Revolutionary Lives
In first eighteen issues, Red Banner carried the Revolutionary Lives feature. Each article critically examined the life and work of a great socialist. Those covered were Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci, Friedrich Engels, John Maclean, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, William Morris, Victor Serge, György Lukács, Alexandra Kollontai, Karl Marx, Ernesto Che Guevara and Leon Trotsky. The individual … Continue reading Revolutionary Lives
Cover 4
In May 1999 the cover of Issue 4 featured a new interpretation of the Starry Plough, the flag of Irish socialism, by Catherine Lyons.
The Hidden Connolly 3
Issue 3 (November 1998) featured more articles by James Connolly unpublished since his execution. Home Thrusts [Workers’ Republic, 15 September 1900] A Critic. Cork’s own city has provided itself with a critic who, in the Evening Special of last Saturday, runs full tilt up against the President of the British Trades’ Union Congress, and against … Continue reading The Hidden Connolly 3
Jimi Hendrix and the war
In the final Red Banner (Issue 63, March 2016) Michelle Charlton looked at how a great musician faced the realities of war at home and abroad. In the pantheon of 1960s counter-culture Jimi Hendrix’s slot is assured. It seems that few documentaries about the radical atmosphere of the period can do without some footage or … Continue reading Jimi Hendrix and the war
Socialist Classics: Rosa Luxemburg, ‘The Crisis of Social Democracy’
In Issue 62 (December 2015) Joe Conroy looked at a work that kept socialism alive amid the betrayals of the first world war. In February 1915 Rosa Luxemburg was imprisoned in Berlin. She had been sentenced the year before for inciting soldiers to disobedience, but the sentence hadn’t been carried out. The authorities clearly believed … Continue reading Socialist Classics: Rosa Luxemburg, ‘The Crisis of Social Democracy’
A witness to the truth
Noel McDermott reviewed the memoirs of socialist stalwart Matt Merrigan in Issue 61 (September 2015). Matt Merrigan, Eggs and Rashers: Irish socialist memories, edited and introduced by D R O’Connor Lysaght (Umiskin Press/Unite) Matt Merrigan headed the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union south of the border between 1960 and 1986. Before, during and after that … Continue reading A witness to the truth
Across the roar of guns
In Issue 60 (June 2015) Maeve Connaughton reviewed a selection of voices raised against the first world war. Not Our War: Writings against the First World War. Edited by A W Zurbrugg (Merlin Press) This is a timely anthology as the imperialist slaughter of a century ago continues to bask in a wave of posthumous glorification, … Continue reading Across the roar of guns
Socialist Classics: Leon Trotsky, ‘Results and Prospects’
75 years after Trotsky’s assassination Maeve Connaughton examined one of his lasting contributions to revolutionary thought in March 2015 (Issue 59). In 1905 Leon Trotsky was a leader of the St Petersburg Council of Workers’ Deputies, the most extraordinary phenomenon thrown up by the revolution Russia went through that year. As the Tsarist regime began … Continue reading Socialist Classics: Leon Trotsky, ‘Results and Prospects’
Legends of the fall
Twenty five years after the collapse of Stalinism, Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh looked at its consequences in Issue 58 (December 2014). A quarter of a century has now passed since the fall of the Berlin wall. Unless you’re pushing forty at least, your entire political activity will have taken place in the post-Wall world. The majority … Continue reading Legends of the fall
The Hidden Connolly 57
Issue 57 (September 2014) published more articles by James Connolly for the first time since his execution, this time discussing wartime recruitment, and how a socialist society would work. Notes on the Front [The Workers’ Republic, September 25 1915] We reprint the following letter from the Dublin Daily Independent. It is a gem: To the … Continue reading The Hidden Connolly 57
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