This is the original of a piece in the Morning Star, published on Wednesday 30 October. It isnt (yet) on the Star website so I'm posting here in case anyone needs digital access.
The
increased focus on Scotland, and the higher profile here of the Morning Star,
is at least partly because of external activities that have not really
featured in the paper until now.In addition to the deployment of a
Scotland-based reporter and a network of supporters groups, a Scottish
Campaign Group has established a successful activity that, on the face
of it, doesn't seem to directly contribute to selling papers.
Over
the last three years a series of cultural events in halls and centres
across Scotland have been organised. These have caught the eye for the
comprehensiveness of their coverage, and the unusualness of their
approach. The latest series of 'Our Class, Our Culture' events covering
the rest of this year and into next summer, has just started. The
events and venues for the rest of the autumn are listed here.
http://scottishmorningstarcampaign.blogspot.co.uk
A couple of
events have already taken place, both marking the 40th anniversary of
the Chilean coup. In East Kilbride a large meeting heard two trade
unionists discuss their part in stopping military supplies being
delivered to the Chilean junta, and in Glasgow a fascinating
presentation on the poetry of Chilean poet and politician, Pablo Neruda
was given by Ruben Romero. The unusual juxtaposition of culture and
class is typical of the mix.
On 5 November in Falkirk a
discussion on Robert Tressell's Ragged Trousered Philanthropists has
become only too topical. The person delivering the talk is Mark Lyons,
Unite's convenor at the INEOS plant at Grangemouth! A timely
discussion on the nature of capitalism and its repercussions for
working people I would have thought.
Other gems include a
fascinating-looking event in Paisley on Helen Macfarlane, the woman who
first translated the Communist Manifesto (Dec 3). Although from a
factory-owning family, her radicalism stemmed from a factory background
in Chartism, and carried on as she met both Marx and Engels.
Later
in the series (in 2014) highlights are William McGonagall and the
radical tradition on Scots poetry (in Dundee appropriately enough, on
Feb 4) with well-known contemporary poet, Alistair Findlay, Keith
Stoddart on James Connolly, socialism and nationalism - in Edinburgh (18
March) as part of the Edinburgh Irish Festival, and again a hugely
relevant discussion in time for Scotland's Independence Referendum later
in the year, and 1 April sees a presentation on Jack London's
forewarning of fascism - Iron Heel by Rab O'Donnell
in Clydebank
As befits its status as a month containing the
international workers' festival, May has two events. Stuart Moir on
Shelley's Masque of Anarchy, its background and contemporary resonance
(6 May in Bathgate), and slotting in neatly to next years MayDay
celebrations, an appreciation of UCS cartoonist and author, Bob
Starrett, by author and poet David Betteridge, and featuring the man
himself! (8 May in Glasgow's STUC Centre).
 |
| Helen Crawfurd. Anti war activist |
The final two events
centre their topic on the centenary of the start of the First World War,
but - as you might expect - concentrate on the nature of that's war in
Whose War Was it? on the 5 June in Fife (venue yet to be confirmed), and
in July (8) in Glasgow, a couple of activists who have been working to
ensure that those who protested against the war are remembered for their
activities as Bob Holton and the GMB's Richard Leonard discuss 1914 and
Keir Hardie.
This series is often eagerly awaited and well
attended, drawing in new and existing readers and supporters of the
paper. They do more than that though. They have established the Morning
Star at the heart of working class culture and celebration in Scotland,
along with Glasgow's increasingly successful MayDay celebrations and the
Songs of Struggle concerts promoted by FairPley both as standalone and
as part of Glasgow's Celtic Connections, and Edinburgh's Fringe
Festivals.
