Sunday 27 November 2011
SRSM John MacLean Commemoration 2011
Saturday 12 November 2011
IRSN Statement for John MacLean Rally 2011
INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN SOCIALIST NETWORK STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE COMMEMORATION OF SCOTTISH REVOLUTIONARY JOHN MACLEAN
Comrades, the International Republican Socialist Network is proud to speak to those gathered today in commemoration of the great John MacLean through this statement. The IRSN was founded to increase awareness of, and support for, republican socialism as a distinct tendency within the Marxist tradition. We in the IRSN are ever mindful that it was Scotland that gave the world the two greatest activists of this tendency, Edinburgh’s James Connolly and John MacLean of Glasgow.
John MacLean’s words from 1923 still offer wisdom to the workers of Scotland, he wrote: “I’m certain London will never lead the Clyde or Scotland, so we must lead ourselves. A separate republic is justifiable as a step to keep Scotland out of the future wars involving England; and breaking up the Empire that most of all retards Communism.”
The entity known as “Great Britain,” which ceases to exist without Scotland, is not a basis for working class unity; it is an anachronism, intended to benefit the English ruling class at the expense of the Scottish people. Yes, the Scottish workers are a part of the larger working class of the entire island of Britain, but so too are they as much a part of the working class of Europe and the world. Just as residing in a nation distinct from Palestine, Venezuela, Bolivia, Egypt, or Tunisia does not impede their capacity for solidarity with the workers of those nations; the creation of a Scottish republic will provide no impediment to solidarity with workers in England, Wales, or Ireland. To the sectarian Left who deride the struggle for Scottish independence with the canard that it threatens class unity, we ask, as Engels did in his day, if they would be prepared to move their head offices to Edinburgh to demonstrate their solidarity with Scottish workers and we denounce them, as Marx and Engels did, as English national chauvinists hiding behind a mask of internationalism.
MacLean wrote further on the subject of Scottish independence, saying: “I accordingly stand out as a Scottish Republican…feeling sure that if Scotland had to elect a Parliament to sit in Glasgow it would vote for a working-class Parliament. Such a Parliament would have to use the might of the workers to force the land and all the means of production in Scotland out of the grasp of the brutal few who control them, and place them at the full disposal of the community. The social revolution is possible sooner in Scotland than in England.”
The Tories were not unearthed from their grave and restored to power on the basis of their electoral support in Scotland or Wales. For a century, working class organizations in Britain have stood on solid bases in Scotland and Wales and the forces of reaction have overwhelmed them from their bases in England. The fact that the SNP’s program stands to the left of Labour’s is a result of the sentiments of the electorate in Scotland being to the left of Labour’s electoral base in Britain as a whole. The creation of an independent Scottish republic will not only protect Scottish workers from those bastions of reaction to their south, however; by breaking apart the ancien regime of Britain, Scottish independence will mortally wound one of the world’s leading imperialist powers, thereby ultimately serving the interests of not only English workers, but working people throughout the world who suffer from the violence of British imperialism.
We would be remiss and ill-serve the memory of either MacLean, or of Connolly, were we to only aver our support for Scottish independence at today’s commemoration. Republican socialism is founded on the inseparable unity of the struggle for national liberation with the struggle for socialism. Reflecting on the contribution of John MacLean to humanity today, let us not lose sight of that reality. The struggle for an independent Scottish republic must be a struggle for a Scottish Workers’ Republic, if it is to merit the effort of Scottish working people. The current international crisis of capitalism and the endless violence of imperialism in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond should be more than enough to tell us that capitalism is now a fetid anachronism itself; one that offers no future to working people other than growing austerity and misery. So, as Connolly said to the Irish Citizen Army’s volunteers marching out during the Easter Rising, hang on to your guns because others fighting with you for independence have a different concept of the republic to be built, we say to you today, prepare for a struggle that will continue after Scottish independence has been won. Scotland will be truly independent until it has freed its economy of the tentacles of the imperialists; until Scotland’s farms, oil, industries, banks, and the rest are the common property of the nation, that is, of Scottish people as a whole.
Our class, the working class, has created all of the wealth in the world today. All the food has been harvested by workers, every structure standing was built by workers, every mile travelled is on roads laid down by workers, the trillions of bits of data that make up the reality of contemporary commerce, education, and entertainment travel on are enabled by the silicone chips and optical fibers made by workers, keyed into worker-constructed networks by workers. All of these are the creation of the hands and minds of working people and it is our right to claim them as our own. How can it be that working people go hungry, lack adequate housing, lack transport, are denied information, education, and the means to live a life of quality, when all of these things are the creation of our class? Comrades, it is long past time we be done with the system of capitalism and take back what is rightfully ours.
As those here today and the millions of Scottish working people move forward towards a Scottish Workers’ Republic, they will be creating the only truly fitting memorial to the memory of the John MacLean. Thus it is through the struggle for that republic that the spirit of MacLean stirs and rises again in our midsts, prompting me to close, with that image in mind, with the words of Hamish Henderson:
The hale city’s quiet noo,
It kens that he’s resting
At hame wi’ his Glasgow freens,
Their joy and their pride.
The red will be worn again
And Scotland will march again,
Noo great John MacLean
Has come hame tae the Clyde.
Peter Urban
Comrade, International Republican Socialist Network
Comrades, the International Republican Socialist Network is proud to speak to those gathered today in commemoration of the great John MacLean through this statement. The IRSN was founded to increase awareness of, and support for, republican socialism as a distinct tendency within the Marxist tradition. We in the IRSN are ever mindful that it was Scotland that gave the world the two greatest activists of this tendency, Edinburgh’s James Connolly and John MacLean of Glasgow.
John MacLean’s words from 1923 still offer wisdom to the workers of Scotland, he wrote: “I’m certain London will never lead the Clyde or Scotland, so we must lead ourselves. A separate republic is justifiable as a step to keep Scotland out of the future wars involving England; and breaking up the Empire that most of all retards Communism.”
The entity known as “Great Britain,” which ceases to exist without Scotland, is not a basis for working class unity; it is an anachronism, intended to benefit the English ruling class at the expense of the Scottish people. Yes, the Scottish workers are a part of the larger working class of the entire island of Britain, but so too are they as much a part of the working class of Europe and the world. Just as residing in a nation distinct from Palestine, Venezuela, Bolivia, Egypt, or Tunisia does not impede their capacity for solidarity with the workers of those nations; the creation of a Scottish republic will provide no impediment to solidarity with workers in England, Wales, or Ireland. To the sectarian Left who deride the struggle for Scottish independence with the canard that it threatens class unity, we ask, as Engels did in his day, if they would be prepared to move their head offices to Edinburgh to demonstrate their solidarity with Scottish workers and we denounce them, as Marx and Engels did, as English national chauvinists hiding behind a mask of internationalism.
MacLean wrote further on the subject of Scottish independence, saying: “I accordingly stand out as a Scottish Republican…feeling sure that if Scotland had to elect a Parliament to sit in Glasgow it would vote for a working-class Parliament. Such a Parliament would have to use the might of the workers to force the land and all the means of production in Scotland out of the grasp of the brutal few who control them, and place them at the full disposal of the community. The social revolution is possible sooner in Scotland than in England.”
