Why a Glencoe Rally?

Rally 1.30 pm, Satuday February 13 Car Park.
Inn at Balloch afterwards. Bus from Glasgow George Square 10 am £12 Children Free.
Ted Christopher ~ Sweaty Socks
Why a Glencoe Rally? By Donald Anderson
Few will march each year to commemorate the Glencoe massacre, or see its relevance to today. Thousands of lumpens will march every year through de-industrialised Scotland to celebrate a minor, peripheral European skirmish in 1690 fought by an Anglo Dutch King, whose correct title in Scotland is William 11, not 111. William was supported by the Romish Vatican. Both signed the Treaty of Augsburg, July 9, 1686. At that time the Pope was against the Jacobites because of their French allies. The rivalry between Rome and Avignon in the 13th and 14th c. had not been healed.
Few of the marchers can tell you about the Williamite wars in Scotland, where William’s army was smashed at Killiecrankie, July 27, 1698 and elsewhere by the Scottish Jacobites.
It was William who was responsible for the Darien Disaster in 1695-8, by forbidding the English colonies to supply to supply the Scots with fresh water and provisions and encouraging the Spaniards to attack them. The whole of Scotland – and Glasgow in particular – invested heavily in this venture. The result was ruination, coupled with the famine years after the Williamite wars in Scotland: all designed to soften Scotland up for the coming “Union” of 1707. Queen Ann described the so called “Union” as her “Design Against Scotland”, which was achieved by bribery, threats and coercion, William had an army on the Border and a fleet offshore, ready to invade before his death in 1702. He also sent a fleet from Belfast to murder the Clanranald MacDonalds at Moidart.
Not only did he sign the order for the Glencoe massacre, he intended to carry the massacres throughout all the Jacobite clans. This was only prevented by a successful outcry throughout Europe, particularly France. The Glencoe widows paraded through Edinburgh streets in the traditional manner, carrying the bloodied saffron linen shirts on poles. This was supported by the Edinburgh “mob”, who later rioted outside the Parliament buildings,
when the 1707 Treaty was signed in a cellar to escape them. The Treaty and the redcoated escorts were pelted all the way over the Border and copies of the Treaty burnt at every mercat cross in Scotland. Troops were be sent to quell the riots, when the Tron minister told them to be up and rioting anent the city of God. (Yes Glasgow).
There were very few Campbells in the Argyll Militia, who were who were wakened in the night to carry out their sealed orders. A Campbell piper played a lament at Signal Rock at midnight. His hosts knew what that meant and escaped. Another Campbell trooper spoke to a sacred rock, saying that if he were a dog he would not be out on that night. His hosts also got the message. The fact that only 38 people died was a testimony to the reluctance of the troopers. There have been many Highland massacres. The fact that this one broke the laws of Highland hospitality was most shocking.
Glenlyon turned alcoholic and lead a tragic life afterwards. The Glenlyon Campbells, The Black Isle and other Jacobite Campbells were out in the 1715 and ’45 rebellions on the Jacobite side. The Glencoe MacIain, MacDonalds guarded the Campbell houses from other Jacobite forces, marching through their glens and straths. The divisive myths about Campbells and MacDonalds was only one of many divide and conquer tactics used in Scotland; such as North against South, East against West and Catholic against Protestant, etc. etc.
The massacre was not forgotten. Later radical Republicans, such as James Thompson Callander, in Edinburgh issued mutinying Highland Troops with leaflets urging them to stay at home and “assert your Independence”. It was accompanied by a more direct appeal to insurrection, “Your countrymen look up to you as their protectors and guardians, and will in their turn lift up their arms to protect and assist you.
We urge you Not to support the massacres in Baghdad for more oil for the very oppressors who stole ours and who planted the weapons of mass destruction here in nuclear occupied Scotland. Support Scottish UDI, with no more Scots cannon fodder against people we have no quarrel with.

