Against the Nats and Independence

WORLD SOCIALISTS

The All Under One Banner (AUOB) group are planning the largest ever march for Scottish independence in Glasgow next month, Saturday, May 4. It hopes to attract more than 100,000 people.

Manny Singh of AUOB declared, “The message is simple and it has not changed. Scotland must become an independent country, and Scotland needs to decide its own future.”

Members of the Socialist Party ask in what way is the life of a Scottish wage slave basically different from that of an English, an American, or the Chinese wage-slave? There is no basic difference in the way of life of the world’s working class because we all suffer from the same problems such as poverty and insecurity. Independence from England will not cure the poverty and insecurity of the Scottish workers, because we will still be subject to the wages, labour and capital relationship.

Workers have more in common with people like ourselves in other countries than with the privileged owning class of the country where we happen to have been born and work. The world-wide working class has a common interest, to end its exploitation and solve its problems, to join together to establish a world without frontiers in which the resources of the planet will have become the heritage of all, so that there can be production to meet needs and not for profit. One World - One People, where cultural differences will still be celebrated, but where we’ll all be citizens of the world.

The interest of the working class in all countries is to reject all nationalism 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. That interest lies in working together to establish a world-wide society of common ownership, democratic control, and production for use, not profit.  

Independence will not give the people of Scotland effective control over their own affairs.It is only feasible in a class-free, money-free, frontierless society. It is for the Scottish workers to see that their position demands that they should fight only for their class emancipation and that nothing, constitutional reform or national independence, should draw them away from their determination to fight for the realisation of socialism. What is the “independence” some Scots yearn after, if it means being trapped inside the confines of capitalism?

The Poison of Nationalism – The Nationalist Dead End

The Aberdeen Independence Movement (AIM) will host the North East Scottish Independence Conference in the Granite City next weekend and will be joined by an array of organisations including Women for Independence, EU Citizens, Pensioners for Indy, the Common Weal, Radical Independence Campaign and many more at the Copthorne Hotel, Huntly Street, on Sunday, April 8 from 11am to 6pm. Speakers include Gordon Smith of Pensioners for Independence, Ash Burnett from EU Citizens for an Independent Scotland, Fiona Robertson of Disabled for Yes and National columnist Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp of Business for Scotland.Speaking for AIM will be Theo Forbes.

We in the Socialist Party will not be present but our views on nationalism are very clear and we have explained them on this blog many times.

National borders are part and parcel of capitalist class society. Border control only applies to us wage-slaves,  never to members of the parasite class who are able to buy their way around the world. We are not dreamers.  The idea of a borderless world is not a utopian fantasy.

To those who argue that Marx supported certain independence movements we say Marx (and Engels) lived at a time when capitalism was still forming itself into nation-states and he supported some nationalist movements where they thought it would get rid of feudal and other pre-capitalist social structures to make possible new independent capitalist nations to emerge and thus widen the basis for the creation of the working class, the future gravediggers of capitalism. Today, there is no such thing as a progressive nationalism.

Nationalist ideas are widespread and political confusion (in particular, amongst the young) is as great, now as it was in the past.  At the moment nationalism is everywhere on the rise and its dangers cannot be underestimated but it is largely prevalent because we have been losing the class war. Businesses are going bust, insecurity is rising. Debt has been rising for years. There is no hiding the fact that capitalism is a disaster and the ruling class expects the working class to pay for it. The media is full of doom and gloom. Nationalism, has nothing to offer the working class. Only the end of capitalism can put an end to despondency and misery.  

When governments makes an appeal to swell the ranks of the patriots, there will never be a shortage of left-nationalists who, with "progressive" talk, will want to pull the workers in, disguising themselves as champions of “socialism”.  There can be no such thing as “better democracy” without the abolition of the capitalist state and the institution of a class-free society based on satisfying real needs. There is no emancipation for us under capitalism. Socialism is the only alternative to this crazy system. This system and its politics work only for the parasitic few and cannot be ‘reformed’ to work for the exploited many.

James Connolly wrote in 1897, "If you remove the English army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain." Our conception of socialism has advanced beyond the notion of a “socialist republic” in any one country but Connolly here was merely expressing the idea that real liberation for the working class can only come with the overthrow of capitalism.

As world socialists, we argue that the only alternative to the social and environmental devastation offered by capitalism is that workers unite across borders for a common goal: a world without classes and states, where ‘the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all’. For this we need an global movement of socialists to offer solidarity and assistance.

The nationalism we oppose is not just the obvious racist variety of the likes of Farage or Le Pen. We have opposed the "national liberation" of the leftists. Simply, look at the fate of all the national liberation struggles which "succeeded". Today all remain under the control of capital and the workers in these states live in greater exploitation and poverty than ever. Every kind of demand for national rights, whether real or assumed, spontaneous or artificially provoked, under whatever political banner and goals it sets itself, ends up being absorbed into the struggles of the Great Powers with no possibility of playing an autonomous role other than serving as a means for the local capitalists to pursue their own interests and as part of a greater alliance line-up.

Every ‘nation state’ exists as part of a capitalist world economy where the necessity to generate profits and fall in with the demands of the world market ensures that ‘the nation’ is a class-divided society. In every national territory the struggle of the working class against exploitation by the capitalist class is the same everywhere. The only solution for the working class is to destroy all existing nation states. As Marx said "The workers have no country" but they do have "a world to win". Let the world’s working class take up the banner of class war everywhere. The working class will not accept the crisis-ridden system for ever. Events taking place all around the world are the tragic manifestations of this barbaric world from which there can be no escape except by a powerful resurgence of the class struggle. The enemy of the working class is nationalism. And the enemy of nationalism is a working class fighting for its own interests – which are the interests of the bulk of humanity. The only alternative is working class revolution. It may seem far off yet we need to step up our fight for a society without nations, borders, states, wars, and exploitation. Our war is the class war! 

