This July, the imperialists shall dance to the tune of Jingoism once again in 'commemoration' of WW1. The War had little to do with 'freedom', and more to do with capitalists fighting for capitalist resources in Europe, we did not win anything, no-one did - other than the ruling class. Where are the commemorations for those who opposed the war and want Flanders' Fields to be bloodless? Where is the praise of Lenin and the Bolshevik who essentially ended the war?
In light of these fact, I have complied a list of quotes from the great Scottish revolutionary John MacLean, who was imprison for his anti-war efforts. MacLean struggled for an independent Socialist Republic in Scotland, and was also imprison, placed in solitary confinement and went on a hunger strike just as Ahmad Saadat is currently doing for the struggle of Palestine, and the general class struggle.
All hail the Scottish Workers' Republic!
"Should we, then, abandon Marx because appearances seem to contradict his his basic theory in economic? Certainly not, because only Marxians can see clearly the phenomena above indicated and Marx alone can supply the solution to this intricate problem." - The 'Great Contradiction' of Marx
"It therefore becomes a duty for every socialist to comprehend marxian principles, because only by scientific knowledge can we know our social surroundings, can we explain social evolution and, therefore, efficiently and speedily accomplish the social transformation (i.e. the social revolution) necessary to the establishment of socialism." - Time-saving and Karl Marx
"...we oppose the conduct of the MPs because it is reactionary and tends to lead the masses to Liberal petty patchwork rather than to the class struggle ending in the revolution of property- ownership which must inaugurate socialism." - Karl Marx and the Labour Party
"The origin of the Labour Party, the repudiation of the SDF socialist resolution, the reactionary drift of the Labour MPs and the lack of revolt on the part of rank-and-file of the trade unions suffice to prove that the workers are not "organised for the capture of economic power" and not even political power, as the Osbourne decision should have afforded that very chance we need to fight..." - My Objections
"We are said to be dogmatic. We are dogmatic in so far as we hold ideas that make us strive to end capitalism. We are dogmatic because we talk about surplus value, another expression for rent, interest, dividend, etc. We are dogmatic because we preach the class war, another way of asking the workers to cut adrift from the capitalist parties and from one for themselves in opposition to them." - Why a Labour Party? Come Out!
"As prices are rising in our country whilst the capitalists are using every cunning agency such as profit-sharing to speed up the workers as well as every form of cruel "sabotage" to cow and quell them, it surely is time our organisation made a concerted and well-planned attempt to get trade unions to fuse and fight with social-democratic arguments and, through the unions, to force the poor Labour Party to do something, just for once, on behalf of the men who pay them, for a reduction of hours and the establishment of a minimum wage. Efforts are being made, I know, but systematic effort is the only road to success." - Inflation
"The really tragic thing is that the revisionists in the trade unions are those who seem contented with things as they are, and that the revolutionary socialists are those really responsible for the move towards fusion of the scattered forces of the day. Trade unions will now have to learn that there is a class war, and that their lack of knowledge of this "compass" fact has led them off the track of the sound class organisation requisite at this juncture in the evolution of capitalism to even hold their own with the plunderers." - The Rise In Prices
"The result will largely depend on the course and the conduct of the strike. The strikers have no means behind them, except what may be yet collected from a sympathetic public. If the ranks are held in hand unbroken, if discipline is maintained in a loyal manner, and if the large committee are firm in attitude and unanimous in spirit, objective and tactics, then, in the state of present trade, the trust will have, for the time being at least, to yield to the strikers. Should success be attained by the workers, then nothing will stand in the way of an immediate organisation embracing the workers in every part of the factory." - The Strike at Singer's
"A composite body can never attain socialist; that alone can be accomplished by determined and openly avowed socialists. Neither is socialist opinion more rapidly advanced by such an alliance if socialists are themselves apart form one another. Socialists who are more anxious to join with non-socialists and sometimes anti-socialists than with fellows of kindred opinions have a strangely distorted point of view." - Foundations of the British Socialist Party
"The capitalists cheerfully pay out this sum, as the maintenance of Royalty at this critical juncture in the country's history seems to them necessary as an agency that helps to cover over with superstitious ornament the class war between the capitalists and the workers, and which thus helps to stave off those demands for political equality that would naturally ensue upon the establishment of a republic." - Democracy and the Coming Coronation
"The capitalists cannot afford, then, to dethrone the monarch in this country, especially on account of their supreme control of the political machinery of the administration. And, on account of their propaganda, the people are conscious that the social inequalities in the land are in no way due to the crowned head; and naturally, they cannot be expected to take but a languidly philosophic interest meantime, in the deposition of harmless nonentity Geordie the Fifth." - Democracy and the Coming Coronation
