This month marks the 80th anniversary of the death of John Maclean.
Maclean was an outstanding figure. He was Britain's most famous Marxist
propagandist and revolutionary organiser. At great personal cost, he
hailed the Bolshevik Revolution and fought hard to promote the world
socialist revolution. The following article gives a glimpse of his
life, commitment and contribution to the workers' movement.
John Maclean was undoubtedly a class fighter and Marxist, but he made one important mistake, and that was to succumb to the idea that a socialist revolution would be possible in Scotland, separate from the rest of Britain. Ted Grant briefly comments on why this was.
Strikes, demonstrations, political crises, Britain looks a lot different now
than it did when Blair and co came to power. For us the task of the hour is to give
active support to workers struggling to defend jobs and services and carry that
fight over into the Labour Party, into a fight for socialist policies.
Socialist Appeal's deputy editor, Rob Sewell, interviewed Mick
Rix, the former general secretary of ASLEF and instigator of the new Labour
Representation Committee, about his views and prospects of reclaiming the Labour
Party.
On Tuesday November 18th, President George Bush arrived at Buckingham Palace
for a three-day state visit, complete with red carpets, banquets and cannon
salutes. Outside the palace gates, a huge security operation was under way. Some
5,000 British police officers were on hand to protect the president, along with
the 700 or so secret-service agents Mr Bush brought with him. More than 200,000
people participated in the biggest weekday demo in the history of Britain to
protest at his visit and to cheer the symbolic toppling of his statue.
Join us!