The United Scotsmen Movement

In Socialist Courier's earlier post on the 1820 Insurrection mention is made of one of its participants, James Wilson, who had earlier been a member of the United Scotsmen. This is a brief history of that organisation. While the doomed uprising of the United Irishmen in 1798 is well known to the present day, much less known are the United Scotsmen and their abortive democratic republican movement in Scotland. In Calton Cemetery, Edinburgh  stands the Martyrs Monument remembering five men, three of them English, imprisoned for campaigning for parliamentary reform. The five were accused of sedition in a series of trials and transported to Australia in 1794 and 1795 and sentenced by Scotland’s hanging judge Lord Braxfield. who had made his views plain: "A government of every country should be just like a corporation, and in this country, it is made up of the landed interest, which alone has a right to be represented".  One of those exiled was Thomas Muir, a Glasgow lawyer, who was Scotland's president-in-waiting if the United Scotsmen movement had prevailed.

The Society of the United Scotsmen was an organisation formed in Scotland in the late 18th century and sought political reform. It grew out of previous radical movements such as the Friends of the People Society and Friends of Liberty, pro-democratic organisations that were springing up, inspired by the events of the French and American revolutions. Its aims were largely the same as those of the United Irishmen and it was only upon a delegation of United Irishmen arriving in Scotland to muster support for their cause did the United Scotsmen become more organised and more overtly revolutionary. Corresponding societies, groups in favour of peaceful but radical constitutional reform, had spread in the Scottish lowland cities but the societies were brutally suppressed.  The weakness of the corresponding societies was their openness and transparency; easily penetrated by government spies, which meant their compromise had been inevitable. Owing to its aims and activities, the United Scotsmen had to remain a secret society, and organised themselves into cells of no more than 16 people. When any branch reached 16 members a new branch was formed in order to prevent extensive penetration by government spies. When more than 3 branches in any district were formed they elected delegates to a Parochial Committee, which in turn elected delegates to County and Provincial Committees and then to the National Committee, which met in Glasgow every six or seven weeks. Within the National Committee was a secret seven-man executive that governed the movement. The expenses of the delegates were funded from a sixpence joining fee and subscriptions of threepence per month thereafter. Only the delegates and the branch secretary would know who the delegates were. Delegates to the National Committee were told the name of a contact called the ‘Intermediary’ who would call for them and conduct them to the secret meeting place.which would send delegates to larger bodies on occasion. The United Scotsmen were particularly adept at gaining support from the working classes of Scotland who stood to gain by becoming politically enfranchised as the society sought. Those joining the United Scotsmen pledged: "that I will preserve in my endeavours to obtain an equal, full, and adequate Representation of All the people in Great Britain."

The aim of the society was universal suffrage and annually elected parliaments, with a strong streak of republicanism running through it as well. By the mid 1790s the society had around 3,000 members, which  was then actually more than the entire electorate of Scotland with a population of 1.4 million! The membership continued to grow. Precise membership figures are not possible, since the organisation kept no records at all, in the interests of security. Some estimates of as many as 22,000 have been made by modern historians. The two Fife villages of Strathmiglo and Auchtermuchty alone has over 2,000 members. The membership was comprised overwhelmingly of working men; handloom weavers, artisans, small shopkeepers, and the like.

In June 1797, Parliament, in fear of a French invasion passed the Militia Act as part of the attempt to strengthen its home defence forces. It provided for the forcible conscription of 6,000 men, to be deployed within Scotland, to defend against any French incursion. This was the first time conscription had ever been used in Scotland, and hostility to the Militia Act was  widespread and spurred the numbers joining the United Scotsmen during that summer. Workers proclaimed that "we are not going to risk our lives for [the gentry] and their property" , that they "disapproved of the War". Resistance first broke out on August 17 at Eccles in Berwickshire, where a crowd armed with sticks and stones prevented the Authorities from carrying out the Act.  In the Battle of Tranent,  August 28th 1797 a large crowd of mine workers and their womenfolk gathered in Tranent, East Lothian, shouting "No militia" and marching behind a drum. A large detachment of both Cinque Port and Pembrokeshire Cavalry were despatched to restore order, and met with fierce opposition from the protesters. Fighting broke out, and in the following massacre at least 12 civilians, including women and children, were killed. The Lord Advocate, Robert Dundas, refused to indict the troops for murdering unarmed civilians and justified their actions in the face of  “such a dangerous mob as deserved more properly the name of an insurrection.”

The Tranent Massacre provoked an open rebellion in Strathtay under the leadership of Angus Cameron, a wright from Weem, who issued a call to turn local protests into an open uprising. Cameron and a James Menzies had been conducting nocturnal drilling throughout the summer and inducting new members into the United Scotsmen by means of the now illegal secret oath. Cameron, who was said to be a great orator, spread the rebel message addressing crowds in both Gaelic and English. 16,000 are believed to have rose at his call and captured Menzies Castle. They swept the area forcing the local gentry to sign bonds against the Militia and compelled the Duke of Atholl to swear not to implement the Act "until the general feelings of the country were made known". Rebels were despatched to Taymouth Castle near Kenmore, residence of the Earls of Breadalbane, to clean out the armoury. But before the people could be armed extra government roops had been sent to the area. Cameron ordered his supporters to melt back into the countryside. Cameron and Menzies were arrested in midnight raids on September 14th.

The United Scotsmen had also hoped to get support from the Dutch and there were plans for 50,000 Dutch troops to land in Scotland and to take over the Scottish central belt. However the Royal Navy intercepted the Dutch fleet and defeated them at the Battle of Camperdown in October 1797.

