Glasgow – The domination of book-selling by multi-national chain-stores, you know the ones, coupled with a general unavailability of radical reading material in the city has led a group of political activists to open their own radical and community bookshop, called The John MacLean Centre.

Glasgow has been deprived of a permanent radical bookshop for several years now, but no more!. But the John MacLean Centre is not only a radical and community bookshop, it is also a not-for-profit worker’s co-operative, entirely funded, staffed and organised by a small but committed team of volunteer workers who sort of bumped into each other somewhere along the way, got talking and decided: “stuff this, we’ll do it ourselves.” “I mean we’re not necessarily saying there’s nothing worth reading in Waterstone’s, Borders and the like, it’s just that we don’t want to have to waste time fighting our way through the Jackie Collins novels to get to whatever good stuff there is, while security guards, store detectives and CCTV cameras eye you up and down.”

Anyway, after cursorily agreeing a plan of action, this band of characters spontaneously burst into action. They begged, borrowed and stole (but only from the rich) to get their hands on the cash needed to buy some stock for the shop and pay the first month’s rent, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But it’s early days yet and they know it. They’ve put in a fair bit of work to get this far and it’s likely to get even harder as the workload builds. The increased workload and how they deal with it is an important area for them. It’s not just about providing access to radical books, a vital dimension to the project is about getting people to work together effectively, with collective decision-making and the sharing of tasks, and without the need for managers and bosses. Proving how much people can do for themselves and others by working collectively, and with the complete absence of any financial motivator, was a fundamental inspiration for the original idea to open the bookshop.

They also want the bookshop to put roots down in the local community, for the community to feel that it belongs to them. The workers at the John MacLean Centre are currently looking at ways to encourage interaction between it and the community, and to this end provide community and political groups with a meeting-room free of charge. An upstairs room in the shop is set aside specifically for this purpose.

The John MacLean Centre can be found at 34 Clarendon Place, Glasgow G20 7PZ (next to St George’s Cross underground station). Telephone: 0141 332 6849. Or on the web at www.johnmacleancentre.org









Glasgow – The domination of book-selling by multi-national chain-stores, you know the ones, coupled with a general unavailability of radical reading material in the city has led a group of political activists to open their own radical and community bookshop, called The John MacLean Centre.

Glasgow has been deprived of a permanent radical bookshop for several years now, but no longer. And the John MacLean Centre is not only a radical and community bookshop, it is also a not-for-profit worker’s co-operative, entirely funded, staffed and organised by a small but committed team of volunteer workers who sort of bumped into each other somewhere along the way, got talking and decided: “stuff this, we’ll do it ourselves.” “I mean we’re not necessarily saying there’s nothing worth reading in Waterstone’s, Borders and the like, it’s just that we don’t want to have to waste time fighting our way through the Jackie Collins novels to get to whatever good stuff there is, while security guards, store detectives and CCTV cameras eye you up and down.”

Anyway, after spontaneously agreeing a plan of action, this band of characters burst into action. They begged, borrowed and stole (but only from the rich) to get their hands on the cash needed to buy some stock for the shop and pay the first month’s rent, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But it’s early days yet and they know it. They’ve put in a fair bit of work to get this far and it’s likely to get even harder as the workload builds. The increased workload and how they deal with it is an important area for them. It’s not just about providing access to radical books, a vital dimension to the project is about getting people to work together effectively, with collective decision-making and the sharing of tasks, and without the need for managers and bosses. Proving how much people can do for themselves and others by working collectively, and with the complete absence of any financial motivator, was a fundamental inspiration for the original idea to open the bookshop.

They also want the bookshop to put roots down in the local community, for the community to feel that it belongs to them. The workers at the John MacLean Centre are currently looking at ways to encourage interaction between it and the community, and to this end provide community and political groups with a meeting-room free of charge. An upstairs room in the shop is set aside specifically for this purpose.

The John MacLean Centre can be found at 34 Clarendon Place, Glasgow G20 7PZ (next to St George’s Cross underground station). Telephone: 0141 332 6849. Or on the web at www.johnmacleancentre.org