Michael Marra, the acclaimed Dundonian songwriter and singer died on October 23rd in his home city. Here we publish Mary McGregor’s tribute from the forthcoming issue of Emancipation & Liberation, being produced for the forthcoming Radical Independence Conference. This is followed by Hermless,[1]For those less acquainted with the Dundee dialect ‘hermless’ is harmless. Michael Marra’s tongue-in-cheek submission for…
16th Radical Book Fair, Edinburgh, 24th-28th October
This year’s events for the Radical Book Fair (held in the Out of the Blue Centre, in 35, Dalmeny Street (off Leith Walk) between October 24th-28th, are:- RICHARD GOTT, author of Britain’s Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt, opens the 16th Edinburgh Independent Radical Book Fair 24/10/2012 19:00 MIKA MINIO-PALUELLO & JAMES MARRIOTT, authors of The…
Scottish Self-Determination And The ‘Actually Existing’ Labour Movement
A response to the Red Paper Collective’s Power for Scotland’s People – A labour movement view The ‘Independent Scotland Debate’ was organised by the Edinburgh Peoples Festival on September 9th. 86 people attended this well-conducted event in the Out of the Blue Centre in Leith. The speaker supporting independence was Kevin Williamson of bella caledonia,…
The Dundee Street Poet ‘Fightback’
A poetic version of the hard-hitting song by The Cundeez
‘Britain Must Break’ To Defend ‘Real Labour’ or ‘The Break-Up Of The UK’ To Advance Republican Socialism?
Allan Armstrong (RCN) welcomes the new pamphlet Britain Must Break by the International Socialist Group (Scotland) and offers some fraternal criticism. Introduction The Scottish government’s 2014 ‘independence’ referendum has produced a flurry of analysis and activity amongst the Left in Scotland. This has led several Socialist organisations to come together to promote the Radical Independence Conference[1]The…
Shadow Dancer
By the early 1990s it was apparent that the IRA had been militarily defeated by the British. The fantasy that an organisation of a few hundred active members could beat a professional army of tens of thousands backed up a a massive police and intelligence apparatus was laid bare. The resulting demoralisation made it very…
The Olympics And The British Ideology
Jim Slaven of the James Connolly Society looks into the role of the Olympics in buttressing British ideology. So the Olympics are over and it is time to reflect on the significance of London 2012. While the coverage has been extensive, none of it has come close to a brilliant book published before London 2012…
The Angels’ Share
Ken Loach’s latest film is surely one of his best. The affectionate narrative tells the unlikely yet somehow plausible tale of four working class young Glaswegians who become experts in whiskey and who proceed to mount a heroic scam to make their fortune and their escape from lives of poverty and crime. A deft combination…
James Kelman, The British Council And The 2012 Edinburgh Writers’ Conference
This is the talk James Kelman gave to the Edinburgh Festival Book Fringe held in Word Power bookshop on Friday, August 10th. On a recent Sunday the Herald had a twenty page full colour supplement in association with the Scottish Tourist Board. Stories from the land that inspired Disney Pixar’s Brave. That’s us. The land…
For An Independent Scottish Socialist Republic
The Republican Communist Network supports the creation of an independent Scottish Socialist Republic as a significant step towards communism. We look to and would support a Federation of European Socialist States. Our support is for a genuinely independent Republic, not a sham façade that presents a Scottish nationalism that settles for symbols, not substance. A…