{"id":1391,"date":"2010-02-26T19:17:30","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T19:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=1391"},"modified":"2021-03-04T18:58:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T18:58:42","slug":"report-of-the-second-republican-socialist-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2010\/02\/26\/report-of-the-second-republican-socialist-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"Report Of The Second Republican Socialist Convention, 13.2.10"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Below is the\u00a0report of the 2nd Republican Socialist Convention. This was hosted by the Socialist Alliance London on 13.2.10. Both Colin Fox and Allan Armstrong spoke for the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>. The report is followed by Allan&#8217;s contribution. This produced a response from Nick Rogers of the CPGB-WW which is also posted along with Allan&#8217;s reply.<\/h2>\n<h2>1. Report Of The Second Republican Socialist Convention<\/h2>\n<p>The second Republican Socialist Convention was organised by the Socialist Alliance<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1391_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1391_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1391_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">The Socialist Alliance is the small organisation still left in England after the defection first of the Socialist Party\u00a0and then the Socialist Workers Party.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1391_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> in London on February 13<sup>th<\/sup>. In its initial conception it was ambitious. With a General Election looming in the UK, the organisers attempted to bring together figures from the Left who might be offering an election challenge this year.\u00a0Those invited included Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT and someone from the Socialist Party, both involved in the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition\u00a0<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1391_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_2');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1391_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_2');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_2\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[2]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1391_1_2\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">TUSC is the latest Left electoral grouping formed after last year\u2019s short-lived No2EU\/Yes2Democracy electoral alliance.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1391_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> Robert Griffiths from the Communist Party of Britain (and formerly of No2EU), Peter Tatchell of the Green Left, and Colin Fox, co-Spokesperson for the Scottish Socialist Party (as well as Tony Benn, now seen as somewhat of a \u2018national treasure\u2019 by the British Left). They were all to be asked how they saw the relevance of campaigning on political or democratic issues, especially the demand for a republic.\u00a0The series of apologies given, some undoubtedly genuine, whilst others more probably sectarian in motivation, highlighted the over-ambitious aims held by the organisers.<\/p>\n<p>The Convention Chair, Steve Freeman, introduced Peter Tatchell as a \u2018republican in spirit\u2019. He made a useful contribution to start the debate. Peter outlined his proposed ten points for the republican reform of the British constitution. As with most of the British Left, the \u2018Six Counties\u2019 was missing from Peter\u2019s contribution. He did think, though, that a federal Britain could solve the National Question in England, Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n<p>There was a formalism about the republican principles Peter advocated. This was because Peter had not analysed the real nature of the British unionist and imperialist state we were up against, and the anti-democratic Crown Powers it had its disposal to crush any serious opposition. Nor did Peter outline where the social and political forces existed to bring about his new republic. In particular, he did not really consider the role of republican challenges to the UK state, emanating from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Unfortunately, Peter had to leave for another meeting, whilst time for further discussion was curtailed, so Colin Fox was then left to put the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s socialist republican case in somewhat of a vacuum.<\/p>\n<p>Colin pointed out how the MP\u2019s expenses scandal has shown how unrepresentative they have become. James Connolly reminded those who aspire to represent working people \u2018Rise with your class not out of it\u2019. Some 650 MP\u2019s or \u2018representatives\u2019 are elected to Parliament. So why are they so unrepresentative? It has been subverted by the neo-liberal consensus. Being an MP has become a career not a cause. Parliament is full of lawyers, businessmen, bankers, accountants and lecturers and that\u2019s just the Labour side!<\/p>\n<p>In 2005, the Queen opened her new \u00a3440m Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood in Edinburgh. The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> MSP\u2019s decided not just to boycott the event, but to organise an alternative. The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> gave its support to the Declaration of Calton Hill. Socialist republicanism is at the heart of the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n<p>The Convention then moved quickly on to the last morning session, introduced by Mehdi Kia (co-editor of the <em>Middle East Bulletin<\/em>). Medhi provided an overview of the events in Iran over the last 8 months. Initially he addressed some of the myths surrounding the recent presidential election and provided reasons for rejecting them. These included suggestions that the election was not fraudulent, that the protestors are mainly middle class, that this is another \u201cvelvet\u201d revolution orchestrated by the US, that it is led by the reformists, and that the Iranian regime is in some way anti-imperialistic.