 The United Scotsmens aims in the rebellion were to establish a new Provisional Government with Thomas Muir as President. Various leaders of the United Scotsmen were arrested and tried. For example, George Mealmaker, Dundee hand-loom weaver and pamphleteer, was sentenced to 14 years transportation. Other leaders such as Robert Jaffrey, David Black, James Paterson and William Maxwell were all found guilty of seditious activity. The last record of a United Scotsmen member having been tried before the courts was the trial in 1802 of  Thomas Wilson, a Strathmiglo weaver, who was banished from Scotland for two years for spreading sedition amongst farm labourers.

The United Scotsmen had "united the lower against the higher ranks. They swear they will rather die to a man than be pressed as soldiers…. to defend the property of the rich." (Alexander Dixon letter to H. Dundas, 28 Aug 1797)

HUNGER IN BRITAIN

Britain's leading food bank network, the Trussell Trust, says every single day it is handing out emergency food parcels to parents who are going without meals in order to feed their children, or even considering stealing food to put on the table, as the government's austerity measures start to bite. "The number of people to whom it had issued emergency food parcels had doubled in the last 12 months and was set to increase further as rising living costs, shrinking incomes and welfare cuts take their toll, the trust said, as it published its annual report, which is fast becoming a barometer of social deprivation. ....It fed 128,000 people last year, distributing 1,225 tonnes of food donated by the public, schools and businesses, and estimates that half a million individuals a year will be in receipt of a food parcel by 2016." (Guardian, 26 April) This is Mr. Cameron's "Big Society" - big disaster is more like it. RD

Women in Prison

A report recommends that Scotland's only all-female jail should be demolished to make way for specialist units. Last week, the Commission on Women Offenders, chaired by former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini, published the findings of an eight-month review on women in the country's criminal justice system. It said Cornton Vale prison, near Stirling, should be replaced with a smaller specialist prison for long-term and high-risk prisoners, as well as regional units to hold short-term and remand prisoners. Her comments were echoed by Brigadier Hugh Monro, Chief Inspector of Prisons in Scotland, who carried out his third inspection of the jail in two-and-a-half years. He said inmates suffering from complex mental health issues should be moved into specialist care facilities. Women have been held in "silent cells" without natural light or ventilation where the bed is just a mattress on concrete.

Brigadier Monro said: "We need some signposts nationally about where such people should be held. Either we up our game for male and female prisoners when dealing with mental health issues or we need to look at alternative facilities not within the prison system."

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:"It is intolerable that some of most vulnerable women in Scotland should be held in one of its bleakest, most outdated and under-staffed institution."

The number of women in prison has more than doubled over the last decade, although 75% of custodial sentences imposed on females are for six months or less.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/04/25/cornton-vale-inmates-with-mental-health-problems-should-be-moved-report-says-86908-23837447/

Women in Poverty

Divorce and desertion are pushing Scottish women into poverty and debt spirals much faster than their male counterparts according to research. Women account for over 90% of lone parents in Scotland and 60% of unpaid carers. There are some lone parent families struggling by on less than half of the UK's median income, which is considered to be about GBP7,000 a year. Working tax credits have been reduced.  Lone parents with a child aged seven or over now cannot get income support either and childcare contributions have been cut by 10%.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/679741#ixzz1t7cymv35

Women's charity Engender Niki Kandirikirira, Executive Director, said, "We know how many children, pensioners and households are in poverty but it's the statistics themselves that reveal why the numbers are proving so hard to bring down. At no point do we recognise the gendered nature of poverty. Measures to tackle poverty will fail to deliver until we recognise that gender inequality is in itself a root cause."

Socialist Courier would say that this is not the root cause but an exacerbating major contributing factor ino the cause of poverty. It is being a member of the working class regardless of gender that leads to poverty. 

 Save the Children issued warnings recently that the numbers of children living in severe poverty in Scotland will rise rapidly due to a lack of jobs. In Glasgow 18 people chase every vacancy compared to an average of 6 in England. However, even children with working parents are at high risk of poverty - the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported in 2010 that half of children living in poverty belong to working families.

"There's only so long cash-strapped families can hold out with these sorts of figures to live on," said the spokesperson. "This is how chronic debt begins and increasing costs of living ends up driving desperate families into the arms of credit card lenders, pay day loan companies and loan sharks."

who owns the North Pole - part 47

2000 scientists from 67 countries, including 1,328 from Arctic coastal countries, have called for an international agreement to close the Arctic high seas to commercial fishing until research reveals more about the freshly exposed waters. Although industrial fishing hasn’t yet occurred in the northernmost part of the Arctic, the lack of regulation may make it an appealing target for international commercial-fishing vessels.

 Recent Arctic sea-ice retreat during the summer months has opened up some of the waters that fall outside of the exclusive economic zones of the nations that circle the polar ocean. In all, more than 2.8 million square kilometres make up these international waters, which some scientists say could be ice free during summer months within 10–15 years.

 “The science community currently does not have sufficient biological information to understand the presence, abundance, structure, movements, and health of fish stocks and the role they play in the broader ecosystem of the central Arctic Ocean,” says the letter. It calls for the Arctic countries to put a moratorium on commercial fishing in the region until the impacts of fisheries on the central Arctic ecosystem, including seals, whales and polar bears, and those who live in the Arctic, can be evaluated.