"We believe in preaching our Marxian view of capitalism wherever we can get hearers; but when we find that people get tired listening to the same old grind week after week, and then refuse to support our gatherings, we must, if we still preserve our sanity, change our tactics." - Scottish Notes 1913
"Britain entered this war to safeguard freedom; so said our masters, pastors, pressmen, and politicians. We did not believe them a year ago; still less do we credit them to-day when we see the developments against the rights and privileges of the wage earners." - Our Freedom is Going
"Those of us who think our economic freedom is the prime consideration, must bestir ourselves to devise methods of preventing ourselves from being used to murder men who have the same slave masters to face as we have." - Our Freedom is Going
"Workers, do you realise fully the meaning of this hell-born "Glasgow Herald", or is it Government suggestion? "Do as we tell you we shall shoot you!" That is just the position of 1911 - 1912. Are you going to lie down to the fellows who dish out such insults and degradation? Is this freedom your mates are fighting for on the Continent?" - Our Freedom is Going
"Our conclusion is that in our fight for freedom we are are right up against it in all parts of the world, no matter what the nominal owners of the place we live in may be. Let us then be part of the international workers, organise to overthrow the organised capitalist class of the world." - The Fight for Freedom in Glasgow
"We Socialists, who believe that the only war worth fighting is the class war against robbery and slavery for the workers, do not mean to lay down our lives for British or any other capitalism. If we die, we shall die here defending the few rights our forefathers died for. To us it is nobler to die for our own class than for the class which has robbed, ruled, despised, and imprisoned us." - The Conscription Menace
"It makes no difference to us Socialists who robs or oppresses us. Colour, tongue, or nationality does not affect the issue. We are out against all forms of robbery and tyranny, not only here but everywhere in the world. The only way to end the trouble is by the establishment of Socialism. Mere continuance of slaughter will solve no problem for us. On principle, we will not fight in this war." - The Conscription Menace
"The only way to retain our freedom - the small shred of it we now possess - is by solid combination as a class. The only weapon we can use to-day is the strike. We urge our comrades to be ready to use that weapon to prevent the coming of absolute chattel slavery." - The Conscription Menace
"Do not be paralysed by academic quack Socialists, who insist that the only occasion justifying the strike is for the establishment of Socialism. These men admit that the masses are still far from Socialism. That means we must defer the strike to the remote future. See how absurd the position is, and act accordingly." - The Conscription Menace
"In my lone cell I resolved that, on my return to civil life, I would appeal to the workers to demand the release of of conscientious objectors..." - Letter on first release from prison
"The underlying motive in all the re-organisation and development of education is "increased efficiency," and this capitalist phrase simply means better wage-slaves or better producers of commodities. The test of the value of education is its power of increasing output in the workshop, and consequently its power of adding to that part of each year's total taken from the workers by the capitalists, Yet we would be foolish reactionaries to oppose the schemes over which we as voters have a slight control - just as foolish reactionaries improved machinery and methods in the workshop: We, as Socialists, must be intensely interested in improved education along technical and commercial lines, but it is our special business to see that all public educational institutions be used for the creation of intelligent, class conscious workers." - Independence in Working Class Education
"The greatest "crime" I have committed in the eyes of the British Government and the Scottish capitalist class has been the teaching of Marxian economics to Scottish workers." - Independence in Working Class Education
"...I consider capitalism the most infamous, bloody and evil system that mankind has ever witnessed." - Speech from the Dock
"I am out for the benefit of society, not for any individual human being, but I realise this, that justice and freedom can only be obtained when society is placed on a sound economic basis. That sound economic basis is wanting today, and hence the bloodshed we are having." - Speech from the Dock
"I wish no harm to any human being, but I, as one man, am going to exercise my freedom of speech. No human being on the face of the earth, no government is going to take from me my right to speak, my right to protest against wrong, my right to do everything that is for benefit of mankind. I am not here, then, as the accused; I am here as the accuser of capitalism dripping with blood from head to foot." - Speech from the Dock
"Inside Russia, since Lenin... and the Bolsheviks can into power, there have been fewer deaths than for the same period under any Tsar for tree hundred years. Capitalists have been killed perhaps, officers have been killed perhaps, because they have not submitted to those who have come to the top - the majority of the people - in the name of Bolshevism." - Speech form the Dock
