The delusion of independence

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.