Join the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement

Copy of orders

You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebels, the McDonalds of Glenco, and putt all to the sword under seventy. You are to have a special care that the old Fox and his sons doe upon no account escape your hands, you are to secure all the avenues that no man escape. This you are to putt in execution at fyve of the clock precisely; and by that time, or very shortly after it, I'll strive to be att you with a stronger party: if I doe not come to you att fyve, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the Kings speciall command, for the good & safty of the Country, that these miscreants be cutt off root and branch. See that this be putt in execution without feud or favour, else you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to King nor Government, nor a man fitt to carry Commissione in the Kings service. Expecting you will not faill in the fulfilling hereof, as you love your selfe, I subscribe these with my hand att Balicholis Feb: 12, 1692
(signed) R. Duncanson

For their Majesties service
To Capt. Robert Campbell of Glenlyon

SRSM Anti Sectarian March

It has been reported on 32CSM Scotland weblog about the SRSM's Rally at Glencoe this year.

SRSM Anti Sectarian March
Members of the Vol Charles Carrigan Cumann 32CSM Scotland are intending to attend the SRSMs annual anti sectarian march and rally at Glencoe on Saturday 13th of February. The rally is held at the monument to the victims of the Glencoe Massacre, when Campbells under orders from William of Orange murdered members of the Catholic MacDonald Clan as they slept after giving the Campbells hospitality.


A bus laid on by the SRSM will leave Glasgow on the Saturday morning and following the march and rally a social including a meal will be held nearby. Bus, including meal -£12. All Republicans welcome.


Full details and to reserve a seat contact vol_charles_carrigan_ cumann@hotmail. co.uk.

Rally against Pylons

In spite of 20,000 voices being raised in protest, the SNP government has give the green light to S&SEB to build a metal spine of giant pylons up the backbone of Scotland. Thes pylons will run through our most beautiful areas and degrade two battlefield, Sheriffmuir and Bannockburn as they run from Denny in Stirlingshire to Beuly in Inverness and will cut through the beautiful Cairngorms National Park.
Each of these pylons is the height of the Wallace Monument and will require a foundation the size of a football pitch. One at Stirling will be only one field away from the Monument itself.
Apart from the destruction of Scotland's world acclaimed scenery, these enormous pylons pose a serious risk to health.

A rally against this scheme will take place outside Holyrood on Thursday 18th March while the parliament is in session. Will anyone who can, please rally some interested friends and come along

2010 New Year Statement from the Scottish Socialist Freedom Group

The leadership of the Scottish Socialist Freedom Group (SSFG) send fraternal greetings to our members and supporters throughout the world and in Scotland. As we enter 2010 we also express our appreciation and gratitude to the comrades of the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) for their efforts to hold up the banner in Scotland for Republican Socialism. The SRSM remain the active voice of Scottish Republican Socialism.

Particularly we salute the efforts of our brothers and sisters who fight on the globe for socialism and national liberation. To the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to the Irish Republican Socialist Movement (IRSM) and International Republican Socialist Network (IRSN).

We support Justice for and the immediate release of the Cuban Five heroes.

We extend our solidarity and best wishes to the republican political prisoners who are struggling to free Ireland from British imperialism and partition of the island.
We note the valuable work carried out for republican prisoners by the Irish Political Status Committee. We ask that comrades begin or continue to write to political prisoners in 2010.

We wish the comrades of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) all the best with their struggle for national liberation and socialism as their armed struggle is over but working class struggle continues.

We extend our greetings to the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) as a party for the working class.

And finally we extend our solidarity to the activists of the SRSM and IRSN.

Comrades in 2010 we recognise the struggle for an Independence Referendum for the Scottish people must begin in earnest. The Scottish National Party (SNP) will present their Referendum Bill to the Scottish Parliament. The SSFG fully endorse the efforts of the Scottish Government in taking the struggle for independence to the Scottish people. We condem the cowardly Unionists for threatening to vote against the Bill preventing it's successful passage through Holyrood.

And in 2010 we will continue to support the establishment of a Scottish Republic no less. The SSFG remains an Internet based educational organisation in this regard. The activity to spread the ideas of John MacLean and Scottish Republican Socialism is within the remit of the SRSM. The SSFG will enter 2010 publicising the good work of the SRSM and offering our solidarity.

The struggle for a Scottish Workers Republic has begun. We see no war but class war. onwards to a new era for Republican Socialism in Scotland, onwards to victory for the Scottish Working class.

ENDS
SSFG Website

2010 New Year Statement from the leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement

2010 New Year Statement from the leadership of the
Irish Republican Socialist Movement

The leadership of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement sends fraternal and comradely greetings to all our members, comrades, friends and supporters as we enter 2010.

