John Tummon of the Republican Socialist Alliance has written a response to The Sun‘s revelations about a photograph from 1933 showing Zeig Heiling royals. This is a slightly edited version. Robert Lacey (aka Lackey), a serial Monarchist apologist, was on Radio 4 on the 20th July arguing that, and I kid you not, because the…
THOUSANDS MARCH IN BELFAST FOR GAY MARRIAGE
The impact last month’s successful gay marriage referendum in the 26 Counties has spilled over into the 6 Counties, with 10,000 attending a demonstration in Belfast. The fact that the ‘South’ can act as a beacon for the ‘North’ highlights the reactionary nature of the local UK state set-up, which is a barrier to progress in these islands. This article…
THE 2015 GENERAL ELECTION AND THE NEXT STEPS FOR REPUBLICAN SOCIALISM
The RCN and Republican Socialists (Scotland) gave their backing to Steve Freeman who stood as a republican socialist and anti-unionist candidate in Bermondsey in the General Election. Here we are posting Steve’s political assessment of the campaign. Introduction This paper will not address the important question of what is ‘Republican Socialism’ beyond identifying…
THE MINT WITH A HOLE – A review of ‘A Nation not a Rabble – The Irish Revolution 1913-23’
D.R.O’Connor Lysaght of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) reviews Diarmid Ferriter’s A Nation and not a Rabble, The Irish Revolution 1913-1923. This was first posted at:- http://socialistdemocracy.org/RecentArticles/RecentReviewDiarmaidFerriterANationAndNotARabble.html THE MINT WITH A HOLE Diarmaid Ferriter’s new book is good on two counts; it is well written and very well researched. The author has trawled very thoroughly the primary sources recently…
SCOTLAND AFTER THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION
Eric Chester (RCN) gives his perspective on Scotland after the Westminster election. The Scottish National Party has become the dominant force in Scottish politics. Already a majority in the Scottish parliament, SNP candidates crushed the Labour Party in the recent elections to Westminster. Yet SNP dominance extends well beyond the electoral arena. Within the trade…
SUPPORT THE STRUGGLE FOR MEANINGFUL SELF-DETERMINATION IN A SCOTTISH DEMOCRATIC AND SECULAR REPUBLIC
At our RCN aggregate held in Dundee on May 23rd, we re-examined our platform for working in the campaign for Scottish self-determination. Some of these issues have already arisen within the Radical Independence Campaign, particularly in RIC-Edinburgh (see http://radicalindyedinburgh.blogspot.co.uk/), the three RIC national conferences, and Trade Unionists for Independence (East Coast) (see http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2014/10/24/after-september-18th-bring-real-democracy-into-our-trade-unions/). Now that there are plans…
‘NONE OF THE ABOVE’ AND ‘ABANDON THE MIND-FORG’D MANACLES’
Jim Slaven of the James Connolly Society in None of the Above calls upon socialists and republicans to have a closer look at the nature and record of the SNP. This was first posted at:- http://107cowgate.com/2015/05/05/none-of-the-above/ Murdo Ritchie (RCN ) in his Abandon the Mind-forg’d Manacles offers an alternative analysis of the rise of the SNP. …
ANTI-UNIONISM AND THE WORKING CLASS IN ENGLAND
As we predicted, the impact of Scotland’s ‘democratic revolution’ has become central to the Westminster General Election (http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2015/03/16/the-left-in-the-uk-the-2015-general-election-campaign-and-the-wider-impact-of-scotlands-democratic-revolution/), and hence to the longer term existence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Socialists in England, standing under the banner of the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition or the Left Unity Party, have largely ignored this issue.…
LIVING THE PEACE PROCESS IN REVERSE
The following extract is taken from an article by Robbie McVeigh, entitled Living the peace process in reverse: racist violence and British nationalism in Northern Ireland, in the current issue of Race & Class (Volume 56, April-June 2015, no. 4). Virtually the whole of the Left has ignored the broader implications of the new pan-unionist…
REPUBLICANISM AND DEMOCRACY
Allan Armstrong (RCN) was invited to speak on Republicanism and Democracy at the Assembly for Democracy event in Glasgow on Saturday, April 11th. He gave an update of the talk at the first Radical Independence Conference in Glasgow in November 2012 (see http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2012/11/15/genuine-self-determination-means-acting-as-republicans-now/) Most of the discussions today we have been having today have…