Part One – the Meaning of the May 5th Elections A good kicking for the Lib-Dems disguises the wider impact of the National Question on May 5th On May 5th, the Lib-Dem-initiated referendum proposal to introduce AV to Westminster elections was massively rejected in every nation and region of the UK, including Northern Ireland. In…
20 Years After the Poll Tax – Lessons for the Anti-Cuts Movement?
The article below was originally written for Red Banner, an Irish socialist magazine for discussion and debate. In its conclusion this article draws some of the key lessons needed to conduct a successful struggle against the cuts today. It is twenty years since Thatcher’s Tory government tried to impose the Poll Tax. Officially termed the Community…
A Reply to James Turley’s ‘Who’s Afraid of George Galloway’?
In Weekly Worker, no. 865, James Turley has attacked those who wrote an Open Letter urging no vote for George Galloway in the Holyrood elections on May 5th. The Open Letter was originally published on the Manchester-based blog, Infantile and disorderly (The Editorial Board of Emancipation & Liberation added its members’ names after the initial…
An examination of the results of the ‘no’ victory
So, the ‘No’ campaign against the Alternative Vote (AV) managed to win decisively in every nation and region of the UK. Even in Scotland, where on paper a ‘Yes’ vote was supported by a confident SNP, sections of the Labour Party, and the Lib-Dems and Greens, the ‘No’ vote won handsomely everywhere, apart from Edinburgh…
The case for Abstention in the AV referendum
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the AV referendum on May 4th will very much play second fiddle to the elections to Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont. Ironically though, it is precisely in these three areas that the outcome of the referendum could be determined. People going to vote in the devolved assembly elections will…
International Resistance To Public Sector Cuts
4 items Resisting public spending cuts, the movement we need, the movement we don’t – Emancipation & Liberation no. 20 editorial Holyrood Cuts – Allan Armstrong Resisting the cuts in Wisconsin – Eric Chester, Susan Dorazio, Jack Gerson, Socialist Party of the USA The 1% Network – John O’Neill, Irish Socialist Network Resisting public spending…
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,…
Two Royal Weddings and…. A Republican Funeral for the UK?
Allan Armstrong argues why we need to build a militant republican movement in the UK 2011 – what they don’t want us to remember 2011 brings the tenth year of the US/UK imperial war in Afghanistan and the third year of the ongoing economic crisis, brought to us initially by the US and British banks…
Two Royal Weddings… and a Republican Funeral for the UK?
Allan Armstrong (RCN) has written an article for the Word Power site (see Two Royal Weddings and… a Republican Funeral for the UK? by Allan Armstrong). He is author of the book, From Davitt to Connolly and co-author of the pamphlet, ‘Republicanism, Socialism and Democracy‘, puts the case for using the opportunity provided by the British…
Trade Unions In The Twenty First Century
Below are two articles. The first is a report of the Third Global Commune event entitled ‘Trade Unions – Are They Fit For Purpose?’. The second is Allan Armstrong’s talk given to the Independent Workers Union conference in Dublin on 4.4.09. on behalf of the SSP’s International Committee. 1. THE THIRD GLOBAL COMMUNE EVENT, 29.1.11…