<\/p>\n<p>He went on to point out that the protestors come from a variety of backgrounds, the slogans are continuously changing and becoming more radicalised, the movement is in its very essence democratic and anti-imperialist, and within it is a growing secular republican movement (rejecting the Islamic republic) with increasingly radical slogans. He concluded that under the immense repression of the regime the tactic of street demonstrations has only limited potential and unless the various movements (women, youth, nationalities and workers) co-ordinate more effectively and adopt different tactics the movement will not succeed in its more radical aims.<\/p>\n<p>The afternoon session was meant to introduce the perspective of \u2018Internationalism from Below\u2019 \u2013 England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales \u2013 which had united the contributors\u00a0to the first Republican Socialist Convention held in Edinburgh on the 29<sup>th<\/sup> November, 2008. The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> International Committee had to apply some pressure for this issue to be taken seriously by the London organisers. They accepted, given the prevalence of Left British Unionism in England, that a debate was indeed needed between representatives of this tradition and speakers from both Left Nationalist and \u2018Internationalism from Below\u2019 viewpoints. A mixture of the shortness of time, the lack of non-English contacts held by the Left in London, and various apologies limited the scope for this debate on the day.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Steve Freeman spoke about whether there was a National Question in England, beginning by considering the flags and anthems at the 1966 world cup, the Scotland-England rugby match in 1990 and the Euro football in 1996 when the flag of St George became prominent. The National Question involves issues of political institutions (parliaments etc) and identity. Whilst the National Question was recognised for Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Left had not examined the related situation in England.<\/p>\n<p>Steve considered that a British nation had been created after 1707 through the wars with France in the 18th century. He saw the UK as one nation and four tribes \u2013 the British-English, British-Irish, British-Scots and British-Welsh. Now the political institutions and the identity of the British English were being questioned. There was no British-English National Question in the past but now there were signs of an emerging crisis of politics and identity. From this a new English politics and identity could emerge. How should the Left relate to this?<\/p>\n<p>Allan Armstrong, from the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s International Committee (and a member of the party\u2019s Republican Communist Network platform), then outlined some of the lessons socialist republicans could learn from the decades long republican struggle against the UK state in Ireland. He pointed out that there was now a National Movement in Scotland that is wider than the SNP. Indeed the SNP, like its equivalent parties in Quebec, Catalunya and Euskadi, is increasingly settling for\u00a0Devolution-Max, and pushing the interests of local business within the existing corporate imperialist order.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the British, American and EU ruling classes are united against any move towards Scottish independence. This is why any movement to win Scottish self-determination must be republican from the start. It must be prepared, in advance, to confront the Crown Powers that will be inevitably utilised against us. Because genuine and democratic Scottish independence represents such a challenge to British imperialism and the UK state, we need allies in England, Ireland and Wales too. We need to be committed to a strategy of \u2018internationalism from below\u2019. We are socialist republicans and link our political demands with social and economic campaigns. This was the course advocated by two great socialist republicans born in Scotland \u2013 James Connolly and John Maclean.<\/p>\n<p>This session prompted the most debate, which has now continued on the RCN<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1391_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_3');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1391_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_3');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_3\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1391_1_3\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\"><a href=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2010\/04\/26\/a-reply-to-nick-roger%E2%80%99s-workers-unity-not-separatism\/\">A Reply to Nick Roger\u2019s Workers Unity not Separatism<\/a><\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1391_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> and <em>The Commune<\/em><span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1391_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_4');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1391_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_4');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_4\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">[4]<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1391_1_4\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\"><a href=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/25\/the-communist-case-for-internationalism-from-below\/\">The Communist Case for Internationalism from Below<\/a><\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1391_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });<\/script> websites, and in the pages of the very Left Unionist, <cite>Weekly Worker<\/cite>. It was a pity that enough time wasn\u2019t given to air this debate more thoroughly on the day.<\/p>\n<p>The last session was a bit of a damp squib, since the SA had obviously seen it as an opportunity to get the same sort of unity around demands over democratic issues in the forthcoming General Election, that the Left can sometimes achieve (on paper anyhow!) over economic issues. Instead it was left to Colin Fox for the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> and Joseph Healey, for the Green Left, to outline the nature of their parties\u2019 proposed electoral campaigns. The absence of the other Left forces contesting the election meant the SA\u2019s aims could not be achieved in this respect.