On February 5th, 2011, after the ending of the court proceedings arising from ‘Tommygate’[1]See:- RCN statement following the Tommy Sheridan Perjury Trial., the SSP held a special meeting in Glasgow to discuss the lessons to be learned from the whole affair. The SSP annual conference, held in Dunfermline in April, also considered aspects of this.…
Terry Liddle, 1948 – 2012, Comrade
We are reposting the following tribute to Terry Liddle by Andrew Coates. A number of RCN members met Terry in a variety of political organisations, and we can agree with Andrew that “Terry’s contribution to the left was outstanding. He was a great bloke. He will be much missed.” Andrew’s tribute was first posted on his own…
The Cooperative – Not So Good For Everyone
On 22 November, a dozen people, including members of benefit claimants’ groups Black Triangle and the Crutch Collective, Clydeside Industrial Workers Of The World, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Glasgow Solidarity Federation as well as other individuals took part in the hour long picket of the Co-Op Bank and supermarket on the same street in central Glasgow.…
Radical Independence Conference
The Radical Independence Conference (http://radicalindependence.org/), being held this Saturday, 24th November in Glasgow, is likely to be the biggest gathering of the Left in Scotland for many years. The RCN has been covering this event since the first open organising meeting in June. We have produced a special issue of our magazine, Emancipation & Liberation,…
Genuine Self-Determination Means Acting As Republicans Now
Allan Armstrong will be introducing the workshop on Republicanism at the Radical Independence Conference in Glasgow on November 24th, along with Neil Davidson of the SWP, Graham McIver of Solidarity, and a speaker from Republic Scotland. He has been asked by the conference organisers to prepare an outline of his talk, so that those attending…
Pro-Choice In The US Needs To Take A Left Turn
Susan Dorazio, Women’s Liberation activist and past-convener of the Women’s Commission of the Socialist Party USA, currently residing in Scotland, highlights the dead-end into which the Democratic Party has taken the once vibrant US Women’s Liberation Movement over abortion rights. Since the U.S. pro-choice and pro-life campaigns spring from the same source, namely the ‘new politics’ and…
The Republican Communist Network (Scotland) What We Stand For – From Theory to Practice
1) Another world is possible – a joyful, creative, new world communism which emancipates us all from oppression and frees us all from exploitation, and which forms a new sustainable relationship between humanity and the environment. Socialism is not the ultimate aim. It can either be a phase on the way to communism or a…
The End Of The Road For The ULA?
The RCN has been chronicling the sectarian actions of the SWP and Socialist Party in breaking up socialist unity in England and Wales (Socialist Alliance) and in Scotland (SSP). It appeared, though, that their sister organisations in Ireland had made a real breakthrough when the United Left Alliance got 5 TDs elected to the Dail…
The Radical Independence Conference – Which Way Forward?
Murdo Richie who runs the blog (http://murdoritchie.blog.co.uk/) argues that the Radical Independence Conference faces a choice of taking one of two political paths – tail-ending the official SNP campaign or developing the best policies for an independent Scotland The Radical Independence Convention can only travel in one of two directions after the Conference of Saturday, November…
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,…