Emancipation & Liberation

Mar 31 2020

Review of ‘Quines’ by Jim Aitken

Category: Cultural Celebration,For Self-Determination: Struggles against Alienation,Reviews — RCN @ 1:02 pm

We are posting this review by one of our contributors, Jim Aitken, of Quines, Poems in tribute to the women of Scotland, written by Gerda Stevenson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerda_Stevenson). This review was first posted by Culture Matters. Accompanying illustrations of textiles are by artists from EDGE: Textile Artists Scotland.

A FEARLESS GAZE OF HOPE – ‘QUINES’

The second edition of Gerda Stevenson’s Quines came out with some fanfare as it was launched to coincide with International Women’s Day. The launch at the Central Library in Edinburgh was also accompanied by a unique exhibition in honour of some of the poems in the book by EDGE: Textile Artists Scotland. Continue reading “Review of ‘Quines’ by Jim Aitken”

Tags: 1915 Rent Strike, 1926 General Strike, 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 2016 EU referendum, Anne Widdicombe, Author: Gerda Stevenson, Author: Jim Aitken, Cecil Rhodes, Christabel Pankhurst, Constance Markiewicz, Eliza Junor, Elsie Inglis, Fanny Wright, Helen Crawfurd, Homer, Jacob Rees-Mogg, James Connolly, Joan Eardley, John MacLean, Kantha Sari Heirloom, Laura Manieri, Mary Barbour, Mary Beard, Mary Queen of Scots, Mary Seton, Moira E. Dickson, Nan Shepherd, Nessie, Penelope, Quines, Robert Burns, Seamus Heaney, Simone de Beauvoir, Sue Fraser, Telemachus, Tessa Ransford, Tom Devine, Walter Scott

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Mar 14 2020

THE LABOUR LEFT ALLIANCE AND ROYAL SOCIALISM

Category: Against Unionism,England,How they are organised,Ireland,Scotland,The Socialist Republican Break-up of the UK,UK state/British imperialism,Wales — RCN @ 5:49 pm

This letter by Steve Freeman is a reponse to a report by Stan Keable in Weekly Worker about the post-December 12th general election conference of section of the Labour Left, who have become disillusioned with Momentum, John Lansman’s Corbyn fan club. Yet, as this letter shows the Labour Left Alliance retains the weaknesses of Corbyn, his allies and Momentum when it comes to the existing UK state.

THE LABOUR LEFT ALLIANCE AND ROYAL SOCIALISM

As reported by Stan Keable in ‘A vision of royal socialism’ (Weekly Worker, February 27), the Labour Left Alliance conference was a significant event in the evolution of the Labour Left, which was revitalised by the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2015. Stan reports that 130 delegates at the conference represented about 36 local and national Labour Left groups. Continue reading “THE LABOUR LEFT ALLIANCE AND ROYAL SOCIALISM”

Tags: 'royal socialism', 'soclal monarchism', 2016 EU referendum, British Labour Party, British Left Unionism, Chris Williamson, Frederick Engels, Ireland, James Connolly, Jeremy Corbyn, John Lansman, John MacLean, Karl Marx, Labour Left Alliance, Lenin, London LLA, Momentum, Scotland, Tony Blair, Wales

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Jul 16 2019

BRIAN HIGGINS – A PERSONAL AND POLITICAL TRIBUTE

Category: Against Imperialism,Against Unionism,Capitalism and Communism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,For Self-Determination: Struggles against Alienation,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Ireland,Radical Independence Campaign,Scotland,The EU,The Socialist Republican Break-up of the UK,Trade Unionism,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 4:25 pm

Communist, Republican, Trade Union Militant,

Scottish Internationalist, Glasgow Bear

9th February 1941 – 2nd June 2019

__________

BRIAN HIGGINS

A PERSONAL AND POLITICAL TRIBUTE

Brian made a big impression upon whomever he met. Nigel Jeffrey, who encountered him on the picket line during the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike wrote, “Brian Higgins stands out because he was 6′ 6″ plus… He was a big lad as broad as he was tall… There must have been half a dozen police went for this Brian Higgins and snatched him… He was shoving them off left, right and centre.” [1] Continue reading “BRIAN HIGGINS – A PERSONAL AND POLITICAL TRIBUTE”

Tags: 1972 Building Workers Strike, 1984-5 Miners Strike, Alberto Durango, Allan Armstrong, Author: Dave Douglass, Authors: David Smith and Phil Chamberlain, Bill Morris - TGWU, Blacklist Defence Group, Blacklisted, Brexit, Brian Higgins, Building Worker Group, Consulting Association, Derek Simpson - TGWU, Des Warren, Dominic Hehir, en McCluskey - UNITE, From Davitt to Connolly, George Howell - First International, Gerard Coyne - UNITE, Hand Report, Helen Jackson, Hugh Scanlon, Ian Allinson, Ian Allinson - Grassroots Left, Independent Workers Union, Jack Jones - TGWU, James Connolly, Jeremy Corbyn, Jerry Swain, John Jones, John MacLean, Justice for Cleaners Campaign, Kenny Irvine, Laings Lock Out Committee, Lindsey Refinery Dispute, Liverpool dockers, Nigel Jeffrey, Oil Industry Liaison Committee, Peter Cassels, Radical Independence Campaign, Rank and File or Broad Left? A Short History of the Building Worker Group, Republican Faction, Scottish Rank & File Teachers, Scottish Republican Forum, SWP 'Downturn Theory', TGWU, The Dirty Thirty - Heroes of the Miners' Strike, The Key to My Cell, The Secret War Between Big Business and Union, Tim Roache - GMB, Tommy McKearney, Tony Cliff, Trade Unions - Are They Fit for Purpose?, UCATT, UNITE

