Emancipation & Liberation » Author: Allan Armstrong

Feb 20 2019

THE CONTINUING BREXIT CRISIS

Category: How they are organised,The EU,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 3:10 pm

The National Forum of the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) held on June 30th agreed to take up the issue of a Ratification referendum over Theresa May’s Brexit Proposals (http://radicalindyedinburgh.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-case-for-eu-ratification-referendum.html). A letter advocating this course of action was published in The National on 24.7.19. In his new letter published in The National on Sunday on 17.2.19, Allan Armstrong argues that the time for this has now passed. He advocates a different course of action needed to meet the current political situation.

A ratification referendum could unite those in RIC who supported a Remain vote, and those who supported a Leave vote. The crisis over Brexit has brought about a new situation where Lexiters and Left Remainers have different views of the way to move forward. RIC has continued to organise discussions, where both sides could put their case. Cat Boyd put the case for a new Lexit campaign in her letter to The National on 18.11.19, to which Allan wrote a reply 0n 27.11.19.

(http://radicalindyedinburgh.blogspot.com/2018/12/where-now-for-brexit.html)

Allan’s new letter to the National on Sunday is also written from the perspective of a critical Remainer.

___________

And ALL includes EU residents and 16-18 year olds denied the vote last time

LETTER TO THE NATIONAL ON SUNDAY, 17.2.19

In all the bourach surrounding Brexit at Westminster, no particular alternative commanding majority support has yet come forward. Last year The National published a letter I had written suggesting that Holyrood organise a ratification referendum over Mays’s proposed Brexit deal (24.7.18). The Scottish people have already voted decisively to reject Brexit, so there is no need to re-run the original 2016 Leave/Remain referendum. One of the most important things about a Holyrood organised referendum is that it could have included all those EU residents and 16-18 year olds included in IndyRef1. An additional benefit of a Holyrood run a ratification referendum is that it would have given focus to the Scottish independence campaign at a time when May had put the shutters up on any IndyRef2.

Given the Tories’ continued resort to all the most anti-democratic powers given to the government under the Crown-in-Westminster set-up, it is unlikely that May would then have conceded some separate Scottish deal. Separate deals are only made for those who want to reinforce all the most reactionary aspects of the Union, like the DUP in Northern Ireland. However, it would have forced the smug Scottish Tories to defend their constant Brexit U-turns. But more importantly, by organising a referendum that included those excluded in 2016, this would have shone a spotlight on the profoundly anti-democratic way by which the Right’s Brexit vote victory was achieved. And given that the Cameron government was responsible for agreeing the franchise criteria in both the IndyRrf1 and the EU membership referenda, it would also have shown up the Tories’ hypocrisy.

The time has now run out for any ratification referendum in Scotland, and the possibility of supporting so-called Peoples Vote has attracted SNP MP’s support. To allow a rerun of the original EU referendum is to invite trouble. The people most affected by any Brexit are EU residents and 16-18 year olds. Their voice needs to be heard, as May and Corbyn manouevre to introduce a new gastarbeiter system of labour control in the new Immigration Bill. We have had to fight a series of defensive battles to stop the Home Office deporting people from Scotland. Our most recent success, supported by SNP MPs, has been the case of Iranian born Rezvan Habibimarand and Mozaffar Saberi.

However, instead of mounting a series of rearguard actions to defend people the UK state deems not to be British subjects, we need to start by including EU residents (and 16-18year olds) as part of our people. Therefore, if a People’s Vote proposal is placed before Westminster, it should only be backed by SNP MPs, following an amendment restoring the franchise arrangements made or IndyRef1.

Allan Armstrong, 15.2.19

__________

and for an earlier response written immediately after the Brexit vote see:-

JUNE 24th – THE FUKers’ BLACK FRIDAY OR RED FRIDAY FOR A EUROPEAN DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION?

