How We Should Rule Ourselves

by Alasdair Gray, Adam Tomkins

This pamphlet is for anyone alarmed by the present British government. It argues that the component nations of the United Kingdom can become true democracies only by declaring themselves republics. The authors are Alasdair Gray, writer of fiction and pamphlets such as Why Scots Should Rule Scotland, and Adam Tomkins, Professor of Public Law in the University of Glasgow and author of Public Law and Our Republican Constitution. Both are committed republicans.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Scotland

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Alasdair James Gray was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, Lanark (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and wrote on politics and the history of English and Scots literature. His works of fiction combine realism, fantasy, and science fiction with the use of his own typography and illustrations, and won several awards.

He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957. As well as his book illustrations, he painted portraits and murals. His artwork has been widely exhibited and is in several important collections. Before Lanark, he had plays performed on radio and TV.

His writing style is postmodern and has been compared with those of Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino. It often contains extensive footnotes explaining the works that influenced it. His books inspired many younger Scottish writers, including Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, A.L. Kennedy, Janice Galloway, Chris Kelso and Iain Banks. He was writer-in-residence at the University of Glasgow from 1977 to 1979, and professor of Creative Writing at Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities from 2001 to 2003.

Gray was a civic nationalist and a republican, and wrote supporting socialism and Scottish independence. He popularised the epigram "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation" (taken from a poem by Canadian poet Dennis Leigh) which was engraved in the Canongate Wall of the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh when it opened in 2004. He lived almost all his life in Glasgow, married twice, and had one son. On his death The Guardian referred to him as "the father figure of the renaissance in Scottish literature and art".

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thought-provoking wee pamphlet, with interesting solutions proposed. It now makes me want to read the longer piece “Why Scots Should Rule Scotland” so that I can better articulate my thinking on the big - and ever more pressing - question of Scottish independence. I know that I would rather be in Europe than not so, if the best way to achieve that is for Scotland to go it alone, I’m all in. As for abolishing the monarchy - I’ve always been up for that!!

[Peter McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maddeningly, completely, inalterably unzeitgemäß.

[Donald Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable, concise booklet and an excellent overview and insightful discussion about our past, present and potential future politics.