The Tories were not unearthed from their grave and restored to power on the basis of their electoral support in Scotland or Wales. For a century, working class organizations in Britain have stood on solid bases in Scotland and Wales and the forces of reaction have overwhelmed them from their bases in England. The fact that the SNP’s program stands to the left of Labour’s is a result of the sentiments of the electorate in Scotland being to the left of Labour’s electoral base in Britain as a whole. The creation of an independent Scottish republic will not only protect Scottish workers from those bastions of reaction to their south, however; by breaking apart the ancien regime of Britain, Scottish independence will mortally wound one of the world’s leading imperialist powers, thereby ultimately serving the interests of not only English workers, but working people throughout the world who suffer from the violence of British imperialism.
We would be remiss and ill-serve the memory of either MacLean, or of Connolly, were we to only aver our support for Scottish independence at today’s commemoration. Republican socialism is founded on the inseparable unity of the struggle for national liberation with the struggle for socialism. Reflecting on the contribution of John MacLean to humanity today, let us not lose sight of that reality. The struggle for an independent Scottish republic must be a struggle for a Scottish Workers’ Republic, if it is to merit the effort of Scottish working people. The current international crisis of capitalism and the endless violence of imperialism in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond should be more than enough to tell us that capitalism is now a fetid anachronism itself; one that offers no future to working people other than growing austerity and misery. So, as Connolly said to the Irish Citizen Army’s volunteers marching out during the Easter Rising, hang on to your guns because others fighting with you for independence have a different concept of the republic to be built, we say to you today, prepare for a struggle that will continue after Scottish independence has been won. Scotland will be truly independent until it has freed its economy of the tentacles of the imperialists; until Scotland’s farms, oil, industries, banks, and the rest are the common property of the nation, that is, of Scottish people as a whole.
Our class, the working class, has created all of the wealth in the world today. All the food has been harvested by workers, every structure standing was built by workers, every mile travelled is on roads laid down by workers, the trillions of bits of data that make up the reality of contemporary commerce, education, and entertainment travel on are enabled by the silicone chips and optical fibers made by workers, keyed into worker-constructed networks by workers. All of these are the creation of the hands and minds of working people and it is our right to claim them as our own. How can it be that working people go hungry, lack adequate housing, lack transport, are denied information, education, and the means to live a life of quality, when all of these things are the creation of our class? Comrades, it is long past time we be done with the system of capitalism and take back what is rightfully ours.
As those here today and the millions of Scottish working people move forward towards a Scottish Workers’ Republic, they will be creating the only truly fitting memorial to the memory of the John MacLean. Thus it is through the struggle for that republic that the spirit of MacLean stirs and rises again in our midsts, prompting me to close, with that image in mind, with the words of Hamish Henderson:
The hale city’s quiet noo,
It kens that he’s resting
At hame wi’ his Glasgow freens,
Their joy and their pride.
The red will be worn again
And Scotland will march again,
Noo great John MacLean
Has come hame tae the Clyde.
Peter Urban
Comrade, International Republican Socialist Network
Saturday 5 November 2011
Original Design of Starry Plough- €10
The éirígí shop has recently added five new items for sale as the
first part in updates which will take place this Autumn. There are
three new flags for sale- Original Starry Plough (history of this flag
provided below), Connolly Column and Four Province flags- at the
reasonable price of €10. There are also two new A3 posters available.
Both the ‘Britain Out of Ireland’ and ‘An Bhreatain Amach as Éireann’.
Over the past year the simple message of these posters has become a
common sight in Ireland on stickers, posters, t-shirts and online. Now
the posters are available to buy for €5 each.
On the 5th of April 1914 the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) paraded their
colours, the Starry Plough, at a meeting. The flag was unlike any
other used in Ireland and is made up of an agricultural plough with
superimposed upon its structure the star constellation Ursa Major
(also called the Great Bear or Plough or Big Dipper).The flag had a
gilt edge, the background is green, the plough itself is yellow and
the stars are silver.
The original suggestion that the ICA should have its own flag came
from Jim Larkin but the actual design of the flag is credited to
Belfast artist William H. Megahy. At the time of designing the flag he
was working as a teacher in the School of Art located in Kildare
Street in Dublin. Sean O’Casey (the then secretary of the Citizen
Army) carried out research into the origins of the flag and in 1954
submitted the original drawing of the design to the National Museum.
The only major difference between this and the flag produced is that
in the drawing the flag has a blue and not a green background. The
identity of the person who decided to change the colour is not known.
It was produced by the Dun Emer Guild. In a picture of the flag
outside Croydon House, Fairview in the summer of 1915 the flag is
being carried on a pole with an red hand on the top- this is the
symbol of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union.
The Imperial Hotel on O’Connell Street was probably not occupied until
the Tuesday of the Easter Rising, when a detachment of volunteers who
had previously been based on Westmoreland Street were moved into the
building. Later on in the day another section of rebels was sent from
the G.P.O. to reinforce those already there and early on Wednesday the
rebels hoisted a tricolour over the building. Later on during the day
James Connolly sent over the Starry Plough with instructions that it
be placed over the Hotel. Connolly would have been well aware that the
Hotel was owned by William Martin Murphy, who was the employers leader
during the 1913 lockout. The message from Connolly was clearly that in
the new Irish Republic that, workers would be in the ascendant over
the exploiters who lived off their sweat and toil.
After the Rising it was widely believed that the flag had been burned
along with the rest of the hotel. However it still flew over the front
of the building and remained flying there right through till the
following Saturday evening. A Lieutenant of the 9th Reserve Cavalry
Regiment then occupying O’Connell Street spotted the flag flying above
the G.P.O. With the help of a police officer he removed it and took it
as a souvenir. The National Museum acquired it from him in 1955.
In 1934 it was decided to re-establish the ICA in conjunction with the
launch of the Republican Congress. A number of the members of the
original ICA were consulted and their recollections of the design of
the original flag were recorded. Some of these differed radically.
Eventually the new Starry Plough was produced but it was significantly
altered with the agricultural plough now missing and the background
colour blue. Seven white stars which make up the star constellation of
the Plough were kept. It wasn’t until 1955 when the National Museum
managed to acquire the original and authenticate it that the
difference in the two flags was accepted.
Sean O’Casey wrote the following lines about the flag, “Be worthy,
men, of following such a banner, for this is your flag of the future.
Whatever may happen to me; though I should mingle with the dust, or
fall to ashes in a flame, the plough will always remain to furrow the
earth, the stars will always be there to unveil the beauty of the
night, and a newer people, living a newer life, will sing like the
sons of the morning.”
first part in updates which will take place this Autumn. There are
three new flags for sale- Original Starry Plough (history of this flag
provided below), Connolly Column and Four Province flags- at the
reasonable price of €10. There are also two new A3 posters available.
Both the ‘Britain Out of Ireland’ and ‘An Bhreatain Amach as Éireann’.
Over the past year the simple message of these posters has become a
common sight in Ireland on stickers, posters, t-shirts and online. Now
the posters are available to buy for €5 each.
Original Starry Plough
On the 5th of April 1914 the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) paraded their
colours, the Starry Plough, at a meeting. The flag was unlike any
other used in Ireland and is made up of an agricultural plough with
superimposed upon its structure the star constellation Ursa Major
(also called the Great Bear or Plough or Big Dipper).The flag had a
gilt edge, the background is green, the plough itself is yellow and
the stars are silver.
The original suggestion that the ICA should have its own flag came
from Jim Larkin but the actual design of the flag is credited to
Belfast artist William H. Megahy. At the time of designing the flag he
was working as a teacher in the School of Art located in Kildare
Street in Dublin. Sean O’Casey (the then secretary of the Citizen
Army) carried out research into the origins of the flag and in 1954
submitted the original drawing of the design to the National Museum.