Tags: Author: Allan Armstrong, Author: Cat Boyd, Brexit ratification referendum, IndyRef1, Left Remainers, Lexiters, May's Brexit Deal, Mozaffar Saberi, Peoples Vote, Radical Independence Campaign, Rezvan Habibimarand, SNP

Comments (0)

Feb 19 2019

FROM BLATCHERISM TO MAYBYNISM

Category: Against Unionism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,For Liberation: Struggles against Oppression,For Self-Determination: Struggles against Alienation,How they are organised,Other Economic Struggles,The crisis on the Left,The EU,The global economy,UK state/British imperialism,US imperialism — RCN @ 10:47 pm

Below is a synopsis of Allan Armstrong’s new pamphlet From Blatcherism to Maybynsism. Chapter 6, Scotland – from ‘Project Hope’ to ‘Project Hate’ – and from ‘Better Together’ to ‘Bitter Together’ can be seen in the bella caledonia blog at:-

https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2019/02/19/from-project-fear-to-project-hate-from-better-together-to-bitter-together/

_______

FROM BLATCHERISM TO MAYBYNISM

THE CONTINUING SHIFT TO THE RIGHT
IN THE TRANSITION FROM
NEO-LIBERALISM TO NATIONAL POPULISM

Allan Armstrong presents a case that the world is leaving the period of neo-liberal domination and entering a period of national populist domination. This is analogous to the earlier move from post-Second World War social democratic domination, which ended in 1979/80. He emphasises the role of the 2008 Crash in dividing the UK and US ruling classes. This had led to the rapid growth of national populist politics in these and other states. The Right’s winning of the Brexit vote and then the election of Trump (‘Brexit, plus, plus, plus’) has performed a similar role in the transition from neo-liberalist domination to national populist domination that the election of Thatcher and Reagan had played in the earlier transition. Continue reading “FROM BLATCHERISM TO MAYBYNISM”

Tags: "Brexit Plus Plus Plus", 'Blatcherism', 'Butskellism', 'Project Fear', 'Project Hate', 'Project Hope', Author: Allan Armstrong, Better Together, Bitter Together, Brexit, Catalunya, China, constitutional nationalism, gastarbeiter labour controls, IndyRef1, Ireland, Jeremy Corbyn, Maybynism, national populism, neo-liberalism, Scotland, Social Democracy, Trump, UK, USA

Comments (1)

Jan 31 2019

CORBYN, LABOUR AND THE TORIES’ IMMIGRATION BILL – A dialogue

Category: Against Unionism,Capitalism and Communism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,Elections,England,How they are organised,Ireland,Scotland,The EU,UK state/British imperialism,Wales — RCN @ 6:21 pm

This is a new dialogue over the consequences of Brexit following the Corbyn-led Labour Party helping Theresa May get the second reading of the Tories’ Immigration Bill through on Wednesday 29th January

see an earlier dialogue at:-

FROM FARAGE’S BREXIT TO TRUMP’S “BREXIT PLUS, PLUS, PLUS”, AND ON TO ‘MADAME FREXIT’?

This dialogue came about in response to a posting Allan Armstrong made on the Republican Socialist Alliance list. It was also taken up by Phil Vellender (Editorial Board of The Chartist) on his Facebook page.

Continue reading “CORBYN, LABOUR AND THE TORIES’ IMMIGRATION BILL – A dialogue”

Tags: 'Resist', Alliance for Workers Liberty, Another Europe Is Possible, Author: Allan Armstrong, Author: Phil Vellender, British road to socialism, Cornyn and Project Truth, Dianne Abbott, DUP, English nationalism, Henry Hyndman, Jeffrey Lever, Jeremy Corbyn, Joe Healey, Karie Murphie, Labour Party, left unity, Len McCluskey, Lexit, Love Corbyn/Hate Brexit, Michael Chessum, National Government, New Statesman, Robert Blatchford, Robert Peston, Seamus Milne, Skwawkbox, soclal unionism, SP, SPS, Sue Sparks, SWP, The Chartist, The Clarion, The Immigration Bill Fiasco shows that Labour's Left-wing principles are on the slide, The Spectator, Theresa May, Tory Immigration Bill 2019, UKIP, Weekly Worker, Windrush

Comments (0)

Aug 01 2018

THE BREXIT RATIFICATION REFERENDUM

Category: How they are organised,The EU,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 10:05 pm

This blog has been covering the case for holding a Brexit Ratification referendum. This was brought up at the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) conference held in Edinburgh in March. The motion below was passed at the RIC AGM held on June 30th. This is followed by a letter by Allan Armstrong which was printed in The National, and another by Steve Freeman, which was printed in Weekly Worker.

The following motion was passed at the RIC AGM on June 30th.