Particularly we want to pay tribute to all republican political prisoners, particularly those prisoners aligned to the Republican Socialist Movement. They have borne the brunt of state repression over the past number of years and we salute their integrity and their courage. We take this opportunity to pay tribute to them and to their families during their imprisonment in what is a very difficult period for them. We send them our sincerest solidarity.

We wish also to send revolutionary greetings to our socialist brothers and sisters around the world who continue to fight for socialism, freedom and justice in their own countries. 2009 saw a massive onslaught by Israel against the Palestinians and it also saw the continued occupation by the US and Britain of Afghanistan and Iraq. In many other countries unjust and illegal occupations continue. Workers continue to be exploited by corrupt regimes and multinational corporations under the capitalist system. The very same system that was solely responsible for the collapse of the world economy in 2009. We send messages of solidarity to the oppressed peoples throughout the world who continue to suffer occupation, exploitation and injustice but we also salute all victories for the working class, no matter how small because their victory is our victory just as their fight is our fight.

We are extremely encouraged by the response from our members and supporters to the announcement on 11th October 2009 that the INLA intend to pursue changed tactics in the struggle for national liberation and socialism. As revolutionaries it is not only right but it is our duty to analyse and to adapt to changed circumstances. As Mao Zedong once pointed out, "politics is war without bloodshed," and it is within this context that the Republican Socialist Movement carries forward the struggle. The setting aside the tactic of armed struggle based on a sound analysis of current conditions in no way means that the war for national and class liberation is over. It merely will take a different form, with the IRSP intending to carry the struggle forward through organising, agitating, and educating the working class in every arena available to us but also encouraging the volunteer soldiers of the Irish National Liberation Army to do likewise.

With this new direction we urge all of our membership to involve themselves in every aspect of working class struggle and to immerse themselves in that day to day fight. During 2009 IRSP activists have taken part in many campaigns across Ireland and in many of these the IRSP has been to the forefront. We have been consistent in opposing the joint crimes of the occupation and partition of Ireland and that will continue because we see these issues as fundamental denials of Irish working class self determination. We also intend to step up our opposition to capitalism and the problems that it brings to the working class in terms of exploitation and economic hardships.

For 2010 the Irish Republican Socialist Movement intends to build on the gains of the previous twelve months and to convince more and more working class people of the benefits revolutionary socialism can bring to their lives and to society as a whole. We intend to carry on forging links and alliances between all those who share our revolutionary outlook and who want to build a new socialist Ireland. The IRSP will continue to build links within and between working class communities. Only a united and vibrant working class can achieve our shared goals and we will continue to argue for the republic and against partition and in this we will continue to be guided by the teachings of great Irish socialist leaders such as James Connolly and Seamus Costello whilst remaining mindful that their principles must be adapted to the present and to suit the prevailing conditions of the day.

2010 will also present our movement with many more opportunities and challenges and we intend to meet these opportunities and challenges head on and with the very same vigour and determination that our brave comrades in the INLA fought against British imperialism. Our primary focus will be in reinvigorating the Irish Republican Socialist Party.

The IRSP are a party of the working class for the working class. No war but the class war, onwards to a new era for Republican Socialism in Ireland, onwards to victory for the Irish Working class.

ENDS

Irish Republican Socialist Party
Costello House
392 Falls Road
Belfast
+44 28 90323416

IRSP Website

Independence is more popular in Scotland

Came across this on the SNP website.

Independence is more popular in Scotland than the Unionists would like you to think.

See Below:

SNP Constitutional Affairs Spokesman Pete Wishart MP has welcomed an opinion poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion which shows a majority of the people of Scotland back independence or more powers with independence as the most popular option for change. The poll also shows that a majority of people across the UK back independence or more powers.

According to the poll 64% of people in Scotland want independence or more powers. This breaks down as 22% for “some additional powers, including the introduction of a new Scottish rate of income tax”; 17% for “many additional powers, such as full financial autonomy from the UK”; and 25% for independence - the greatest number for those supporting constitutional progress.

The poll also showed 56% of people across the UK supported independence or more powers for Scotland - and again independence is the most popular change option.

Commenting Mr Wishart said:

“There is a clear desire for Scotland to move forward and this poll shows that the Scottish Government’s white paper, which lays out these options, is in tune with what the people of Scotland want - the right to have their say on their constitutional future.

