to the deaths of millions of soldiers, and…
Tony Benn: A man of principle and radical democrat
Bob Goupillot (RCN) provides this tribute to Tony Benn, who died on 14th March. At 7.30 this morning I heard that Tony Benn had died. I first heard him speak in Darlington in the late 1970’s. I was in my early twenties. That speech and subsequent ones plus two of his books; Arguments for Socialism and…
Alex Salmond And The Written Constitution
Murdo Ritchie, a new member of the RCN, writes about the political significance of the issue of a written constitution raised the SNP government’s White Paper. Although the First Minister has abandoned the SNP’s commitments to referenda on a future independent Scotland’s membership of NATO and the European Union as well as continuing the current…
The Ghost Of James Connolly – Book Launch
THE GHOST OF JAMES CONNOLLY James Connolly and Edinburgh’s New Trade Union, Independent Labour and Socialist Movements(1890-96) James Connolly’s role in Irish history is well known and celebrated. However, Connolly also played a prominent part in the ‘New Union’, independent Labour and Socialist movements in Edinburgh. Allan Armstrong, who conducts Radical Walks in the city, has…
2nd Radical Independence Conference – ‘After The UK: The Future Of 4 Nations’
The RCN received the unanimous backing of the Edinburgh branch of RIC to ask the RIC National Steering Committee to organise a session at the second national RIC conference on November 23rd in Glasgow, entitled ‘The break-up of the UK – the case for ‘internationalism from below’’. This was then unanimously agreed by the Steering Committee, subject to…
100th Anniversary Of The Dublin Lockout
Jim Slaven of the James Connolly Society has written the following article on the 100th anniversary of The Dublin Lock-Out. The leadership of the Irish Transport & General Workers Union provided by Jim Larkin and James Connolly in the face of Dublin boss, William Murphy Murphy, stands in marked contrast to that of Len McCluskey…
Radical Lallans Poet: Rab Wilson
Working class voices are often underrepresented in poetry. James Foley of the International Socialist Group interviews Rab Wilson, a pioneering voice in contemporary Scottish poetry, who writes in the Lallans Scots dialect to narrate the working life of miners and rural labourers. Rab Wilson has established himself as one of Scottish poetry’s unique voices. Writing…
David Douglass reviews – Adrian Kerr, ‘Free Derry: protest and resistance’.
Adrian Kerr, Free Derry – protest and resistance, Guildhall Press, 2013, pp. 224, £11.95 From the declaration of ‘Free Derry’ on August 9 1971, when the solidly working class and republican community seized control of their own area of the city of Londonderry, to the time of the Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire in 1994, the…
Terry Liddle, 1948 – 2012, Comrade
We are reposting the following tribute to Terry Liddle by Andrew Coates. A number of RCN members met Terry in a variety of political organisations, and we can agree with Andrew that “Terry’s contribution to the left was outstanding. He was a great bloke. He will be much missed.” Andrew’s tribute was first posted on his own…
Beyond the Saltire and St. Andrew – Flying The Red Flag on John Maclean Day
Allan Armstrong argues that the saltire is not a symbol nor St. Andrews Day a celebration which republican socialists, or indeed anyone committed to a multi-ethnic and multi-faith (and non-faith) Scotland can see as their own. However, he points out that Scottish socialists can still make November 30th their own, whilst flying the red flag.…