Emancipation & Liberation » Communist Party

May 11 2020

INTERNATIONALISM FROM BELOW, Volume 4, part A

Category: Against Imperialism,Capitalism and Communism,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,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Russia and ex-USSR — RCN @ 2:22 pm

Allan Armstrong is in the process of writing Volume Four of the Internationalism from Below series. This volume is entitled, Communists, nation-states and nationalism during the 1916-21/3 International Revolutionary Wave’.

Due to the Coronavirus lockdown, Allan has not been able to complete the research to finish this. However, the part which deals with the situation in Latvia, Finland and Ukraine, between the February 1917 Revolution and the Treaty of Brest Litovsk in March in 1918, has been finished. This begins with an examination of the role of Social Democrats, including the Leninist wing of the Bolsheviks and the Radical Left in addressing the ‘National Question’. It also outlines the beginnings of a renewed ‘Internationalism from Below’ approach, which was later to develop in Ukraine.

This part of Book Four can be accessed at:-

https://allanarmstrong831930095.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/internationalism-from-below-book-4a-3.pdf

This E&L website will give notice when the full book is available. Continue reading “INTERNATIONALISM FROM BELOW, Volume 4, part A”

Tags: 1871 Paris Commune, 1904-7 International Revolutionary Wave, 1916 Dublln Rising, 1921 Kronstadt Rising, 1943-7 International Revolutionary Wave, 1968-75 International Revolutionary Wave, Austro-Marxists, Author: Allan Armstrong, Bolsheviks, Boris Yeltsin, Collapse of Berlin Wall 1989, Cominform, Communist Party, dissident communism, Far Eastern Republic, February 1917 Revolution, Finland, Five Year Plans, Georgia, global corporations, International Left, Internationalism From Below, Japan, Joseph Stalin, Latvia, Left Opposition, Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Maoism, National Bolshevism, National Question, Nazis, New Economic Policy, Nikita Kruschev, October 1917 Revolution, official Communism, Petropavlosk Resolution, Radical Left, Remove term: 1916-21/3International Revolutionary Wave 1916-21/3 International Revolutionary Wave, Right populism, Rosa Luxemburg, Russia, Soviet Weekly, soviets, Stalinism, Third International, Transcaucasia, Treaty of Brest Litovsk, Trotskyism, Turkestan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, USSR, Uzbekistan, Vladimir Putin, World War Two

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Feb 22 2020

GENERAL ELECTION: PODEMOS COMES TO IRELAND

Category: Against Unionism,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,Ireland,The crisis on the Left,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 10:55 pm

We are posting the following article from Socialist Democracy (Ireland) about the outcome of the Irish general election held on February 8th

GENERAL ELECTION: PODEMOS COMES TO IRELAND

Sinn Fein were expected to do well in the recent Irish general election. In the event they topped the poll, reviving the old call Tiocfaidh ár lá! (Our day will come), and brought chaos to the Irish governmental system.

However if we take a step back we see many other examples across Europe of emergent parties coming to power and promising an end to austerity, only to move to the right – Podemos in Spain, Syriza in Greece and many others. Podemos has come to Ireland, but it is a long road from here to the Worker’s Republic. Continue reading “GENERAL ELECTION: PODEMOS COMES TO IRELAND”

Tags: Author: Socialist Democracy (Ireland), Brandon Lewis, Communist Party, DUP, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Fresh Start, Gerry Carroll MLA, Labour Party, Leo Varadkar, Offences Against the State Act, Paul Murphy, People before Profit, Podemos, Ruth Coppinger, Sinn Fein, Socialist Party, Solidarity, SYRIZA

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Jul 20 2018

CATALONIA: A NATION THROWN FORWARD

Category: Against Unionism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,How they are organised,The EU — RCN @ 9:18 pm

Murdo Ritchie reviews Catalonia Reborn. How Catalonia Took on the Corrupt Spanish State and the Legacy of Franco, Chris Bambery & George Kerevan, Luath Press, 2018.

CATALONIA – A NATION THROWN FORWARD

When exiled Catalan minister Clara Ponsati spoke recently in Edinburgh she had to explain why the Spanish Constitution was not a mechanism of popular protection, but a way of ordering the transition from the Franco dictatorship to a world acceptable to the Spanish elite and international imperialism. The Spanish state promoted the illusion that the referendum and the declaration of independence were against the law and a popularly agreed constitution. Regrettably, the way the so-called democratic transition was manipulated into existence is badly understood outside of Spain. Continue reading “CATALONIA: A NATION THROWN FORWARD”

