On Thursday 31 January, CommonSpace held our first forum of 2019, discussing the centenary of the Battle of George square and the radical left in Scotland today.

We will be holding forum events at the Kinning Park Complex on the last Thursday of every month. Sign up to our email newsletter for info and let us know if there’s something we should be discussing. 

10 years on from the generation-defining economic crash, Sean Bell asks what the left has learned from capitalism’s disaster, and whether it might yet transform the system that produced it

David Jamieson explores ideology in the post-’68 world, and argues that the rise of identity politics on the left was driven by the defeats and demoralisation of that era. Without a renewed commitment to economic transformation,  the left will lose a culture war against an insurgent radical right

Activist Jordan Daly says Scotland's radical left should focus on playing to its strengths

WELL, that's the election out of the way. It's interesting, because what was essentially quite a dull and uninspiring campaign (my personal highlight, for example, was Willie Rennie's encounter with the volcano slide) has certainly given us an awful lot to consider with it's conclusion.

CommonSpace columnist Yvonne Ridley says the left in the UK must rediscover its radical, angry activism

I MOVED to Scotland more than four years ago because I was fed up with the directionless, socialist movements marching round in ever decreasing circles in England.

Even the much loved Jeremy Corbyn has failed to prick the Westminster bubble since he arrived as Labour's leader. Yes, the Tories are in complete and utter chaos these days but that's largely due to their own back-stabbing backbenchers, the Europe conundrum and looming tax scandals.

Young pro-independence leftists dissatisfied with existing Scottish politics help found new party

LEWIS AKERS is just 16, but he speaks with an engaging authority.

"Radical voices now are necessary, and the left in parliament is what is needed."