 “Our knowledge of Canadian marine biodiversity is next to nil. We know nothing about trends over time for a single marine fish in the Arctic,” says Jeffrey Hutchings, a biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

 In 2009, the United States adopted a precautionary approach by banning commercial fishing in the waters north of the Bering Strait, including the Chukchi and the Beaufort Seas closing nearly 400,000 square kilometres to commercial fishing. Canada is drafting its own fisheries policy for the adjacent Beaufort Sea. In 2011, a memorandum of understanding between the Canadian federal government and the Inuvialuit people of the western Arctic prohibited the issuing of new commercial fishing licences in the area until a management plan was created and put into practice.

 http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/04/scientists-call-for-no-fishin-zone-in-arctic-waters.html

Food for thought

UNICEF's recent report, "State of the World's Children 2012" reveals that poverty affects children everywhere. According to Davis Morley, CEO of UNICEF Canada, "We often think of poverty-stricken rural areas in Africa, Latin America, Asia, but you can be in cities almost like middle-class Toronto, and hidden in valleys there are people living in shacks made of tin. We recognize this is where economic and population growth is going to happen and how do you make sure that children don't get squeezed out in the process? It is often thought that opportunity abounds in cities. Families may be closer to schools or health services, but that doesn't mean that all have the same access. The wealth divide between rich and poor is massive. Many can't afford the cost of uniforms and books or pay the fees for schools."Well said Mr. Morley but why waste your talent dealing with effects when it could be better used tackling the cause.
Grey Power surprise -- The Toronto Star reported on the economic resurgence of 2009. Nobody could figure out who was getting all these new jobs, not unions, not the unemployed. Now we know -- seniors. Since July 2009, Canadians over 60 have accounted for 30% of the country's job gains although they make up just 8% of the labour force. Most gains were in the low paid retail sector. Three cheers for Walmart!
In Zimbabwe, the Independent Lawyers for Human Rights said an unidentified man was arrested in a bar on Feb 22 while watching the 88th birthday celebration for President Mugabe. The lawyer group claimed he has been charged under laws making it an offence to insult the president. He is accused of asking whether or not Mugabe had the strength to blow up any balloons at his party. The accused is to appear in court, March 12, and if found guilty will be fined. Well-meaning people have fought for civil rights for two hundred years and the struggle continues. Why not remove the cause? John Ayers

WHO OWNS THE NORTH POLE- part 46

To the world’s military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War in the Arctic, anticipating that rising temperatures there will open up a treasure trove of resources, long-dreamed-of sea lanes and a slew of potential conflicts. The region is already buzzing with military activity, and experts believe that will increase significantly in the years ahead. As the number of workers and ships increases in the High North to exploit oil and gas reserves, so will the need for policing, border patrols and — if push comes to shove — military muscle to enforce rival claims.

Last month, Norway wrapped up one of the largest Arctic maneuvers ever — Exercise Cold Response — with 16,300 troops from 14 countries training on the ice for everything from high intensity warfare to terror threats. The U.S., Canada and Denmark held major exercises two months ago, and the military chiefs of the eight main Arctic powers — Canada, the U.S., Russia, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland — gathered at a Canadian military base last week to specifically discuss regional security issues.

Russia — one-third of which lies within the Arctic Circle — has been the most aggressive in establishing itself as the emerging region’s superpower. Rob Huebert, an associate political science professor at the University of Calgary in Canada, said Russia has recovered enough from its economic troubles of the 1990s to significantly rebuild its Arctic military capabilities, which were a key to the overall Cold War strategy of the Soviet Union, and has increased its bomber patrols and submarine activity. He said that has in turn led other Arctic countries — Norway, Denmark and Canada — to resume regional military exercises that they had abandoned or cut back on after the Soviet collapse. Even non-Arctic nations such as France have expressed interest in deploying their militaries to the Arctic. Huebert said. “There are numerous factors now coming together that are mutually reinforcing themselves, causing a buildup of military capabilities in the region. This is only going to increase as time goes on.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-new-cold-war-as-climate-change-melts-polar-ice-cap-militaries-vie-for-arctic-advantage/2012/04/16/gIQAZsklKT_story.html

Getting back the land

Around 60% of Glaswegians live within 500m of derelict land, according to a new survey – the highest percentage of any local authority in Scotland.

That can be bad for their health, according to Professor Juliana Maantay, Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, as many derelict areas – she calls them dismissed lands – are contaminated post-industrial sites. "Very often the levels of vacant and derelict land coincide with the worst health. For example, in the poorest areas, one fifth of babies are of low birth weight, and that correlates with vacant land." she explained, although adding "That is not to say that the vacant land is causing the bad health, but there is no doubt that contaminated land is not good to live near."

Her survey identified 1,300 hectares of "dismissed" lands in the city which are contaminated or need some kind of remediation, on 925 sites.

Empty land can provide other ecological services, she adds, including  urban agriculture projects and community gardens, natural areas and recreational space for surrounding communities. "Contaminated sites need to be cleaned up but they can have real potential."

"Giving local communities a say is anathema to some planners. But the way you get community to buy into something is if you allow them to have an input. People in these communities have lived with this terrible land for long enough. They should get some of the benefit too," she says.