1. This meeting recognises that a majority of the Scottish people voted to remain in the European Union.

2. We condemn the Tories imposing a hard anti-working class ‘all British Exit’ on Scotland.

3. We call on the Scottish government to hold a ratification referendum on the Tory deal.

4. We note that if a majority of the Scottish people vote against the Tory deal this would be a justification to trigger a second Independence referendum. Continue reading “THE BREXIT RATIFICATION REFERENDUM”

Tags: 1976 Common Market referendum, Author: Allan Armstrong, Author: Steve Freeman, Brexit, EU, indyref2, Justine Greening, Nigel Farage, Ratification Referendum, Sally Hunt, Ted Heath, The National, Tories, Weekly Worker

Comments (1)

Jun 22 2018

ALLAN ARMSTRONG REVIEWS ‘THE RED AND THE GREEN’ BY GERARD CAIRNS

Category: Against Unionism,Capitalism and Communism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,Commemorations,Cultural Celebration,Independent class organisations,Our History,SSP and SWP,The crisis on the Left,UK state/British imperialism,What is communism? — RCN @ 12:13 pm

Review of The Red and the Green – Portrait of John Maclean by Gerard Cairns

Gerard Cairns has recently published his informative and challenging new book, The Red and the Green – A Portrait of John Maclean. I have known Gerry since the early 1990s and I would find it hard to call him Gerard, so I will use Gerry for the rest of this review.

The book’s title reveals the two main aspects of Gerry’s assessment of John Maclean. The Red and the Green highlights Gerry’s research into ‘Red’ John and his relationship with the ‘Green’ or Irish community on Clydeside .[1] A Portrait of John Maclean examines Maclean the political activist and family man. It raises questions about how Socialists organise and relate to others, especially their partners and families. When assessing Maclean, Gerry brings his own personal experience to bear. “This has been a very personal portrait of a man I have researched, studied, lectured on, debated for a long time.” [2] Thus Gerry’s book is viewed through the prism of his own life of political activism. Continue reading “ALLAN ARMSTRONG REVIEWS ‘THE RED AND THE GREEN’ BY GERARD CAIRNS”

Tags: 'Forward', 'The Cheviot the Stag and the Black Black Oil, 'The Red Book on Scotland', 1913-4 Dublin Lock Out, 1916 Easter Rising, 40 Hours strike 1919, Alan McCombes, Anti-Poll Tax campaign, Author: Allan Armstrong, Author: Gerry Cairns, Barney Friel, Belfast, Brian Higgins, British road to socialism, British Socialist Party, Catholic Socialist Society, Constance Markiewicz, CPGB, Democratic Revolution, Devolution, Douglas Henderson MP, Dublin, Eddi Reader, Edinburgh, First Irish Republic 1919, First World War, Gaelic language, George Barnes MP, Glasgow, Guth na Bliadhna, Hamish Henderson, Hamish Watt MP, Harry Macshane, Henry Hyndman, High MacDiarmid, Home Rule, Independent Labour Party, IndyRef1, Irish Republican Brotherhood, Irish Volunteers, James Connolly, Jim Larkin, Joe Robinson, John Broom, John MacLean, John Wheatley, Justice, Karl Kautsky, Labour Party, Land Leagues, Lenin, Lieutenant Colonel Cecil L'Estrange Malone MP, Limerick Soviet 1919, Mao-Tse-Tung, Nan Milton, Norman Irons, Peter Petroff, Ray Burnett, Red Clydeside, Republican Faction, Sandy Bells, Scottish Labour Party, Scottish Marxist, Scottish Militant Labour, Scottish Review, Seamus Reader, SNP, Socialist Labour Party, Socialist Workers Party, Star Club, Stephen Coyle, Steve Freeman, Sylvia Pankhurst, T. S. Law, The Call, The Great Unrest, The Red and the Green: A Portrait of John Maclean, Theodore Rothstein, Thurso Berwick, Tom Johnston, Tommy Sheridan, Tony Cliff, Trotsky, UCS Work-In 1972, Waverley Bar Edinburgh, Winnie Ewing

Comments (1)

Nov 07 2017

THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO SET UP A POST-NATIONAL WORLD ORDER

Category: Against Imperialism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,For Liberation: Struggles against Oppression,Russia and ex-USSR — RCN @ 6:10 pm

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 how decisions taken by the Bolsheviks following the timeline of revolution in Russia sometimes had the effect of thwarting the timelines of revolution elsewhere. This had negative consequences for the international revolution.

