The Case for Left Wing Nationalism by Stephen Maxwell

Abstract

The educator, according to Paulo Freire, cannot claim neutrality – to do so is both deceitful and to side with the oppressor. Personally, I am partisan about the progressive socialist possibilities presented by the forthcoming Referendum on Scottish Independence. I feel Stephen Maxwell’s posthumous collection of political and cultural essays is a necessary, valuable and exciting contribution to the current debate.  Maxwell is, I think, determinedly radical in attempting to create a rupture that might ensure the break-up of the archaic, imperialist British State. Not only does his book display Gramscian analytical insight, it is also a manifesto, and indeed a curriculum, to base a popular educational dialogue around a vision for a new Scotland. I believe it provides the missing key for the strategic journey the left has been trying to navigate since 1979. It is difficult to conceive of anything more potentially revolutionary - certainly in my lifetime!