“There is an overwhelming desire in Scotland to extend the powers of the parliament, with independence the most popular option for change. The status quo is no longer acceptable to the VAST majority of the people of Scotland, and this poll reflects that.

“It is very welcome that independence is the most favoured option for constitutional progress and it can be the winning option for Scotland.

"The Calman Commission has been kicked into the longest of long grass by Labour and the Tories, and people's aspirations in Scotland are far more ambitious than the watered down ideas of the London-based parties.

“Independence would allow Scotland the ability to generate MORE jobs and investment with full responsibility for our economy; to remove nuclear weapons from our waters rather than spend £100 billion on new weapons of mass destruction; and to keep our forces out of illegal wars.

“We would also be able to use all the levers and powers available to tackle poverty and to fully represent our interests and our values – such as our world leading commitment to tackle climate change - amongst our neighbours, in the EU and in the world.”
ENDS

Reply to CWI article

A reply to Phillip Stott of CWI

I am disappointed with this article. He argues that present disaffection with current devolution arrangement is caused by failure to solve the problems of working class communities. But this ignores the cultural question and lack of democracy. The strenghtening of Scottish parliamentary powers begins to solve the problem of lack of Scottish Democracy. In other words a parliament the people will find useful to democracy. He recognises the fact we could face a Tory government after the next general election. What better arguments have they ever been to opt for full independence. I am also not happy that he slates the SNP by claiming they would slash public services. I don't think the SNP want that but remain tied to the capitalist system putting limitations on their ability to fight budget cuts and protecting public services. Furthermore Mr Stott of the CWI or Committee Workers International comes out in favour of a parliament with full econonmic powers but ignores the need for full independence. Someone should educate him that in order to get a Socialist Republic first we have to smash the British constitution and crown powers and create a free Scotland, Wales, Ireland and indeed England. Support for beefing up the powers of the Scottish parliament may be widespread amongst the people but that is no excuse not to argue for Scottish independence in full. The political climate will change and indeed the mood of the Scottish people after the election of a Tory government. Republican Socialists will be better placed than ever to argue alongside the SNP for nothing less than Scottish independence therefore solving the problem of a lack of Scottish Democracy.
Larry

Still on track for independence

Murray Ritchie

Still on track for independence

Scottish Review

Have I got this right? Alex Salmond, being the Sun King of Scottish politics, governs by force of personality. Without the benefit of a parliamentary majority he gets his way by turning his countenance on his enemies and watching them wilt in his glare.

Perplexed and divided they come up with a cunning plan. They decide to appease the great leader by offering some limited constitutional co-operation. This the Sun King graciously accepts because, of course, it serves his purpose. Half a loaf and all that…

But when the great man calls his opponents' bluff and invites them to vote for their own brainwave they suddenly lose their nerve and run again for shade. It is all rather confusing. They may appear ridiculous, even pathetic, as the onward march of Scottish self-determination is again delayed for a moment or two but that's Scottish politics, folks. We're all gradualists now, like it or not.

This constitutional constipation is interpreted by Salmond's enemies in the venal Holyrood commentariat – where the Unionists enjoy a hostile majority – as the SNP at last hitting the buffers and the Sun King heading for the guillotine.

Well, somehow I doubt it. At times like this the opponents of independence take heart. There’s Michael (Lord) Forsyth suggesting Gordon Brown should obey Wendy Alexander's 'bring it on' demand for an independence referendum. Considering His Lordship made a career from misreading Scottish political opinion, I doubt Gordon Brown would be tempted. I suppose he could overcome his party's parrot protest that in time of economic crisis we have more to worry about than further constitutional change. He could argue that the cost of an independence referendum would be minimal if conducted alongside a general election and his suggested referendum on electoral reform next year.

At first sight it is a plausible plan for calling Mr Salmond's own bluff – except of course that unlike the Unionists, Mr Salmond is not bluffing. He reckons – and I see much force in his optimism – that he might win, and his assorted Unionist opponents – less gung-ho than Forsyth and Alexander – worry that he might be right.

Here's why. At times like this our political class tends to get preoccupied with the small picture, the latest scandal, the newest opinion poll. But after a lifetime watching the SNP and its contribution to Scottish life I suspect the future looks rather rosy for Mr Salmond and for independence. Polls and scandals and reshuffles and by-election successes and failures come and go and are merely the punctuation in Scotland's political story. The narrative only becomes interesting when the SNP is making waves and that has been the storyline now for more than a decade.

