The ghost of Labour’s militant past were conjured up when several figures referenced the Liverpool City Council’s famous defiance towards Thatcher in the 1980s at this week’s party conference in the city. Frances Curran, former MSP and member of Labour’s National Executive local government sub-committee for a time in the 1980s, says the council’s actions were heroic. She argues we shouldn’t feel queasy about commemorating politicians that fight for the working class and that there are plenty of lessons for socialists on both sides of the border…

Only days after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he “wasn’t ruling out” consenting to a second Scottish independence referendum, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard seemed to signal this weekend it’s completely off the table if the party gets into power. But Rory Scothorne, writer and activist with Labour Campaign for Socialism, says Scottish Labour is ultimately still traumatised by the independence referendum and won’t be able to get over it until it develops a plan to transform the structures of the British state…

In the first of our ConterCast debates, recorded at Sunny Govan Community Radio’s studios and hosted by Conter editor Jonathan Rimmer, we discuss whether Labour is the most viable socialist project to get behind in Scotland.

This Monday, the first of many ConterCast debates will be held in association with Sunny Govan Radio. Conter ed team member and CommonSpace journalist David Jamieson will debate Labour activist and ex-candidate Laura Dover on the question: is Labour's road to socialism viable. In this piece, David Jamieson sets out why he believes socialists should resist the temptation to ‘pick a horse’, and instead develop a discussion around the crisis of the British state...

The Brexit fallout has had caused as much rancour on the left as it has on the right. John Webber offers an analysis of Labour and the SNP's current positions, the limitations of both and why he thinks left wing forces need to unite to fight back against capitalists who have hijacked the issue...

Richard Leonard's victory over Anas Sarwar is a significant moment in Scottish Labour's history, signalling a shift towards adopting Jeremy Corbyn's UK-wide programme. Alasdair Clark argues Scottish socialists on both sides of the constitutional divide to consider rejoining Labour..