Independence without independence!

Aince there was a king, wha sat 
Scrievin’ this edict in his palace haa’ 
Til all his folk: ‘Vassals, I tell ye flat 
That I am I, and ye are bugger-aa’.
Robert Garioch, 

Common Weal is an old term meaning "shared wealth," but in todays political parliance it means policies aimed  to abolish poverty in Scotland through higher pay, higher taxes, and a beefed-up welfare state based on the policies of Scandanavian countries, particularly promoted by  Radical Independence Campaign (RIC), a loose coalition of Scottish left-wingers, environmentalists,  militant trade unionists, republicans, and veterans of the anti-nuclear and anti-war movements.

 The RIC’s basic  belief is that the Scottish worker is more radical than his English counter-part. But being anti-Tory doesn’t necessary correspond to being more socialist.  Yet many of workers’ struggles in Scotland and England have been linked together and the victory of each often depends on the other.  The Scottish, Welsh and English working class have not developed separately but, because of capitalism, have developed as part of one united working class. Independence may rupture the united British working class movement at trade union level. Scottish independence would disrupt the unity of the working class fueling the myths of national brotherhood between exploiters and exploited.  In reality, a socialist transformation of Scotland could only take place in a British ( European and world) context. Mass movements would take place also in Wolverhampton and Walsall, as well as in Glasgow and Greenock. A socialist transformation would be on a world scale. There is no Scottish road to socialism. For there can be no socialist Scotland, socialism is global or it is not socialism. The Scottish working class is exploited in the same way as the English working class: by the English, Scottish and international capitalist class. The bosses organises internationally and they want to ensure our class doesn’t do the same.

The SNP are a capitalist party, orientated towards the EU, who have tactically positioned themselves to the left of Labour as defending the interests of Scotland against the Tories, with high profile signature policies such as free prescriptions and care for the elderly. The largest force outside Labour and the SNP is the Scottish Green Party, which is explicitly anti-cuts and anti-NATO, with two MSPs and 4.4 per cent of the vote in 2011. The combined vote of SLP, SSP, and Solidarity in 2011 was 1.62 per cent. These left  nationalists offer a fake veneer in an effort to sell a capitalist and nationalist agenda as some ill-defined step towards a Scottish “socialist republic”. With the domination of capital in Scotland as throughout the world, such a solution would not offer true autonomy. The independence put forward by the SNP is one which includes the Queen as head of state, retaining the pound sterling, British military bases to remain as well as continued membership of NATO and the continuance of the BBC as the mouthpiece o the ruling class.

Independence would offer no way out under capitalism and would only serve to foster divisions in the working class.  On the basis of continued capitalism in Scotland and the rest of Britain, Scottish and English workers would be placed in direct competition. This is especially true if we consider SNP plans for a more “business friendly” environment, with lower corporation tax and other incentives, in an attempt to encourage businesses to relocate from England to Scotland. The whole approach would be to drive down costs, i.e., wage to become more competitive. They would encourage a race to the bottom and pit worker against worker. Such competition between Scottish and UK businesses would result in a driving down of wages on both sides of the border. Such competition between Scottish and UK businesses would result in a driving down of wages on both sides of the border. A loss of jobs or fall in wages would also be used by the British ruling class to stoke up resentment south of the border, and vice versa.  England would dominate the Scottish economy. The ownership of Scotland’s economy, including its banks and trade, will still  be controlled from the City of London. Scotland would still be at the whims of international capital.

A recent study by the Centre for Public Policy for Regions (CPPR), a Glasgow University-based think tank, has underscored that the biggest cuts in day-to-day spending on public services will come in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Only half of the intended austerity measures have been implemented in Scotland, and most of these have been made at the expense of capital spending. Writing in the Scotsman, CPPR economist John McLaren dismissed the claim that Scotland would be insulated from spending cuts by independence. This “ignores the reality that, in practice, similar fiscal circumstances are almost bound to exist for an independent Scotland, and so greater clarity would also be needed in terms of a medium-term to long-term budgeting strategy, with or without any oil fund.”

The task before workers in Scotland and the UK is to join in struggle against their common enemy, whether they wave the Union flag or the Saltire. The overriding goal is not to build new, smaller states but to end the nation state system through social revolution. We stand for the overthrow of capitalism and a  precondition for this is the unity of the working class in this common struggle for socialism.  Nationalism is on the rise in Europe with the strengthening of  Fortress Europe as well as a rise in the far right within member states.

 All nationalisms are based upon sweet seductive fairy tales about the great destiny of this that or the other people, their historic unity and the beautiful landscapes that surround them.  We want unity and friendship – but with all the peoples of the world. We are stirred by our history and natural beauty – but by the history of our class and natural beauty of all countries, not just our own. We have to resist the ideology of nationalism. Every effort is put forth by the exploiting capitalist to prevent workers from seeing the class struggle. The Scottish bosses insists that there is no such struggle, just the national interest. The hired editors in the employ of the capitalist echoes “no class struggle.” The academics dependent upon the capitalist for the chance to make a living, agree that there are no classes and no class struggle. In unison they declaim against class agitation and seek to obscure class rule that it may be perperuated indefinitely. We insist that there is a class struggle; that the working class must recognise it; that they must organise economically and politically upon the basis of that struggle; and that when they do so organise they will then have the power to free themselves and put an end to that struggle forever.