The only major difference between this and the flag produced is that
in the drawing the flag has a blue and not a green background. The
identity of the person who decided to change the colour is not known.
It was produced by the Dun Emer Guild. In a picture of the flag
outside Croydon House, Fairview in the summer of 1915 the flag is
being carried on a pole with an red hand on the top- this is the
symbol of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union.
The Imperial Hotel on O’Connell Street was probably not occupied until
the Tuesday of the Easter Rising, when a detachment of volunteers who
had previously been based on Westmoreland Street were moved into the
building. Later on in the day another section of rebels was sent from
the G.P.O. to reinforce those already there and early on Wednesday the
rebels hoisted a tricolour over the building. Later on during the day
James Connolly sent over the Starry Plough with instructions that it
be placed over the Hotel. Connolly would have been well aware that the
Hotel was owned by William Martin Murphy, who was the employers leader
during the 1913 lockout. The message from Connolly was clearly that in
the new Irish Republic that, workers would be in the ascendant over
the exploiters who lived off their sweat and toil.
After the Rising it was widely believed that the flag had been burned
along with the rest of the hotel. However it still flew over the front
of the building and remained flying there right through till the
following Saturday evening. A Lieutenant of the 9th Reserve Cavalry
Regiment then occupying O’Connell Street spotted the flag flying above
the G.P.O. With the help of a police officer he removed it and took it
as a souvenir. The National Museum acquired it from him in 1955.
In 1934 it was decided to re-establish the ICA in conjunction with the
launch of the Republican Congress. A number of the members of the
original ICA were consulted and their recollections of the design of
the original flag were recorded. Some of these differed radically.
Eventually the new Starry Plough was produced but it was significantly
altered with the agricultural plough now missing and the background
colour blue. Seven white stars which make up the star constellation of
the Plough were kept. It wasn’t until 1955 when the National Museum
managed to acquire the original and authenticate it that the
difference in the two flags was accepted.
Sean O’Casey wrote the following lines about the flag, “Be worthy,
men, of following such a banner, for this is your flag of the future.
Whatever may happen to me; though I should mingle with the dust, or
fall to ashes in a flame, the plough will always remain to furrow the
earth, the stars will always be there to unveil the beauty of the
night, and a newer people, living a newer life, will sing like the
sons of the morning.”
Friday 4 November 2011
SRSM Annual John MacLean Rally 2011
Assemble 1pm at MacLean's Grave in Eastwood cemetery for oration followed by march from Boydston Road outside cemetry gates to the MacLean Cairn at Pollockshaws shopping centre for Rally with speakers then social nearby. Sunday 27th November All welcome. www.scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org
Monday 24 October 2011
British Army out of QUB
British Army out of QUB
A protest against the British Army presence in QUB has been organised by the Republican Congress Student Society. Having already held a public meeting regarding the murderous reality of Imperialism throughout the world the Republican Congress has now decided to take to the streets to protest against the Imperialists active on our campus. The protest will assemble in front of QUB Students Union and then proceed to confront the Imperialists.
The fact that the RIR is regularly allowed recruiting stalls on campus and that the British Army's Officer Training Corps is allowed society status in the college demands action. Murdered Irish, Afghan and Iraqi people demand that socialists, radicals and republicans help build a campaign to have these murderers kicked off campus.
Join the Protest against Imperialists!
British RIR out of QUB!
British OTC out of QUB!
British Murderers out of QUB!
Assemble in front of QUB Students Union
Wednesday 26th October
7pm
The fact that the RIR is regularly allowed recruiting stalls on campus and that the British Army's Officer Training Corps is allowed society status in the college demands action. Murdered Irish, Afghan and Iraqi people demand that socialists, radicals and republicans help build a campaign to have these murderers kicked off campus.
Join the Protest against Imperialists!
British RIR out of QUB!
British OTC out of QUB!
British Murderers out of QUB!
Assemble in front of QUB Students Union
Wednesday 26th October
7pm
Wednesday 5 October 2011
Scottish Workers Republic - Latest Edition
Hi All
The latest edition of the Scottish Workers Republic the journal for the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement is now available for purchase. This is a bumper 32 page post election special and articles include The Crisis of Capitalism: Towards a Republican Scotland - Gerry Cairns, Cultural Imperialism - Eric Canning, Lessons From the Tragedy in Libya - Peter Urban, On The Brink - Brian Quail, Hono...uring the Scots who Fought Franco - Stephen Coyle, James Connolly 1868-1916 An Unrepentant Socialist - Dr James D Young (this is a taster for his forthcoming book which will be in print soon), There is an article by Jim Clayson which looks at the possibility that he has uncovered another lost work by Robert Burns titled "To Lord Chief Justice Eyre" as well as an article relating to the Proscripton Act of 1746 which was written by Alexander MacDonald 1700-1770 who joined the Jacobite Army in 1745 and was appointed to teach Gaelic to Charles Edward Stuart. The poem is in Gaelic and English.
This edition has lots lots more, buy your copy now £3 + P+P from the SRSM, P.O. BOX 16887, GLASGOW, G11 9EP , SCOTLAND. Please make cheques / postal orders out to SRSM, payment can also be made via PAYPAL our payment address is -
UK postage is £1, Europe £2, Rest of the World £3
Saturday 17 September 2011
John MacLean: In Memory
Hi All,
new article now available to be read at the SRSM website on the link below.This article was written by Peter Berresford Ellis in 1973 and has featured in a few publications over the years.
http://
Enjoy reading
(Peter Berresford Ellis)
Fifty years ago 40,000 Scots followed the funeral cortege of the Scottish Marxist and Labour Leader, John MacLean, to Eastwood Cemetery, Glasgow. Today few Scots remember MacLean, yet he is acclaimed by Socialists of all groups. It is strange, therefore that there is notone volume of MacLean's essays or lectures currently in print, and that few people know just what this Scottish patriot and Marxist stood for. There is not even a biography of the man who was a close friend, of Larkin and Connolly, and who was regarded by Lenin and Trotsky as one of the most important Socialists that the nations of these islands, ever produced. The man who was honoured by the Soviet Russian Government as early as 1918. There is hardly another revolutionary whose work has been more thoroughly buried than that of MacLean, and whose character has been more successfully assassinated.
MacLean, a schoolteacher by profession, devoted himself to teaching working men Marxist economics; and his classes, which he began in 1906, laid the foundation for the Scottish Labour College. When the 1914 War began he denounced it as on imperialist war, as Lenin and Connolly were to do. His denunciation lost him his Job as a teacher. In September 1915 he launched his own newspaper, "Vanguard”, which ran to only five issues before it was suppressed. In October 1915 - MacLean was arrested and imprisoned for sedition under the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA). In February 1916 he was again arrested, and on April the 11th was sentenced to three years' penal servitude, large scale demonstrations led by prominent Socialists of the day led to his release fifteen months later. Connolly, in the very last issue of "The Workers' Republic," also demanded MacLean’s release. MacLean had become known to Irish Socialists through the columns of Connolly's newspapers, and had paid a number of visits to Ireland before 1916. He was “an old friend” of Connolly, who also had been born and brought up in Scotland and began his political life in the Scottish Socialist Movement.
Seamus Reader (1), organiser of the Scottish Brigade of the Irish Volunteers (afterwards the I.R.A.) carried reports to the Irish Military council in Dublin on Scottish conditions during 1916. Connolly, he recalls, was influenced by the state of affairs on "Red Clydeside," and Reader wrote in ‘The Irish in Scotland in 1916’: "Connolly said that Ireland could not wait until 1917 or 1918. John MacLean expected to be arrested in January or February, as he intended demonstrating against the war and conscription. The workers should strike, and those who had guns should use them." When the Easter Rising took place in Dublin, MacLean was still in jail. Along with Lenin, MacLean was one of the few Socialist leaders to hail the rising and to appreciate its importance.