<\/p>\n<p>It was good to have a Republican Socialist Convention organised in England. It was traditional Left in its mode of organisation (platform and audience), even when there were only about 20 present, but everybody who contributed did so in a constructive manner\u00a0\u2013 yes, including those from the \u2018Brit Left\u2019!\u00a0I feel that more could have been gained though if the Convention had concentrated on the debate between Left Unionism, Left Nationalism and \u2018Internationalism from Below\u2019. Maybe the next time!<\/p>\n<p>Allan Armstrong (member of <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> International Committee)<\/p>\n<h2>2. The contribution by Allan Armstrong (<acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> International Committee)<\/h2>\n<p>Allan Armstrong\u00a0welcomed the participation of the veteran campaigner, Peter Tatchell, a \u2018republican in spirit\u2019, to the Republican Socialist Convention. However, there was a formalism about the republican principles Peter advocated. This was because Peter had not analysed the real nature of the British unionist and imperialist state we were up against, and the anti-democratic Crown Powers it had its disposal to crush any serious opposition. Nor did Peter outline where the social and political forces existed to bring about his new republic.<\/p>\n<p>Back in the late 1960s, socialists (e.g. Desmond Greaves of the <acronym title=\"Communist Party\">CP<\/acronym> and those involved in Peoples Democracy) had been to the forefront of the campaign for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland \u2013 equal access to housing and jobs, and a reformed Stormont. The particular Unionist\/Loyalist nature of this local statelet, and its relationship with the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state, was largely ignored or downplayed, in an otherwise militant and vibrant campaign. Every repressive institution used by the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state is prefixed by \u2018royal\u2019, e.g. the <acronym title=\"Royal Ulster Constabulary\">RUC<\/acronym>, \u2018her majesty\u2019s, e.g. the prisons, whilst \u2018loyalists\u2019 is the name given to those prepared to undertake the more unsavoury tasks the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state doesn\u2019t want to own up to in public.<\/p>\n<p>Socialists paid a high price for this negligence, when 14 people were gunned down in Derry by British paratroopers on January 30th, 1972. The socialist republicanism, which should have informed the struggle had been absent, and the Civil Rights Movement gave way to the combined physical force and later political republicanism of the Provisionals. When Irish socialist republicanism did emerge, the leadership of the struggle had already largely passed to others.<\/p>\n<p>Some of those earlier socialists, such as Bernadette Devlin\/McAliskey, recognised the need for a new socialist republican approach. However, the Provisionals were adroitly able to widen their political base, and keep genuine socialist republicanism marginalised by a resort to populism, through addressing some social and economic issues. Now that the Provisional leadership has made its deal with the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state, under the Good Friday and St. Andrews Agreements, these populist social and economic policies are being jettisoned.<\/p>\n<p>There is a strong lesson in this for socialists in Scotland and the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> today. Scotland, with its valuable oil resources, and key British military bases, is far more central to British ruling class interests, than Northern Ireland was in the 1960s. There is a growing National Movement in Scotland. Many supporters link the idea of an independent Scotland to an anti-imperialist vision (opposition to participation in British wars and to <acronym title=\"North Atlantic Treaty Organisation\">NATO<\/acronym>) and to defence of social provision in the face of ongoing privatisation. This National Movement is wider than the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>. Meanwhile, the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> is taking the road of parties like Catalan Convergence, PNV (Euskadi) and Parti Quebecois. Its leadership is seeking a privileged role for the Scottish business within the existing corporate imperialist order. The <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> is tied both to the \u2018Scottish\u2019 banks and to cowboy capitalists like Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>\u2019s election manifesto pledged support for an \u2018independence referendum\u2019 to address the issue of Scottish self-determination. Although, the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> leadership has been in full retreat over this issue, it will not go away, since there is a wider National Movement, and the probable election of the Tories at Westminster will once more raise the political stakes.<\/p>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> has no way of achieving Scottish independence. It is too tied to Scottish business interests, which want no more than increased powers for themselves \u2013 Devolution-Max. Recently, Salmond has come out in favour of the British monarchy. What this means is that the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> accepts that any future referendum will be played by Westminster rules.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1979 Scottish devolution referendum, when the British ruling class was split over the best strategy to maintain their Union, the non-political Queen was wheeled out to make an anti-nationalist Christmas speech, civil servants were told to bury inconvenient documents, mock military exercises were launched against putative nationalist forces, whilst the intelligence services conducted agent provocateur work on the nationalist fringe. Compared to the role of the British state against Irish republicans, this was small beer. However, given the timid constitutionalism of the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>, a further resort to Crown Powers was not needed at this time.