BEHIND THE FINE SONGS

Everyone knows the Eurovision Song Contest: improbable artists and cheesy folklore. But in 2012, the musical competition, watched by an average 125 million people, will also have an unprecedented political dimension. "Repression, evictions, demolition: three words you don't normally associate with the Eurovision Song Contest. Azerbaijan has bulldozed its capital's centre to make way for the glitzy palace that will house the contest, evicting people and demolishing homes without notice." (Le Monde, 12 April) But behind the glitz lies a darker reality. Azerbaijan is ruled with an iron fist by President Ilham Aliyev, who took over after his father Heydar's death in October 2003. Capitalism has had several forms, royalty, dictatorship and democracy. They all stink! We have nothing to sing about on that night. RD

THE TRASH CAN SOCIETY

We are made aware everyday by the various charities like World Hunger of the perilous conditions of children in Asian and African countries. What is less well known is that children in Britain are going hungry too. One journalist has expressed his horror on learning of the plight of many London kids when it comes to getting enough to eat. "Yet that description - the "S" word, starving - conjures up all sorts of images of IDPs and refugees and aid workers with bags of grain. London?? So they took me to a centre about 3km from Westminster where they feed the kids. In school time they might get lunch; it's the Easter holidays, and without this they'll have NO MEAL AT ALL. The parents are either destitute or dispossessed, or addicts, or some other sort of horror which means the kids often make their own way to the centre (aged three upwards) or if not they root through bins for food. (This I can attest to - I live in Peckham and have seen people at the back of the Iceland supermarket, next to the train station, doing just that)." (Al Jazeera, 13 April) These kids realised that the supermarkets throw away vast amounts of perfectly good food. The UK's supermarkets throw away three million tonnes of food every year. Just because it's past its sell-by date or is a bit bashed up. RD

Food for thought

Not even 'the lord's work' is free from lay-offs. The Billy Graham organization, that only brought in $91.6 million in 2011, announced job cuts owing to a need to emphasize its 'airline ministry and other priorities'. Fifty-five were let go in February but the company said that the move, "...in now way reflects the financial health of the organization...and the Lord will protect."
Russell Hancock, who's Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Group produces an annual State of the Valley report said, "Something has changed here, something fundamental, because the technology we've invented here in Silicon Valley has rendered a whole class of jobs obsolete." In other words, technology can't solve poverty and unemployment.
On March 14, Greg Smith quit his job as a director of Goldwyn-Sachs (GS). He said, "It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off." GS was rescued as part of the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in 2008-9. If the executives at GS and their partners in crime won't change, there's no hope for the financial system and every reason to believe the experts who say it will crash again soon. There is every reason to work for its abolition.
Recently the New Democratic Party elected a new leader, a former Liberal. That means that while the NDP is led by a former Liberal, the Liberal Party is led by a former NDP provincial premier. Can you spot the difference? John Ayers

BEHIND THE FINE WORDS

The owning class are very fond of lecturing the working class on morals and law- abiding behaviour, but in practice they will do whatever is necessary to protect their wealth. The history of Russia's aluminium wars – a violent contest to control the lucrative business – is due to be replayed in the High Court in London this summer. Mr Deripaska, who is one of the world's richest men,is facing a £1.6 billion legal action from Michael Cherney, an Uzbek-born billionaire living in exile in Israel. "In a candid interview, Mr Deripaska said he paid protection money to criminal gangs. He also built up his own security unit of former KGB agents and Red Army soldiers, as well as paying the local police for protection." (Sunday Telegraph, 22 April) Mr Cherney claims he was a partner in Mr Deripaska's aluminium company, Rusal, but was not paid for his stake. Lawyers acting for Mr Deripaska, who refused to discuss the case in his interview, will paint Mr Cherney as the leader of a crime ring extorting money from him. This is how the owning class behave despite the fine words. RD

GENOCIDE IN THE AMAZON

The advance of capitalism is lauded by its supporters as a civilising influence on previously backward societies, but try telling that to the tribal peoples of the Amazon region. The Awá – with only 355 surviving members, more than 100 of whom have had no contact with the outside world – are teetering on the edge of extinction because of the actions of the logging companies in the region. "But it is not just the loss of the trees that has created a situation so serious that it led a Brazilian judge, José Carlos do Vale Madeira, to describe it as "a real genocide". People are pouring on to the Awá's land, building illegal settlements, running cattle ranches. Hired gunmen – known as pistoleros – are reported to be hunting Awá who have stood in the way of land-grabbers. Members of the tribe describe seeing their families wiped out." (Observer, 22 April) This is civilisation as far as the profit motive system is concerned. RD

Going for a song

Repression, evictions, demolition: three words you don't normally associate with the Eurovision Song Contest. Azerbaijan has bulldozed its capital's center to make way for the glitzy palace that will house the contest, evicting people and demolishing homes without notice.

The song contest, watched by an average 125 million people, has a political dimension. The spotlight will be on Azerbaijan, giving the country a chance to show how modern it has become. Among other things, a magnificent crystal palace that will welcome the contestants and 25,000 spectators was built in record time in the heart of the capital. In order to carry out Baku’s extravagant facelift, national and municipal authorities have neglected the rights of small home-owners. The demolition program began in 2009, but is accelerating as Eurovision approaches. For people who live in the city center, this contest is a tragedy, which will yield nearly 60,000 victims.

Azerbaijan is ruled with an iron fist by President Ilham Aliyev, who took over after his father Heydar’s death in October 2003. Since then, hopes of liberalization have been dashed. Human rights organizations want to make the most of Eurovision to attract international attention to the degradation of individual liberties in the country. In recent months, Amnesty International has taken numerous initiatives to bring attention to the situation –although it did not ask for a boycott of the Eurovision Contest.

