Archive News from Scottish Communists

Current news available here.

Scotland to Gaza Medical Aid Convoy 2009
Dec 31, 2008
Author: S Galloway

Scots are being urged to provide donations and medicines to help with the urgent humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The ongoing deadly air strikes have created a death toll in Gaza which has reached over 300 and continues to rise. The appeal, organised by Edinburgh Direct Aid and supported by the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Palestine & Medical Aid for Palestinians aims to take funds, medicine and medical equipment direct to Gaza by boat in January or February.
Read more....

Stop the bombing of Gaza now! No to US-sponsored Israeli State Terror.
Dec 31, 2008
Author: S Galloway

Scottish Communists call for the widest public support for this Saturday's protests in Glasgow and Edinburgh demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. These have been called by the newly formed Scottish Emergency Coordinating Committee on Gaza which includes Pauline McNeill MSP, convenor of the Scottish Parliament's cross party group on Palestine.

The text of a leaflet produced by the Scottish CPB is produced here.


Read more....

Breakthrough for the Morning Star in Scotland
Jan 7, 2007
Author: S Galloway

From Monday 8 January same day delivery of the Morning Star in Scotland will be restored. This will be for a trial period of two weeks during which a new transport solution, bringing papers up to Scotland via Manchester, will be tested. If it works, it is hoped to go over to the new system in February/March. Read more....

Communists hail Republican defeat
Nov 9, 2006
Author:

COMMUNIST Party of Britain women's organiser Emily Mann told the party's political committee on Thursday: "The vote against President Bush and the Republicans marks a significant shift in public opinion against imperialist war and neoliberal economic policies and in favour of universal health-care.

"The US economy is slipping further into crisis, hitting the poor, many of whom are already disenfranchised by big-business-dominated 'liberal democracy'," she said.

Ms Mann also welcomed the victory of Daniel Ortega in the Nicaraguan presidential election
as "reinforcement of the turn to the left across Latin America." Read more....

Report from National Communist University: Nuclear not needed now
Nov 6, 2006
Author: ANN DOUGLAS

"NUCLEAR disarmament is not utopian," Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament chairwoman Kate Hudson, told the Communist University of Britain in Croydon at the weekend.

Ms Hudson said that South Africa, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan had all given up their weapons and progress was being made in designating central Asia a nuclear weapon-free zone.

Also reports from Keith Bennett of the Korea Friendship and Solidarity Campaign and Navid Shomali of the Tudeh Party of Iran who attended the University. Read more....

Leading black US activist Jarvis Tyner - Morning Star Interview
Nov 4, 2006
Author: Jarvis Tyner

Leading black US activist JARVIS TYNER (guest speaker at Scotland's Communist University - talks recorded here ) discusses hope and concern in his crisis-ridden country as it prepares for congressional elections next Tuesday. Read more....

Winning the nuke battle
Nov 4, 2006
Author: Alan Mackinnon, chairman of Scottish CND (from Morning Star article).

The fight to halt new nukes can be won.

Nothing symbolises the dependent relationship of the British government to its US master better that the issue of Trident and its successor. Replacing Trident would bind us to US foreign policy for decades to come. Much of the hardware and technology would be US. It could not be targeted or used without the say-so of a US president.

we don't need this weapon and we certainly can't afford it. It will trigger a new arms race, it will encourage nuclear proliferation, it directly undermines the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and will probably require a resumption of full-scale nuclear testing, destroying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and leading to a nuclear free-for-all. Read more....

No need for nuclear
Oct 28, 2006
Author: an excellent Morning Star article by Chris Ballance MSP, Scottish Green Party

Chris Ballance MSP, Scottish Greens' speaker on nuclear issues, speaks out on the nuclear power issue in Scotland (article from Morning Star).

With the election for the Scottish Parliament looming next year in May, political parties are now in full campaigning mode.

Perhaps no issue is quite as hotly debated as energy and nuclear power, in particular, will be a key tug-of-war issue. Read more....