This contribution is taken from is taken from Volume 4, Internationalism form Below: Communists, Nation-States and Nationalism during the 1916-21 International Revolutionary Wave, by Allan Armstrong.

THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO SET UP A POST-NATIONAL WORLD ORDER

A. DIFFERING TIMELINES OF REVOLUTION

i) April 1916 to March 1921 or ‘October’ 1917 to August 1991?

History records that the key political date of the last century was October 25th, 1917. The consequences of the events, which happened on this day, determined a great deal of world politics for more than seventy years – up until the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Elsewhere, in the Western imperial-dominated world October 25th was marked as November 8th. The last Russian Provisional Government of 1917 was overthrown on this date. Nevertheless, the date became universally characterised as the day the ‘October’ Revolution began. This name stuck despite the fact that the victors, the Bolsheviks, soon changed the Russian calendar from the Old Style (O.S.) used in Tsarist Russia to the New Style (N.S.) used in the rest of the Western world. History also places the location of the key events of this day in Petrograd. This city’s name too has been subject to change, earlier from St. Petersburg to Petrograd, then later to Leningrad, and today back to St. Petersburg. Continue reading “THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO SET UP A POST-NATIONAL WORLD ORDER”

Tags: 'Little Russia', A. Duva, all-Russian Constituent Assembly, Another World Is Possible, Antonov-Ovseenko, Author: Allan Armstrong, Bolsheviks, Borotbists, Brest-Litovsk, Carl Mannerheim, Central Rada, Christian Rakovsky, COMECON, Comintern, Communist (bolshevik) Party of the Ukraine, Council of Peoples Delegates, Courland, Don Cossacks, Donets, Easter Rising 1916, Eduard Kviring, Eduskunta, Eugenie Bosch, Finland, Finnish Social Democratic Party, Finnish Workers Committee, General Murayev, Grigori Pyatakov, Helsinki, Internationalism From Below, Izkolat, Jager Battalion, Jewish Social Democratic Bund, Kaledin, Karl Kautsky, Katerynoslav, Kharkhov, Kiev, Kronstadt Rising 1921, Kryvoy Rog, Latvia, Latvian Riflemens Soviet, Latvian Social Democratic Party, Left Independents, Left Socialist Revolutionaries, Lev Iurkevich, Livland, Mensheviks, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, October Revolution, Odessa, Oskari Tokoi, Otto Kuusinen, Peter Stucka, Petrograd, Pyatakov, Radical Left, Red Army, Red Guards, Riga, Right Socialist Revolutionaries, Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, Schutzcorps, Serhii Mazlakh, Simon Petliura, Soviet of Landless Peasants, Svinhufvud, Taras Shevchenko, Ten Days That Show The World, Ukraine, Ukrainian Communist Party (borotbists), Ukrainian Democratic Agrarian Party, Ukrainian Party of Social Revolutionaries, Ukrainian Party of Socialist Independists, Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Federalists, Ukrainian Social Democratic Labour Party, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Vasyl Shakhrai, Victor Serge, Viipuri (Vyborg), Vitebsk, Vladimir Lenin, Volodymyr Levynsky, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Volynski Regiment, Warsaw Pact, Yakolev Epshtein

Comments (0)

Oct 16 2017

BEFORE AND AFTER NATIONALISM – An historical perspective

Category: Capitalism and Communism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,For Liberation: Struggles against Oppression,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations — RCN @ 4:24 pm

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 repression, shows they do not see the upholding of democracy as important.

Such thinking is widely held by the supporters of Jeremy Corbyn. Some, particularly those in the Marxist sects, sometimes argue that nationalism is an ideological problem which can be overcome with consistent propaganda against nationalism, coupled with prioritising economic and social issues.

The article below, written by Allan Armstrong, looks to the material roots of nationalism, showing that ideological struggle alone will not address the problem. Other articles on this blog have highlighted the importance of the struggle for democracy, including the right of self-determination when opposing the UK state and wider imperialism.