<br \/>\nFurthermore, the taming of the once much more militant Provisional Republican Movement, so that it now acts as key partner in British rule in Ireland, shows that the British ruling class has little to fear in the ever-so constitutionalist\u00a0<acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the British, American and <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> ruling classes are united against any move towards Scottish independence, so will be even more determined in their opposition than in 1979. This is why any movement to win Scottish self-determination must be republican from the start. It must be prepared, in advance, to confront the Crown Powers that will be inevitably utilised against us. Because genuine and democratic Scottish independence represents such a challenge to British imperialism and the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state, we need allies in England, Ireland and Wales too. We need to be committed to a strategy of \u2018internationalism from below\u2019. We are socialist republicans and link our political demands with social and economic campaigns. This was the course advocated by two great Scottish socialist republicans \u2013 James Connolly and John Maclean. This is why the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> is in London today seeking wider support.<\/p>\n<p>__________<\/p>\n<h2>3. A reply to Allan Armstrong&#8217;s arguments from Nick Rogers, CPGB, Weekly Worker, no. 805, 18.02.10<\/h2>\n<p>Allan Armstrong of the Republican Communist Network and the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> turned to the national question in Scotland. He thought Peter Tatchell\u2019s rather <q>abstract<\/q> republicanism was exactly what was not needed.<br \/>\nThe Scottish National Party had shown that it was prepared to play the parliamentary game to prove that it did not pose a disruptive challenge to the corporate status quo. It was now in favour of retaining the monarchy &#8211; not even offering a referendum to the Scottish people on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>A Scottish republic, on the other hand, would ditch the monarchy, throw out <acronym title=\"United States of America\">USA<\/acronym> and British military bases, and reverse the cuts and privatisation. The British state would use all the resources at its disposal to resist the loss of North Sea oil and the Trident bases. Scottish republicanism was a strategy to strike a blow against the imperialist <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state, break the link with the US and <q>build internationalism from below<\/q>.<\/p>\n<p>Toby Abse declared he took a <q>Luxemburgist<\/q> position on the national question. Far from believing the break-up of existing national states to be progressive, he thought the creation of a European state would provide better opportunities for socialists.<\/p>\n<p>I said\u2026 we should encourage a class-based identity that encompassed migrants and the working class internationally.<\/p>\n<p>However, in Scotland and Wales there clearly was a strong sense of national identity and national questions existed. The demand for a federal republic was the way to relate to the question, both in England and in Scotland and Wales.<\/p>\n<p>The English must make clear that they had no wish to retain either nation within a broader state against the will of their people, but neither would they force them to separate. As for socialists in Scotland, comrade Armstrong\u2019s argument hardly provided a ringing endorsement of the case for independence, since it would be precisely the conciliatory <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym> that would lead moves to split Scotland from Britain, making every attempt in the process to avoid rocking the establishment boat.<\/p>\n<p>The strongest possible challenge to the British state was to be made by the working class across Britain &#8211; and preferably across Europe, raising the demand for a European republic.<\/p>\n<p>David Broder and Chris Ford of Commune spoke after me and expressed support for the <acronym title=\"Republican Communist Network\">RCN<\/acronym>\u2019s <q>internationalism from below<\/q> and the perspective of breaking up the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym>. Comrade Broder did not see why unity with Europeans was more important than, say, with Bolivia, where British multinationals were just as involved as in many European countries.<\/p>\n<p>Comrade Ford spoke about the opportunities the national question created for socialists. The break-up of the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> would strike a blow against a major imperialist state. For his part, comrade Healey thought that the break-up of the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> was as inevitable as the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire.<\/p>\n<p>Time was now fast running out and in a short reply comrade Armstrong commended the arguments of the Commune comrades, while telling comrade Abse and me that our arguments were typical of the \u201cBrit left\u201d, without actually replying to them\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Comrades Colin Fox (<acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> Co-convenor) and Allan Armstrong attended as representatives of the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s international committee. Treating England as a foreign country is bad working class politics and fails to recognise the reality of the British state.<\/p>\n<p>________<\/p>\n<h2>4. A reply to Nick Rogers from Allan Armstrong, 24.02.10<\/h2>\n<p>As Nick points out in his reply, I believe his comments are <q>indeed typical of the \u2018Brit Left\u2019<\/q>. The reason I didn\u2019t reply to him at the second Republican Socialist Convention, but stated that Chris Ford and David Broder of <em>the commune<\/em> had made some of the points I would have used, was that I wasn\u2019t given the time.<\/p>\n<p>The preference of the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> International Committee would have been for the second Republican Socialist Convention to have devoted far more time to the discussion of the relationship between the National Question and Republican Socialism.