THOUSANDS MARCH IN BELFAST FOR GAY MARRIAGE

The impact last month’s successful gay marriage referendum in the 26 Counties has spilled over into the 6 Counties, with 10,000 attending a demonstration in Belfast. The fact that the ‘South’ can act as a beacon for the ‘North’ highlights the reactionary nature of the local UK state set-up, which is a barrier to progress in these islands. This article…

HANDS OFF CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS OF UKRAINE – END THE STATE INTIMIDATION

We are posting the following article which first appeared on the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign website (http://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2015/06/21/urgent-state-security-investigating-leader-of-ukrainian-trade-unions/)   The Ukraine Solidarity Campaign has received extremely worrying communications from our friends of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine KVPU that the Security Service of Ukraine – the SBU – is investigating the KVPU Chairman Mikhailo…

THE 2015 GENERAL ELECTION AND THE NEXT STEPS FOR REPUBLICAN SOCIALISM

The RCN and Republican Socialists (Scotland) gave their backing to Steve Freeman who stood as a republican socialist and anti-unionist candidate in Bermondsey in the General Election. Here we are posting Steve’s political assessment of the campaign.     Introduction This paper will not address the important question of what is ‘Republican Socialism’ beyond identifying…

THE MINT WITH A HOLE – A review of ‘A Nation not a Rabble – The Irish Revolution 1913-23’

D.R.O’Connor Lysaght of Socialist Democracy (Ireland) reviews Diarmid Ferriter’s A Nation and not a Rabble, The Irish Revolution 1913-1923. This was first posted at:- http://socialistdemocracy.org/RecentArticles/RecentReviewDiarmaidFerriterANationAndNotARabble.html THE MINT WITH A HOLE Diarmaid Ferriter’s new book is good on two counts; it is well written and very well researched. The author has trawled very thoroughly the primary sources recently…

SCOTLAND AFTER THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION

Eric Chester (RCN) gives his perspective on Scotland after the Westminster election.    The Scottish National Party has become the dominant force in Scottish politics. Already a majority in the Scottish parliament, SNP candidates crushed the Labour Party in the recent elections to Westminster. Yet SNP dominance extends well beyond the electoral arena. Within the trade…

LGBT RIGHTS IN IRELAND – A BEACON OF LIBERATION FOR US ALL

Following the inspiring referendum vote in support of gay marriage in Ireland, E&L is posting the article below from Socialist Democracy (Ireland).   The 22nd of May was a truly historic day. The population of the Irish state, long seen as a bastion of Catholic conservatism, voted in an overwhelming majority to amend the constitution…

A STATEMENT FROM BRIAN HIGGINS, SECRETARY OF THE BUILDING WORKERS’ GROUP, ABOUT THE DEATHS IN QATAR

  I knew there had been many migrant workers killed on world cup sites but was severely and profoundly shocked to hear on Channel 4 last night that 1,200 had been killed to date while working on world cup projects in Qatar.

WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT GALLIPOLI

E&L is posting this  article, written by New Zealander, Rory MacKinnon, about the tragic Gallipoli Campaign  launched just over a century ago on 25th April, 1915.     Today I will be speaking primarily about the New Zealand perspective rather than the Australian or Turkish one, because it’s the history I’m most familiar with. I…

RCN: What We Stand For – From Theory to Practice

1) Another world is possible – a joyful, creative, new world communism which emancipates us all from oppression and frees us all from exploitation, and which forms a new sustainable relationship between humanity and the environment. 2) The history of all hitherto existing class society is the history of class struggles. The enforcement of patriarchy…