Joe Conroy appraises Erich Fromm’s 1955 work. This article first appeared in Red Banner Issue 39 The United States in 1955 would hardly seem a propitious time or place for condemning capitalist society outright and advocating an entirely different way of living. With millions buying into the consumer society and no end in sight to…
The Only Boss I Ever Liked
Rod MacGregor follows Bruce Springsteen’s political development through his music Now I been lookin’ for a job but it’s hard to find Down here there’s just winners and losers And don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line —Atlantic City, Bruce Springsteen It was nearly three decades ago, in May 1981, that I…
Remembering Charlie Rees
Militant Trade Unionist, Republican, Communist, Artist and Poet RCN members recently heard of the death of our comrade Charlie Rees. Charlie, together with his partner Deidre McCartin, was one of the founding members of the Scottish Socialist Party. He had been an active socialist in the south of England, but also remembered his family’s Welsh…
The Sheridan Perjury Trial
Allan Armstrong highlights some of the lessons to be learned from the Sheridan saga The split on the Scottish Left between celebrity populist and genuine socialist politics On May 1st, 2003 six Scottish Socialist Party members were elected to Holyrood. From January 26th, 2011, by far the best-known (former) member of the SSP, Tommy Sheridan,…
Irish elections: Revenge, but not yet resistance
by Kevin Keating and John McAnulty, Socialist Democracy (Ireland) In the run-up to the Irish election of 25th February a number of key issues arose. The major issue was the imposition of four years of renewed austerity overseen by the intervention of the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. The second issue was the…
The 1% Network
Dan Finn of the Irish Socialist Network shows how socialist groups in Ireland are coming together to fight the cuts agenda of the Irish ruling class Ireland is undergoing neo-liberal shock therapy as a result of the Government decision to guarantee the debts run up by speculators in our hyper-inflated housing market that went down…
An appeal from the International Federation of Iraq Refugees
The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees needs your support for the demonstrations and the movement for freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan. The people of Kurdistan have launched a movement for freedom, justice, jobs and services, and against political corruption. They organised civil demonstrations against the authorities of Kurdistan Regional Government and the two ruling parties, the…
Egypt’s Uprising: Not Just a Question of ‘Transition’
Adam Hanieh examines the revolutionary process in Egypt and looks at the broader implications for the Middle East. This article first appeared on the Monthly Review website The events of the last weeks are one of those historical moments where the lessons of many decades can be telescoped into a few brief moments and seemingly…
Claiming Feminism
Susan Dorazio, a native of Detroit, Michigan, is a retired child care worker and past-convener of the Women’s Commission of the Socialist Party USA. She is a member of the Glasgow North East branch of the Scottish Socialist Party. For at least the past 100 years, socialists in Europe and the United States have debated…
Welsh Referendum
The referendum, which took place on March 3rd, on whether or not to provide law-making powers to the National Assembly in Cardiff has gone by with hardly a murmur on the British or Scottish Left. The ‘Yes’ result represented an advance for liberal unionism over conservative unionism. It has also confirmed an ongoing tendency to…