<\/p>\n<p>The non-attendance of many from the British Left, invited by Steve Freeman of the Socialist Alliance (Convention organiser), still did not create anything like enough time for this debate. The first session contributions by Peter Tatchell and Colin Fox usefully highlighted the debate between bourgeois and socialist republicanism, whilst Mehdi Kia (Middle East Left Forum and <acronym title=\"Hands Off the People of Iran\">HOPI<\/acronym>) was most informative about the current situation in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>However, personally, I thought the last session could have been sacrificed in order to enable the broader discussion on the National Question to be aired. The ignorance and lack of comprehension of much of the British Left over this issue needs to be addressed.<\/p>\n<p>If, as I had hoped, there were also to be speakers from Ireland and Wales, then time for discussion would have been even more curtailed. Neither Dan Finn of the Irish Socialist Network, nor Marc Jones of <span lang=\"cy\">Plaid Cymru\/<cite>Celyn<\/cite><\/span> were able to make it. I thought that any republican socialists in England would have made contacts amongst the quite extensive Irish republican and socialist republican community in London, but this turned out not to be the case. I then suggested to Steve that Ann McShane (Ireland) and Bob Davies (Wales), both of the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym>, be invited instead to fill the gap and enable the debate between Left Unionism and Internationalism from Below to be more fully aired.<\/p>\n<p>So, let\u2019s examine Nick\u2019s points. I\u2019ll start at the end of his contribution. <q>Treating England as a foreign country is bad working class politics and fails to recognise the reality of the British state.<\/q><\/p>\n<p>The first point I would make is that Nick must hardly have been listening. The whole thrust of my contribution (see above), taking on Peter Tatchell\u2019s <q>abstract<\/q> republicanism, was exactly to highlight the imperial and unionist nature of the British state, and the formidable anti-democratic powers the British ruling class has under the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym>\u2019s Crown Powers.<\/p>\n<p>Nick, somewhat revealingly, talks of me <q>treating England as a foreign country<\/q>. Now England certainly is another country. This is even recognised under the terms of the Union \u2013 which recognizes England, Scotland, Wales and part of Ireland (officially Northern Ireland, but colloquially and wrongly, Ulster) as separate entities. However, I have never used the word <q>foreign<\/q> to describe England. Is that how Nick describes Ireland, France, or any other country in the world? There are some words and phrases, such as <q>social dumping<\/q> and <q>foreign<\/q> which I think form part of the language of hostile nationalist forces and should be rejected in socialist discourse.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym> takes some pride in the solidarity work of <acronym title=\"Hands Off the People of Iran\">HOPI<\/acronym>, a united front organisation it initiated. Do <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym> members consider Iranian socialists to be <q>foreign<\/q>? Does the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym> secretly think that joint work can not be effective because British and Iranian socialists don\u2019t live in the same state? Nick invokes a mythical international unity provided by the British Left. However, a great deal of the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym>\u2019s work has been trying to combat the opposition of the largest \u2018Brit Left\u2019 organisation, the <acronym title=\"Socialist Workers Party\">SWP<\/acronym>, to <acronym title=\"Hands Off the People of Iran\">HOPI<\/acronym>. The largest socialist organisation in Scotland, the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>, voted to support <acronym title=\"Hands Off the People of Iran\">HOPI<\/acronym> at its 2008 Conference.<\/p>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> is more than willing to go to meetings in England, Wales and Ireland, organised by others, to argue the case for united action across these islands. Internationalism from below is a hallmark of how the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> tries to organise. Our International Committee organised the first Republican Socialist Convention in Edinburgh, with socialists from all four nations. The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> has subsequently sent speakers to both England and Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever reservations we may have had about the limited time for discussion of the National Question, Socialist Republicanism and Internationalism from Below, provided by Steve at this Convention, we engaged fully, providing two platform speakers and another three members in the audience.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s now look at the second largest \u2018Brit Left\u2019 organization, which was invited to participate, the Socialist Party. I will quote Nick\u2019s explanation for their failure to turn up at a meeting with representatives of the largest socialist organisation in Scotland. <q>Quite possibly <acronym title=\"Socialist Party of England and Wales\">SPEW<\/acronym> deliberately avoided a potentially embarrassing meeting.<\/q> Embarrassing for who? Certainly not the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>.<\/p>\n<p>Nick also says, <q>We should encourage a class-based identity that encompassed migrants and the working class internationally.<\/q> So how does the British Left, which Nick champions, match up to this? Last year we saw the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> electoral challenge by the Left British chauvinist \u2018<acronym title=\"No to European Union, Yes to Democracy\">No2EU\/Yes2D<\/acronym>\u2019 campaign (with its notorious opposition to \u2018social dumping\u2019), bureaucratically cobbled together by trade union officials, the <acronym title=\"Socialist Party of England and Wales\">SPEW<\/acronym> and <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Britain\">CPB<\/acronym>. It also had the somewhat incongruous Left Scottish nationalist bolt-on provided by Solidarity (although to their credit, many of its members refused to engage, and one prominent member advised people to vote <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>).