____________

Today, it is often difficult to think outside of a framework of the fetishisation of nationalities, which makes nation-states appear to be the ‘natural order’ of things. However, we can go back to the early days of capitalist development, when nation-states were still far from being the ‘natural order’, and far more people used religious terms to explain and understand the world they lived in. It took several centuries of social and economic change, and of wider social and economic developments, before the one-time, near universal link between religion and the state was broken in enough places to allow constitutionally secular states to emerge. States, which were exclusively linked to a particular religion or denomination, gave way, first to tolerant, and then eventually to secular states. Yet religions still existed and, indeed, proliferated within a new, increasingly secular, public world. Is there a possibility of an analogous development, which could bring about a break in the connection between ethnic group, nation and the state in the future? Continue reading “BEFORE AND AFTER NATIONALISM – An historical perspective”

Tags: 'New World Order', 'One Free Market Under God', Author: Allan Armstrong, balkanisation, established religions, European feudalism, European Union, faith schools, Iraq, nation-state, Nationalism, New Labour, North American Free Trade Agreement, Paisleyism, Roman Catholic Church, Secularism, Tory/DUP coalition, UK state, Zaire

Comments (0)

Aug 17 2017

A CRITIQUE OF JEREMY CORBYN AND BRITISH LEFT SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, Part 3

Category: Capitalism and Communism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Radical Independence Campaign,Russia and ex-USSR,Scotland,The crisis on the Left,The EU,The global economy,UK state/British imperialism,US imperialism,What is communism? — RCN @ 7:30 pm

This is the third part of A Critique of Jeremy Corbyn and British Left Social Democracy, written by Allan Armstrong. The first part can be read at:- http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2017/08/09/a-critique-of-jeremy-corbyn-and-british-left-social-democracy/and the second part can be read at:- http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2017/08/11/a-critique-of-jeremy-corbyn-and-british-left-social-democracy-part-2/

3. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, OFFICIAL AND DISSIDENT COMMUNISM

AND A POLITICS BASED ON EMANCIPATION, LIBERATION AND SELF DETERMINATION

Contents of part 3

a. The limits placed on social democracy during a crisis of global capitalism

b. From revolutionary democratic social democracy to existing state-accommodating reformist social democracy

c. A further shift in the meaning of social democracy; the brief emergence of an alternative revolutionary democratic communism; and the descent to state-backed official communism and dissident communism

d. Social democracy and official communism morph into social neo-liberalism

e. From social liberalism to populism

_______________

a. The limits placed on social democracy during a crisis of global capitalism

i. We are living through a period of unprecedented global crisis – political, economic, social, and cultural. This means that ideas will be tested continuously. A democratic party based on the exploited and oppressed will have people from a whole number of tendencies – communist (as outlined in 2.f.iii), republican socialist, social democratic, movementist, green socialist, socialist feminist, environmental, etc. Continue reading “A CRITIQUE OF JEREMY CORBYN AND BRITISH LEFT SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, Part 3”

