There is no doubt whatsoever that it was the Siol Nan Gaidheal

There is no doubt whatsoever that it was the
Siol Nan Gaidheal campaign which prompted the
Labour Party in Scotland to'take a stand on
warrant sales. They saw the danger signals
in the working class areas of Greenock and Port
Glasgow as more and more people turned to and
talked about Siol Nan Gaidheal. During our campaign we were approached by the Claimants Union,
who wanted in on the act. As a result of this,
Siol Nan Gaidheal set up an all party (including
concerned organisations) meeting in the Glasgow
rooms and it was attended by Dennis Canavan,
who had put his motion to the Brit Parliament
several weeks after Siol had promised to halt
warrant sales. It is our opinion that the
Labour Party are only using warrant sales for
political expediency, just as they used devolution to thwart the SNP. Were they sincere
they would have stopped them many years ago —
after all, we have had something like 17 years
of Labour government since the last war, yet
they have done nothing about it. There is no
record of Canavan raising the issue of warrant
sales during the last term of Labour government.
When warrant sales are finally halted throughout Scotland the people of Scotland will have
only one organisation to th^nk- SIOL NAN
GAIDHEAL.
It was this, and the other campaigns launched
by the local Comunn that brought people onto the
street to watch us march past. For our part, we
did not want them to forget that Siol are still
very much around and also to encourage our own
lapsed members that we are on the go again. I
would like to take this opportunity to thank all
those who made the affort to attend, particularly the colour party who were magnificent,
and the drum corp who get better every time.
P.S. There is to be a large CND march and
rally in Greenock on August 7th, (Hiroshima Day)
and Siol Nan Gaidheal hope to have a few special
events organised. Therefore we are looking for
the largest Siol turnout ever - eo mark it in
your diary NOW.
INVERCLYDE COMUNN
Inverclyde Comunn received a lot of public
support in their successful campaign to force
the local district council to abandon an idea
they had to pay off a large number of cleansing
department staff plus making residents take
their refuse to the pavement for collection.
After attacks on kilted-scouts by anti-Scottish
elements, the local comunn advised the zombies
to think very carefully about what they were
getting into - latest report is that the attacks
have stopped!
FALKIRK COMUNN
Falkirk Comunn plan to hold a rally in Falkirk
on 24th July, to commemorate Sir John de Graeme
of Abercorn and Sir John Stewart of Bonkill,
two of Wallace's generals at the Battle of
Falkirk in 1298.
Following on from Inverclyde Comunn, Falkirk
has put a press release in the local paper
saying they will prevent warrant sales in the
Falkirk area.
During the regional elections Falkirk Comunn
printed leaflets, stickers etc. for campaigns
throughout the country. For by-election material contact: SNG, 30 Newmarket Street,
Falkirk.
GLASGOW COMUNN
Hamish MacQueen is collecting material on Scots
firms and Scottish-made goods. Pass info to
comunn organisers or direct to Hamish at 104
Hill Street, Glasgow.
Glasgow Comunn have posters (see below) and
various stickers available from the above
address.
"HM ENGLISH GOVERNMENT SERIOUSLY DAMAGES
SCOTLAND'S HEALTH"
"SCOTLAND FREE OR A DESERT"
"BUAIDH NO BAS"
"BRITISH IS ANTI-SCOTTISH"
FOLLOW SNG - THE SPECIAL BRANCH DO"
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Price - £1.50 per 100 plus postage.
Stickers - 30p per 100.
DON MALLOY
sfoL oao garobeaL
a fraternal organisation
For further information on SnG
contact:
Callum Miller
National Secretary
129 Balfour Wynd
Larkhall
SCOTLAND
THE LABOUR PARTY
IS ANTI-SCOTTISH
SIOL NAN GAIDHEAL
ARE YOU
PROSCOTTISH
OR
ANTISCOTTISH
{LIKE IN QUISLING)
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SAOR ALBA A
™"*s
BUY SCOTTISH
GOODS AND
HELP SCOTTISH
EMPLOYMENT.
SIOL NAN GAIDHEAL
J
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Portrait Of A Patriot
John Maclean is remembered in Scotland
as one of the outstanding socialist pioneers,
as the founder of the Scottish Labour College
(now defunct), and as one of the main architects of the "Red Clyde". His parents had
both been childhood victims of the Highland
Clearances, his father Daniel having been
born in Mull, and his mother Anne coming from
Corpach situated at the foot of Ben Nevis..
So although he himself had been born in Pollockshaws, he had every right to use the pseudonym
"Gael" when he wrote the Scottish Notes in the
monthly magazine "Justice", from 1911 to1914.