<\/p>\n<p>In contrast the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> stood as part of the European Anti-Capitalist Alliance <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym>-wide electoral challenge, bringing Joaquim Roland, a car worker member of the New Anti-Capitalist Party to address meetings in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.<\/p>\n<p>So, given the choice of \u2018<acronym title=\"No to European Union, Yes to Democracy\">No2EU\/Yes2D<\/acronym>\u2019 and the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Alliance \">EACA<\/acronym>, where did the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym> stand? Quite frankly it made itself look foolish. It never raised the idea that \u2018<acronym title=\"No to European Union, Yes to Democracy\">No2EU\/Yes2D<\/acronym>\u2019 should form part of the <acronym title=\"European Anti-Capitalist Alliance \">EACA<\/acronym>\u2019s international campaign. It placed nearly all emphasis on demanding that \u2018<acronym title=\"No to European Union, Yes to Democracy\">No2EU\/Yes2D<\/acronym>\u2019 put support for citizen militias in its manifesto (support for migrant workers facing combined state, employer and union official attacks would have been far more appropriate). Then, failing to get support for citizen militias, told people to vote instead for the Labour Party and hence the very non-citizen militia, British imperial troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere! Even the <acronym title=\"Socialist Workers Party\">SWP<\/acronym> and <acronym title=\"Socialist Party of England and Wales\">SPEW<\/acronym> didn\u2019t stoop this low.<\/p>\n<p>When Nick mentions his support for <q>a class-based identity that encompassed migrants<\/q>, he also fails to mention the woeful record of the \u2018Brit Left\u2019, in Respect or the Campaign for a New Workers Party over this issue. The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> voted at its 2008 Conference to give its support to \u2018No One Is Illegal\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Ford made the valuable point that the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state, far from uniting the working class on these islands, divides it. The ongoing partition of Ireland is only the most striking case. The bureaucratic institutions of the British Labour Party, and the trade unions (<acronym title=\"Trade Union Congress\">TUC<\/acronym>, <acronym title=\"Scottish Trade Union Congress\">STUC<\/acronym>, <acronym title=\"Welsh Trade Union Congress\">WTUC<\/acronym>, and the Northern Committee of the <acronym title=\"Irish Congress of Trade Unions\">ICTU<\/acronym>) frequently divide workers and play one national group against another.<\/p>\n<p>Nick takes up the argument made by Toby Abse, to elaborate his own position. Toby had argued that the successive acts of Union {1535-42, 1707 and 1801} had had the effect of creating a united British nation, and that the British working class and its institutions were now organized on an all-British basis. Therefore, following Luxemburg, he believed that attempts to address the National Question in Scotland or Wales were either irrelevant or divisive. To be consistent, Toby should have argued that all <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state institutions, currently devolved on a \u2018national\u2019 basis, should be abolished, since they must, from his viewpoint, promote disunity.<\/p>\n<p>However, Nick, who has certainly also called himself a Luxemburgist in the past, is now a member of the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym>, so in opposing Toby, he has to make some contorted arguments. The <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym> believes there is a British nation and a British-Irish nation (the Protestants of the \u2018Six Counties\u2019) but only Scottish and Welsh nationalities. So Nick goes on to say that. <q>In Scotland and Wales there clearly was a strong sense of national identity and national questions existed<\/q>. First, you would wonder, if the historical thrust of the creation of the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> has been to bring about a united British nation (for most of the \u2018Brit Left\u2019, Ireland quickly drops from view!) and a united British working class, why you should consider it at all worthwhile to make any concessions to what could only then be reactionary national identities.<\/p>\n<p>The reality, however, is that the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state was formed as part of a wider British imperial project, which tried to subsume Welsh, Scots and Irish as subordinate identities. Whilst the British Empire ruled the roost, there was a definite thrust towards a British nation, but this was partly thwarted by the unionist form of the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state. Once, the British Empire went into decline, those still remaining hybrid imperial identities, Irish-British, Scottish-British and Welsh-British have gone into decline too, as more people have asserted their Irish, Scottish and Welsh identities. This decline in British identification has been most rapid amongst workers and small farmers, whilst support has been clung to most fiercely by the ruling class and sections of the upper middle class.<\/p>\n<p>Only amongst in the Unionist and Loyalist section of the people living in the Six Counties has a more widespread British identity been retained (although this has moved from Irish-British to Ulster-British). Indeed, it is in the Six Counties that the true nature of British \u2018national\u2019 identity is shown most starkly. It is here, amongst the Loyalists, that fascist death squads and other forms of coercion have created the worst repression, way beyond anything achieved by their \u2018mainland\u2019 British admirers, in the National Front or British National Party. The British Conservatives have just linked up with those more \u2018genteel\u2019 Ulster Unionists, but still sectarian and reactionary.