Issue 21 of Emancipation & Liberation is out now. If you would like to buy this issue or subscribe, contact us. Comments are open, so until articles are online, feel free to discuss the articles below. When they are online you can discuss the article in it’s comment section. Editorial, RCN For an independent Scottish…
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,…
‘Britain Must Break’ To Defend ‘Real Labour’ or ‘The Break-Up Of The UK’ To Advance Republican Socialism?
Allan Armstrong (RCN) welcomes the new pamphlet Britain Must Break by the International Socialist Group (Scotland) and offers some fraternal criticism. Introduction The Scottish government’s 2014 ‘independence’ referendum has produced a flurry of analysis and activity amongst the Left in Scotland. This has led several Socialist organisations to come together to promote the Radical Independence Conference[1]The…
Shadow Dancer
By the early 1990s it was apparent that the IRA had been militarily defeated by the British. The fantasy that an organisation of a few hundred active members could beat a professional army of tens of thousands backed up a a massive police and intelligence apparatus was laid bare. The resulting demoralisation made it very…
The Angels’ Share
Ken Loach’s latest film is surely one of his best. The affectionate narrative tells the unlikely yet somehow plausible tale of four working class young Glaswegians who become experts in whiskey and who proceed to mount a heroic scam to make their fortune and their escape from lives of poverty and crime. A deft combination…
Review: Onsind – Dissatisfacton
Album available at name your price with a minimum of £0 ONSIND are an acoustic pop punk band from Durham. Their name is in reference to the lack of abortion facilities in some areas of America. I recently attended a gig put on by the Make That a Take DIY (anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-fascist and anti-homophobic)…
Mary McGregor reviews ‘The Last Calendar of Events’ by Jim Aitken
Jim Aitken is a regular contributor to Emancipation & Liberation. He has published several books of poetry. Here Mary McGregor, also a teacher of English, reviews Jim’s Last Calendar of Events, which covers his last year of teaching. “And I gave them ideals and have held on to then still a youthful spirit unbroken.” On…
Gregor Gall – Tommy Sheridan Biography Sources
Emancipation & Liberation is cited a few times in Gregor Gall’s new book Tommy Sheridan: From Hero to Zero? A political biography.. We have pulled together these cited articles in links here for anyone who is using the book for such purposes. Page and note numbers refer to the first edition hardback edition (these may…
Three Reviews Of Allan Armstrong’s ‘From Davitt To Connolly’ (with replies)
Below are three reviews of Allan Armstrong’s book From Davitt to Connolly. The first one, written by Jim Monaghan, appeared in Saothar (the journal of the Irish Labour History Society); the second one, by T.R. appeared in Socialist Voice (the monthly journal of the Communist Party of Ireland) and third is from Ted Crawford, who helps to compile the Marxist…
Red, Orange And Blue
Allan Armstrong gives his personal reflections on The Provisional IRA – From Insurrection to Parliament (by Tommy McKearney, with an Introduction by Paul Stewart). I first met Tommy McKearney in the preparations for the initial Republican Socialist Convention, which was held in Scotland. He was due to pick me up from the Dublin Monaghan bus.…