Scotland: Class and Nation

Scotland: Class and Nation is an attempt to revive a discussion and debate about Scottish culture and history in general, and working class history in particular.

Chris Bambery contrasts the making of a bourgeois Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries with the explosion of working class struggle and organisation which formed Red Clydeside during the years of the First World War.

Alex Callinicos examines the debate on the national question among Marxists.

While England’s bourgeois revolution in the 17th century has produced a wealth of study and debate, Scotland’s own transformation from feudalism to capitalism has received far less attention. Neil Davidson’s essay provides an accessible history of Scotland’s own extended bourgeois revolution.

Modern Scotland can only be understood in connection with the British Empire. Angus Calder examines the relationship between British imperialism and Scottish culture.

Finally, Jock Morris and Jimmy Ross look at Scotland’s two greatest poets—Robert Burns and Hugh MacDiarmid.