Events were also happening in Russia. Lenin and Trotsky had already acclaimed MacLean, and at the first All Russia Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils in Petrograd (Leningrad), MacLean and Karl Liebnecht were elected honorary presidents of the Soviet Presidium. On February the 1st 1918, on Lenin's instructions, MacLean was appointed Consul for Soviet Affairs covering Scotland and England and Wales. Despite harassment by the Special Branch, MacLean did much work to aid Russian political refugees. But the English Government had, at this time, militarily intervened to smash the young Russian Republic, and on May the 9th 1918, MacLean received a sentence of five years' penal servitude for sedition.
At the trial he mode a magnificent defence speech: "I am a Socialist and have been fighting and will fight for an absolute reconstruction of society for the benefit of all. I am proud of my conduct. I have squared my conscience with my intellect -I am not here, then, as the accused; I am here as the accuser of Capitalism dripping with blood from head to foot!" Again, there were mass demonstrations, and these led to his release on December the 3rd. He immediately stood in a parliamentary by-election, coming second to the official Labour Party candidate.
In May 1920 MacLean relaunched his newspaper, "Vanguard." He began to write numerous articles supporting the Irish struggle and urging Scotsmen, as fellow Gaels, not to be used as tools for murdering their brother Gaelsof Ireland. During this time he published a pamphlet ‘The Irish Tragedy -Scotland' s Disgrace’, which sold 200,000 copies. In this he called for a General Strike and for the withdrawal of English troops in Ireland. MacLean addressed meetings on the Irish question in Ireland, Scotland, and England. He continually urged working class support for the Irish struggle. Orange mobs broke up one meeting in Motherwell. In May 1921 MacLean was again arrested and imprisoned for sedition. He served three months. In September 1921 came yet another arrest, and a sentence of one year. During this time he forced the prison 'authorities to concede him the status of a political prisoner, something never accorded by England, which refuses political status to obviously Political prisoners.
Throughout this time he had been working for the establishment of a Scottish Communist Party aiming at the formation of a Scottish Workers' Republic. Through his association with Connolly and Larkin he had come to the conclusion that national independence was a prelude to social independence, that national and social independence were not conflicting ideals but two parts of one basic democratic ideal; and a few faithful comrades joined him in forming a Scottish Workers' Republican Party early in 1923. MacLean’s Scottish Republicanism had developed during the war years, and perhaps the greatest single influence on the national question was the Irish experience and the teachings of Connolly; but a fellow Scot also had a far-reaching effect on MacLean’s political thinking. This was Ruaraidh Erskine of Marr, a prominent leader of re Gaelic language revival in Scotland, who for years had advocated a Scottish Socialist Republic. Erskine had hailed the Easter Rising and the Russian Revolution; and had taken an anti-war stand.
Those who followed the "British" Communist- Party bitterly attacked MacLean’s Scottish Workers' Republic. They were particularly vicious because of the prestige and influence MacLean had with the workers. They promptly began a character assassination, saying that MacLean had become deranged. In anguish MacLean wrote a famous "Open Letter to Lenin" denouncing his attackers (‘The Socialist’, February 1921). MacLean’s articles and letters right to the time of his death are clear, concise, and theoretically well balanced. In "All Hail, the Scottish Workers' Republic!" (August 1920) MacLean wrote: "For some time past the feeling has been growing that Scotland should strike out for National Independence, as well as Ireland and other lands. This has recently been strengthened by the English Government's intention to rely mainly on Scottish troops to murder the Irish Race. Genuine Scotsmen recently asked themselves the question: 'are we Scots to be used as the bloody tools of the English against our brother Gael of Erin? ' And naturally the instinctive response was- No!"
MacLean went on: "Many Irishmen live in Scotland, and as they are Gaels like the Scots and are out for Irish independence, and as wage earners have been champion fighters for working- class rights. We expect them to ally themselves with us and help us to attain our Scottish Communist Republic, as long as they live in Scotland. Irishmen must remember that Communism prevailed among the Irish clans as among the Scottish clans, so that, in lining up with Scotsmen, they are but carrying, forward the traditions and instincts of the Gaelic race." MacLean began to prepare for an election pending on December the 30th 1923. He was standing as a candidate for his Scottish Workers' Republican Party, which was slowly building its strength; but on November the 30th, 1923, he died... His death at the age of forty-four from pneumonia was attributable to the severe hardships he had suffered during his years of imprisonment.
A number of publications appeared some time after his death. "John MacLean," by Guy Aldred, 1932; Willie Gallagher’s autobiography, "Revolution on the Clyde, " in 1936: "John MacLean" by Tom Bell', in 1944; Emmanuel Shinwell's "Conflict without Malice,"1955. He subscribed to the lie that MacLean had become" unhinged" because he advocated Scottish Independence (2). Only James Clunie, in "The Voice of Labour," printed several of MacLean’s letters written during the years in question, in order to prove that MacLean was in perfectly sound mind. Recently, Walter Kendall’s "The Revolutionary Movement It in Britain, 1900-21" has revealed the full extent of the attempt to discredit MacLean.
Nevertheless, there is still no anthology of MacLean’s works, nor a published biography (though several biographies have been written). It is possible, though, that a biography by MacLean' s daughter, Mrs. Nan Milton, will be issued soon. In recent years the John MacLean Society, of which Mrs. Milton is Secretary, has managed to republish a few of MacLean’s pamphlets (including "The Irish Tragedy -Scotland's Disgrace"). These have contrived to create a certain amount of interest in MacLean and his work.
This year, the fiftieth anniversary of MacLean’s tragic death in 1923," committees are forming to try to publicise more fully his writings. The committees will also seek to raise money for a publishing fund in order to reissue some of MacLean’s pamphlets. The year’s activities will culminate in the unveiling of a memorial to MacLean in Eastwood cemetery in November. It is not without significance that there has long been a memorial to MacLean on the wall of the Kremlin in Moscow.
(1) Seamus Reader (Seumas Mac Ridire): See Winter 1973 ‘Catalyst' p.17.
(2) Mannie Shinwell, a Glasgow Jew, was later to become, as Lord Shinwell, that caricature of a Socialist - a Labour Peer.
This article was first published in ‘Rosc Catha’. It was also translated into the Breton magazine ‘Sav Breizh’. Later published in ‘Catalyst’ Autumn 1973, and SWR in 1988.
Seamus Reader (1), organiser of the Scottish Brigade of the Irish Volunteers (afterwards the I.R.A.) carried reports to the Irish Military council in Dublin on Scottish conditions during 1916. Connolly, he recalls, was influenced by the state of affairs on "Red Clydeside," and Reader wrote in ‘The Irish in Scotland in 1916’: "Connolly said that Ireland could not wait until 1917 or 1918. John MacLean expected to be arrested in January or February, as he intended demonstrating against the war and conscription. The workers should strike, and those who had guns should use them." When the Easter Rising took place in Dublin, MacLean was still in jail. Along with Lenin, MacLean was one of the few Socialist leaders to hail the rising and to appreciate its importance.