"I am a socialist, and and have been fighting and will fight for an absolute reconstruction of society for the benefit of all. I am proud of my conduct. I have squared my conduct with my intellect, and if everyone had done so this war would not have taken place. I act square and clean for my principles. I have nothing to retract. I have nothing to be ashamed of. Your class position is against my class position. There are two classes of morality. There is the working class morality and there is the capitalist class morality." - Speech from the Dock
"Every intelligent person now admits that the antagonism among the nations of Europe that led to competition of armaments and the present world war was fundamentally due to a universal desire to secure increased empires for the deposit of capital, the enslavement and robbery of the conquered races, and the monopoly of the oil, rubber, tin, and other products of the annexed territories." - The War After the War
"He and the Cabinet members were really afraid of their very lives, and rightly so; for the workers have now reached a stage in the evolution of our class when they will punish their enemies in the great class war." - THE RELEASE OF JOHN MACLEAN SPECIAL MESSAGE TO 'THE CALL'
"This is the class war on an international basis, a class war that must and will be fought out to the logical conclusion - the extinction of capitalism everywhere." - Now's the Day and Now's the Hour
"Humanity is in a very tight corner, and so those who will be called on to kill in the next war will have to make up their minds whether they will accept the present wage-slavery with its murderous consequences or fight capitalism to death this year." - Now's the Day and Now's the Hour
"Quantitative change on our side will become qualitative, in other words, newer and clearer views with higher and prouder will come with numbers, and the moment will come when the workers will challenge capitalism to the last fight and win through to the world society of a united human race, producing each for all and all for each. On with the fight, comrades!" - Will Capitalism Collapse?
"The working class is developing into the conviction that it is robbed of by far the major portion of the wealth it plays the essential part of producing and distributing. That conviction takes deep root on a deep, broad, and solid foundation once the worker settles down to study economics as expounded by Marx, the kernel of whose teaching is the labour-time theory of value. That theory accepted, we can apply it to what worker sells on the market - his labour-power - and find out that the worker is not and never will be paid 'by results', that is to say, by the total wealth or value equivalent of what he produces." - Capitalism Everywhere Accept Marxism
"Britain has obviosly no excuse for the flooding of Ireland with troops, and it must be British Labour's bounden duty to see that these soldiers, mainly boys of 18, be withdrawn and let the Irish settle their own affairs." - The Irish Tragedy: Scotland's Disgrace
"...That is why Clyde capitalists gladly engage the Irish. The Government tells them to do so, as Irishmen in Scotland are less dangerous than in Ireland; whereas Scotsmen will submit to unemployment and starvation and even commit suicide rather than annoy the Government or the bosses. Instead of blaming Irishmen for stealing their jobs, Scotsmen should blame the Government and the capitalists, who are responsible for the influx of Irishmen to the Clyde and the west coast of England. If Ulstermen cannot tolerate an Irish Republic, let them take a taste of emigration." - The Irish Tragedy: Scotland's Disgrace
"We communists believe that the working class is a unit, and in organisation out to be a unity; in other words, that in industrial affairs there should be One Union, inclusive of all workers, subdivided according to industry for economic purposes, and resubdivided again for technical or craft purposes since craft crosses industries." - One Big Union
"We in Scotland must not let ourselves play second fiddle to any organisation with headquarters in London, no more than we would ask Dublin to bend to the will of London." - A Scottish Communist Party
"A real revolutionary party can only be established here on Marx, not on Bakunin, by fully avowed marxists of long years standing. If Lenin tells us to unite with elements who are anarachists, we must reply by asking the Bolsheviks to unite with the Mensheviks or the Social Revolutionaries. We stand for the marxian method applied to British conditions." - A Scottish Communist Party
"Only when the world is run by the workers of the world for their own benefit, and not for the benefit of a landlord-capitalist-class, will security of livelihood and peace between the nations be obtained. That is Communism." - Kinning Park Election Address
"...the science of society in its evolution and its functioning may guide the workers in the mighty transformation that is preparing, it is necessary that we hammer the fundamentals of marxism into the brains of our class." - The Unemployed: Will There be a General Strike?
"Genuine Scotsmen recently asked themselves the question: "Are we Scots to be used as the bloody tools of the English against our brother Celts of Erin?" And naturally the instinctive response was - No!" - All Hail, the Scottish Workers Republic!
"I hold that the British empire is the greatest menace to the human race... The best interest of humanity can therefore be served by the break-up of the British empire. The Irish, the Indians and others are playing their part. Why ought no the Scottish?" - The Irish Tragedy: Up Scottish Revolutionists