MANNIN:A Look Back On Manx Republican Socialism
By B. LaGuerre
For our first issue, we wanted to offer articles that would provide a survey of the present state of republican socialism in the world and WR’s editors couldn’t resist the temptation to include the tiny nation of Mannin (Man), but the present state of the tendency on the Isle of Man is tenuous at best. All we can offer at present is a small tribute to the Manx Republican Socialist Party, an organization that emerged briefly in the heady days of 1981, before disappearing from sight again without having been able to leave a lasting mark on the republican tradition of Man.
The Isle of Man, unlike the occupied six counties, Scotland, and Wales is not a part of the “United Kingdom”. Rather, it is nominally a self-governing entity, joined to Britain through the British crown, represented by a governor, but with its own parliament, the Tynwald, the oldest continuously operating parliament in the world, whose origins date back to the period of Scandinavian control over the island. Today, its indigenous population
is out numbered by British settlers and its nominal independence chiefly serving to permit off-shore Swiss-style banking practices to be used by British capital in its own backyard. Its language (which is related to Irish and Scottish, rather than the Welsh, Cornish and Breton side of the Celtic language family) is barely surviving. The most prominent voice for Manx republicanism today is that of Mec Vannin, who play a prominent role in the efforts of the Celtic League as well, but can hardly be described as anything approaching a republican socialist orientation.
For a brief, shining moment at the outset of the 1980s, however, there emerged a Manx republican socialist organization, which drew its inspiration from the IRSP, SRSM, and WSRM in the nations surrounding Man. There is little more I can say about them, but as we launch Workers’ Republic, we take a moment to pay tribute to their memory.
All Hail the Manx Workers’ Republic!
For our first issue, we wanted to offer articles that would provide a survey of the present state of republican socialism in the world and WR’s editors couldn’t resist the temptation to include the tiny nation of Mannin (Man), but the present state of the tendency on the Isle of Man is tenuous at best. All we can offer at present is a small tribute to the Manx Republican Socialist Party, an organization that emerged briefly in the heady days of 1981, before disappearing from sight again without having been able to leave a lasting mark on the republican tradition of Man.
The Isle of Man, unlike the occupied six counties, Scotland, and Wales is not a part of the “United Kingdom”. Rather, it is nominally a self-governing entity, joined to Britain through the British crown, represented by a governor, but with its own parliament, the Tynwald, the oldest continuously operating parliament in the world, whose origins date back to the period of Scandinavian control over the island. Today, its indigenous population
is out numbered by British settlers and its nominal independence chiefly serving to permit off-shore Swiss-style banking practices to be used by British capital in its own backyard. Its language (which is related to Irish and Scottish, rather than the Welsh, Cornish and Breton side of the Celtic language family) is barely surviving. The most prominent voice for Manx republicanism today is that of Mec Vannin, who play a prominent role in the efforts of the Celtic League as well, but can hardly be described as anything approaching a republican socialist orientation.
For a brief, shining moment at the outset of the 1980s, however, there emerged a Manx republican socialist organization, which drew its inspiration from the IRSP, SRSM, and WSRM in the nations surrounding Man. There is little more I can say about them, but as we launch Workers’ Republic, we take a moment to pay tribute to their memory.
All Hail the Manx Workers’ Republic!