Events were also happening in Russia. Lenin and Trotsky had already acclaimed MacLean, and at the first All Russia Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils in Petrograd (Leningrad), MacLean and Karl Liebnecht were elected honorary presidents of the Soviet Presidium. On February the 1st 1918, on Lenin's instructions, MacLean was appointed Consul for Soviet Affairs covering Scotland and England and Wales. Despite harassment by the Special Branch, MacLean did much work to aid Russian political refugees. But the English Government had, at this time, militarily intervened to smash the young Russian Republic, and on May the 9th 1918, MacLean received a sentence of five years' penal servitude for sedition.
At the trial he mode a magnificent defence speech: "I am a Socialist and have been fighting and will fight for an absolute reconstruction of society for the benefit of all. I am proud of my conduct. I have squared my conscience with my intellect -I am not here, then, as the accused; I am here as the accuser of Capitalism dripping with blood from head to foot!" Again, there were mass demonstrations, and these led to his release on December the 3rd. He immediately stood in a parliamentary by-election, coming second to the official Labour Party candidate.
In May 1920 MacLean relaunched his newspaper, "Vanguard." He began to write numerous articles supporting the Irish struggle and urging Scotsmen, as fellow Gaels, not to be used as tools for murdering their brother Gaelsof Ireland. During this time he published a pamphlet ‘The Irish Tragedy -Scotland' s Disgrace’, which sold 200,000 copies. In this he called for a General Strike and for the withdrawal of English troops in Ireland. MacLean addressed meetings on the Irish question in Ireland, Scotland, and England. He continually urged working class support for the Irish struggle. Orange mobs broke up one meeting in Motherwell. In May 1921 MacLean was again arrested and imprisoned for sedition. He served three months. In September 1921 came yet another arrest, and a sentence of one year. During this time he forced the prison 'authorities to concede him the status of a political prisoner, something never accorded by England, which refuses political status to obviously Political prisoners.
Throughout this time he had been working for the establishment of a Scottish Communist Party aiming at the formation of a Scottish Workers' Republic. Through his association with Connolly and Larkin he had come to the conclusion that national independence was a prelude to social independence, that national and social independence were not conflicting ideals but two parts of one basic democratic ideal; and a few faithful comrades joined him in forming a Scottish Workers' Republican Party early in 1923. MacLean’s Scottish Republicanism had developed during the war years, and perhaps the greatest single influence on the national question was the Irish experience and the teachings of Connolly; but a fellow Scot also had a far-reaching effect on MacLean’s political thinking. This was Ruaraidh Erskine of Marr, a prominent leader of re Gaelic language revival in Scotland, who for years had advocated a Scottish Socialist Republic. Erskine had hailed the Easter Rising and the Russian Revolution; and had taken an anti-war stand.
Those who followed the "British" Communist- Party bitterly attacked MacLean’s Scottish Workers' Republic. They were particularly vicious because of the prestige and influence MacLean had with the workers. They promptly began a character assassination, saying that MacLean had become deranged. In anguish MacLean wrote a famous "Open Letter to Lenin" denouncing his attackers (‘The Socialist’, February 1921). MacLean’s articles and letters right to the time of his death are clear, concise, and theoretically well balanced. In "All Hail, the Scottish Workers' Republic!" (August 1920) MacLean wrote: "For some time past the feeling has been growing that Scotland should strike out for National Independence, as well as Ireland and other lands. This has recently been strengthened by the English Government's intention to rely mainly on Scottish troops to murder the Irish Race. Genuine Scotsmen recently asked themselves the question: 'are we Scots to be used as the bloody tools of the English against our brother Gael of Erin? ' And naturally the instinctive response was- No!"
MacLean went on: "Many Irishmen live in Scotland, and as they are Gaels like the Scots and are out for Irish independence, and as wage earners have been champion fighters for working- class rights. We expect them to ally themselves with us and help us to attain our Scottish Communist Republic, as long as they live in Scotland. Irishmen must remember that Communism prevailed among the Irish clans as among the Scottish clans, so that, in lining up with Scotsmen, they are but carrying, forward the traditions and instincts of the Gaelic race." MacLean began to prepare for an election pending on December the 30th 1923. He was standing as a candidate for his Scottish Workers' Republican Party, which was slowly building its strength; but on November the 30th, 1923, he died... His death at the age of forty-four from pneumonia was attributable to the severe hardships he had suffered during his years of imprisonment.
A number of publications appeared some time after his death. "John MacLean," by Guy Aldred, 1932; Willie Gallagher’s autobiography, "Revolution on the Clyde, " in 1936: "John MacLean" by Tom Bell', in 1944; Emmanuel Shinwell's "Conflict without Malice,"1955. He subscribed to the lie that MacLean had become" unhinged" because he advocated Scottish Independence (2). Only James Clunie, in "The Voice of Labour," printed several of MacLean’s letters written during the years in question, in order to prove that MacLean was in perfectly sound mind. Recently, Walter Kendall’s "The Revolutionary Movement It in Britain, 1900-21" has revealed the full extent of the attempt to discredit MacLean.
Nevertheless, there is still no anthology of MacLean’s works, nor a published biography (though several biographies have been written). It is possible, though, that a biography by MacLean' s daughter, Mrs. Nan Milton, will be issued soon. In recent years the John MacLean Society, of which Mrs. Milton is Secretary, has managed to republish a few of MacLean’s pamphlets (including "The Irish Tragedy -Scotland's Disgrace"). These have contrived to create a certain amount of interest in MacLean and his work.
This year, the fiftieth anniversary of MacLean’s tragic death in 1923," committees are forming to try to publicise more fully his writings. The committees will also seek to raise money for a publishing fund in order to reissue some of MacLean’s pamphlets. The year’s activities will culminate in the unveiling of a memorial to MacLean in Eastwood cemetery in November. It is not without significance that there has long been a memorial to MacLean on the wall of the Kremlin in Moscow.
(1) Seamus Reader (Seumas Mac Ridire): See Winter 1973 ‘Catalyst' p.17.
(2) Mannie Shinwell, a Glasgow Jew, was later to become, as Lord Shinwell, that caricature of a Socialist - a Labour Peer.
This article was first published in ‘Rosc Catha’. It was also translated into the Breton magazine ‘Sav Breizh’. Later published in ‘Catalyst’ Autumn 1973, and SWR in 1988.
Monday 5 September 2011
Weblogs added to SRS News
The following weblog links below have now been added to Scottish Republican Socialist News if you would like your weblog added to SRS News then please email me at redlarry1962@googlemail.com.
Scottish Republic
scottishsocfree.blogspot.com
The Breton Connection
thebretonconnection.blogspot.com
The Cornish Republican
thecornishrepublican.blogspot.com
Leanne Wood
leannewoodamac.blogspot.com
IRSP Scotland
irspscotland.wordpress.com
Iskra's Republican Socialist blog
iskra1916.blogspot.com
Thursday 25 August 2011
Scottish Republican Socialist News updated
Just thought I would post here about the new look Scottish Republican Socialist News website.
It is a website that is regularly updated about Scottish events especially republican and socialist but also cultural.
Recently updated are pictures and photos in which some you can click on to get redirected to another site on the image topic.
Also updated are the Scottish Links from tribal Scottish music to Scottish Republican Socialism Movement and John MacLean. There is a link to the SNP majority Scottish Government and The Society of William Wallace.
Any organisation or individual wanting to advertise their event in Scotland on Scottish Republican Socialist News please do not hesitate to email me at redlarry1962@googlemail.com
And the website will get a new domain name next month in which I will advertise widely.
Scottish Republican Socialist News proudly links to SRSM. Again to link to my site please email me.