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Jul 25 2018

STILL TALKING ABOUT JOHN MACLEAN

Category: Commemorations,Our History,Reviews — RCN @ 4:29 pm

Gerry Cairns replies to Allan Armstrong’s review of his book, The Red and the Green – A Portrait of John MacLean (http://republicancommunist.org/blog/2018/06/22/allan-armstrong-reviews-the-red-and-the-green-by-gerard-cairns/)

STILL TALKING ABOUT JOHN MACLEAN

Replying

Reviews and reviewers can vary. In reply to a new book or a new film the reviewer has different motives – be they professional, journalistic or political/polemical. When I read Allan Armstrong’s review of my own book, The Red and the Green – A Portrait of John MacLean, it felt like a different kind of review. It was personal but certainly not in the way one would expect. It was refreshingly personal. It was not in any way, shape or form a personal attack as you would usually associate with “personal” in that sense. It was, however, a personal reflection of the man whom my book is about and who has inspired Allan throughout his adult political life. It also prompted a personal reflection of Allan’s political journey and it is important that this started Allan’s review. Continue reading “STILL TALKING ABOUT JOHN MACLEAN”

Tags: 1919 Paris Peace Conference, agnosticism, Alan McCombes, All Hail, Allan Armstrong, Author: Gerry Cairns, Barney Friel, Bill Johnston, Brian Quail, Calvinism, Catholicism, Covenanters, CPGB, Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, Free Presbyterianism, IRA, Janet Cameron, Jim Young, Joe Robinson, John Ford, John Knox, John MacLean, John Maclean Society, John MacLean: Clydeside Socialist, Justice, Karl Kautsky, liberation, Militant, Nan Milton, Pollokshaws’ Progressive Union, Ruaraidh Erskine of Mar, Scottish Socialist Voice, Scottish Workers Republic, SNP, SRSM, SRSP, Stevie Coyle, SWP, The Irish Tragedy: Scotland's Disgrace, The Red and the Green: A Portrait of John Maclean, the Scottish Workers Republic, Tommy Sheridan

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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

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May 10 2018

JOHN MACLEAN – SPEECH FROM THE DOCK, 9th May 1918

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,How they are organised,Independent class organisations,UK state/British imperialism,US imperialism — RCN @ 9:15 pm

It is the centenary of John Maclean’s Speech from the Dock on 9th May 1918. Emancipation & Liberation are commemorating the occasion by posting it this famous speech.

SPEECH FROM THE DOCK

John Maclean making his Speech from the Dock in Edinburgh on the 9th May, 1918

It has been said that they cannot fathom my motive. For the full period of my active life I have been a teacher of economics to the working classes, and my contention has always been that capitalism is rotten to its foundations, and must give place to a new society. I had a lecture, the principal heading of which was “Thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not kill”, and I pointed out that as a consequence of the robbery that goes on in all civilised countries today, our respective countries have had to keep armies, and that inevitably our armies must clash together. On that and on other grounds, I consider capitalism the most infamous, bloody and evil system that mankind has ever witnessed. My language is regarded as extravagant language, but the events of the past four years have proved my contention. Continue reading “JOHN MACLEAN – SPEECH FROM THE DOCK, 9th May 1918”

Tags: 'ca canny', 'Speech from the Dock', Arabia, ASE, Austria, Beardmores, Bolsheviks, Brest-Litovsk, Britain, Corn Production Act, Daily Record, David Kirkwood, Defence of the Realm Act, Dutch Guiana, Entente Cordiale, First World War, France, General Gough, Germany, Glasgow Herald, Harmsworh, Ireland, Italy, Japan, John MacLean, King Edward VII, Lenin, Lloyd George, Man Power Bill, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Parkhead Forge, Peterhead Prison, Professor Usher, Rothermeres, Russia, Sir Edward Carson, Trotsky, Ukraine, USA, Vladivostok, Weirs of Cathcart, Woodrow Wilson

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Feb 25 2018

THE RED AND THE GREEN: A PORTRAIT OF JOHN MACLEAN

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,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Ireland,Political Campaigns,Scotland,The Socialist Republican Break-up of the UK,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 10:16 pm

Gerry Cairns has published a new book, The Red and the Green: A Portrait of John Maclean. This makes use of new material relating to Maclean’s relationship with the struggle in Ireland. Stevie Coyle posted the following review on Facebook, and there is an edited version in February’s Irish Voice. Hopefully this informative review will be just the first review to address the issues that Gerry has raised.