Tags: 'America First', 'British road to progress', 'Spirit of 45', 1789-95 International Revolutionary Wave, 1847-9 International Revolutionary Wave, 1871 Paris Commune, 1916-23 International Revolutionary Wave, 1989 Tienamen Square, 2011 Arab Spring, 2011 Hetherington Occupation, Alan Greenspan, Alex Tspiras, Alt-Right, Alternative Economic Strategy, Alvaro Garcia Linera, ANTARSYA, Arron Banks, Attak Bulgaria, Author: Allan Armstrong, BlackRock, Bolivarian Revolution, Boris Yeltsin, Breibart, British road to socialism, British social democracy, Broad Left, capitalism, CGIL, CGT, Chicago Boys, China, Christian socialism, CIA, Citizens Revolution, COMECON, communes, Coors, CPI, CPSU, Crimea, Critique of the Erfurt Programme, Critique of the Gotha Programme, Crown Powers, Czechoslovakia 1968, Democrats, Direct Democracy Now, dissident communism, Donald Trump, ECB, Ecuador, established religion, EU, Eurocommunism, Evo Morales, Fabian Society, Felipe Quispe, freethinking, Freidrich Engels, Front National France, General German Workers Association, Glasnost, Golden Dawn, Golden Dawn Greece, Gordon Brown, Hillary Clinton, Hitler-Stalin Pact 1939-41, House of Lords, Hugo Chavez, Hungary 1956, Independent Labour Party, Indignados, ISRP, Istvan Mezsaros, Jacobins, James Connolly, Jeremy Corbyn, Jobbik Hungary, John Smith, Juan Negrin, Karl Marx, Keynesianism, KKE, KKK, KPD, Kronstadt Rising 1921, Labour & Socialist International, Left populism, Leon Blum, Lib-Labs, Liberal Party, Lloyd George, Make Poverty History, Margaret Thatcher, Max Schachtman, Michael Foot, Mikhail Gorbachev, Model Trade Unions, Monarchy, Naomi Klein, National Rifle Association, Neil Kinnock, neo-liberalism, New Labour, Nigel Farage, Northern League Italy, Occupy, official Communism, Old Labour, Pablo Iglesias, Pamyat, Party-state, Perestroika, Peter Mandelson, Podemos, populism, Profintern, PSOE, Radical Liberals, Rafael Correa, Ray Dalio, Red Brown alliances, Republican Spain 1936-9, Republicanism, Republicans, revolutionary democracy, revolutionary societies, Right populism, Robert Mercer, Roger Douglas, Romania, Rosa Luxemburg, Russian Federation, Second International, Secularism, Social Democracy, social imperialism, social liberalism, social monarchism, social patriotism, SPD, SYRIZA, Theresa May, Third International, Tibet, Tony Benn, Tony Blair, Troika, Trotskyism, Uber, UK state, UKIP, Ukraine, USA, USSR, Venezuela, Vietnam, Vladimir Putin, Warsaw Pact, Xinxiang, Yanis Varoufakis, Yugoslavia

Comments (2)

Aug 11 2017

A CRITIQUE OF JEREMY CORBYN AND BRITISH LEFT SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, Part 2

Category: Russia and ex-USSR,SSP and SWP,The crisis on the Left,The EU,The global economy,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 6:38 pm

This is the second part of A Critique of Jeremy Corbyn and British Left Social Democracy, written by Allan Armstrong. the first part can be read at:- http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2017/08/09/a-critique-of-jeremy-corbyn-and-british-left-social-democracy/

2. EMANCIPATION, LIBERATION AND SELF-DETERMINATION AND INTERNATIONALISM FROM BELOW

IN RESPONSE TO NATIONAL SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, AND OFFICIAL AND DISSIDENT COMMUNIST

INTERNATIONALISM FROM ABOVE

Contents of Part 2

a. Why did Corbynism and Left social democracy appear in the UK?

b. The rise and fall of proto-parties outside Labour

c. To party or not to party, that is the question

d. Autonomous organisations

e. International organisation

f. Labour bureaucracy or dissident communist sects – a false choice

______________

a. Why did Corbynism and Left social democracy appear in the UK?

i. One thing that needs explained is how did Corbynism and Left social democracy make a revival which nobody predicted? If we look to Greece, Spain, Portugal, France and Ireland, we can see well-supported independent Left organisations, which have developed outside the traditional social democratic parties. One answer to this question is the sheer resilience of conservative organisational forms in a state like the UK with such a long and deep-rooted unionist and imperial history. Continue reading “A CRITIQUE OF JEREMY CORBYN AND BRITISH LEFT SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, Part 2”

Tags: 'Spirit of 45', 1938 Transitional Programme, 1939-41 Hitler Stalin Pact, Anti Austerity Alliance, Anti-Globalisation Movement, Anti-Nazi League, Arthur Scargill, Author: Allan Armstrong, Bakunist, Bernie Sanders, Bolsheviks, Communist League, Counterfire, CPGB-PCC, CPSU, Crown Powers, CWI, Donald Trump, E&L, EACL, First International, Forward Wales, George Galloway, Globalise Resistance, GUE-NGL, International Revolutionary Waves, ISG - Scotland, ISN, IST, Jeremy Corbyn, John Marek, La France Insoumise, Labour Alternative, Labour Party, Lassallian, Left Bloc, Left Unity Party, Maoism, Marxist, Marxist-Leninism, Militant, movementism, NILP, Northern Ireland, Paris Commune, Party, People before Profit, PES, Podemos, Radical Independence Campaign, Respect, Right to Work, RISE - Scotland's Left Alliance, RS21, S&D, Scotland, Scottish Socialist Party, SDLP, Second International, SLP, Socialist Alliance, Socialist Democracy (Ireland), Socialist Resistance, Solidarity, SP, SPGB, Stand up to Racism, SYRIZA, Third International, Tommy Sheridan, Trotskyism, TUSC, Unite Against Fascism, USFI, USSR, Wales, WRP