Tags: Artur Mas, Author: Murdo Richie, Barcelona, Basque Country, Carles Puigdemont, Catalan Generalitat, Catalan language, CatalanEconomic Advisory Council, Catalonia, Catalonia Reborn - How Catalonia Took on the Corrupt Spanish State and the Legacy of Franco, Chris Bambery and George Keravan, Clara Ponsati, Committees for the Defence of the Republic, Communist Party, Covergència i Unió, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, Franco, Girona, Jordi Pujol, Junts pel Sí, Lleida, Manual Fraga, Mario Rajoy, Partido Nacionalista Vasco, Partido Popular, Paul Preston, President Luis Companys, Primo de Rivera, Spain, Spanish Constitutional Court, Statute of Autonomy, Tarragona, Trotsky

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Oct 29 2016

FOR AN INTERNATIONALIST REPUBLICAN POLITICS THAT ADAPTS TO 21st CENTURY TERRAINS OF STRUGGLE

Category: Capitalism and Communism,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,The crisis on the Left,The EU,The global economy,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 9:33 pm

John Tummon of the Republican Socialist Alliance makes a plea for a new international republican politics. For an Internationalist Republican politics that adapts to 21st century terrains of struggle.

John Tummon

FOR AN INTERNATIONALIST REPUBLICAN POLITICS THAT ADAPTS TO 21st CENTURY TERRAINS OF STRUGGLE

The Dalmeny Declaration of 15 October 2016 argued the need for a “new federal, social and secular European republic, with a written constitution and a Bill of Rights based on the democratic principle that economic and political power shall be in the hands of the sovereign people of Europe. The constitution will include the democratic “right of nations to self-determination” including the right to leave”.
Continue reading “FOR AN INTERNATIONALIST REPUBLICAN POLITICS THAT ADAPTS TO 21st CENTURY TERRAINS OF STRUGGLE”

Tags: 'Spirit of 45', 1973 and 1984 Miners Strikes, 2008 Credit Crunch, Aberfan, anti-Fracking, Arab Spring, Author: John Tummon, Bill of Rights, Brazil, CBI, Chartists, China, Cold War, Communist Party, economism, French Revolution, Goldmann Sachs, India, Iraq War, J.P. Morgan, Junior Doctors' Dispute, Left Unity Party, Lucas Aerospace, Marx, Mexico, NCB, NHS, Occupy, Owenism, Peterloo, Respect, scottish independence referendum, struggle against tuition fees, The Dalmeny Declaration, transitional demands, Trotsky, Upper Clyde Shipbuilders

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Jul 16 2016

BREXIT – VIEWS FROM IRELAND

Category: Against Unionism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,For Liberation: Struggles against Oppression,How they are organised,Ireland,The crisis on the Left,The EU,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 10:36 am

We are posting two pieces from Ireland in the aftermath of the UK Brexit vote. The first is by D.R. O’Connor Lysaght, a member of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) written soon after the result was announced. The second is a collective statement from Socialist Democracy (Ireland).

1. BREXIT – THE HANGOVER

The good news is that the British electorate has dealt a major blow to the liberal capitalist consensus that has guide the politics of western (and, from 1991, eastern) Europe since the Second World War. How bad the damage is uncertain, nonetheless Brexit has brought to the surface a crisis comparable to that which destroyed the Soviet Union. The citizens of the country with the second strongest economy in the European Union have voted to leave it. This is a serious vote of no confidence in the status quo.
Continue reading “BREXIT – VIEWS FROM IRELAND”

Tags: Afghanistan, Africa, Anti-Corbynites, Author: D.R.O’Connor Lysaght, Brexit, Communist Party, David Cameron, EU, Eurosceptics, Geert Wilders, Greece, Ireland, Jeremy Corbyn, Jo Cox, Left Labour, Len McCluskey, Margaret Thatcher, Marine Le Pen, Medicins Sans Frontieres, Middle East, Rory Fitzgerald, Sinn Fein, SNP, Socialist Democracy (Ireland), Tony Blair, Tory Party, UKIP, UNITE, United Socialist States of Europe, US

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Feb 14 2015

GREEK VOTERS REIGNITE THE FLAME FOR DEMOCRACY

Category: Against Imperialism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,The EU,The global economy — RCN @ 5:50 pm

Below we are posting an article by Paul Feldman from World to Win on Syriza’s election victory in Greece. This is followed by the leaflet produced by Real Democracy Now (Greece) which was handed out at the Radical Independence Campaign called demonstration at the Scottish Parliament on 14th February.

The stunning victory of the anti-austerity Syriza in the Greek general election deepens the existing political crisis in Europe and throws into sharp relief the reactionary policies of Labour and other mainstream parties in the UK.

This is the first time since the financial crash of 2007-8 and subsequent state bankruptcy of several countries in the European Union, that an electorate has had a clear choice.

Up until now, in Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece itself, all the parties contesting for power pledged to observe the harsh terms for bail-outs. Designed to prevent the euro from collapse, the draconian conditions were imposed by the hated Troika – the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Now the Greeks have voted against the Troika and its supporting parties and for an end to austerity policies that have all but destroyed the country’s economy, health service and education system. Homelessness, starvation and destitution have become a common feature in Greece.

