Cynthia Phinney of Labor Notes (USA) writes on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which she dubs the “NAFTA of the Pacific”. However, we in Europe will also be able to recognise it as the ‘TTIP of the Pacific’. SHOWDOWN NEARS ON FAST TRACKING OF THE BIGGEST FREE TRADE DEAL YET This spring the battle is coming…
DEFINING REPUBLICANISM
John Tummon (Republican Socialist Alliance) responds to Murdo Ritchie’s (RCN) Promoting Republicanism (http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2015/02/24/promoting-republicanism/) Murdo Ritchie’s ‘Promoting Republicanism’ is a very important contribution to something we Republican Socialists need to keep working on until we have a theoretically rigorous and internally-tested critique of the poverty of any socialist analysis that fails to incorporate a full understanding…
THE LEFT IN THE UK, THE 2015 GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN AND THE WIDER IMPACT OF SCOTLAND’S ‘DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION’
After analysing the role of the constitutional nationalists of the SNP, the liberal and conservative unionists amongst the Conservatives, Labour and Lib-Dems and the reactionary unionists led by UKIP, and their attempt to roll back Scotland’s ‘Democratic Revolution’ (http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2015/02/24/british-unionists-and-scottish-nationalists-attempt-to-derail-scotlands-democratic-revolution/), Allan Armstrong (RCN) examines the problematic role of the Left in the UK in challenging this. 1. The UK constitutional issue will be central to…
INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY – MARCH 8th
In recognition of International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8th, we are posting two contributions. The first is the introductory talk on IWD given by Linda Rogers and Cat Grant to the Edinburgh Radical Independence Campaign meeting on March 2nd. The second is a major contribution to the history of women’s suffrage, entitled Finland 1906:…
WATER CHARGES: INDEPENDENT MOBILISATION, NEW STATE REPRESSION
The following article from the Socialist Democracy (Ireland) website addresses the political situation in Ireland after the mass demonstrations against water charges held on January 31st. The mass demonstrations across Ireland on the 31st January show the emergence of a new force in Irish politics. The spontaneous movement on water charges has stood on…
DAVE WILLIAMS – A TRIBUTE
Brian Higgins of the rank and file Building Workers Group sent us this obituary for Dave Williams, a militant building worker and like Brian on the employers’ black list. Recently I received the very sad news that blacklisted bricklayer Dave Williams died in November following a serious illness. Condolences to Dave’s family and…
THE RCN AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR SCOTTISH SELF-DETERMINATION
THE REPUBLICAN COMMUNIST NETWORK, THE RADICAL INDEPENDENCE CAMPAIGN, AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR SCOTTISH SELF-DETERMINATION Contents A) The emergence and clash of Left British unionism and Left Scottish nationalism B) The politics of the Scottish independence referendum campaign C) How the Left responded to the demand for greater national self-determination in Scotland D) Carrying over lessons…
THE RCN’S UPDATED ‘WHAT WE STAND FOR’
Over the RCN weekend away from November 7th-9th 2014 held near Dunfermline and our aggregates held on January 11th in Edinburgh and February 21st, 2015 in Glasgow, we updated our What We Stand For in the light of our recent engagement with the struggle for Scottish self-determination and our ongoing discussions on communism, secularism and…
THE WOBBLIES IN THEIR HEYDAY
Murdo Ritchie reviews a new book by Eric Chester, The Wobblies in their Heyday. The Rise and Destruction of the Industrial Workers of the World During the World War One Era. AN OPEN UNION IN A POLITICAL WORLD Using documents that have been concealed or hidden in plain sight, Eric Chester reveals the repression used…
Emancipation & Liberation, Issue 22, 2013
We are posting a new link to an electronic version of the special issue of Emancipation & Liberation, issue no 22, the RCN produced for the second Radical Independence Campaign conference, held in the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow on November 23rd, 2013. http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2013/11/24/emancipation-liberation-issue-22-winter-2013/ This will provide some basis for assessing the changes, which have occurred…