A Scottish Socialist flyteing...

azzuri · A Scottish Socialist flyteing...

A Scottish socialist flyteing...

see - http://www.scottishleftreview.org....php?action=article&docid=340

In a critique of the new Red Paper on Scotland Eric Canning argues that its marginalisation of independence as an issue for the left is a mistake

A spectre is haunting Britain - the spectre of Scottish independence. All the powers of the archaic British State have entered into an unholy alliance to exorcise this spectre. Monarchy, Lords and Commoners, those of the right, left and centre and perhaps even MI5. Where is the party in opposition that has not been decried as separatist by its opponents in power? Where the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of nationalist against the more advanced opposition parties as well as against its reactionary adversaries? Two things result from this fact;

1. The right to self–determination is an inalienable right, recognised by all to be itself a Power.

2. It is high time that those in support of Scottish Independence should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Independence with a Manifesto for Independence itself.

To this end, those of various groupings assembled in Edinburgh on 30th November 2005 to establish the Independence Convention and to publish its aims to all the peoples of Scotland.

Readers will readily recognise this paraphrasing of the preface to the 1848 Manifesto of the Communist Party - a truly revolutionary document for its time. The recently published Red Paper on Scotland hardly measures up to this and to be fair, its editor Vince Mills, makes no such revolutionary claim but puts it forward “as a source of information that can be used to expose the lies of 21st century neo-liberalism….as well as a source of alternative ideas…(to) build the better world envisioned in the Scottish socialist tradition…”

Reviews of this work and publicity for it have been mostly welcoming and constructive. It certainly has some excellent contributions and is loaded with economic facts and statistics to the extent where this heavy ballast threatens its stability rather than reinforcing it. The reason for this is its Brit-centric focus to the point where its title would more accurately be expressed as the ‘British’ Red Paper on Scotland. In this, Emeritus Professor John Foster, writes more in the context of Britain’s global imperialist link up which applies as much to England as well as to Scotland and to many other countries caught in its web. His guiding hand, acknowledged by Vince in this publication, has led to some contributors’ partial regurgitation of the long failed ‘British Road to Socialism’ formula where winning the British Labour Party for ‘left wing’ and ‘socialist’ policies will, by Marxist magic, win through to the imagined British Soviet State. Some might retort ‘pie in the sky’ to this one. By loading the Red Paper with selective academic references and statistics as though calling in a higher biblical authority, John and Vince may consider their position secure. However some of us iconoclastic atheists ‘up there’ (as John Prescott recently said in passing reference to the Dunfermline by-election) can easily see through ‘the holes in their breeks’.

Several major themes emerge from this work and it is necessary to consider them one by one. First is the devastating damage to Scotland caused by the combined forces of deindustrialisation, export of capital, transfer of jobs south to England and abroad and intensive, enforced privatisation. These are all well documented by Richard Leonard and develop a theme, barely noted by him, that goes back to the Union of 1707 whereby the benefits of that Union have always been to the privileged few while the wealth created by the many in Scotland has been sucked southwards to the London metropolis for use across the globe in Empire building. Whether it be from mining, steelmaking, shipbuilding, heavy engineering or currently from oil and gas, that wealth has mostly passed out of Scotland.

On this latter, where is the comparison with Norway which nation – with half the population of Scotland - has managed its oil wealth to secure its own future?

Only in Dave Watson’s excellent essay is mention made of the need to seek “inspiration and best practice from countries similar to Scotland”. He mentions the Nordic countries, but what of Ireland or even the Low Countries or the Baltic States? This type of comparison is totally absent in the Red Paper and leads us to a second theme.

This Red Paper is conceived wholly within the ideology of the British Unionist State. Various contributors assume their can be no other perspective for socialists. Unionism ,in this context, is a myopic disease. Those afflicted, such as John Foster, whose pamphlet “Breaking the British State” (in effect an apologia for that state) belly-flopped, persist in this delusion and political blind alley. He, along with others, develops the theme at some length, of the damage done to the Scottish economy and its vulnerability within the British State. But then prescribe more of this State prescription, much as a political homeopath might do, but with too high a concentration to be effective.

From a Marxist point of view, this inherent contradiction is the point where revolutionary change can be initiated to bring to an end the British oligarchic State. When Scotland ends the Treaty of Union, there is the catalyst for democratic self-determination, not just for Scotland but for England and for the reunification of Ireland. This is where the dialectic of socialist advance gears in. Independence does not end solidarity with working people in England and elsewhere. It reinforces and strengthens it. As James Connelly acutely observed, national self determination and the struggle for socialism go hand in hand –as does international solidarity.

The third theme is virtually missing in the Red Paper apart from Vince Mills’ somewhat turgid attempts, using almost half his essay to dismiss it Yes, its that spectre again, Scottish independence or as Vince predictably describes it “the pursuit of nationalism…” He considers that socialist participation in the Independence Convention would compromise (corrupt?) their “building of socialist ideas…”. How sectarian can one get! Unfortunately for Vince’s somewhat constipated view of socialism, we in Scotland, with our new Parliament, are developing a more pluralist society which is opening out our vision of how changes can be achieved. Are socialists not to involve themselves in this converse? How else to give voice to socialism, to reach others in a wider intercourse?

Here is the nub of this issue. Surely a Red Paper on Scotland should have included contributions from those in support of Scottish self-determination? The Scottish Socialist Party is one such; after all it is a real socialist party unlike New Labour. Why omit the Scottish National Party from contributing but include the Scottish Green Party; the Unionist Communist Party of Britain but not the independent Communist Party of Scotland; and why no contribution from the STUC? One third of MSPs (43) represent parties or individuals in favour of independence and elected by Scottish voters. Vince Mills uses selective statistics to show only a minority of Scots favour independence while noting that even some socialists in the Labour Party also support a “nationalist perspective”. Wow! Perhaps there are more of us than you think. Perhaps that is considerably more than presently support socialism. Quite an uphill task ahead.

Lastly, the fourth fundamental theme. Scottish Labour’s Campaign for Socialism, no doubt under some constraints within the Labour Party’s Constitution, has to focus on a socialist advance within that exclusively unionist party. Coincidently, we have the one hundredth anniversary of the foundation of this party by Keir Hardie - a dedicated supporter of Scottish and Irish Home Rule as it was then designated. It has taken that century to belatedly achieve a devolved Scottish Parliament with comparatively limited powers. We still await socialism from the Labour Party, now more reactionary than ever, with Gordon Brown exhorting us to support the Union and plant the Union Flag patriotically in our front gardens - if we have one! Apparently, it is okay to support the British Nationalist stance and wave the Union Jack (a military flag in its origin), symbol of colonial aggression, oppression and possession; but to hoist the Saltire and support Scottish independence is to run up a blind alley, so to speak. Who’s got the blinkers on here? As George Bernard Shaw famously observed, there is more chance of getting socialism from a sausage machine than from the British Labour Party.

So the dilemma for Vince and his comrades is; if, in only thirty years, the then editor of the first Red Paper , Gordon Brown, has not just turned his back on socialism but is a cardinal player in the renascent British Imperialist State, seduced by neo-liberalism and the global imperialism of the USA, how long will it take to turn the Labour Party in a socialist direction; another century? If ever? Or will a messianic socialist host, metaphorically speaking, emerge from the miasma of word spinning that Labour speak has become, to win the day and confound us, the barbarian unbelievers ‘up there’?

Eric Canning is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Scotland.

Aventinian · Re: A Scottish Socialist flyteing...

A Scottish Socialist flyteing...

Re: A Scottish Socialist flyteing...