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Item

Subjects include (transcript page numbers given in brackets): support by Independent Labour Party in Scotland and the ‘Forward’ newspaper for a Scottish parliament (1-2); general lack of interest in the issue of other socialist groups (3); John Maclean’s advocacy of a Scottish soviet republic (3); romantic nationalism of the Scottish Home Rule Association (3); revival of Scottish nationalism in the 1930s by John McCormick and others (4); endorsement by Communist Party of a Scottish convention just before Second World War (4); temporary revival of the idea after the war (5); McShane’s disagreement with Oliver Brown of the ‘Scots Socialist’ over the latter’s support for traditional crofters’ farming methods (6); Aitken Ferguson, the leading communist advocate of a Scottish convention (7); harmless ineffectiveness of James Maxton (9) decline in ILP following expulsion of John McGovern from the Labour Party on 1931 and its disaffiliation from the Labour Party in 1932 (9); John Johnson, editor of ‘Forward’ and the varied content of this paper (9-10); reactionaries getting control of the leading committee of the post-war Scottish convention despite the large communist and trade union contribution to its creation (10-11); electoral successes of Scottish nationalists (10); recent opportunist revival of Scottish nationalism by Jimmy Reid (12); current vague position of the Communist Party on the issue (12); James Barke, the novelist and playwright who voted with McShane against the Communist Party supporting a Scottish convention (13-14).

14 pages

Open

Recording at 842/39.

English