THE RED AND THE GREEN: A PORTRAIT OF JOHN MACLEAN

Members of the Irish community were among those present at the launch of Gerard Cairn’s biography of John Maclean titled The Red and the Green: A Portrait of John Maclean.

The event – organised by Glasgow’s radical bookshop Calton Books and held in McChuills Bar – saw the author demonstrate a passion for his subject and gave an intriguing insight into Maclean the man and the revolutionary, which he interspersed with humour. Continue reading “THE RED AND THE GREEN: A PORTRAIT OF JOHN MACLEAN”

Tags: 'Speech from the Dock', Agnes Maclean, Author: Gerry Cairns, Author: Stevie Coyle, Barney Friel, Calton Books, Calvinism, Captain Robert De Coueur, Defence of the Realm Act, First World War, Hands off Ireland, Irish Citizen Army, Irish Post, Irish Republican Army, James Connolly, Joe Robinson, John MacLean, John Maclean Society, Marxism, Peterhead Prison, Pollokshaws, Ruaraidh Erskine of Mar, Scots National League, Scottish workers Republican Party, Soviet Consul in Glasgow, The Irish Tragedy: Scotland's Disgrace, The Red and the Green: A Portrait of John Maclean

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Dec 02 2016

ST. ANDREWS DAY OR JOHN MACLEAN DAY?

Category: Against Imperialism,Against Unionism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,Commemorations,Cultural Celebration,For Self-Determination: Struggles against Alienation,How we organise,Ideology and Religion: Science and Secularism,Independent class organisations,Ireland,Scotland,The Socialist Republican Break-up of the UK — RCN @ 6:50 pm

The Irish Workers’ Republican Starry Plough does not have an equivalent accepted by the working class in Scotland

Today is St. Andrews Day. It is not yet a full-blown public holiday, although there is some partial observance. The following article was written by Allan Armstrong for the Lothian SSP bulletin in November 2007. It is even more relevant today, when Scottish nationalists try to subsume all of us under the saltire.
Continue reading “ST. ANDREWS DAY OR JOHN MACLEAN DAY?”

Tags: 1603 Union of Crowns, 1707 and 1801 Union of Parliaments, Author: Allan Armstrong, Butchers Apron, Irish tricolour, John MacLean, Republicanism, Secularism, St Patrick cross, St. Andrew saltire, St. Andrews Day, St. George cross, Starry Plough, Union Jack

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Apr 07 2016

THE CENTENARY OF THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

Category: Against Imperialism,Against Unionism,Capitalism and Communism,Combined struggles for Emancipation, Liberation and National Self-Determination,Commemorations,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,Ireland,Russia and ex-USSR,The EU,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 4:46 pm

As part of our celebration the 1916 Easter Rising, we are posting two new articles. The first is by Allan Armstrong (RCN), and addresses Lenin’s response to in his Irish Rebellion of 1916 (which is also posted). The second comes from the latest issue of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) and looks at the situation in Ireland today, 100 years after the Rising.

1. LENIN AND THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916

The Dublin GPO during the 1916 Rising, painted by Robert Ballagh

In the midst of the First World War, following the Dublin 1916 Easter Rising, Lenin returned to the issue of national self-determination. He had already addressed this at the beginning of the year in The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination. Immediately before the Rising, he had also gone on to write The Discussion on Self-Determination Summed Up.
Continue reading “THE CENTENARY OF THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1916”

Tags: Author: Allan Armstrong, Berner Tagwacht, British troops, CPGB, ECB, Finland, First World War, Free Belgium, Fresh Start, Henry Hyndman, ILP, IMF, Imperialism and annexations, Ireland, Irish Citizen Army, Irish Dail, Irish Rebellion of 1916, James Connolly, John MacLean, Karl Kautsky, language and assimilation, Lenin, NAMA, Nashe Slovo, national self-determination, partition, Poland, Rech, Russian Revolution, Second International, social democrats, Socialist Democracy (Ireland), Stormont, The breakup of the UK and British Empire road to socialism, The British road to socialism, The First Irish Republic, The Language Movement, Troika, UK, Ukraine, USSR, UVF, Zimmerwald Left

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Nov 30 2015

JOHN MACLEAN COMMEMORATION DAY

Category: Against Unionism,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,Ireland,Scotland,UK state/British imperialism — RCN @ 3:45 pm

On November 30th, 1923, John Maclean, the great Scottish socialist, died, after two decades of committed struggle. Eric Chester (RCN) has written the following piece, which is a contribution to today’s celebration of John Maclean’s life.

JOHN MACLEAN – 1879 – 1923

Glasgow has a proud tradition of radical politics, one that is particularly important to remember when the government is promoting jingoistic celebrations of World War I centenaries. During the four years of that devastating conflict, the Glasgow working class engaged in a series of mass actions to protest the war and the profiteering that accompanied it.
Continue reading “JOHN MACLEAN COMMEMORATION DAY”

Tags: Author: Eric Chester, British Socialist Party, Glasgow Green, John MacLean, May Day 1918, STUC, World War I

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