Eric Chester (RCN) goes beyond the glowing tributes made to Tony Benn after he died earlier this year and takes a critical look his politics. Tony Benn was one of the most popular and respected figures on the Left in Scotland and throughout the UK. His recent death has been followed by many notices that…
Making Plans For Nigel
Allan Armstrong (RCN) examines the situation Socialists face across these islands in the light of the recent European election and the ongoing Scottish independence referendum campaign. A SOCIALIST REPUBLICAN ANALYSIS OF THE STATE OF THE UK AND ‘NEW UNIONISM’ IN THE LIGHT OF THE RISE OF UKIP AND THE FORTHCOMING SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM CONTENTS Introduction…
Labour And Socialist Left Unionism In The Scottish Independence Debate
Allan Armstrong (RCN) prepared a talk for the Conference of Socialist Economists Day School held in the Out of the Blue Centre in Edinburgh on June 21st. The article below incorporates some of the discussion points that were raised. It provides a socialist republican analysis of the British Left and the case for an ‘internationalism…
2 New Pieces On Ukraine
The RCN co-sponsored a tour by Zakhar Popyvych of the Left Opposition in Kyiv to Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow from May 16th-18th (see Ukraine – Caught between East and West). Patricia Kirk (RCN) videoed Zakhar’s talk in Glasgow, whilst John Lanigan (RCN) took a number of photographs. Two of these photographs and the video link…
Just Say Yes? – A Review Of ‘Yes – The radical case for Independence’ by James Foley & Pete Ramand
Murdo Ritche (RCN) reviews Yes- The Radical Case for Scottish Independence by James Foley & Pete Ramand (Pluto Press, 2014). This was first posted on Murdo’s blog (http://murdoritchie.blog.co.uk) and has been slightly changed. JUST SAY YES? The cover and the title of this book summarize the contradictory tensions that flow all through the text. The word…
Miners Of Kryviy Rih Show The Way Forward In Ukraine
SOLIDARITY WITH UKRAINIAN MINERS DEMO FRIDAY 23 MAY, 4:30 pm EVRAZ PLC, 6 ST. ANDREW STREET LONDON EC4A 3AE (TUBE: CHANCERY LANE) The miners of Kryviy Rih, members of the Independent Union of Miners of Ukraine, are appealing for solidarity to the workers of Europe. Whilst attention has been focused on the conflict in Ukraine…
Ukraine – Caught between East and West
The Republican Communist Network is co-sponsoring a series of meetings in Scotland about the current situation in Ukraine. Below we are posting the leaflet that has been circulated at various events. Ukraine is at the brink of war. It is being pulled apart by imperialist forces, from the East, Russian forces and from the West,…
Exploitation, Oppression and Alienation: Emancipation, Liberation and Self-Determination
The RCN has based much of its analysis of capitalism on the notions of exploitation and oppression, to which we counter the ideas of emancipation and liberation – hence the name of our main publication. However, we have been conducting discussions on capitalism’s third prop, alienation, and its antithesis, self-determination, understood in its widest sense. In the article below, by…
May Day Greetings
On this day of international solidarity the Republican Communist Network sends communist greetings to the exploited and oppressed of the world. We believe ‘Another world is possible’ – a joyful, creative, new global commune, which emancipates us all from exploitation and liberates us all from exploitation, and brings about our social and individual self-determination, in a…
What May Day Means In The Ukraine Crisis
In the second article from the RCN’s May Day Special Bulletin, Allan Armstrong (RCN) outlines the significance of current events in Ukraine, the dangers of inter-ethnic conflict allowing imperialist intervention, with the growing threat of inter-imperialist conflict. “Take a neighbour of ours {Germany}. Our relations are very much better than they were a few years…