Nationalist
intoxication won’t be able to mask the reality of class antagonisms
forever. Workers
need to rebuild their class strength in order to oppose the ruling
class, regardless of nationality, language or ethnicity.
Scottish
independence would result in the creation of another minor capitalist
nation and no
matter what the SNP promise there will be no return to a golden age
welfare state Nordic capitalism. Left-nationalists are
promoting the agenda of Scottish capitalism. Rather than painting
rosy pictures of an independent capitalist Scotland. The Socialist
Party irreconcilably opposes it. We
give no support whatsoever to nationalism, whether it be the great
power chauvinism of the oppressor countries or the nationalism of the
oppressed. We
oppose Scottish nationalism and warn against illusions that an
independent capitalist Scotland will shelter working people from the
cuts of capitalist austerity, or that it will provide an opt-out from
capitalism's wars. The nationalists’ ability to portray
independence as progressive depends above all on the myriad
fake-socialists, such as the Scottish Socialist Party or the Radical
Independence Campaign and individuals such as Tommy Sheridan and
Colin Fox. In
opposition to all forms of nationalism, the Socialist Party calls on
fellow-workers to join it in a world movement for the abolition of
capitalism.
Socialism
by definition is international and there is no such thing as
socialism in one country – so why create new capitalist states to
make the process of breaking out of nation states more difficult?
The Socialist Party has
no allegiance to any capitalist state formation and wouldn’t shed
any tears if a UK state was replaced by a European one that made the
political and organisational unity of British, Irish, German, French
and Polish workers etc. easier. The
strength of the working class internationally is primarily a function
of the united organisation and political consciousness of the working
class itself. On both counts Scottish nationalism weakens it
and both organisationally and ideologically weakens the
internationalism on which working class politics must be built. Just
as the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend so it is that
the political position of the enemy does not require us to take up an
equal and opposite position.
Scottish
nationalism represents an attempt not so much to turn its back on
Empire as to give a layer of the capitalists direct access to the
fruits of state activity, its taxation and expenditure. To the
working class the SNP promises fairness while to big business it
promises a lower rate of corporation tax. It doesn’t
particularly matter what this rate is as long as it’s lower than
that set in London; as the Tories lower it the SNP say lower still.
The
role of the Socialist Party is to warn workers about the futility of
national separation. Its role is to draw out the class nature of
working class exploitation and warn that nationalism has no solution
to these. It would warn that a new capitalist state will not address
working class needs, will not empower it but will be set up to
enforce the power of the native capitalist class. The SNP does not
challenge business because their whole case is that an independent
Scotland would benefit it Scottish nationalists are not
anti-business, nor anti-capitalist. They are pro-capitalist and
the capitalists who support the SNP and independence are generally
small sized and there is nothing more progressive about small
business with its more parochial political outlook and big business
with its more global concerns. The last thing the SNP want are
threats to business in its campaign for a business-friendly Scotland.
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. Historically the way Scotland was able to
compete by exporting was to lower wages, which retarded the
development of the domestic Scottish market and made the economy
highly vulnerable to falls in international demand. 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.
Rather
than seeking a new capitalist state as the answer, instead of falling
in behind any variety of nationalism working people should set out to
advance and develop their own power so that one day it is their own
independent power that becomes the alternative to build socialism.
Rosa Luxemburg pointed out in the early years of the 20th century,
the idea of an abstract ‘right’ to national self-determination
has nothing to do with socialism, because it obscures the reality
that every nation is divided up into antagonistic social classes. The
workers' sole future lies in the international class struggle not
only across nation states but for their revolutionary destruction.
We need the unity of a British and world working class armed with a
revolutionary ideas fighting fighting for sociaism.
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