Today we are holding the 4th RIC conference. RIC has been very much a contributor to Scotland’s ‘democratic revolution’, where 97% registered and 85% voted. Despite the ‘No’ result, politics in Scotland have been transformed. However, both the British unionists and the wannabe Scottish ruling class, who have latched on to the SNP, are trying…
The Making And The Breaking Of The UK State
This article by Allan Armstrong (RCN) was posted on this blog on 9.6.12, after being updated from an earlier version originally posted on 30.9.11. That article has become contaminated and so is being reposted. Although the most recent section has been superseded by the Scottish Independence Referendum, it still includes a lot of relevant historical material.…
EMANCIPATION & LIBERATION no. 24
The RCN produces a special issue of Emancipation & Liberation (no. 24) for the launch of RISE – Scotland’s Left alliance on Saturday, August 29th in Glasgow. Below are the first three articles which were specially written for this issue. 1. THE SCOTTISH LEFT PROJECT – COMPLETING SCOTLAND’S DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION Starting a new political organisation,…
TWENTY-SEVENTH DESMOND GREAVES ANNUAL SCHOOL, 11-13th September, 2015
TWENTY-SEVENTH DESMOND GREAVES ANNUAL SCHOOL 2015 A weekend of political thought and discussion Friday to Sunday 11-13 September 2015 The Ireland Institute 27 Pearse Street
THE IMPACT OF REACTIONARY UNIONISM ON UK POLITICS
In the struggle over the future of the UK, the main battle is being conducted between the SNP pushing for a liberal unionist ‘Devo-Max’ agenda (looking for support from a possibly Corbyn-led Labour Party, Plaid Cymru and the Greens) and the conservative unionist alliance led by David Cameron, with the tacit acceptance of ‘One Nation’…
THE RCN AND THE SCOTTISH LEFT PROJECT
THE RCN AND THE SCOTTISH LEFT PROJECT The Republican Communist Network (RCN) affiliated to the Scottish Left Project after our aggregate held in Glasgow on 27th July. This was addressed by Jonathon Shafi. Previous to this, our members had been involved in meetings to bring people together in Edinburgh and Dundee. We have also sent…
WHAT THE FUK? – Fascist UK, Britannia and the Far Right
Gavin Bowd’s book Fascist Scotland, Caledonia and the Far Right has given succour to unionist opponents of Scottish self-determination. Allan Armstrong (RCN) provides a republican and international socialist critique. WHAT THE FUK? Fascist UK, Britannia and the Far Right 1) What is a fascist organisation? Gavin Bowd’s book, Fascist Scotland, Caledonia and the Far…
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…
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.…
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…