The following motion will be placed before the Left Unity Conference in Manchester on March 29th. It was initiated by members of the Republican Socialist Alliance in England. Steve Freeman, of the RSA, addressed the RIC National Conference in Glasgow on November 23rd, 2013. The Daily Telegraph (16 March 2014) claimed that the 2015 general election would be…
Undercover But Within Sites – Police Infiltration Of Trade Unions
Emancipation & Liberation has been covering the long term of blacklisting of building worker, Brian Higgins. Brian has also been involved over many years in a struggle with the UCATT bureaucracy. More recently, developments over Stephen Lawrence have highlighted the use of undercover police to infiltrate defence campaigns. Here Mark Metcalf reveals how the police infiltrated…
US Trade Unions: Waiting For Godot
James Fearon (Socialist Democracy-Ireland) argues that a lost vote for United Automobile Workers union recognition at Chattanooga in Tennessee shows US workers distrust of union partnership policies while Walmart and fast food workers illustrate power of rank and file organisation. He also draws some parallels with UNITE, which organises workers throughout these islands. Recent events…
Tony Benn: A man of principle and radical democrat
Bob Goupillot (RCN) provides this tribute to Tony Benn, who died on 14th March. At 7.30 this morning I heard that Tony Benn had died. I first heard him speak in Darlington in the late 1970’s. I was in my early twenties. That speech and subsequent ones plus two of his books; Arguments for Socialism and…
On How The Vestigial Left Is Failing To Understand The Political Life Of Scotland Today
Murdo Ritchie (RCN) provides his response to the Red Paper Collective’s critique of the Scottish SNP government’s White Paper. THE RED PAPER ON THE WHITE PAPER or HOW NOT TO UNDERSTAND CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE As moves toward Scottish national independence happen, the “mainstream” camps have presented their visions, but on the fringes lots of different illusions…
Sinn Fein On The Run As Settlement Slips Further TO The Right
After the demise of the Haas Talks, the Unionists, playing to the Loyalist gallery, are pushing even further to unravel the original Good Friday Agreement. In this article, John McAnulty of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) explains the significance of the latest ‘on-the-runs’ issue. Another week, another crisis. The Irish peace process continues to have popular support (or at…
Ukraine – A Ukrainian Left And Russian Left View
Below we are publishing twe articles from Ukraine. The first is from the Autonomous Workers Union in Kyiv/Kiev, the second from well-known Russian socialist oppositionist, Boris Kagarlitsky, first published in the Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal. 1. A STATEMENT FROM AWU/KIEV The overthrow of the authoritarian regime of Yanukovych by no means signifies for…
Republican socialist candidate for the executive of the Left Unity Party
Steve Freeman of the Republican Socialist Alliance is standing as for the Executive of the Left Unity Party. Steve spoke, along with Bernadette McAliskey and Mary McGregor (RCN) at the 4 Nations After the UK session at the Radical Independence Campaign conference in Glasgow on 23rd November. This is the statement he has produced for…
Secularism, Socialism And Religion
The issue of secularism was discussed at the RCN weekend away in Fife on 22nd February. Allan Armstrong introduced the session using the presentation he had made to Edinburgh RIC. The following discussion extended beyond the scope of the introductory talk, and brought up issues which Bob Goupillot had written about when the RCN was a platform…
Pete Seeger: A Life Of Struggle And Song
Pete Seeger was one of the most important artistic figures of popular revolt in the 20th century; Gearóid Ó Loingsigh of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) provides his own tribute. The last great troubadour of the 20th century has passed away. Pete Seeger died on January 27th after a short illness at the age of 94. He became, during his…