<\/p>\n<p>The moves to break-up the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> have their origins in wider \u2018lower orders\u2019 movements, such as the Land League in Michael Davitt\u2019s days, the independent Irish trade union movement of James Connolly (founder of the Irish Socialist Republican Party) and Jim Larkin\u2019s days. It was John Maclean (founder of the Scottish Workers Republican Party), with his support, particularly amongst Clydeside workers, who offered the most consistent challenge, from 1919 onwards, based upon active campaigning for the \u2018Russian Revolution\u2019 and the ongoing Irish republican struggle. He adopted a \u2018break-up of the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> and British Empire\u2019 strategy.This was sharply marginalized as the post-war international revolutionary wave came to an end between 1921-3, allowing a Left British and reformist perspective to strongly reassert itself.<\/p>\n<p>In other words it has been the National Question, which has been to the forefront of the democratic and republican struggle in these islands. Without seeing this, you are left, like Peter Tatchell, supporting a rather formal republic, with no real idea where the support is coming from. Nick conjures up <q>The demand for a federal republic\u2026 both in England and in Scotland and Wales<\/q>. This is but a left cover for the last-ditch mechanism used by the British ruling class, from the American to the Irish War of Independence, to hold their Empire and Union together. The Lib-Dems keep the Federal option in their locker, to be dragged out whenever other mechanisms such as Home Rule or Devolution fail to hold the line.<\/p>\n<p>Colin Fox also made clear in his contribution that the British ruling class could even accommodate a formal republic, if it felt it was necessary. So Nick\u2019s republican suffix to his proposed federalism provides another paper cover. We saw the nature of such republicanism in the Rupert Murdoch-backed campaign for a republic in Australia. What it amounted to was a repatriation of the current Crown Powers, and their investiture in the Presidency. Not surprisingly, this proved not to be a winning formula!<\/p>\n<p>Middle class nationalist attempts to renegotiate the Union have also emerged as the British Empire went into decline. The Irish Home Rule Party, <span lang=\"ie\">Cumann na nGaedhael<\/span>, the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>, <span lang=\"cy\">Plaid Cymru<\/span>, <acronym title=\"Social Democratic and Labour Party\">SDLP<\/acronym>, and (I would argue) the post-Good Friday <span lang=\"ie\">Sinn Fein<\/span> have all fitted this mould. Whatever, their formal political position (e.g. an independent Scotland, or a united Ireland), as these parties have become the vehicles for local business and middle class interests, this has been matched by a retreat from their original stated goals, and new compromises with the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state.<\/p>\n<p>Just as I would argue that the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym>\u2019s blanket support for the British unionist and imperialist Labour Party candidates, at the last Euro-election, provides a classic example of left British nationalism in action, I would also argue that any socialists pursuing a strategy which tail ends their local nationalist party, e.g, the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>, act as Left nationalists.<\/p>\n<p>The strategy behind the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s republican socialism, exemplified in the Calton Hill Declaration, is to take the leadership of the National Movement here from the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>. To counter the <acronym title=\"Scottish National Party\">SNP<\/acronym>\u2019s own \u2018international\u2019 strategy \u2013 support for the global corporate order, for the use of Scottish troops in imperial ventures, for the British queen, and acceptance of a Privy Councillorship (Alex Salmond), the <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s International Committee counters with a genuinely international strategy based on anti-imperialism, anti-unionism, and internationalism from below.<\/p>\n<p>The British Left tries to mirror the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> state in its organisational set-up. This attempt to apply an old Second and Third International orthodoxy was always contradictory. Applied to the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> it just seems to confuse the \u2018Brit Left\u2019. Occasionally debates emerge within the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of Great Britain\">CPGB<\/acronym> about, whether to be a consistent Leninist, it should not reconstitute itself as the <acronym title=\"Communist Party of the United Kingdom\">CPUK<\/acronym>, and in the process, add its own twist to Irish partition. Both the <acronym title=\"Socialist Workers Party\">SWP<\/acronym> and <acronym title=\"Socialist Party of England and Wales\">SPEW<\/acronym> operate essentially partitionist organisations in Ireland, highlighted by their failure to raise the issue of continued British rule (with its southern Irish government support) in elections there.<\/p>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> currently acts as a junior partner to <acronym title=\"United States of America\">USA<\/acronym> imperialism. It has been awarded the <acronym title=\"United States of America\">USA<\/acronym> license to police the corporate imperial order in the North East Atlantic, and to ensure that the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> fails to emerge as an imperial challenger. Apart from its membership of <acronym title=\"North Atlantic Treaty Organisation\">NATO<\/acronym>, the provision of military bases, and such \u2018police\u2019 actions as bringing the \u2018terrorist state\u2019(!) of Iceland into line to bail-out the banks, the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> performs this wider role, with the 26 county Irish state acting as its own junior partner.