January 16th 2010, Out of the Blue Centre, Edinburgh Over the last year, comrades in the RCN have become more and more aware of the ideas and activities of comrades In The Commune, based south of the border. Like many on the left, older members of Commune have been round the block a bit in…
Report of the First Global Commune Day
January 16th 2010, Out of the Blue Centre, Edinburgh Over the last year, comrades in the RCN have become more and more aware of the ideas and activities of comrades In The Commune, based south of the border. Like many on the left, older members of Commune have been round the block a bit in…
Book Review: A Celebration of the Life and Work of Robert Burns 1759-1786
A Celebration of the Life and Work of Robert Burns 1759-1786 An Independent Revolutionary Radical By James D. Young; Printed and published by Clydeside Press; £3.95 What does Robert Burns mean to me? Edinburgh People’s Festival Published by WP Books; £3.00 It is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns and we have…
Brown’s Appeal To British Chauvinism
Mary McGregor highlights the dangers to the working class movement of Brown’s speech to the TUC. I remember hearing the report of Gordon Brown’s speech to the TUC in 2007 and the phrase British jobs for British workers. As someone who has tried to fight the rise of nationalism, chauvinism and fascism all my adult…
Life With You
by The Proclaimers Like many people I have liked the Proclaimers for years. I really enjoy their love songs which have a Tom Leonard quality to them in terms of their ability to express profound emotions in the language of the working class. I was therefore really pleased to be given Life with you as…
Punk, Politics and Perdition
Mary McGregor interviews communist and actor, Tam Dean Burn. Tam Dean Burn is the most respected political actor in Scotland today. He was born in Leith and grew up in Clermiston, a west Edinburgh housing estate. He went to Queen Margaret College to study acting at a time when working class men were encouraged to…
Setback or Disaster: Can the SSP Survive?
Following the setback of May’s Scottish Parliament election results, June’s issue of Frontline magazine carries two contrasting articles on What next for Scottish socialism? – one from SSP National Secretary, Pam Currie, the other from Gregor Gall. Mary McGregor responds. We all knew the Scottish parliamentary results in May would be bad for the SSP.…
A Chance To Vote Socialist At Every Opportunity
Mary McGregor analyses the current debate taking place in the SSP over the party’s electoral strategy First-Past-The-Post: to stand or not to stand There is a debate raging within the SSP which, like so many others, actually goes far beyond the superficial topic of the debate, and goes to the very essence of the nature…
Armande’s Bed
by John Aberdein, (Thirsty Books, £9.99), Reviewed by Mary McGregor For me, reviewing a novel rather than writing a conventionally political article for Emancipation and Liberation was always going to be a pleasure. Even more so when it is written by Scottish Socialist Party comrade, John Aberdein. I am a great believer in the power…
Learning from the General Election
Mary McGregor assesses the outcome of the 2005 general election campaign The UK general election on May 6th already seems a distant memory. It came, went and nothing much seemed to change. Tony Blair was re-elected with a majority of 66 seats. This was slashed from a 166 seat majority at the 2001 election but…