I
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His fight against the First World War (191418) won him international recognition - and
also three prison sentences. His second and
third trials condemned him to three and five
years penal servitude in Peterhead convict
prison, but he served only about 20 months
of these sentences, as he was released both
times after mass popular pressure. After the
war finished, he received a royal pardon,
which he refused to accept. His long defence
speech at the 1918 trial contained some
notable passages, including the famous "I am
not herj, then, as the accused; I am here as
the accuser of capitalism, dripping with blood
from head to foot." His statement denying
that he was a traitor is also worthy of note
here:
"I am no traitor to my country.. I stand
loyal to my country because I stand
loyal to the class which creates the
wealth throughout the whole of the
world."
However, it is not this part of his
political career which has revived his memory
in recent years, and led to the formation of
the John MacLean Society 14 years ago. It
was his fight after the war, for Scottish
independence which has created the interest.
In 1919 he joined Ruraidh Erskine of Mar's
National Committee, formed to fight for
Scottish independence and Scottish national
interests. At this period many Labour Party
members were also members of the National
Committee, but the majority favoured "Home
Rule", that is, a Scottish Parliament for
Scottish affairs, leaving important matters
like defence and foreign policy to the
Imperial Parliament at Westminster. This
was not good enough for John MacLean. It
was his profound understanding of British
Imperialism which had inspired him to fight
against the war, and it was this same understanding that led him to reject any policy
which kept the imperialist status quo.
In the summer of 1920 he issued a leaflet
"All Hail! The Scottish Republic!" containing such statements as the following
which drove home what he had maintained in
his 1918 trial speech, that only the
working class deserved loyalty, not the
traitorous upper class:
"The rebellions of 1715 and 1745 were
natural reactions against the
treacherous deed of 1707, but these
unfortunate outbursts but gave the
English the excuse and chance to
subdue the Highland chiefs and then
corrupt them with an English education at Oxford and Cambridge.
Since 1790 the chiefs became Englishmen in outlook, and used their
clansmen to defend English capitalism
against the revolution started in
Paris in 1789. Since the Napoleonic
wars the Highland regiments have been
used to defend the stolen lands of
England all over the Globe, and have
largely helped to extend the English
empire."
Later in 1920 he co-operated with Erskine
of Mar in founding the Scots National League,
but his imprisonment in May 1921 for three
months, for his support for the locked-out
miners, and then another imprisonment in
October for one year because of his work in
organising the Unemployed Workers' Movement,
prevented any close association. However, I
understand that some members of the League
helped him with his campaign in the General
Election of November 1922, when he stood as a
socialist republican for the Gorbals
constituency. He issued a long Election
Address, almost a political education in
itself, and with it he sent out the "All Hail!"
leaflet. The Address contained the following
statement - "I mean to fight for a Scottish
worker's republic, in which all robbery shall
cease. The break-up of every empire, including
John Bull's, will make more easy the world
revolution from capitalism to communism, and
may help to avert a world war which might
otherwise come before the workers were ready
to take full possession of our planet."
It should be carefully noted that by communism
he did not mean what it came to mean in Russia
under Stalin. What he meant by communism is
expressed in the "All Hail!" leaflet -
SCOTLAND MUST AGAIN HAVE INDEPENDENCE
JOHN MACLEAN
"Scotland must again have independence,
but not to be ruled by traitor kings or
chiefs, lawyers and politicians. The
communism of the clans must be established on a modern basis. Scotland
must therefore work itself into a
communism embracing the whole country
as a unit. The country must have one
clan, as it were --a united people
working in co-operation and co-operatively using the wealth that is created.'
THE BATTLEPOST OF THE POOR
In memory of John Maclean
Born in Pollockshaws on 24 August 1879,
And died there on 30 November, 1923.
Famous pioneer of working class education,
He forged the Scottish link in the
Golden Chain of World Socialism.
On 2nd December 1973, a large crowd
gathered in Pollockshaws, a Glasgow
suburb, to witness the unveiling of a
cairn built to commemorate the fiftieth
anniversary pf the death of John Maclean,
and bearing the above inscription. The
ceremony began very movingly with the
recitation by Dolina McLennan of Sorley
Maclean's beautiful poem on John Maclean:
CLAN GHILL-EAIN
Chan e iasdan a bhasaich
ann a ardan Imbhir-Cheitein,
dh'aindeoin gaisge is uabhair,
ceann uachdrach ar sgeula;
ach esan bha 'n Glaschu,
ursann-chatha nam feumach,
Iain mor MacGill-Eain,
ceann is feitheam ar sgeula.
