Tommy McKearney reviews Struggle or Starve: Working Class Unity in Belfast’s Outdoor Relief Riots by Sean Mitchell. STRUGGLE OR STARVE: WORKING CLASS UNITY IN BELFAST’S OUTDOOR RELIEF RIOTS Struggle or Starve by Séan Mitchell is an important book that deserves the widest readership among those interested in promoting progressive politics in the North of Ireland. The author…
CATALAN DEFENCE COMMITTEE
THE CATALAN DEFENCE COMMITTEE SCOTLAND was launched on Monday in an effort to broaden the campaign of solidarity with Catalonia following the violent suppression of its independence referendum and subsequent anti-democratic actions by the Spanish state. Modelled on the ‘committees in defence of the referendum’ set up by Catalan activists to protect polling stations…
THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO SET UP A POST-NATIONAL WORLD ORDER
This is the second article on this blog addressing the hundredth anniversary of the October Revolution (see http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2017/10/21/national-liberation-and-bolshevism-reconsidered-a-view-from-the-borderlands/). It suggests that a wider focus should be taken, situating this event in the 1916-21 International Revolutionary Wave. This means and looking carefully at other places, showing how Latvia, Finland and Ukraine contributed to this wave. It looks…
ALL HAIL THE CATALAN REPUBLIC
Below is the text of a leaflet by the Campaign for a European Republican Socialist Party. It will be distributed at the ‘Building Bridges to Independence’ event on Saturday November 4th. It was written before the Spanish government jailed the Catalan government leadership. ALL HAIL THE CATALAN REPUBLIC ‘Building bridges to independence’ must make…
AN IRISH LANGUAGE ACT IS FOR EVERYONE
One of the bones in contention between Sinn Fein and the DUP over the suspended Stormont is the Unionists’ refusal to pass a law recognising the Irish language. The Unionists have used their veto within the post-Good Friday Agreement set-up to ensure that British law does not extend to Stormont. Provision was made by Westminster…
NORTHERN IRELAND UPDATE – THE CONTINUING IMPACT OF REACTIONARY UNIONISM
Northern Ireland is one part of the UK state where the reactionary unionism which has come to dominate politics since the Brexit referendum has a much longer history. The coalescence of the reactionary unionism which underpins the Tory Party and that of the DUP has now taken the shape of a governmental alliance, headed by Teresa May and…
NATIONAL LIBERATION AND BOLSHEVISM RECONSIDERED – A VIEW FROM THE BORDERLANDS
In the run-up to the centenary of the October Revolution in Russia, talks and seminars have been arranged and new books and articles have been published. Some of this work has been done to uphold old orthodoxies, but there has also been more critical work looking at the Russian Revolution in the wider context of…
THE CATALAN REPUBLIC
In the aftermath of the Catalan referendum, Steve Freeman emphasis the republican aspect of the struggle. THE CATALAN REPUBLIC Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, took a cautious line on Catalan independence. She hoped that “dialogue will replace confrontation”. She called for a way forward that “respects the rule of law” and also…
BEFORE AND AFTER NATIONALISM – An historical perspective
With the emergence of Scottish and Catalan self-determination as major political issues, some on the British Left have reacted against what they dismiss as the rise of nationalism. Ironically they usually completely fail to recognise their own Left unionist British nationalism. Their failure to organise any solidarity with Catalans at the receiving end of Spanish state…
SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF CATALUNYA
NATIONAL RALLY on the day of the Referendum SUNDAY 1 OCTOBER 1PM SPANISH CONSULATE, 63, NORTH CASTLE STREET, EDINBURGH EH2 3LJ BRING BANNERS/FLAGS ___________ The ongoing shift to the Right in European politics is highlighted by the attempt by Rajoy’s right wing Popular Party Spanish government to stop the Catalonian independence referendum through…