Continue reading “GREEK VOTERS REIGNITE THE FLAME FOR DEMOCRACY”

Tags: Ales Tsipras, Author: Paul Feldman, Bank of England, CDU/CSU, Communist Party, ConDem coalition, Davos, ECB, EU, Greece, Greens, Grexit, IMF, Labour, Mark Carney, Panagiotis, Real Democracy Now (Greece), Saudi Arabia, SYRIZA, Troika, Vladimir Putin, World to Win

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Oct 24 2014

STUC AND ITUC (NORTHERN COMMITTEE) DEMONSTRATIONS ON OCTOBER 18th.

Category: Against Unionism,For Emancipation: Struggles against Exploitation,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Radical Independence Campaign,Scotland,Trade Unionism — RCN @ 5:32 pm

On October 18th the TUC, STUC and ITUC (Northern Committee) held demonstrations to protest against austerity.

Trade Unionists For Independence (East Coast) distributed the leaflet below at the STUC rally, It’s Time to Create A Just Scotland, held in Glasgow on Saturday, October 18th. It was attended by 3500 trade unionists.

Socialist Democracy (Ireland) wrote the second piece about the demonstration in Belfast.

1. AFTER SEPTEMBER 18^th – BRING REAL DEMOCRACY INTO OUR TRADE UNIONS

The campaign for Scottish independence has been the largest movement for popular democracy seen in these islands since the Irish War of Independence. In terms of electoral participation it was unprecedented. Voter registration was 97% and voter turnout was 85%.

We faced the biggest ruling class offensive, backed by the UK state, since the Miners’ Strike. Only this time it brought together a combined Tory/Lib-Dem/Labour Better Together ‘No’ alliance, UKIP, the Orange Order, other Loyalists, British fascists, the BBC, the Pope and the Free Presbyterian Church, and the USA and China!

Continue reading “STUC AND ITUC (NORTHERN COMMITTEE) DEMONSTRATIONS ON OCTOBER 18th.”

Tags: 'Project Fear', Annie McCrae, Another Scotland Is Possible, Apartheid South Africa, Belfast, Belfast Trades Council, Better Together, Brian Campfield, Communist Party, CWU, David Cameron, Educational Institute of Scotland, George Osborne, GMBU, Ian Duncan Smith, Israeli occupation of Palestine, ITUC (Northern Committee), Labour Party, partition, PCS, Radical Independence Campaign, Sectarianism, September 18th Scottish independence referendum, Stormont, Trade Unionists for Independence, UKIP, UNITE, USDAW, Westminster

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Nov 20 2013

THE PARTY WE NEED

Category: Capitalism and Communism,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,The crisis on the Left,What is communism? — RCN @ 6:35 pm

Bob Goupillot (RCN) makes a positive response to the article, The party we need, by Moshe Machover, founder member of the Israeli Socialist organisation, now living in England.

Moshe Machover

I was really heartened to read Moshe Machover’s article The party we need (WW November 7^th 2013) as it succinctly summarises important aspects of our classes experience around political organisation.

Continue reading “THE PARTY WE NEED”

Tags: August H. Nimitz Jr., Author: Bob Goupillot, Author: Moshe Machover, Communist Party, Engels, Marx

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Mar 24 2002

National Workers’ Assembly meeting – a big step forward

Category: Issue 01 — RCN @ 8:11 pm

The following article by Jordi Martorell is from the website of Socialist Appeal. Despite our many political differences with this grouping we thought that the piece was full of useful information concerning recent revolutionary events in Argentina. Of particular importance is the growing ability of the Argentinian working class to find new democratic, organisational forms in order to advance their struggle. Whatever the outcome, and we must do all in our power to ensure that it is a positive one for our class, there are already many lessons to be learnt from this titanic struggle.

On Saturday, February 16, thousands of workers, unemployed and members of the popular assemblies, met in the Plaza de Mayo square in the Argentinean capital Buenos Aires. This was the beginning of the National Assembly of Workers (employed and unemployed). The day after, two thousand elected delegates met at the Avellaneda Colonial Theatre, representing unemployed workers’ organisations from all over the country, but also local trade union branches, groups of workers’ in struggle, neighbourhood popular assemblies, etc.

Continue reading “National Workers’ Assembly meeting – a big step forward”

Tags: AFJP, Author: Jordi Martorell, CCC, CGT, Class Struggle Militant Current, Communist Party, General Confederation of Labour, IMF, International Monetary Fund, MIJDP, MST, MTD, Neuquén Movement of Unemployed Workers, PO, Private Retirement Fund Administrators, PTS, Raúl Castells, Socialist Workers' Movement, SOECN, The Workers' Party, Third National Workers’ Assembly, Union of Ceramic Workers and Employees of Neuquén, Workers' Party for Socialism, Zanón

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