<\/p>\n<p>Politically, the \u2018Peace Process\u2019 (with the Good Friday, St. Andrews and now the latest Hillsborough agreements) and Devolution-all-round (Scotland, Wales and \u2018the Six Counties\u2019) represents the British and Irish ruling class strategy to provide the political framework to most effectively maintain profitability for corporate capital in these islands. In this, these two states can draw upon the support of the <acronym title=\"European Union\">EU<\/acronym> and the <acronym title=\"United States of America\">USA<\/acronym>, as well of course, their \u2018social partnerships\u2019 with the official trade union leaders.<\/p>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym> has realized that the British and Irish ruling classes have a political strategy, which covers the whole of these islands. You could be forgiven for thinking that much of the \u2018Brit Left\u2019 finds it difficult to see beyond Potters Bar, or where its members do live further afield, thinking their politics just depends on the latest dispatches sent out from their London office.<\/p>\n<p>Nick somewhat condescendingly says that, <q>The English must make clear that they had no wish to retain either nation {Scotland, or Wales} within a broader state against the will of their people<\/q> (that\u2019s very good of you Nick!), but then bizarrely adds <q>neither would they force them to separate<\/q>. Well Nick, we all know the \u2018Brit Left\u2019 have no intention of forcing us out of the British unionist and imperial state and its alliance with <acronym title=\"United States of America\">USA<\/acronym> imperialism. That is the problem.<\/p>\n<p>The <acronym title=\"Scottish Socialist Party\">SSP<\/acronym>, though, is quite prepared to take the lead in making this decision ourselves. However, we will continue to insist that the break-up of the <acronym title=\"United Kingdom\">UK<\/acronym> and ending of British imperialism are something that workers throughout these islands have an immediate interest in achieving, and will continue to argue our case to socialists in England, Wales and Ireland. We do want unity, but not the \u2018Brit Left\u2019 imposed bureaucratic unity from above, rather a democratic \u2018internationalism from below\u2019.<\/p>\n<h3>Footnotes<\/h3>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><h3><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_1391_1();\">References<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_1391_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_1391_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/h3><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_1391_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">References<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1391_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">The Socialist Alliance is the small organisation still left in England after the defection first of the Socialist Party\u00a0and then the Socialist Workers Party.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1391_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_2');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_2\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>2<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">TUSC is the latest Left electoral grouping formed after last year\u2019s short-lived No2EU\/Yes2Democracy electoral alliance.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1391_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_3');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_3\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>3<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2010\/04\/26\/a-reply-to-nick-roger%E2%80%99s-workers-unity-not-separatism\/\">A Reply to Nick Roger\u2019s Workers Unity not Separatism<\/a><\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1391_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1391_1_4');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1391_1_4\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>4<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/25\/the-communist-case-for-internationalism-from-below\/\">The Communist Case for Internationalism from Below<\/a><\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_1391_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_1391_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_1391_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_1391_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_1391_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_1391_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_1391_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_1391_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_1391_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_1391_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_1391_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_1391_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_1391_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_1391_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Below is the\u00a0report of the 2nd Republican Socialist Convention. This was hosted by the Socialist Alliance London on 13.2.10. Both Colin Fox and Allan Armstrong spoke for the SSP. The report is followed by Allan&#8217;s contribution. This produced a response from Nick Rogers of the CPGB-WW which is also posted along with Allan&#8217;s reply. 1.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1843,1852,1855,1858,1861,1867,1873,1846,1854,1874,1868,1878,1876,1875,1877],"tags":[230],"class_list":["post-1391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-capitalists-organise","category-how-communists-organise","category-exploitation-and-emancipation","category-oppression-liberation","category-alienation-self-determination","category-emancipation-liberation-and-self-determination","category-against-unionism","category-british-imperialism","category-the-left-crisis","category-republicanism","category-against-imperialism","category-england-against-unionism","category-ireland-against-unionism","category-scotland-against-unionism","category-wales-against-unionism","tag-author-allan-armstrong"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":10871,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1391"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18124,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions\/18124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}