Independence is just a mirage

Capitalism has no future to offer most people. The one solution to society’s problems is the establishment of a new society. The case for socialism rests upon the fact that the capitalist social system cannot provide a decent life for its people and that, in the interests of those people, it should make way for the next stage in social evolution. No matter how much capitalism changes, it remains the same. Workers are continually being deluded by plausible politicians who make promises to them that can never be kept. It is all an illusion. Can capitalism give us the sort of life, the health, the abundance, the security, which all human beings should have? Can it offer the prospects of future security which a humane social system would take as a matter of course?

The word Celtic, like Aryan, has no real meaning outside linguistics where six languages (Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Breton and the extinct Manx and Cornish) form a distinct group labelled "Celtic". What Ireland, Scotland and Wales share is that they are areas where now only a minority of the people speak a Celtic language. This, however, does not justify calling them "Celtic countries" or creating a mythology about "the Celtic nations" or, worse, about "the Celtic races". the history of Scotland, while differing in detail from that of England, followed the same general course. By their divorce from the soil, a nation of peasant cultivators were converted into wage-slaves, exploited by a class ready to convert the world into one gigantic market. The forces of competition thus let loose may be held in check to some degree by national legislatures, but no final solution for the havoc they create can be found along such lines. The problem is essentially an international one, and must be internationally solved. That, however, calls not for National parties, but for parties in all countries which clearly recognise the common interest of the workers of the world, namely, to achieve their emancipation as a class. When the workers get upon the right track of understanding their position they will cease to worry their brains over comparatively trivial differences in their conditions, whether as between nations or between districts or separate towns. They will recognise that they suffer varying degrees of poverty because at present they exist merely to produce profits for their masters and that it is a matter of comparative indifference to them whether these masters are English or Scots, Germans or Japanese. Our aim will be to abolish masters of every nationality and to organise the production of wealth for their common good.  Class interests must be viewed in global terms, not national/regional terms or occupational/industrial terms. Our perception of our class interests must be beyond whatever nation or region we happen to be born in or our workplace.

The SNP’s aim is the establishment of a separate state in Scotland. As such it represents the interests of a certain sector of the Scottish capitalist class. The nearest parallel to an independent Scotland as envisaged by the SNP is to be found in the old Colonial empire, where independence simply meant a transfer of power to a new group of politicians, while the structure of state and society was but little changed. The Scottish elite has got behind nationalism and independence, disguising (as it always does) its own interests in the language of idealism.  the majority of the Scottish people will find little difference under Holyrood than under Westminster and it could be worse if a global crisis erupts again. Scotland as a small economy, dependent on multinationals for investment, still dominated by British banks and the City of London and without control of its own currency or interest rates, could face a much bigger hit than elsewhere in terms of incomes and unemployment. So independence would not bring dramatic economic improvement to the majority of Scots; indeed, it could mean a worse situation. But then the decision on independence is not just a question of the economy and living standards. That brings us back to the issue of the Scottish and English/Welsh (and Irish) working class sticking together in the struggle against British capital. Will an independent Scottish capitalist state strengthen that in any way?

It is shameful that should be wasting time over a question like a sovereign Scotland which has no consequence to the working class. While capitalism continues the workers will not be any better off.  The simple truth is that capitalism will be just the same as far as the working class is concerned. What is required is another system of society, not new administrators for the old one. The problem is that wealth is owned and controlled by a tiny minority of society in an undemocratic and unaccountable fashion. This obscene concentration of wealth in a few hands lies at the heart of all major social problems which confront us today. 

Nationalism, of which there are many examples arising around us at the present time, is one of the greatest barriers to the establishment of a society based on commonly shared humanity. The Socialist Party is not concerned with making capitalism continue more palatable but with the eradication of the worldwide common system of exploitation. It is not interested in nationalistic liberation movements. Socialists strive for the elimination of capitalism and its replacement by a nation-free planet devoid of frontiers. Our message to the Scots is the same as that to the world working class: "Study the case for socialism and, if convinced, join the fight which really counts—the struggle for socialism." Nationalism is at the top of the list of political illusions used to blind capitalism's victims.

The left-nationalists propose collective ownership and democratic control of the means of production throughout Scotland. This won't work. Scotland is only a small part of an economic system which embraces the whole world. It could never enjoy any real autonomy or self-sufficiency in the face of the world market. From day one it will be buffeted by hostile economic forces entirely beyond its control. In no time at all, Scotland will be faced with two choices—either total ruin, or the complete restoration of capitalist economics. An independent socialist Scotland would be neither independent nor socialist. "Socialism in one country" is an illusion. That is the lesson of history. If the Bolsheviks could not manage it, we fail to see how the left-nationalists could.

Socialists reject allegiance to any nation and regard themselves as citizens of the world. The  Socialist Party accepts the boundaries between states as they are (and as they may change) and work within them to win control of each with a view to abolishing them all. Our aim is the establishment of a democratic world community without frontiers based on the common ownership of the world's resources.

Bill Knox, in his book “Scottish History for Dummies” writes:

"... There is no such thing as a genetically pure native Scots: we are a hybrid people, and  the better for it...Identity is never fixed; it’s fluid and always in a state of forming and reforming  itself. In that respect, Scotland is no different to any other country...as long as the British Empire stuffed the mouths of the middle class  in Scotland with gold, the moaning was confined to a minority. Along came  war in 1914, and the moaning became even quieter as the Scots responded more enthusiastically than any other part of Britain to fight for  king and country...The cause of Nationalism didn’t really get going again until the late 1960s, in spite of the formation of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 1934. Scots were content with their dual identity – after all, they had fought another world war to defend it!...The support for Nationalism declined, but it didn’t disappear. All it needed was another spark to ignite it. Step forward the best recruiting sergeant Nationalism ever had – Prime Minister Margaret Hilda Thatcher!...”

The constitutional struggle is a substitute for class struggle is at bottom the product of despair and lack of belief in real social change. People are crying out for political change. We need change. We don’t need this change. Too much time has been spent on constitutional questions while the rich consolidate their wealth and power, impose austerity and hardship and leave the planet to burn. There is a genuine belief in the possibility of change; a genuine belief that your participation means something and matters; that there is a choice about the direction of travel, and nothing can be taken for granted.