History shows you should expect the unexpected with the SNP. Only four years ago the Nationalists were written off in Westminster opinion polls, registering a measly 13% support. Today they are running the country and favourites to continue after 2011. Salmond's plan for independence enjoys, at worst, a sound building block of support from about a third of the electorate where a generation ago it was almost non-existent.

Whenever the SNP dip in the polls we hear how 'the Scottish people don’t want independence' but remember this: we know from these same polls that the Scottish people want more constitutional power in some form. And when they get more devolution we have learned that this just feeds their appetite for yet more. This is gradualism in practice, which is why reaction to Salmond's white paper suggests if you put together those favouring independence and/or more devolution you get a huge majority. That explains Salmond’s belief that a multi-option referendum is another step to independence. If the high road via a referendum next year is closed, then it is only sensible to take the low.

In other words if Salmond manages to chip away at the Union, as he is doing with the Unionists trying to buy him off with concessions, then there will come a time when the pile of chips is bigger than what’s left of the block. From there it is just another step to the Sun King's apotheosis when the Union as we know it will be history.

The story so far has been relentless, from the disappointment of the 1979 referendum which signalled the death of Tory Scotland and the emergence of a new civic nationalism. Eventually this led to the 2007 referendum whose outcome stunned the Unionist last ditchers with the SNP going on to govern from a parliament established with the express objective of killing nationalism stone dead.

Nothing in 300 years of Union has been more significant than Scotland turning to a secessionist party for leadership. As Salmond said at the time there may be Labour governments in future – and he is probably correct – but the Labour/Unionist monolith crushing all aspects of Scottish life is busted for all time. With electoral reform local government has already been opened to all politics, killing off Labour's anti-democratic grip. Holyrood's loaded voting rules could be in line for the chop and if Brown goes ahead as promised with a referendum on Westminster electoral reform we could even see the day when the SNP is Scotland's biggest party in the Commons.

This cannot have escaped the attention of Unionists more thoughtful than Lord Forsyth and must explain why the Unionist coalition is in disarray on Calman.

The Tories have reverted to type on their promise of more devolution by reneging at the first phone call from David Cameron and now say they will bring forward their own proposals if they oust Labour at Westminster.

Labour says it sticks by Calman but won’t actually do anything to legislate unless and until it wins the general election. Some hope. As for the Liberal Democrats, still wondering where their fingers are, who can say?

Anyway, I am not sure British general elections matter much any more in Scotland in these devolutionary days. I remember a by-election in Paisley in 1997 that coincided with a new feature of Scottish politics. System Three opinion polling was first to suggest a consistent difference between voting intentions for Holyrood and Westminster and it proved correct. I can still see the face of Labour's campaigners in that by-election when we showed them the evidence that the SNP vote always rises when the contest is for Holyrood.

Scots may be lukewarm about independence for the moment – which is why Salmond is perforce a cautious gradualist – but they still perceive an advantage in having the SNP in strength in Edinburgh. I can see no reason why this should change and every reason why the SNP can only benefit next time from the Sun King’s personal domination of parliament. According to a Nationalist friend of mine, Salmond is the only man in Scotland who can swagger when he's sitting down. I suspect the Scots rather like that and respect him for it even if not everyone loves him. For the moment our First Minister remains the smartest political operator in Britain and the Scots know it. I have no faith in a government of English Tory toffs driving Scottish voters to independence. Rather the Tories are simply irrelevant now. Labour will split and argue about the Scottish question if defeat comes next year and that again can only benefit Salmond. I suspect the Labour left, if it survives, would warm to independence when it assesses its future.

So, despite those routine dips and blips in its fortunes, I think the independence cause will prosper. Even a defeat two years from now would not be fatal for the SNP, just another pause until the next advance, probably at a time when Scotland is recovering from this year's economic shocks. Salmond knows all this and is content to play the long game, confident that his gradualism proves that advance is inexorable as he continues to confound his opponents. And he can reflect that the other Sun King, the French chap, never faced the guillotine but died in his bed a happy man in old age.

Murray Ritchie is former convener of the Scottish Independence Convention

Independence not despair

Alex Salmond produced his White Paper on a referendum on Scottish Independence on St Andrews Day. A multi-option referendum no less but more significant is the Unionists determination to vote down any referendum in 2010.