The revolutions of the Arab Spring have made the authorities nervous.
"The situation is much worse than it was three or five years ago," says Leila Yunus, President of the Institute for Peace and Democracy. "We are confronted with Soviet and mafia-like attitudes."
On April 8, thousands of protesters answered the call of the opposition and took to the streets in Baku.


http://worldcrunch.com/eurovision-song-contest-not-so-fun-if-you-are-azerbaijani/5066

What makes a Scot?

52 per cent, believe that to be Scottish, people need Scottish parents, while 73 per cent think Scots need to be born in Scotland. 83 per cent believe that people do not need to be white to be Scottish.

The number of Scots feeling “Scottish not British” is at 31 per cent, and those feeling British but not Scottish is 5 per cent. The poll shows that those feeling equally Scottish and British is 37 per cent.

Only 41 per cent of Scots surveyed said the Queen made them feel proud to be Scottish. 55 per cent of Scots said the Queen did not make them feel proud to be Scottish. More Scots, 58 per cent, took a sense of national pride from Billy Connolly.

84 per cent took pride in the Edinburgh Festival and the same proportion said Robbie Burns made them proud to be Scottish.

The Highlands instilled a sense of pride in being Scottish in 96 per cent of respondents, and Ben Nevis also scored highly at 75 per cent.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scots-take-more-pride-in-billy-connolly-than-the-queen-says-survey-1-2250061

the Plight of the Native Americans

The UN is to conduct an investigation into the plight of US Native Americans, led by James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on indigenous peoples.

Many of the country's estimated 2.7 million Native Americans live in federally recognised tribal areas which are plagued with unemployment, alcoholism, high suicide rates, and other social problems. Apart from social issues, US Native Americans are involved in near continuous disputes over sovereignty and land rights. Although they were given power over large areas, most of it in the west, their rights are repeatedly challenged by state governments. Most Americans have little contact with those living in the 500-plus tribal areas, except as tourists.

Anaya, a University of Arizona professor of human rights, is originally from New Mexico and is well versed in Native American issues.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/22/un-investigate-us-native-americans

CLASS IN THE CLASSROOM

Newspapers like to portray themselves as probing into the dark recesses of society and coming up with little known facts, but this news item is hardly one of their "Shock, Horror" revelations. Dr Stephen, a former chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, which represents schools such as Eton and Harrow, writing in the Times Educational Supplement, said "Most fee-paying schools had "put themselves in a very dangerous position". "They are pricing themselves out of the reach of most normal people in the UK," he said. "Even on a salary of more than £50,000, it would be exceptionally hard to afford a place at a boarding school, and even many day schools. The result is that the independent sector is becoming socially exclusive in a way not seen since Victorian times." (Daily Telegraph, 21 April) So rich people who can afford the best of food, clothing and shelter can also afford the best of education! Shock, horror indeed. RD

PREJUDICE AND PROFITS

One of the illusions used by supporters of the Second World War was that it was a war to abolish anti-semitism. This was nonsense as it was a war fought over markets and sources of raw materials, but if it was a war against racism then it has failed badly. "Tee shirts with anti-Semitic slogans are being sold outside the Polish football club, Widzew Lodz, Polskie Radio reported on Thursday. The items have been on sale in a pavilion next to the club's official shop. "This is Widzew terrain, entry to Jews is forbidden," reads the slogan on one Tee shirt. "Curl hunters," referring to the side curls of Chassidic Jews, is written on the other, adopting the age-old anti-Semitic slur. A woman working in the shop told Gazeta Wyborcza daily that such items sell well and make a decent profit, noted Polskie Radio." (Israel National News, 12 April) RD

The Radical's Road in 1820

The Salisbury Crags path at Arthur's Seat is known as the Radical Road but few have little inkling about its origins. The suggestion of putting unemployed weavers, many from the west of Scotland to building the track came from Walter Scott in the aftermath of the abortive 1820 Rising, also called the Radical War.

"Glasgow" at this time, was various small villages and hamlets; places like Bridgeton, Calton and Anderston. In all of these communities the main occupation was weaving, handloom and mill both. The weavers - or at least the handloom weavers - enjoyed traditionally a semi professional status, dictated by the nature of their work. They worked to commission. They could decide upon their own hours of work and could decide upon periods of leisure if they were willing to forego some proportion of their earnings in the short term. In these aspects they had something in common with smiths and wrights and shoemakers, all of whom had similar advantages over wage earners. These groups in a sense formed an aristocracy of labour because such options were open to them. Given that these workers had opportunities for leisure a high proportion were able to read and wanted to debate about what they had read. By the early 1800s they would be discussing the American and French revolutions.

The Insurrection of April 1820, was a week of strikes and unrest. An economic downturn after the Napoleonic Wars ended brought resulted in  workers, particularly weavers in Scotland, seeking action for reform from an uncaring government and from a gentry fearing revolutionary horrors. It was a culmination of earlier protests.The government had persecuted Scottish reformers and agitators such as Thomas Muir, Mealmaker, and Palmer in the 1790's with transportation to the colonies. An underground organisation called the United Scotsmen was formed to campaign for universal male suffrage vote by secret ballot, payment of MPs and annual general elections.  In 1816 some 40,000 people attended a meeting on Glasgow Green to demand more representative government and an end to the Corn laws which kept food prices high. The Peterloo massacre of August 1819 sparked protest demonstrations across Britain including Scotland where a rally in Paisley on 11 September led to a week of rioting and cavalry were used to control around 5,000 "Radicals". Protest meetings were held in Stirling, Airdrie, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and Fife, mainly in weaving areas.

