Allan Armstrong highlights some of the lessons to be learned from the Sheridan saga The split on the Scottish Left between celebrity populist and genuine socialist politics On May 1st, 2003 six Scottish Socialist Party members were elected to Holyrood. From January 26th, 2011, by far the best-known (former) member of the SSP, Tommy Sheridan,…
Irish elections: Revenge, but not yet resistance
by Kevin Keating and John McAnulty, Socialist Democracy (Ireland) In the run-up to the Irish election of 25th February a number of key issues arose. The major issue was the imposition of four years of renewed austerity overseen by the intervention of the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. The second issue was the…
The 1% Network
Dan Finn of the Irish Socialist Network shows how socialist groups in Ireland are coming together to fight the cuts agenda of the Irish ruling class Ireland is undergoing neo-liberal shock therapy as a result of the Government decision to guarantee the debts run up by speculators in our hyper-inflated housing market that went down…
Welsh Referendum
The referendum, which took place on March 3rd, on whether or not to provide law-making powers to the National Assembly in Cardiff has gone by with hardly a murmur on the British or Scottish Left. The ‘Yes’ result represented an advance for liberal unionism over conservative unionism. It has also confirmed an ongoing tendency to…
Two Royal Weddings… and a Republican Funeral for the UK?
Allan Armstrong (RCN) has written an article for the Word Power site (see Two Royal Weddings and… a Republican Funeral for the UK? by Allan Armstrong). He is author of the book, From Davitt to Connolly and co-author of the pamphlet, ‘Republicanism, Socialism and Democracy‘, puts the case for using the opportunity provided by the British…
RCN Statement on the decision of George Galloway to stand in next year’s Holyrood elections
George Galloway has decided, with the backing of Respect in England and Wales, to stand as an MSP in Glasgow in next year’s Holyrood elections. This decision would apparently have been taken with or without Respect’s support. It amounts to little more than an attempt at carpet-bagging, following his removal from the celebrity spotlight, when…
From Davitt to Connolly – ‘Internationalism From Below’ Book Launch
‘Internationalism from Below’ and the challenge to the UK state and British Empire from 1879 – 1895 Launch on 19th November Venue: Word Power Books 43-45 West Nicolson Street Edinburgh EH8 9DB For More details see Internationalism From Below
Edwin Morgan 1920-2010
When I left school in 1975, Edwin Morgan had not yet pushed his way on to the syllabus for Higher or sixth year English. When I returned to school 4 years later as a student teacher, he was taught to all years and has stayed there for the best part of 30 years. When he…
The Communist Case for Internationalism from Below
A contribution to the debate at The Global Commune event of 22nd May, 2010, in Edinburgh 1. Three Left approaches to building a new world order The Republican Communist Network (RCN) has mainly applied an ‘internationalism from below’ approach as a way to unite communists, socialists and revolutionary democrats throughout these islands around an immediate…
Report of Second Global Commune Meeting
May 22nd, 2010 The second Global Commune day school, jointly organised by the Republican Communist Network (RCN) and The Commune, was held in the Out of the Blue Centre in Edinburgh on May 22nd. People attended from Aberdeen, Bristol, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Midlothian. The first workshop session, ‘After the Election, What Next?‘ was introduced…