As Republican Socialists we are revolutionary in thinking and can see the limitations of parliamentary representative democracy in today's Scotland.

But should we despair? No probably the best time to hold an independence referendum is after the election of a Tory government. People in Scotland will vote Labour, SNP, Green and Socialist but not Conservative. This leaves the unsolved issue for the union that is England votes Tory while Scotland and Wales don't. An issue in the 90s a Westminster government with no democratic mandate to rule in Scotland. The SNP have promised to make independence referendum an election issue (general election) if the Unionists vote down the Referendum Bill.

So are we reformist for waiting for party politics to change our political future? Of course not we put our faith in the working class as John MacLean did. However with no revolution round the corner we still campaign. Let party politics take it's course. The SNP intentions are by large genuine.

So we should say let the Unionists be suffocated by their own intransigence.

IRSN MacLean Commemoration Statement

IRSN MacLean Commemoration Statement

Comrades,

As Scottish Republican Socialists gather again this year to pay tribute to the inspiration provided by John MacLean, the comrades of the International Republican Socialist Network join you in saluting this giant of the international socialist movement.

The lessons that John MacLean provided in his own time are just as important today, perhaps more so, as the Scottish working class is now in a period of potential opportunity that is unequaled. MacLean recognised that the potential for working class revolution was greater in Scotland than it was in the island of Britain as a whole and on this basis insisted that Scottish workers organise separately, into a distinct revolutionary party. MacLean was no narrow or romantic nationalist- -he was an exemplary internationalist, recognised throughout the international socialist movement for his work in opposition to the fratricide of the first world war--but he understood that the struggle for socialism throughout the islands of Britain and Ireland demanded the destruction of the British imperial state and saw that revolutionary action in Scotland provided a means of striking a blow against British imperialism, assisting the revolutionary forces then active in Ireland, and enabling Sc!
ottish workers their best opportunity for class liberation.

Today in the islands of Britain and Ireland, it remains necessary to undermine and overthrow the reactionary British imperialist state and it is clear that Scottish and Welsh workers would be more powerful within the confines of their distinct nations, at present, than they are when forced to contend with the greater bastions of reaction within England as well. Far from abandoning their English sisters and brothers, this revolutionary strategy offers a means to strike significant blows against the entire British state, which can only assist working class revolutionaries within the English nation.

However, Scottish workers must remember that the republican socialist struggle welds together the fight for national liberation and the struggle to liberate our class. As that other great Scottish-born republican socialist, James Connolly, made plain, these struggles cannot be separated. The national liberation struggle in Scotland can only be won in a meaningful way for Scottish working people through the creation of a Scottish workers' republic and the struggle for socialism in Scotland cannot be won without the destruction of the imperial British state, which means the liberation of the Scottish and Welsh nations from continued union within that state. There is no first this and then this. There is one fight to be one--the struggle to build a Scottish workers' republic and anything that falls short of that is no stepping stone or way-station, but only defeat.

But, there is another aspect of John MacLean's analysis that continues to hold important lessons for Scottish working people; one that receives far less attention. As the historical research of James Young has demonstrated, John MacLean aligned himself with other revolutionary socialists internationally; in Germany and the Netherlands, in Italy and Ireland, in Russia and America who we now refer to by the term Council Communists. This was a revolutionary tendency within international socialism that sought to return to Marx and Engels' understanding that it is the working class itself that can make a social revolution, not any party acting in its name; that it is the working class itself that must lead the way forward to class war and social revolution, because the consciousness of socialism arises from their actual experience under capitalism.

This too, we must learn from MacLean today--our class creates all of the wealth in the world; every wheel that turns does so because our class enables it to; and we need no leadership provided by any class other than our own to determine the road to liberation. The working class movement does not belong in the hands of university lecturers, trade union bureaucrats, or members of the parliament or assembly. but must be led by the working class itself, confident in its own abilities. This lesson from John MacLean is as important for Scottish working women and men today as is his pioneering vision in calling for a Scottish Workers' Republic.

Comrades, today let us pay tribute to the tremendous example provided by John MacLean and let us also re-dedicate ourselves to fight for the Scottish Workers' Republic he first proclaimed and to ensuring that it will be a true Workers' Republic, led by our own class, standing proudly shoulder-to- shoulder. We have been naught, but we shall be all!

Peter Urban
Comrade, International Republican Socialist Network