The event in itself hardly constitutes a major rising, but other isolated disturbances were taking place across West and Central Scotland. However, the government seemed always to be one step ahead of the radicals, with inside knowledge at every step; also, the core organisers had been in jail since March 21st, without public knowledge, and some very suspicious men were acting on their behalf. The theory that the whole event was a plot hatched by agent provocateurs in order to draw the radicals into open battle is difficult to resist.

A Committee of Organisation for Forming a Provisional Government put up placards around the streets of Glasgow on Saturday 1 April, calling for an immediate national strike.Some believe that it was actually issued by the Government agent provocateurs as a means of bringing the radicals out into the open as the leaders of the Committee were already in custody. On Monday 3 April work stopped in a wide area of central Scotland and a small group marched towards the Carron Company ironworks to seize weapons, but while stopped at Bonnymuir they were attacked by Hussars. Another small group from Strathaven marched to meet a rumoured larger force, but were warned of an ambush and dispersed. Militia taking prisoners to Greenock jail were attacked by local people and the prisoners released. James Wilson of Strathaven was singled out as a leader of the march there, and at Glasgow was executed by hanging, then decapitated. Of those seized by the British army at Bonnymuir, John Baird and Andrew Hardie were similarly executed at Stirling after making short defiant speeches. Twenty other Radicals were sentenced to penal transportation.

To some, the whole episode may appear minor and of little historical importance. The rising had been doomed from the outset. However, the rising must seen in the context of reformist, radical and revolutionary traditions. Ordinary people from all over an increasingly industrial Scotland had been inspired to rise and overthrow the state in order to secure their rights and better working conditions. The 1820 Rising must be seen as a prototype of the mass movements that would gather under the Chartist or socialist banners later in the century

THE GAP WIDEN

Mumbai property

Some recent figures showing the gap between the working class and the owning class were revealed in chart form. They show that the average Indian worker would need to work for three centuries to pay for a luxury home in Mumbai, making that city the least affordable in the world for locals, according to an analysis of real estate and wages. "The CHART OF THE DAY shows a 100-square-meter luxury residence in Mumbai costs about $1.14 million, or 308 times the average annual income in India, based on calculations from a housing index compiled using 63 markets by Knight Frank LLP and income estimates of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for purchasing-power parity in 2011. Shanghai buyers would need 233 times the per-capita income in China and Moscow inhabitants 144 times Russian earnings. Singapore and New York homebuyers would need 43 years and 48 years, respectively, for equivalent residences using national income averages, the data show." (Bloomberg, 10 April) During the 48 years the New York worker would have to toil to purchase a luxury home he would have to spend nothing on food or clothing. In London he would have to work for 136 years! RD

WAGE SLAVERY IN THE USA

The Washington Post writer Brian Fung has recently come up with some interesting statistics about work in the USA."Welcome to the future of work: a world where everything moves faster, the hours are longer and steady jobs are harder to find. Work has always been central to our lives -- in the United States, the 40-hour workweek stretches back at least a century -- but now, technology and the pressure of competing in a global economy is threatening to turn back the clock, making our toil an all-consuming affair once again. Studies show that we're more productive than ever. American output has tripled since 1947, according to the U.S. Census Bureau." (The Atlantic, 11 April) Workers in the USA are three times more productive than they were sixty five years ago but now find they have to work harder and longer with less security of tenure. No wonder the owning class of America is getting richer and richer. RD

A HOLIDAY SUGGESTION

It is coming near to that time of the year when many workers are planning a get-away-from-it- all holiday. Socialist ever helpful to our fellow wage slaves have dug up this little suggestion for you. How about a week in the Caribbean this year? According to the Daily Telegraph Travel site (20 May) you can book Sir Richard Branson's Petit St. Vincent house for a mere £263,000 per week. Tempted? RD

who owns the North Pole - Part 45

China continues its interest in staking its claim to the Arctic's natural resources.

China's premier Wen Jiabao landed in Iceland on Friday to begin a tour of northern Europe that will focus on Chinese investment in a continent eager for funds from the fast-growing Asian power.

But by starting with a full-scale visit to Iceland, he has fueled European concern that China might be trying to exploit the country's economic troubles to gain a strategic foothold in the North Atlantic and Arctic region. The area has big reserves of oil, gas, gold, diamonds, zinc and iron. And with global warming melting polar ice, it may offer world powers new shipping routes - and naval interests - for the trade between Asia, Europe and America's east coast.

"When it comes to the Arctic, we always have China on our mind," said one European diplomat from the Nordic region, who spoke to Reuters this week on condition of anonymity.

"Given China's investment pattern around the globe, people have asked questions. Why are doing this? Is there some ulterior motive?" said Embla Eir Oddsdottir at the Stefansson Arctic Institute. "For next decade they are going to be battling some sort of suspicion as to their motive, because people have a tendency to link them to some type of regime."

Many expect China to raise the issue of gaining observer status in the Arctic Council, which comprises Canada, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United States and Denmark, all of them nations with territory inside the Arctic Circle. With ice receding faster than many had expected, some estimates suggest the polar ice cap might disappear completely during the summer season as soon as 2040, perhaps much earlier. That could slash the journey time from Europe and the east coast of North America to Chinese and Japanese ports by well over a week, possibly taking traffic from the southern Suez Canal route.

"These are pretty big stakes," Oddsdottir of the Stefansson Institute in Iceland said. "I wonder if under the surface the race is already there, to gain a foothold in the Arctic."

http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-wen-visits-iceland-eyes-arctic-riches-113845730.html

CREATIONISM VERSUS SCIENCE

Glasgow Branch of the Socialist Party GB

Don't recycle Capitalism, BIN IT

HOME OF THE BRAVE?

