The following post includes the Contents and the Introduction of the first part of the review by Allan Armstrong of Breaking up the British state – Scotland, Independence & Socialism, editors, Bob Fotheringham, Dave Sherry and Colm Bryce. The full review of Part 1 can be read at: https://allanarmstrong831930095.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/breaking-up-the-british-state.pdf THE SWP AND SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE Part…
Mary McGregor Reviews ‘A Kist Of Thistles’
Mary McGregor (RCN) reviews a new collection of radical poetry from Scotland ‘A KIST OF THISTLES ‘- AN ANTHOLOGY OF RADICAL POETRY FROM CONTEMPORARY SCOTLAND, EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY JIM AITKEN Too many people on the left still regard art and culture as peripheral to the class struggle. They fail to recognise that for millennia…
Review of ‘Quines’ by Jim Aitken
We are posting this review by one of our contributors, Jim Aitken, of Quines, Poems in tribute to the women of Scotland, written by Gerda Stevenson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerda_Stevenson). This review was first posted by Culture Matters. Accompanying illustrations of textiles are by artists from EDGE: Textile Artists Scotland. A FEARLESS GAZE OF HOPE – ‘QUINES’ …
PEAT AND DIESEL AT THE BARROWLANDS
Allan Armstrong reviews Peat and Diesel playing at Glasgow’s Barrowlands on 25.1.20 PEAT AND DIESEL AT THE BARROWLANDS As a fan of traditional and folk rock music since the 1960s, I have had some great nights out. But straight into my top 5 would be Peat and Diesel performing at Glasgow’s Barrowlands…
REVIEW: CLASS NOT CREED, 1968
Connor Beaton reviews the pamphlet Class Not Creed, 1968 by Richie Venton both as a historic account of events in Northern Ireland and as an indication of the current politics of the Scottish Socialist Party. Fifty years after the beginning of the civil rights movement in the north of Ireland, the whole island…
REVIEW: BALLYMURPHY PRECEDENT (Channel Four)
The following review from Socialist Democracy (Ireland) is of the film Ballymurphy Precedent made by Callum Macrae for Channel Four. A HIDDEN HISTORY OF BRITISH MILITARY REPRESSION AGAINST CIVILIANS The Ballymurphy massacre has the simplest of all dramatic structures. It is a narrative built around a chronology – a three-day assault by the…
STILL TALKING ABOUT JOHN MACLEAN
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…
ALLAN ARMSTRONG REVIEWS ‘THE RED AND THE GREEN’ BY GERARD CAIRNS
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,…
THE RED AND THE GREEN: A PORTRAIT OF JOHN MACLEAN
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…
COWIE MINERS, POLMAISE COLLIERY AND THE 1984-85 MINERS’ STRIKE
Dave Douglass reviews Steve McGrail and Vicky Patterson’s Cowie miners, Polmaise colliery and the 1984-85 miners’ strike. COWIE MINERS, POLMAISE COLLIERY AND THE 1984-85 MINERS’ STRIKE Great Strike of 1984-85: an unequal battle Polmaise was at the epicentre of the Scottish miners’ action in 1984. Like Cortonwood it was among ‘the first of the first’…