CLAN MACLEAN
Early in 1923 he founded the Scottish Workers'
Republican Party, but the.hardships suffered
during his imprisonments had taken their toll,
and he died on St Andrew's Day 1923, aged only
44. But he had been intending to stand as a
Scottish Workers' Republican Party candidate
in the December 1923 General Election, and one
week before he died he wrote his Election
Address - another comprehensive statement,
with the following important passage:
"The social revolution is possible sooner
in Scotland than in England. Scottish
separation is part of the process of
England's imperial disintegration and is
a help towards the ultimate triumph of
the workers of the world."
NAN MILTON
Not they who died
in the hauteur of Inverkeithing,
in spite of valour and pride,
the high head of our story,
but he who was in Glasgow
the battlepost of the poor,
great John Maclean,
the top and hem of our story.
Information from:
Nan Milton
Atholl Cottage
Bathgate Road
Westfield
West Lothian
8
Quisling of the Month
Sir,
L O N D O N S'.VIA OAA
5th April 1932.
Dear I'r. M i l l e r ,
l-'r. Steel has asked ae to thank you for your
letter of 31st !-?arch announcing his success in ths
Quisling of the Month crapetiticn.
He is deeply conscious of this great honour.
Yours sincerely,
|
a
I'
I
I
Miss T. Horton.
Private Secretary.
Gallum Miller, Esq.,
National Secretary, Siol nan Gaidheal,
129 Sal four Wynd,
Larkhali.
Lanarkshire '19 2L T.
DAVID STEEL HAS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HE IS A
QUISLING! He was chosen, unanimously, at an
AAC meeting held in Falkirk - it was agreed
that he had sold his party and his (ex) country
down the drain by his decisions to align himself with the English SOP. This was in the
false belief that he would be a member and
possible leader of a future English government.
The sayings of Burns still ring true "we were
bought and sold for English gold" - in this
case, HE was bought and sold for personal
glory.
WE WERE DELIGHTED TO NOTE THAT THE GENERAL
Assembly of the Church of Scotland has
intimated that the correct title in Scotland
of the eldest son of the sovereign is 'Duke
of Rothesay'. We were horrified, however to
read the following sentence in the loyal
message of the Synod of the Free Presbyterian
Church: "We bewail the fact that the advice
tendered by Your Majesty's Ministers with
respect to the Pope's visit appears to contradict the Bill of Rights, which is the cornerstone of our Protestant Constitution, and the
guarantee of our civil and religious liberties."
Are the Fathers and Brethern of the Free
Presbyterian Church, a body of presumably
highly-educated men, unaware that the Bill of
Rights is an English document? The corresponding Scottish one is the Claim of Right!
I should like to thank the editorial staff
of "Firinn Albannach" for their very interesting and informative magazine. I appreciated
the balanced tone of its editorial though I
must say that I thought the author of the article on the Hillhead by-election was a little
too venomous in his attacks.
I have been a regular reader of the Scots
Independent for many years and I must say that
I preferred it when it was a weekly. That, of
course, is where the Independence movement is
falling down. We get very shabby treatment
from the media. Those of us who have read
"The Douglas Affair" will remember that one of
James Douglas's first moves was to start a
daily newspaper.
It is not surprising that the cause of
independence is moving so slowly when we remember that the average Scot reads the "Daily
Record" or the "Scottish (sic) Daily Express",
and, on Sunday, the "Sunday Post", the product
of Europe's largest purveyors of kitsch and
schmaltz.
I know that we cannot do very much about the
TV at the moment but why did the BBC choose to
serialise "Scotch on the Rocks", written by
two collaborators, one of whom is now a minister
in the present government. Still, wait until
we have the SBC and a real STV!
With best wishes
ISABEL PURNELL
Sir,
A few weeks ago I decided to go away for
the weekend. I phoned the Tourist Information
Office in the town I wanted to visit, but got
no reply. I then phoned the Tourist Information Office in the principal town of the region. An English voice answered. I explained
what I wanted, addresses for Bed and Breakfast
and asked to be sent a brochure. I was told
that that was impossible because the girl who
did the mail only came in on Fridays. I was
then given three names, addresses and telephone
numbers. The first call was answered by an
English accent. So was the second. In addition, this was two miles from the town and
not on a bus route. From the third (who incidentally had a Scots surname) I got the 'Number
Unobtainable' signal. I found out the reason
next day when I phoned the local Tourist Office
where a Scots voice answered. I had been given
the right number but the wrong exchange. Also
it was six miles away and I would have had to
walk three miles to get a bus.
With over three hundred thousand unemployed
persons in Scotland, why should we have to put
up with imported inefficiency?
W.A.MILNE