The manufacturers and traders of guns are in a lucrative business in the USA and in order to protect their marketplace they have a trade organisation known as the National Rifle Association to protect that market. "There are approximately 90 guns for every 100 people in the US (a rate almost 15 times higher than England and Wales). More than 85 people a day are killed with guns and more than twice that number are injured with them. Gun murders are the leading cause of death among African Americans under the age of 44. And the NRA is no joke. Claiming gun ownership as a civil liberty protected by the second amendment, it opposes virtually all gun control legislation. It claims more than 4 million members, has a budget of more than $300m and spent almost $3m last year – when there were no nationwide elections – on lobbying." (Guardian, 18 April) Being cowardly socialists we wonder if there is a Bullet Proof Vest Association we could contact before visiting the Home of the Brave. RD

CELEBRATING WAGE SLAVERY

In the media led frenzy that will no doubt accompany the Queen's diamond jubilee many workers may imagine that they have something to celebrate. As they raise their cut-price can of cheap lager in celebration they may perhaps reflect that their masters will be celebrating in quite a different fashion. "An ultra-exclusive port, the Graham's Tawny 1952, is being released with royal approval for the Diamond Jubilee. The port is available exclusively through Berry Brothers at £275 a bottle, in three-bottle oak cases at £825, and in five jeroboams (4.5 litres) at £1,800." (Decanter.com, 11 April) We doubt if your local pub will be getting in a stock of jeroboams. RD

CALL THIS PROGRESS?

Glasgow Branch of the Socialist Party GB

Don't recycle Capitalism, BIN IT

PATRIOTISM AND PENURY

With the forthcoming Olympic Games in the offing the media will be whipping up nationalistic pride and crowds will be singing God Save the Queen and Rule Britannia, but behind this nationalistic nonsense a grim reality is at work. "Britons rack up nearly £14,500 in debt before they consider themselves in serious financial trouble, a study has revealed. Up to 10 million of us owe money, while more than 2.5 million are behind with at least one bill, the charity Money Advice Trust found. Debt problems have soared since the credit crunch began in 2008 and more than two million took out payday loans last year." (Daily Express, 17 April) Perhaps the song we should be chanting is "There's a Pawnshop Round the Corner" RD

A WONDERFUL TOWN?

The popular song may declare that New York is a wonderful town but for many of its residents this is far from the truth. "The number of New Yorkers classified as poor in 2010 increased by nearly 100,000 from the year before, raising the poverty rate by 1.3 percentage points to 21 per cent — the highest level and the largest year-to-year increase since the city adopted a more detailed definition of poverty in 2005. The recession and the sluggish recovery have taken a particularly harsh toll on children, with more than one in four under 18 living in poverty, according to an analysis by the city's Center for Economic Opportunity that will be released on Tuesday." (New York Times, 17 April) If you are a millionaire and a resident of New York it may well be "My kind of town" as the song would have it, but for many of the working class of that city there is not much to sing about. RD

Food for thought

Nobody could be more thrilled at the melting of the polar ice caps than the capitalist class who want to get their hands on the vast deposits of oil, natural gas, nickel, palladium, and other minerals beneath the arctic ice. Though some governments have established a claim to some territories, others are disputed. Both Canada and Russia have competing claims to a patch of seabed near the North Pole. Already Russia has a system of security forces, ice-breaking ships, bases and ports across the arctic and is planning on bringing in new nuclear submarines. The Harper government has said that it will establish a new coast guard HQ in the arctic in 2013 and send eight ice-class patrol boats there at a cost of $3 billion. Another war in the making and one the working class has no stake in.
Every second of every day a river of poison consisting of mercury, iron, aluminum, and nickel flows down the hillsides of San Carlos Creek, twenty miles south of San Jose, California. This is from the now neglected New Idira mine, once the second largest mercury mine in the US. The Environmental Protection Agency has measured the mercury that flows into the creek at levels that are toxic to wild life for more than thirty kilometers. It is five times more than the safe level for humans and affects the nervous system, the brain, kidneys, lungs, and the immune system. During the rainy months, the creek's water flows into the San Joaquin River that flows into the San Francisco Bay, a source of drinking water for two-thirds of California. The EPA and the state have been pressured for fifteen years to clean it up but the first stage alone would cost $10 million. Money counts, people don't.
A new study shows that rich people are more likely to engage in unethical behaviour than poor folk -- like cutting off motorists, lying in negotiations, and cheating to win a prize (really!). These were the findings from researchers at the universities of California and Toronto that were published in the proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences of the USA. They also found wealthy people were more likely to steal valued items than poor people. Another good reason to abolish a system that creates rich and poor. John Ayers

THE REAL ARTFUL DODGERS

It is a favourite trick of the popular press to depict the unemployed and the poorly paid sections of the working class as cunning recipients of state hand-outs and useless parasites on society, but the super-rich could teach them a thing or two when it comes to being artful dodgers. "Almost one in 10 people earning more than £10 million a year is paying less than the 20 per cent basic rate of income tax, new figures have shown. Treasury officials argued the revelation underlined the need for action to prevent the super-rich exploiting loopholes to reduce their tax bill below that of low-paid workers. The figures, released by the Government, show 6 per cent of £10 million-plus earners pay less than 10 per cent in tax and another three per cent pay below the basic 20 per cent rate. Fewer than three quarters pay more than 40 per cent." (Daily Telegraph, 16 April) The only thing we would argue about in this report is the use of the word "earn"! RD