Wool workers triumph in legal case
Oct 28, 2006
Author:

STRIKING wool workers celebrated on Friday, after winning an important legal victory against bosses at Edinburgh Woollen Mills.

Staff at the Coatbridge-based woollen clothing manufacturer took action against the company's decision to impose a pay freeze. Read more....

Scots MP predicts Blair will be next on the line
Oct 26, 2006
Author:

As the investigation into the "cash for peerages" scandal now involves the questioning of former Tory leader Michael Howard, an MP predicts that Prime Minister Tony Blair will soon be next.
Read more....

A denial of civil rights
Oct 25, 2006
Author: Morning Star

THE Czech government's decision to ban the country's Communist Youth Union (KSM) is a flagrant denial of civil rights and a negation of democratic norms.


Having taken this first step, right-wing voices are already calling for a ban on the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, the parent body of the KSM, which is a deliberate provocation in the run-up to next week's local and Senate elections. Read more....

KSM Statement on "Dissolution of the KSM"
Oct 19, 2006
Author:

A statement from the KSM on recent developments via the website of Communist Pary of Greeceand also KSM website

Read more....

Czech ministers ban communist youth grouping
Oct 18, 2006
Author:

THE Czech Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that it had decided to ban the Union of Communist Youth (KSM) because its programme violated the country's constitution.

The organisation vowed to continue its struggle for the rights of the majority of young people and for socialism. It also said that it would launch a court appeal. Read more....

Protesters gather at Faslane to demand end to Britain's nukes
Oct 16, 2006
Author:

DOZENS of protesters gathered at Scotland's Faslane nuclear base on Sunday to demand the scrapping of Britain's nuclear weapons.

Different groups are invited to come to Faslane and stay for a day or two in order that the permanent presence can be maintained and this weekend saw university activists, Edinburgh CND, Quakers and the Scottish Greens take their turn on the front line of the anti-nuclear struggle. Read more....

Stirling tenants overwhelmingly reject housing stock transfer
Oct 12, 2006
Author:

COUNCIL housing campaigners hailed a "significant" victory in Stirling on Thursday after tenants overwhelmingly voted against the privatisation of their homes. Read more....

Robbed of democracy - how local government in Scotland is being stripped of power
Oct 11, 2006
Author: JOHN FOSTER

DEMOCRACY has always been a problem for capitalism. For what is there to stop the majority using their votes to redistribute wealth - or even taking over control of capital altogether?

When voting was linked to property, this was not a danger.

These themes will be examined at the fourth Clydeside Community Conference being held by Clydebank Trades Council on Friday November 3. For details, ring acting secretary Tommy Morrison on 07986 7738369. Read more....

Black History Month - A tireless fighter
Oct 9, 2006
Author:

ONE of the most prominent and influential leaders of the US left will begin a speaking tour of Britain next week.

Jarvis Tyner has been a tireless fighter for civil rights since the campaigns of his youth in his native Philadelphia. Today he is one of the most prominent black figures in the US peace, labour and anti-racist movements.
Read more....

MSP sets out strategy for fight against inequality
Oct 2, 2006
Author: JOHN FOSTER

A PACKED Scottish Morning Star conference in Glasgow on Women, Race and Class heard Labour MSP Elaine Smith argue yesterday that "tweaking the system" would do nothing for the real rights of women or black workers.
Read more....

Campaigners finish peace march
Sep 21, 2006
Author:

PEACE campaigners arrived in Edinburgh on Tuesday at the end of their 85-mile trek from the navy's Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde.

The marchers, including trade unionists, socialists and leading churchmen, are calling on the Scottish Parliament and Westminster to scrap Trident and rule out replacing Britain's weapons of mass destruction. Read more....

Glasgow Black History Month
Sep 21, 2006
Author:S Galloway

To mark Black History Month a veteran African American civil rights activist and Communist Party leader is visiting Scotland. Jarvis Tyner, vice-chair of the Communist Party USA, has been an active participant in the Civil Rights movement since the early sixties. He is to speak at three events in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Read more....