Slainte
Larry
Scottish Republican Socialist News
http://redstar.webnode.com
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Tuesday 9 August 2011
Tommy McKearney - James Connolly commemoration
Former H-Block hunger strike and IWU organiser Tommy McKearney speaks at éirígí's James Connolly commemoration in Arbour Hill, Dublin, 10 May 2008.
Monday 8 August 2011
Gerry MacGregor remembered
I had to share this excellent write up Gerry got in Memoriam in Saoirse newspaper of RSF which I have typed until the current edition can be received online.
Slainte
Larry
THE well-known Republican and talented folk singer Gerry MacGregor passed away peacefully in a Glasgow hospital on July 24
Gerry hailed from the village of Duntocher in Dunbartonshire and had Donegal roots. Since his youth he was actively involved in revolutionary politics and embraced the causes of Scottish and Irish freedom and was a committed internationalist.
His heroes were John MacLean, James Connolly and Bobby Sands.
Gerry was actively involved in the Scottish Republican Socialist Party/Movement and was delighted with the landslide SNP victory in the Holyrood elections in May of this year.
Gerry was a regular participant at the annual Republican Sinn Fein 1916 Commemoration in Glasgow on Easter Sunday and attended an Republican Sinn Fein Ard-Fheis several years ago.
The plight of the Republican POWs were never far from his mind and Gerry performed at numerous CABHAIR benefits in support of the prisoners without taking any money. He is best known for his singing and performed for many years after Celtic FC home games in the Tolbooth at Glasgow Cross and also the Tall Cranes in Govan.
His albums include Bobby Sands - The Lark: A Tribute. Scotland Out of Britain - Britain Out of Ireland, I Sure Like Mondays and Your Daughters and Your Sons
Gerry's songs reflected his support for Irish and Scottish liberation, his working class politics and international principles.
He will be sorely missed by the many people who were inspired by his singing and who knew him through the numerous progressive causes he embraced. Sincere sympathy is offered to his partner Karen and family circle.
SAOIRSE Irish Freedom The Voice of the Republican Movement
UIMH 292 LUNASA AUGUST 2011
Saturday 6 August 2011
Giving the SNP a chance to deliver Independence
Nat MSP's fury over tartan extremists
That was the headline for the article about the so-called Scottish Liberation Movement (SLM) which screamed out the Daily Reptile or Daily Record as it is officially known.
What is known about the SLM is little indeed except that they exist on Facebook supposedly although it is not clear how to find them.
In the coming months and years we must be patient and give the SNP a chance to deliver in Government and most importantly an Independence Referendum.
Scotland will get her independence in good time with the support of the majority of the Scottish people.
We must beware about dirty tricks or false flag ships being set up by the British state to try and publicly discredit Scottish nationalism.
Even if a band of Scottish Rebels wanted to hit back at the British state the common sense approach would be not advertise themselves all over Facebook.
However divisions will still happen with some polarization of Scottish society between nationalist and unionist. This is inevitable and happened and exists in Ireland.
In Scotland however we have the opportunity to have a velvet revolution of sorts and the wind of change is in the air. Scottish people are more aware of their culture nowadays especially since Devolution despite it's political limitations.
In Ireland the situation historically has been different with occupation of that country. However we must essentially be cautious about the same divide and rule tactic employed by unionists and the British state.
I do not want to see any more patriots go to jail after being labeled in mock fashion as Tartan extremists by the Brits.
Give the SNP a chance to deliver freedom they have not had such a strong mandate from the Scottish people ever before.
Larry
Sunday 31 July 2011
Wednesday 27 July 2011
RIP Gerry MacGregor
Obituary
Gerry MacGregor b. 2/6/59. Duntocher. D.. 24/7/2011 Western Infirmary, Glasgow.
Born Gerry Dodds, Gerry reverted back to the clan name of MacGregor. Dodds being one of several names adopted by the MacGregors during their many proscriptions, where their very name and tartan was banned by law. Gerry often wore the full belted plaid in the Clan reenactment society and looked ever inch a MacGregor outlaw and coo thief and was often billed as the “Mountain Man” in the Pubs and clubs where he played his overtly political folk songs for Scotland, Ireland and international workers generally. Along with Eddie Alex Scullion and Leanne Coyle he played in the group, “Druzba”, Russian for “Truth“, often in the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic. He played in Spain, Ireland and many other locations, as a Scottish Republican socialist.
As soon as his autopsy is over we will publish details of his funeral. It will be a humanist funeral and he will be cremated. His ashes will be scattered by his partner, Karen Mcluskey. We will publish details of his funeral as soon as we know, along with other details of Gerry’s life.
Donald Anderson.
http://scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org
http://scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/SRSMForum.aspx
Monday 25 July 2011
Kernow / Information on Cornwall
What makes Cornwall unique
By admin | July 9, 2011
Cornwall, not England
A great many arguments and counter-arguments have raged regarding the true status of Cornwall. A status that is certainly unique within Great Britain. Why is it unique?
Nigel Pengelly asks historian Craig Weatherhill what is the real and verifiable truth that lies behind Cornwall’s claims?
Is it true that Cornwall was a kingdom?
Absolutely true, and accepted by all historians. Originally it was part of the kingdom of Dumnonia that may well predate the Roman occupation. This covered the whole of the south-western peninsula as far as a north-south line linking the Rivers Axe and Parrott. The advance of the Wessex Saxons caused the border to retreat westward until, by the 8th century only Cornwall was left. It must be remembered, though, that even then and until the 10th century, Cornwall extended to the Exe.
Do we know anything about the kings?
Some of them, although details of most are scanty at best. Fragments of a king-list survive, naming those who reigned from about 450 AD to around 650 AD and who would have been associated with the royal citadel at Tintagel, roughly dated to 450-700 AD. The earliest of these was Gurvor, then Tudwal. His successor was Cynvor, who flourished in the early to mid-6th century. Could he be the Cunomorus named on Fowey’s Tristan Stone (Cunomorus is a Latinised form of the Celtic name Cynvor), the lettering of which is dated to 530-570 AD? Could he also be the man mentioned in the 9th century Breton monk Wrmonoc’s Life of St Paul Aurelian as the king Quonomorius, also called Marcus? Was he, therefore, the famous King Mark of Cornwall?
The next king, Constantine, was king when the monk Gildas wrote around 540 AD. He castigated five contemporary British (Celtic) kings and called Constantine: “the tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Dumnonia”. Welsh records refer to him as Custennin Gorneu (“of Cornwall” – an early reference to the native name Kernow). He is said to have abdicated when elderly and gone into the Church. He was succeeded by Erbin, another name which crops up in Welsh tradition as does the name of the next king,
Gerent I.
He might have been the Gerent rac Deheu (“Gerent for the south”) who fought against the English at Catraeth (Catterick, Yorkshire) in 598. The next king was Cado, remembered by Geoffrey of Monmouth as Cador of Cornwall. After him come Peredur and Theudu.
The king list fizzles out at this point but we know of Gerent II, possibly Theudu’s successor. In 705, the Synod of Wessex wrote to “Gerontius Rex”, demanding that the Celtic (Columban) Church in Cornwall conform to the doctrines of Rome. That demand was never fufilled.