THE ARROGANCE OF WEALTH

The wealth of UAE billionaires increased by more than 10 per cent to $7.6 billion, according to Forbes Middle East Arab billionaires ranking. In the UAE, according to Forbes Middle East, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair's wealth improved to $2.9 billion from $2.7 billion, Saif Al Ghurair's assets jumped to $2 billion from $1.7 billion, Abdulla Al Futtaim's holdings increased to $1.6 billion over $1.3 billion. "The motivation behind publishing this list is to deliver the powerful message, that behind these billions lay wealthy individuals who have fought long and hard, and given generously. These success stories present lessons to be learned that money cannot buy, and serve as an inspiration to us all," Forbes Middle East's editor-in-chief, Khuloud Al Omian commented on the ranking." (Khaleej Times, 9 April) The amassing of such immense amounts of wealth is credited to individuals who have "fought hard and long" and supposedly "serve as an inspiration to us all". In fact their greatest attribute was to be born to some wealth blood-sucking member of the owning class. RD

MINING FOR MILLIONS

Glencore, the commodity and mining firm worth £27bn, stands accused in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of dumping raw acid and profiting from children working 150ft underground. When Glencore floated in London, five of its partners became billionaires, but the biggest winner was Glencore's chief executive, Ivan Glasenberg, whose stake is worth £4bn. "In his first television interview, Glasenberg said that Glencore took corporate responsibility seriously, saying: "We care about the environment. We care about the local communities." But an investigation by the BBC's Panorama has found Glencore dumping acid into a river and it discovered children as young as 10 working in the Tilwezembe mine, which was officially closed by Glencore in 2008." (Guardian, 14 April) When it comes to amassing billions the owning class care little for the environment or the plight of exploited children. RD

The Scottish Commons

The idea of individual (or private) ownership of fixed parcels of land is a relatively recent phenomenon, and by no means universal. Tom Johnston’s skill as a historian was to be able to demonstrate that the rapine, murder, massacre, cheating and court harlotry that led to the accumulation of land in the hands of Scotland’s feudal barons was rooted in historical fact. In particular, Johnston exposed how one of the greatest land grabs was engineered - that of Scotland’s extensive Burgh Commons.

The vast territories granted to Scotland’s Royal Burghs were designed to act as a bulwark against noble power. According to Johnston, such acreages, together with other common lands, extended in the latter part of the sixteenth century to fully one half of the entire area of Scotland.

But this valuable inheritance did not to last long:
"Until the Burgh Reform Act of 1833 the landowners and the commercial bourgeois class controlled all burghal administration of the common lands, and controlled it in such a way that vast areas of common lands were quietly appropriated, trust funds wholly disappeared, and to such a length did the plunder and the corruption develop, that some ancient burghs with valuable patrimonies went bankrupt, some disappeared altogether from the map of Scotland, some had their charters confiscated, and those which survived to the middle of the nineteenth century were left mere miserable starved caricatures of their former greatness, their Common Good funds gone, their lands fenced in private ownership, and their treasurers faced often with crushing debts. As late as 1800 there were great common properties extant; many burghs, towns and villages owned lands and mosses; Forres engaged in municipal timbergrowing; Fortrose owned claypits; Glasgow owned quarries and coalfields; Hamilton owned a coal pit; Irvine had mills, farms and a loom shop ...."
By the time the Royal Commission on Municipal Corporations in Scotland reported in 1835.
“Wick had lost in the law courts its limited right of commonty over the hill of Wick, and owned no property; Abernethy owned nothing, nor did Alloa. Bathgate was the proud possessor of the site of a fountain and a right of servitude over four and a half acres of moorland. Beith had no local government of any kind; Bo’ness owned nothing; Castle-Douglas owned only a shop; Coldstream was stripped bare, not even possessing 'rights in its street dung'; Crieff had two fields; Dalkeith nothing; Dunkeld nothing; and Dunoon, nothing”"

Nor is such overt municipal corruption and common land annexed ancient history. Take the case of the Cuillin of Skye which were put up for sale in March 2000. Much of the outcry which followed centred on whether or not MacLeod actually owned the Cuillin in the first place. Extensive research culminated in the Crown Estate commissioning a QC’s opinion which concluded in essence that MacLeod owned the Cuillin since his 1611 Crown charter was “capable of including the Cuillin” and he had enjoyed “possession” for an uninterrupted period of at least 20 years. It is important to note that the Crown never examined the question of whether MacLeod’s ancestors had actually been granted the Cuillin in 1611. It is clear that the land put up for sale had never been granted to MacLeod and to this day remains a Crown Common. But the laws of landownership in Scotland are constructed in such a way that render such questions irrelevant. Land which was never granted to MacLeod has become, by default and by neglect by the guardians of the public realm, part of the private possession of one man. It is hardly surprising that the Crown Estate never sought to dig deeper.

Many of the displaced people ended up in burgeoning industrial cities such as Glasgow, where their descendants formed an integral part of the Labour movement.

(The legacy of Scotland’s Burgh Commons is still present across Scotland, for example,in the North and South Inches of Perth, the racecourse at Musselburgh, the mussel beds at Tain, the links at Dornoch, the 1700 acres of Lauder Common and the other commons of the Borders which form the basis for the Common Riding ceremonies each summer)

http://www.scottishcommons.org/docs/scotlands_commonweal_2.pdf