IRSN: Solidarity Message for Annual MacLean Rally
Comrades and friends, the comrades of the International Republican Socialist Network send greetings of solidarity to the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement and all those who join in paying homage to the memory of the great Scottish republican socialist figure, John MacLean. That we cannot be with you today is a matter of deep regret for us and we continue to cherish the memory of having been able to join in this commemoration of MacLean and his legacy in Glasgow with you last year.
Scotland gave to the world the two greatest figures in the history of the republican socialist tendency within revolutionary Marxism, James Connolly and John MacLean. They were two very different men, whose contributions to republican socialism are distinctive, but they share the welding together of the national liberation and socialist struggles in a manner that continues to serve as the most effective way forward for working people in Ireland and Scotland.
While Connolly is best known for developing his views within the context of the struggle in Ireland, MacLean provided the model that, still today, points the way forward for Scottish workers. While many pay lip service to the memory of John MacLean, few devote time or effort to carry forward the programme he created, so let us revisit the core analysis that John MacLean advanced.
MacLean was a revolutionary and an internationalist, but he recognized that the Scottish working class was, as a whole, more class conscious than its working class sisters and brothers in England and thus believed that it would be easier to erect a workers' republic in Scotland, than it would be to attempt to overturn the whole of the British Imperialist state. More, he believed that by dismantling the British Imperialist state, its overall collapse could be hastened. Accordingly, MacLean called for the creation of an independent Scottish workers' republic.
Today there are those who tell the Scottish workers, "of course we all want socialism, but we have got to get independence first," while others tell them, "it's reactionary to talk of dividing the 'great' British working class." Republican socialism, in the tradition of John MacLean and James Connolly, answers to the first, that the Scottish working class has no interest in independence, if it is not in the form of an independent Scottish workers' republic. To the second, republican socialism replies, there is nothing 'great' about Britain--it is an ancien regime that continues to keep alive institutions that should have died with feudalism. Whatever can bring about its collapse most rapidly is best, and we all know that the break up of the British state is the fastest route to the overthrowing of capitalism within these islands. Thus the struggle for national liberation and the struggle for socialism in Scotland remain inseparably bound today and as such, only a republican !
socialist programme can lead the way forward for Scottish workers.
This is the brilliance of MacLean that we honour today. Let us remember both the man and his programme, and let us move forward to erect an even more fitting monument to John MacLean. Let us create an independent Scotish workers' republic; the only truly fitting memorial to the memory of this giant of the Scottish socialist movement.
Peter Urban,
Comrade, International Republican Socialist Network
24 Nov 2008
Scotland gave to the world the two greatest figures in the history of the republican socialist tendency within revolutionary Marxism, James Connolly and John MacLean. They were two very different men, whose contributions to republican socialism are distinctive, but they share the welding together of the national liberation and socialist struggles in a manner that continues to serve as the most effective way forward for working people in Ireland and Scotland.
While Connolly is best known for developing his views within the context of the struggle in Ireland, MacLean provided the model that, still today, points the way forward for Scottish workers. While many pay lip service to the memory of John MacLean, few devote time or effort to carry forward the programme he created, so let us revisit the core analysis that John MacLean advanced.
MacLean was a revolutionary and an internationalist, but he recognized that the Scottish working class was, as a whole, more class conscious than its working class sisters and brothers in England and thus believed that it would be easier to erect a workers' republic in Scotland, than it would be to attempt to overturn the whole of the British Imperialist state. More, he believed that by dismantling the British Imperialist state, its overall collapse could be hastened. Accordingly, MacLean called for the creation of an independent Scottish workers' republic.
Today there are those who tell the Scottish workers, "of course we all want socialism, but we have got to get independence first," while others tell them, "it's reactionary to talk of dividing the 'great' British working class." Republican socialism, in the tradition of John MacLean and James Connolly, answers to the first, that the Scottish working class has no interest in independence, if it is not in the form of an independent Scottish workers' republic. To the second, republican socialism replies, there is nothing 'great' about Britain--it is an ancien regime that continues to keep alive institutions that should have died with feudalism. Whatever can bring about its collapse most rapidly is best, and we all know that the break up of the British state is the fastest route to the overthrowing of capitalism within these islands. Thus the struggle for national liberation and the struggle for socialism in Scotland remain inseparably bound today and as such, only a republican !
socialist programme can lead the way forward for Scottish workers.
This is the brilliance of MacLean that we honour today. Let us remember both the man and his programme, and let us move forward to erect an even more fitting monument to John MacLean. Let us create an independent Scotish workers' republic; the only truly fitting memorial to the memory of this giant of the Scottish socialist movement.
Peter Urban,
Comrade, International Republican Socialist Network
24 Nov 2008