After Gerent II is a huge gap of 170 years before we find records of another Cornish king, Donyarth, recorded by the Annales Cambriae as having drowned in 878 AD. The Annales refer to him as “rex Cerniu” (“king of Cornwall”). Fifty years later, we find another one, Huwal, called by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles “king of the West Welsh”, a term exclusively used to describe the British Celts of Dumnonia and Cornwall (this was not Hywel Dda of South Wales). He was one of several kings who signed a treaty with Aethelstan of Wessex in 928 at Egmont Bridge, following which (and after he’d forced the Cornish from Exeter), Aethelstan fixed the border between Cornwall and Wessex at the east bank of the Tamar – exactly where it remains today in constitutional law (in spite of the unlawful alterations to it by the Boundary Commission and the Ordnance Survey).
So, was Huwal the last Cornish king?
We don’t know, but it appears that at the time of the Norman Conquest a man named Cadoc, described as the last of the Cornish royal line, became the first Earl. After him, the Norman authorities cleverly appointed Celtic-speaking Bretons to the Earldom; men like Count Brian, Robert of Mortain and Count Alan. There are indications that, under this system, the Cornish regarded the Normans as allies.
Are you saying that Cornwall was not conquered by the English and absorbed into Wessex?
No, it wasn’t. If it had been, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles would not have failed to shout it. Instead, there’s not a word, not in any record and the fact that some “historians” assume – even insist upon – its conquest by, and inclusion in, Wessex reflects rather badly upon their own integrity. Cornwall’s continued independence is strongly supported by the fact that it has enjoyed special status, as Earldom and Duchy, ever since.
So, you don’t believe that Cornwall is part of England
No, and for many reasons. First of all, Cornwall was portrayed on numerous maps, including the famous Mappa Mundi, as separate from England right up until the mid 16th century. Henry VIII even listed England and Cornwall separately in the list of his realms given in his coronation address and, interestingly, Elizabeth I stated that she did not rule Cornwall (but Cornish was among the languages she was reputed to speak). 1549 changed many things. No longer do we find Anglia et Cornubia in official documents; the British Sea suddenly became the English Channel and Cornwall as a separate entity was omitted from the maps. No record exists of any formal annexation of Cornwall to England, nor were we party to the Act of Union in 1707. More reasons will crop up later.
So the Cornish people are not English?
No, they can be no more English than the Welsh are, and for precisely the same reason. Modern archaeology now admits that the Cornish and Welsh of today are the remnants of an ancient race native to these islands since at least the Neolithic period, between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. They also now believe that the Celtic language came into being during that same period as a common language of sea trading communities along the Atlantic coasts of Europe from Spain to the Hebrides. Cornish is a direct descendant of that early language. All in all, a heritage to be truly proud of even though officialdom seeks to erase it by dubbing monuments of those periods “English” Heritage. The English peoples, on the other hand, hail from what is now Germany and the Low Countries and did not begin to migrate into Britain until the mid 5th century AD. They had little or no contact with Cornwall until the 8th century. In 1937, Bartholomew published a Map of European Ethnicity prepared by the Edinburgh Institute of Geography which featured “Cornish Celtic”.
I note that you never refer to Cornwall as a “county”.
It’s officially a Duchy and that’s the title recommended by the Kilbrandon Report back in 1973 to be used instead of “county”. The imposition of official county status imposed on Cornwall in 1889 (a year after the rest of the country) was not lawful. Interestingly, the Duchy Charters and other documents refer to the old Cornish Hundreds as “shires” and “counties”. Now, how can any county contain counties?
The name Kernow, you say, is old?
Very old. The Ravenna Cosmography, compiled c700 AD from Roman material 300 years older, lists a route running westward into Cornwall. On this route is a place then called Durocornovio (Latinised from British Celtic duno-Cornouio-n – “fortress of the Cornish”). This has been identified as Tintagel (long before Earl Richard built his castle there) and in the Cornish of today would be rendered as Dyn Kernowyon. In 878, the drowned king Donyarth is recorded in Welsh annals as rex Cerniu, and you will find the present spelling – Kernow – as early as 1400. Remember that there was no such entity as England until just before the year 900 when it first appears on record (as Englaland). So the invading Romans did not occupy England, as too many TV presenters state – how could they, unless they had a time machine that could jump 850 years into their future?
What about Cornwall’s much-vaunted Parliament? Surely that’s just a joke?
Far from it. Even in King John’s day, Cornwall’s Stannary Parliament was believed to stretch back into antiquity – no one knows how far back it goes. After Cornwall’s brief war with England in 1497, part of the cause of which was due to the English king suspending the Stannaries, Henry VII relented and in 1508 restored it under the Charter of Pardon (for a price – the greedy king demanded and got £1,000). This gave the Stannary Parliament additional powers, still valid to this day. The Stannary has power of veto over any Statute or Act of Parliament. People think that the Stannary Parliament applied only to tinners but the terms of the Charter include the words, “their heirs and successors”. You don’t have to be a tinner to be an heir or successor. The terms of the Charter apply to the entire Cornish people.
Yes, but 1508 was a long time ago.
Sure it was, but there are extant English laws that date back even further. In 1977, in answer to a question from Plaid Cymru, the then Attorney General, Lord Elwyn Jones, confirmed that the powers of the Stannary remained intact at law. At a later date the Hansard Library also confirmed that the Charter of Pardon can only be repealed by the Cornish people themselves (as contrasted with “the people of Cornwall”).
That’s not very democratic.
Depends on how you look at it. The Charter of Pardon was meant for the Cornish people alone. I don’t see that it’s any different from the present situation in Andorra where Andorrans only make up about 40% of the population but only they are allowed to vote in its elections.
So why haven’t we got that Parliament and its right of veto?
Because the establishment in London doesn’t want it. In fact, it took only 41 years for London to trample all over the Charter with the forcible imposition of their state religion and language. It is not often mentioned that this contempt for the Charter and the Cornish people was a major reason for the war in 1549 (not ‘rebellion’ – you can only rebel against a legitimate authority). The attitude persists to this day. During that war, the Cornish took Plymouth without a shot being fired, then laid siege to Exeter for 5 weeks. We fought five of the biggest and bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil. Thousands died, including 900 unarmed Cornish prisoners (figure from Edward VI’s own chronicler, John Hayward), and yet ‘English’ Heritage refuses to recognise the battle sites and enter them on the Register of British Battlefields. For that organisation, as it told visitors to Restormel Castle 6 years ago, there was no war – just “wicked rebels” opposing a “good king”. Sadly, we came second but I still think that our general, Sir Humphrey Arundell, should be placed alongside Josef an Gof as the greatest of our heroes.
What about the Duchy? Is it true that it is just a collection of private estates?
That’s what we are told and Duchy representatives have been very liberal with the truth in that respect. The real and lasting truth lies in the successful submission by the Duchy’s Attorney General, Sir George Harrison, in the late 1850s in a spat with the Crown over the latter’s greedy attempt to land-grab Cornwall’s foreshore. Harrison’s submission stated plain fact, describing Cornwall as a Palatine state that had always been held apart from England and that the entire jurisdiction of the Crown within Cornish borders was held by the Duke. In other words – and uniquely in Britain – the reigning monarch’s writ does not extend to Cornwall. Here, the Duke is the ruler. This is why Henry VIII listed England and Cornwall separately in the list of his realms given in his coronation address. He ruled England as King, and Cornwall as Duke. In fact, the title Duke of Cornwall is vastly senior to that of Prince of Wales. As Duke, the incumbent is a ruling sovereign; as Prince of Wales he is merely a figurehead. Under Duchy Charters, the Duke appoints the Sherriff: elsewhere in Britain, including Wales, this appointment is made by the monarch. Harrison also pointed out that, irrespective of external land holdings, the Duchy covered the entire area of Cornwall – including the bed and waters of the Tamar. This confirms the ancient boundary fixed by Aethelstan 900 years previously as, indeed, does the Tamar Bridge Act 1998 that also confirms the power of the Duke. This truth has not been altered since by change or amendment of any Act. It can be tested. If you die intestate on Cornish soil, your estate will pass to the Duchy. The entire foreshore of Cornwall belongs to the Duchy. If a sturgeon is caught in Cornish waters, it must be offered to the Duke, who also enjoys right of wreck in Cornish waters. All four examples are unique in Great Britain – elsewhere these are rights of the Crown – and I must mention one other stipulation of the Duchy Creation Charter that remains law today: no agent of the Crown can even set foot on Cornish soil to carry out Crown duties unless with the express permission of both the Duke and the Cornish parliament.
