Emancipation & Liberation

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

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)

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

Comments (1)

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

Comments (2)

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

Comments (1)

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

Comments (2)

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

Comments (1)

Aug 12 2015

THE RCN AND THE SCOTTISH LEFT PROJECT

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,How we organise,Radical Independence Campaign,Scotland,The crisis on the Left,The Socialist Republican Break-up of the UK,What is communism? — RCN @ 11:45 am

THE RCN AND THE SCOTTISH LEFT PROJECT

The Republican Communist Network (RCN) affiliated to the Scottish Left Project after our aggregate held in Glasgow on 27th July. This was addressed by Jonathon Shafi. Previous to this, our members had been involved in meetings to bring people together in Edinburgh and Dundee. We have also sent delegates to the SLP national forums in Glasgow to prepare for the launch of the new organisation [1].

The RCN was formed originally as a platform within the Scottish Socialist Alliance in 1998. We continued as a platform within the Scottish Socialist Party until January 2012 [2]. We became involved in the setting up of the Radical Independence Campaign affiliating at its first conference in Glasgow in November 2012 [3].
Continue reading “THE RCN AND THE SCOTTISH LEFT PROJECT”

Tags: Author: Allan Armstrong, Eleanor Marx, Emancipation & Liberation, Freedom Come All Ye, Immediate Programme, James Connolly, John MacLean, Jonathon Shafi, Mary Brooksbank, Radical Independence Campaign, Republican Communist Network, Scottish Left Project, Scottish Socialist Party, What We Stand For

Comments (2)

Aug 05 2015

WHAT THE FUK? – Fascist UK, Britannia and the Far Right

Gavin Bowd’s book Fascist Scotland, Caledonia and the Far Right has given succour to unionist opponents of Scottish self-determination. Allan Armstrong (RCN) provides a republican and international socialist critique.

WHAT THE FUK?

Fascist UK, Britannia and the Far Right

1) What is a fascist organisation?

Gavin Bowd’s book, Fascist Scotland, Caledonia and the Far Right, contains a lot of useful material about far right writings, culture and organisation in Scotland since the 1920s. However, Bowd does not define what he means by fascism, nor distinguish it from other forms of reactionary or right populist politics. These often invoke similar chauvinist, ethnic or racist themes. The purpose behind Bowd’s lack of clarity over the political basis of fascism only emerges gradually.
Continue reading “WHAT THE FUK? – Fascist UK, Britannia and the Far Right”

Tags: 'One Nation Labour', 'Red Duchess' of Atholl, 'War on Terror', 1320 Club, 1913 Third Irish Home Rule Bill, 1919 Amritsar Massacre, 1919 Spartacus Rising, 1920 Iraqi war, 1936-9 Palestinian Rising, 1944 Kirkcaldy by-election, 1945 General Election, 1945 Motherwell by-election, 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Alex Salmond, Alexander Ratcliffe, Alexander Sloan, Anders Breivik, anti-Catholic Irish sentiment, Anti-Semitism, Archie Lamont, Arthur Donaldson, Auschwitz, Author: Allan Armstrong, Axmed Abuukar Sheek, Babi Yar, Black and Tans, Boleslaw Beirut, Bowd, Braveheart, Brian Hosie, British concentration camps in South Africa, British fascists, British National Party, British Union of Fascists, Britishness, Captain Archibald Maud Ramsay, Charles Forrester, City of London, civic nationalism, Clann Albainn, Common Wealth Party, Communist Parties, Communist Party of South Africa, conservatives, CPGB, David Camerson, Dr. Robert McIntyre, Duke of Hamilton, Emrys Hughes, Ernest Bevin, ethnic nationalism, Eu referendum, Fascism, Fascist Scotland Caledonia and the Far Right, Francis Glancy, Franco, Freikorps, FS, Fullerton's Billy Boys, Gavin Bowd, George Galloway, Gordon Brown, Greek Resistance, Greens, Guernica bombing, Hamish Henderson, Harry Miller, Hector Smith, Henri de Man, Hitler, Hitler-Stalin Pact, Hugh Dalton, Hugh MacDiarmid, Ian Smart, Independent Labour Party, Irish Citizen Army, Irish war of Independence, Islamophobia, Jason Campbell, John Cormack, John MacCormick, John MacLean, John Strachey, John Taylor, Josef Stalin, Karl Radek, King Edward VIII, King George V, Kormack's Kaledonian Klan, Kristallnacht, Labour Party, Leo Schlageter, Lewis Spence, Lib-Dems, Loyalism, Mark Scott, Marshal Badoglio, Mussolini, Naqba, National Bolshevism, National Front, National Party of Scotland, Nazi Germany, Neville Chamberlain, New Economic Policy, New Labour, New Party, Oliver Brown, Oswald Mosley, Plaid Cymru, Popular Front, Protestant Action, Red Army, Red Paper Collective, Red/Brown pacts, Rical Inependence Campaign, Roland Muirhead, Scottish Democratic Fascist Party, Scottish internationalism, Scottish Neutrality League, Scottish Protestant League, Scottish Socialist Party, Scottish Unionism, Scottish Watch, Settler Watch, Shutzbund, SNP, Social Democratic Parties, Soil nan Gaidheal, Spanish Republicans, Terence Reilly, Third International, Third Period politics, Timothy McVeigh, Tom Johnston, Tony Blair, Ulster Volunteer Force, Unionism, Vidkun Quisling, William Power, William Weir Gilmour, Winston Churchill

Comments (4)

May 11 2015

‘NONE OF THE ABOVE’ AND ‘ABANDON THE MIND-FORG’D MANACLES’

Category: Against Imperialism,Against Unionism,England,How they are organised,How we organise,Independent class organisations,Ireland,Latin America and Caribbean,Scotland,The crisis on the Left,UK state/British imperialism,US imperialism,Wales — RCN @ 1:52 pm

Jim Slaven of the James Connolly Society in None of the Above calls upon socialists and republicans to have a closer look at the nature and record of the SNP. This was first posted at:- http://107cowgate.com/2015/05/05/none-of-the-above/

Murdo Ritchie (RCN ) in his Abandon the Mind-forg’d Manacles offers an alternative analysis of the rise of the SNP.

1. NONE OF THE ABOVE

None of the above? This is the question I’ve been asking myself for the last few weeks. Or perhaps more accurately for the last few years. Having never been a member of a political party, I’m what pollsters call a floating voter. Granted, as someone who has been a political activist for nearly 30 years, I might not be the stereotypical floating voter but nonetheless I have no tribal loyalty to any political party.
Continue reading “‘NONE OF THE ABOVE’ AND ‘ABANDON THE MIND-FORG’D MANACLES’”

Tags: Arthur Scargill, Author: Jim Slaven, Author: Murdo Ritchie, Bermondsey Socialist Republican, Betty Battenberg, Caribbean, Central America, Coulport, DUP, Faslane, Grenada, Ireland, James Connolly, Jean Paul Sartre, John MacLean, Karl Marx, Laffer Curve, Left, Lenin, NATO, New Labour, Northern Ireland, Offensive Behaviour Act, Orange Order, Republic, Ronald Reagan, Sandinistas, Scottish Labour Party, single Scottish police force, SNP, Steve Freeman, The Cause of Labour, Tony Blair, Trident, Wales

Comments (1)