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…
Republican Socialism And Left Unity
Steve Freeman of the Republican Socialist Alliance in England spoke, along with Bernadette McAliskey and Mary McGregor (RCN) at the ‘break-up of the UK’ session at the Radical Independence Conference on 23rd November in Glasgow. The following week on November 30th in London Steve spoke at the Left Unity Party founding conference putting the case for…
Reactionary Unionism Pushes The Irish ‘Peace Process’ Further To The Sectarian Right
Below are three articles from the Socialist Democracy (Ireland) website highlighting the role of Loyalism and mainstream Ulster Unionism, aided by the UK government in pushing the Good Friday Agreement further to the sectarian right. Underscoring the UK state’s own declining imperial role, Richard Haas, the unofficial US representative has been drawn in to help…
2nd Radical Independence Conference ‘Emancipation & Liberation’ Special
Our Emancipation & Liberation Radical Independence Conference Special will be available at the conference on Saturday, November 23rd. CONTENTS Editorial(also posted below) Scottish Self-Determination: For a Scottish Wannabe Ruling Class or for Scotland’s People? – RCN Why is Venezuela relevant to Scotland’s Radical Independence Movement? – Ewan Robertson Women and Independence –…
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…
US Hands Off Syria!
We are posting this statement from Socialist Action (USA), which takes a principled stance on US intervention in Syria. It also refers indirectly to the UK government’s failure to provide backing for an immediate US-led attack on Syria as part of the “coalition of the idling”. The Barack Obama-led march to yet another “war” suffered an…
Crisis In The Irish Peace Process
John McAnulty of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) highlights the significance of the recent Ulster Unionist challenge to the ‘Peace Process’. “EQUALITY OF THE TWO TRADITIONS” HITS THE ROCKS When a Sinn Fein commemoration march was barred from the small town of Castlederg in August, despite Sinn Fein’s role as junior partner in the local administration. Gerry…
Republican Socialist Alliance
Below is a report of the meeting of the Republican Socialist Alliance held in London on 6th July, written by Steve Freeman. This includes a summary of the address given by Allan Armstrong (RCN) on the political implications of the unionist nature of the UK state. It is followed by the unedited version of this talk.…
An Orgy Of Orange Bigotry And Unionist Hypocrisy
Since the Flag Protests, beginning at the end of last year, there has been a rising tide of Loyalist violence. Sometimes this has been criticised by leading Unionist spokespersons, but in many cases they have encouraged these Loyalist protests behind-the-scenes. This is because they have the same aims – the reassertion of Unionist supremacy and the relegation…
Behind The Unionists’ ‘Project Fear’, The UK State Mask Slips
Allan Armstrong (RCN) analyses two recent developments in the Scottish referendum campaign. The SNP government’s referendum on the future constitutional status of Scotland – ‘Yes’ for ‘Independence-Lite’ (or as Michael Russell terms it ‘Independence within the Union’), or ‘No’ for acceptance of the UK status quo – is still over a year away. However, two events…