Whoops – that opens a can of worms!
Yes, doesn’t it just. It explains exactly why Cornwall’s rights have been deliberately ignored for 450 years, and why the ongoing stream of official untruths. Just look at the organisations that operate in Cornwall in direct breach of the Duchy Charters: HM Inspector of Taxes, the Crown Prosecution Service, Crown Courts and even the quangos created by recent governments: English Heritage, English Nature, English Estates. The Government, acting in the name of the Crown, does not allow Cornish children to be taught their own heritage. It even teaches them they are “English” and there have been recent complaints against teaching staff who have punished or humiliated Cornish children for insisting upon their true Cornish identity. London would be the first to condemn any other nation that was treating a legitimate minority in this way – and this situation has only been achieved, ever since 1549, by the exertion of “might is right”. One day, this may well be challenged, perhaps in Europe or to another international court – up to now, Cornwall hasn’t had the money to do it – and the London establishment can never win such a case. The evidence against it is overwhelming. Westminster has operated in complete contempt of its own law for ages and to undo what it has done will create utter chaos – but whose fault is that? Not ours.
Craig Weatherhill
http://www.cornwallinformation.co.uk/news/?p=3133
Friday 15 July 2011
Solidarity with the Irish Struggle for Freedom & Civil Rights
Important and necessary links have now been added to this weblog.
For Political Prisoners I have added the Irish Freedom Committee POW List for those wishing to write and support Irish Political Prisoners http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net/POWs/IPOWS_LIST.htm
I have also added the Irish Political Status Committee Forum link for the genuine concern for Irish POWs and information about Irish events published on their site.
http://www.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?&user=ipsc
Also on the Political Prisoners links I have included the 32CSM Scotland weblog for the valuable work they publicise and carry out for Irish Republican Prisoners. And they also support Scottish Independence and deservedly also feature on my blog list updates.
http://32csmscot.blogspot.com
And finally I have created a new feature on my favourite list of books starting most importantly with Derry author and historian Fionnbarra O’Dochartaigh IRELAND - England's Vietnam book.
http://www.lulu.com/browse/search.php?fListingClass=0&fSearch=Ireland+%2F+Civil+Rights
As I support real Scottish Republican activity I urge common cause with our Irish brothers and sisters in struggle to break the English connection.
Scotland Out Of Britain!
Britain Out Of Ireland!
Larry
Monday 11 July 2011
Forthcoming SRSM Events
Woodside, Paisley
Saturday 13th. August 2011 at 11.30am. for 12 noon.
This event is organised by the 1820 Society
Sighthill Sunday 11th. September 2011 at 2pm. for 2.30pm.
Sighthill 'DOORS OPEN DAY' Sunday 18th. September at 2pm.
This event is organised by the 1820 Society
See SRSM website for any updates
http://scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Events
Saturday 13th. August 2011 at 11.30am. for 12 noon.
This event is organised by the 1820 Society
Sighthill Sunday 11th. September 2011 at 2pm. for 2.30pm.
Sighthill 'DOORS OPEN DAY' Sunday 18th. September at 2pm.
This event is organised by the 1820 Society
See SRSM website for any updates
http://scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org/Events
Monday 20 June 2011
SRSM Northern England branch meeting
SRSM Northern England branch
Next meeting is on Saturday 16 July, 12 noon at the "Society Rooms", Grosvenor Road, Stalybridge.
Stalybridge is 9 miles east of Manchester, at the foot of the Pennines and easy to reach by car and train.
Lowry did a lot of painting here and Engels wrote about the town in his "Condition of the English Working Class." The local football team is Stalybridge Celtic!
Society Rooms is a Wetherspoon so there's food, real ale etc.
Hope to meet up with people there!
We have loads to discuss including recent activities, publicity, future plans etc...
Next meeting is on Saturday 16 July, 12 noon at the "Society Rooms", Grosvenor Road, Stalybridge.
Stalybridge is 9 miles east of Manchester, at the foot of the Pennines and easy to reach by car and train.
Lowry did a lot of painting here and Engels wrote about the town in his "Condition of the English Working Class." The local football team is Stalybridge Celtic!
Society Rooms is a Wetherspoon so there's food, real ale etc.
Hope to meet up with people there!
We have loads to discuss including recent activities, publicity, future plans etc...
Monday 16 May 2011
IRSN Solidarity Statement to the May 8th John MacLean SRSM Rally
IRSN Solidarity Statement to the May 8th John MacLean SRSM Rally
19 April 2011
The comrades of the International Republican Socialist Network join with the members of the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement in commemorating the contribution of John MacLean to the struggle for a Scottish workers’ republic. With another Scottish-born Marxist, James Connolly, MacLean is among the most important figures in the history of the republican socialist tendency within the international socialist movement, which recognizes that, in the era of imperialism, genuine national liberation can only be achieved through the creation of a socialist republic.
This not only remains true today, but in fact has become ever more correct in the nine decades that have elapsed since MacLean’s death. It is correct because the capitalist classes of all nations are inherently dependent on the interests of the ruling class in the metropoles of the world to such an extent that they are unable to assert the distinct interests of their own nation, without undermining the interests of their class; but it is also correct because a nation is not a mere abstraction, but the living, flesh and blood, people resident within given borders and, in any developed capitalist nation, the majority of those people will be members of the working class. Insofar as that majority will continue to suffer the class oppression that is inevitable under capitalism, the actual liberation of a nation can only be seen as having been achieved when the majority of its people are freed from such tyranny.
The logic of MacLean remains forceful today, that the more wide-spread class consciousness and militancy within that Scottish working class, compared to that of England, creates a circumstance wherein independence for Scotland provides the best way forward for Scottish workers to obtain their liberation as a class. But in accomplishing this, Scottish workers will also benefit their sisters and brothers south of the border, in that anything that serves to weaken the British imperialist state provides opportunities for the workers of all the nations on the isle of Britain to challenge the ruling class.
As the sentiment in support of separation from the ‘ancient regime’ of the ‘United Kingdom’ has grown within the Scottish nation, until it has become the dominant political view today, it has become all the more essential that the message of republican socialism reaches the working people of Scotland. Independence will mean little to Scottish working people, if the capitalists of London continue to control the nation’s destiny through their ownership of the key components of the nation’s wealth. Far from ceasing their revolutionary drive to celebrate any success towards nominal Scottish independence, working women and men in Scotland must seize upon the opportunities provided to press forward to gain the liberation of the Scottish working class, and through this—and only through this—to achieve meaningful independence for the Scottish nation.
We in the IRSN join our voices with the comrades of the SRSM in echoing the words of John MacLean, “All Hail the Scottish Workers’ Republic!”
Peter Urban
Comrade, International Republican Socialist Network
http://irsn.weebly.com/irsn-solidarity-statement-to-the-may-8th-john-maclean-rally.html
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