Day 2: Scotland's Long Walk for Peace
Sep 15, 2006
Author:

INTREPID anti-Trident marchers on Scotland's six-day Long Walk for Peace won a warm response as they headed towards Glasgow on Friday.

Many drivers gave friendly toots of support as they passed the colourful peace column, with its array of banners and placards denouncing plans for a new generation of nuclear weapons to replace the Trident missile system.

Marcher Scott Notman said: "We've had a great response, particularly in working-class areas."
Read more....

Scotland's long march to peace
Sep 14, 2006
Author: ROGER BAGLEY

SCOTTISH peace activists set out on a long march to consign Britain's weapons of mass destruction to the dustbin of history today.

Nearly 100 doughty campaigners strode out in steady drizzle from the sinister Trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane, at the start of a six-day trek to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Read more....

STUC urges commission to combat discrimination
Sep 8, 2006
Author:

THE Scottish TUC urged the head of the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights (CEHR) to combat all forms of discrimination on Friday, on the eve of the STUC black workers' conference.

Commission for Racial Equality chief Trevor Phillips will head the CEHR, which is launched this autumn. It merges the disability, race and equal opportunities commissions and will enforce legislation on age, sexual orientation, religion and belief.

The two-day STUC black workers' conference begins in Perth on Saturday.
Read more....

Blair must take his policies with him
Sep 8, 2006
Author: Kevin Halpin

"THE issue is not whether Blair goes - it's whether his disastrous policies go with him," Communist Party industrial organiser Kevin Halpin declared on Wednesday.

"Blair's support for the US drive to world domination through fighting unwinnable wars has led to one pack of lies after another about Iraq, Afghanistan and now Iran," he told the party's political committee.
Read more....

YCL leader applauds progress 'in leaps and bounds'
Sep 4, 2006
Author:

YOUNG Communist League outgoing general secretary Gawain Little told delegates at the 43rd congress in Liverpool at the weekend that the organisation had come on "in great leaps and bounds."

"It's of great satisfaction to me that the YCL has come on in great leaps and bounds, as we have seen membership double in the last year and the number of active branches treble," he said. Read more....

Founding Cuban revolutionary to talk at Edinburgh meeting
Tuesday 5 September, 2006
Author:

CUBAN revolutionary Fernando Martinez Heredia will address a public meeting in Edinburgh on the future for the socialist island Tuesday 5 September, 2006.

As a member of the July 26 Movement which led the revolution, a founding member of the Cuban Communist Party and a defender of the revolution today, Mr Heredia will describe from first-hand experience Cuba's history over the last half-century. Read more....

Pictures of Lebanon Peace March in Edinburgh
Aug 21, 2006
Author: Cailean MacAulay

Pictures taken from the Lebanon peace in Edinburgh Saturday 12th August 2006, where Communists joined upwards of 3000 protesters, marching through the city along a three-mile route that took in the US consulate.

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Danger in our midst
Aug 17, 2006
Author: John Foster

John Foster, International Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain, calls for a huge mobilisation to demand the scrapping of Trident.

An explosion of one of the UK's Trident WMD would create a loss of life on such a scale as to "prevent the UK from functioning as a sovereign state."

Who might Britain's bombs be aimed at? Nobody has an answer.
Read more....

Now is time to act
Aug 15, 2006
Author: General secretary Robert Griffiths, International secretary John Foster

BRITISH REPORT: Communist Party of Britain statement on civil liberties and the Middle East crisis.

In the name of a "war on terror," the peoples of Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq have been terrorised and traumatised in their millions by the Israeli, British and US war machines. Read more....

Thousands march in Edinburgh rally
Aug 14, 2006
Author: ADRIAN ROBERTS

Comrades from the Communist Party of Britain joined with thousands of people marching through Edinburgh on Saturday to protest at the ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

"The equivalent of 24 September 11s in a country of only four million people - and they tell us about terrorism."
Read more....