Comments (4)

Aug 09 2017

A CRITIQUE OF JEREMY CORBYN AND BRITISH LEFT SOCIAL DEMOCRACY

Category: Against Unionism,England,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Ireland,Radical Independence Campaign,Scotland,The EU,UK state/British imperialism,Wales — RCN @ 3:32 pm

Socialists are now confronted with the unexpected rise of Jeremy Corbyn and the re-emergence of British Left social democracy. This first part of this article by Allan Armstrong will examine the significance of this and make a critical appraisal of their future prospects in the face of the current global multi-faceted political, economic, social, cultural and environmental crisis.

Contents of Part 1

1. From May 2007 to June 2017 – the SNP rules the social democratic roost in Scotland.

2. The rise of Jeremy Corbyn and British Left social democracy

3. The prospects for Corbyn and British Left social democracy when handling economic and social issues

4. The limitations of Corbyn and British Left social democracy when dealing with matters of state

A. Brexit

B. The National Question

a. Conservative, liberal and unionist attempts to maintain the unity of the UK state since the nineteenth century

b. Corbyn and the National Question in Ireland

c. Corbyn and the National Question in Scotland

d. Corbyn and the National Question in Wales

1. From May 2007 to June 2017 – the SNP rules the social democratic roost in Scotland

i. Following the demise of New Labour and its successor, ‘One Nation’ Labour, the SNP has been the most effective upholder of social democracy in the UK. In 2007, the SNP won 363 council seats; 425 in 2012, and 431 in 2017. In 2007, the SNP won 47 MSPs; 69 in 2011; and 63 in 2016, (still easily the largest party at Holyrood). In 2010, the SNP won 6 MPs; 56 out of 59 in 2015, but fell back to 35 in 2017 (still having the largest number of MPs from Scotland by some way). Continue reading “A CRITIQUE OF JEREMY CORBYN AND BRITISH LEFT SOCIAL DEMOCRACY”

Tags: 'Blatcherism', 'Butskellism', 'Devo-Max', 'One Nation Labour', 'Spirit of 45', 2012 Welfare Reform Act, 2014 and 2016 Immigration Acts, 79 Group, Alex Salmond, Alex Tspiras, Alternative Economic Strategy, Author: Allan Armstrong, AWL, Bernadette McAliskey, Better Together, Brexit, British Left social democracy, British monarchy, Campaign for Socialism, Cardiff Bay, Chuka Umanna, Clive Lewis, Common Programme, conservtive unionism, CPB, CPGB, Crown-in-Westminster, cultural renaissance, David Cameron, Devolution-all-round, Duncan Smith, DUP, Ed Miliband, Emmanuel Macron, Empire2, England, Far Right, Federalism, Francois Mitterand, George Galloway, Good Friday Agreement, Gordon Brown, Grenfell Flats, Holyrood, House of Lords, IndyRef1, indyref2, Ireland, Irish Civil Rights Movement, Irish Republican Movement, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, John Trickett, Kate Hoey, Kezia Dugdale, Kier Starmer, Labour Friends of Israel, Labour Party, language issue, Leanne Wood, Len McCluskey, liberal unionism, loyalists, Mhairi Black, Micael Gove, Militant, Momentum, Neil Findlay MSP, neo-Keynesianism, New Labour, New Unionism, Nicola Sturgeon, Nigel Farage, Norther Ireland, Orange Order, Plaid Cymru, PUP, Radical Independence Campaign, reactionary unionism, Scotland, Scottish Labour Party, SDLP, Seamus Milne, Single Market, Sinn Fein, SNP, Social Chapter, St. Andrews Agreement, Stormont, Stormont Agreement, SWP, SYRIZA, Theresa May, Tommy Sheppard, Tony Benn, Tony Blair, Tory Right, Trident, TUV, UDA, UK state, UKIP, unionist state, UUP, UVF, Vladimir Putin, Wales, Welsh-British, Welsh-Welsh, Westminster

Comments (5)