Remember Our Past, Organise Our Future

'If they speak consciously and openly to the working class, then they summarise their philanthropy in the following words: It is better to be exploited by one’s fellow-countrymen than by foreigners.’ Marx, 1848

'Because the condition of the workers of all countries is the same, because their interests are the same, their enemies the same, they must also fight together, they must oppose the brotherhood of the bourgeoisie of all nations with a brotherhood of the workers of all nations.'- Engels, 1847.

The abolition of capitalism and the transformation to a socialist society is the only solution to Scotland's many problems. The capitalist class say that socialism is impossible because it is in their class interests to say so. No party of capitalism can solve the problems faced by the wage and salary working class and so none of them are worth voting for. Scotland's independence is just not possible within the context of globalised capitalism. Certainly, formal sovereignty, is possible, where it would have the full power to make decisions without reference to any “mother parliament”. But there’s a difference between the mere legal power to do something and what can be done in practice. In practice all states, when exercising their sovereign power to make decisions, have to take into account the economic reality that there exists a single world market economy on which they are dependent. A state can exercise some degree of influence on how the world market operates in relation to it - it erect tariff walls, subsidise exports, devalue its currency - but this depends on its economic clout. The interest of the working class in all countries is to reject all nationalism, to reject in fact the very idea of “foreigner”, and to recognise that they have a common interest with people in other countries in the same economic situation of being obliged to sell their mental and physical energies in order to get a living.  The liberation for Scottish workers can only come about by overthrowing capitalism itself. If this is not done, no amount of separatism can ever succeed in bringing freedom. Instead of tragically wasting time fostering nationalism, workers should be struggling for a socialist society without national borders. All the fuss abour Scottish separatism is an irrelevance. It will not give the people of Sotland more control over their own affairs. The only change that will do that is a change in the whole social system, replacing competitive production for profit and minority ownership by co-operative production. Neither an independent sovereign Scotland or United Kingdom can achieve this. It is only feasible in a money-free, frontier-free society which, for those with vision, is the next stage in human social evolution.  Scotland can achieve, along with the workers of all countries, the victory which will end for all time the exploitation of man-by-man. The history of the future will tell of the final assault and triumph of humanity over slavery and humiliation and the world will be the inheritance of the people as a whole.

Independence from England will not cure the poverty and insecurity of the Scottish workers, because they will still be the wages labour and capital relationship. There is no truly independent country in the world, because international capitalism has made sure of this. The SNP tell us that independence from England and the control of our own purse strings will cure all our problems. What they do not seem to realise is that the problems they are going to try to solve are an integral part of the capitalist system. The SNP demand for its constitutional “right" to control the economy, completely ignores the fact that this is purely a paper right. The capitalist economy works according to certain economic laws which no government or legislative body can over-ride. So the argument about sovereignty is not really about what the constitution may or may not say. It's about the effective power that a capitalist state can exercise within the capitalist economy. Capitalism has always existed within a framework of competing states, none of which is strong enough to impose its will on all the others. States, as weapons in the hands of rival groups of capitalists, intervene to further the interests of the capitalists that control them. They do this by using state power to set up protected markets, raw materials sources, trade routes and investment outlets. In normal times their weapons are tariffs, taxes, quotas, export rebates and other economic measures. When they judge that their vital interest is at stake their weapons are . . . weapons. They go to war.

Workers have nothing to gain from the redrawing of the boundaries, but some Scottish entrepreneurs and bureaucrats certainly do have a chance of making good if only they can persuade the electorate to back them. Can't we see that the only people who would gain anything from Scottish independence would be local politicians who would become big fish in a small pond?  There can be no relief for the oppressed Scotsman in changing an English robber for an Scottish one. The person of the robber does not matter—it is the fact of the robbery that spells misery. National divisions are a hindrance to working-class unity and action, and national jealousies and differences are fostered by the capitalists for their own ends. The Scottish capitalist is in no wise more merciful than the English exploiter. The Scottish capitalist competes with the English capitalist because the latter stands in the way of a more thorough exploitation of the Scot workers by Scottish capital. Let the thieves fight their own battles! For the worker in Scotland there is but one hope. It is to join the Scottish branches of the Socialist Party and to make common cause with the socialist workers of all countries for the end of all forms of exploitation; saying to both English and native capitalists: "A plague on both your houses". For the true battle-cry of the working class in broader, more significant and more inspiring than mere nationalism, and that rally cry is: THE WORLD FOR THE WORKERS!

What, in all honesty, do nationalists got to gain with the “independence” they so dearly yearn after. It means being trapped within borders - artificial constructs, no, prisons - inside of the bigger prison of capitalism. We always have a choice: we can continue to place our power as a class into the hands of leaders who use it to pursue the interests of a capitalist elite, or, we can take responsibility for it collectively and use it to further the interests of all humanity. Socialism is a form of globalisation – a globalisation of human community that abolishes capital against the sort of globalisation that is subservient to the transnational corporations.  Members of the Socialist Party do not aspire to Scottish independence but to the emancipation of all humanity through the establishment of world socialism. It is not “English rule” that is responsible for the problems faced by workers in Scotland, but capitalism. Socialist society will mean the liberation of all mankind. As socialists, we don't take sides in any inter-capitalist argument. We don't support one section of the capitalist class or the other.  Let the capitalist class and their parties and supporters settle the matter for themselves. In the meantime we continue to campaign for the establishment of a world society without frontiers where the resources of the Earth are the common heritage of humanity. 

The voice of the Socialist Party in Scotland is a small but a constant one. All parties are in opposition to it but it persists. It will continue to expose those who, under the guise of liberators, continue to mislead the working class.