The only war worth fighting is the class war.

The "Genuine" Independence Fantasy

According to Jim and Margaret Cuthbert, leading economists whose work on the Scottish economy has been regularly cited by the SNP, it is “not feasible that anything approaching independence can emerge from the current referendum”.


They argue “genuine” independence is required to challenge “vested interests” – from the world of finance, land-owners and the European Union – which they argue have been “flattered and reassured, and...protected” by the SNP.

We shouldn’t really be surprised by this statement. After all, part of the socialist case against nationalism is that the State, regardless of who forms the government, represents the ruling class.

We would take issue with the economists' forlorn and doomed hope that through “genuine” independence Scotland would have the power to take on those vested interests. The Cuthberts argue that any reform has to “threaten, and probably displace, some or all of the vested interests which currently hold sway”

Just what is “genuine” independence in a world economy of interdependent not independent markets. We witnessed how the recent crisis spread throughout the world without regard to a country’s supposed sovereignty and how Scottish-based banks were fully culpable and complicit in much of the causes of it.

There exists no such thing as "genuine" independence. It is a global capitalist system.

To be a nation again...so f-ing what?

Scottish voters would vote for independence from the United Kingdom, according to a new poll. 46% voters said they would vote for independence and 43% against.

The appeal of Scottish nationalism to some working people in Scotland is, of course, a result of the failure of reformism. In no sense does it offer a way forward for Scottish workers. It is simply another cul-de-sac. The Socialist Party attitude to a sovereign Scotland, is that no fundamental problem facing working people can be solved, or even seriously alleviated, by tinkering with the constitutional status of the state structure.

A nation-state as a goal in itself, such as the establishment of an independent Scotland, has no place in socialism. The Socialist Party demands are common with our fellow-workers of all countries. Scottish nationalism is not resistance to oppression; rather it is the reaction of a section of Scottish business that seek to be the beneficiaries of a Scotland separated from British capitalism. Nevertheless, Scottish economy is fully integrated into the British economy and it is why most businesses oppose independence so as the lure for votes, radical policies are proposed by the nationalists as panaceas to the problems of the Scottish working class. 

Nationalists fish in troubled waters, and will betray and abandon these workers later on. Regardless, though, of the status of Scotland, the ruling class in the transnational corporations are interested in maintaining their power and whatever structural form is unimportant to them. This does not mean that they enthusiastically embrace independence but that it would not be an insurmountable obstacle problem for them to adapt to as they have the world over. Scotland would be no exception. A sovereign Scotland is something that the capitalist class can live with. It is necessarily incompatable with the interests of the capitalist class. Scottish secession will not pose a serious challenge to capital.

We refuse to spread the illusion among Scottish workers that separatism would be of any real permanent gain. The issue of independence threatens to poison relations between English and Scottish workers. Our opposition to independence is based on a class opposition. An independent Scotland would not solve a single problem facing the working class. The problems of the Scottish workers does not stem from a constitutional connection to England as the nationalists argue, but arise from the existence capitalism which weighs just as heavily on the workers and their families south of the border. The economic exploitation of working people is a product of capitalist society and can only be removed by the socialist transformation of society. This, in turn, requires the unity of all workers, irrespective of nationality they perceive themselves to be. For that very reason, it is why the Socialist Party presses for class unity and opposes any attempt to divide the workers' movement along national lines. Class unity is about solidarity, which recognises no borders.
 

Nor does the Socialist Party defend the unity of the United Kingdom status quo in any way. To do so is to line up with the equally repugnant British nationalist ideology.

Our postion is that we abstain but that does not mean we evade answering the arguments. Far from it. Our members in Scotland will be saying to our fellow-workers that the only solution is socialism. There does not exist a "Scottish Road to Socialism." A "Scottish Workers Republic" belongs to the never-never land of the left-wingers.

The Nationalist Charade

TARTAN TROTS

Can Scottish separatism be part of a strategy for socialism? Can a sovereign Scotland be a step forward in this struggle?

Left nationalists, those radical patriots demanding Scottish sovereignty, believe that it is necessary to achieve independence from England first, and then socialism. This kind of argument channels the efforts of progressives into support for the SNP, an openly pro-capitalist party. Socialism is put off until “later”. We have learned by bitter experience that the struggle for socialism is never to be started right away. Later...later...those nationalists on the left keep telling us. These reformists hide behind a socialist mask. The “radical” image of the independence and socialism line is nothing but a charade, putting the interests of the nation ahead of the interests of the working class. They end up supporting the SNP's independence schemes, allying directly with the Scottish elite, faithfully serving its interests.

The reality is that Scottish independence will not change conditions for the better the struggle for socialism. Such a change would in fact be nothing but a re-division of power between various groups of capitalists. The two states that would result would be just as capitalist as today’s United Kingdom. All that would be put in question is the division of power between sections of the ruling elite. But the power structure of the capitalists over the workers would be unchanged. Perhaps separatism might harm a section of Scottish business, but the capitalist system itself would not be hurt by it.

Once the capitalist class in Scotland achieved an independent state, it would be no more welcoming to a working class revolution than was the ruling class of Britain as a whole. It would be ready to suppress any workers' struggle. Today, despite a very vocal nationalist left-wing, few people still believe that separatism is a step forward in the struggle for socialism but rather as an opportunity for extracting perhaps a few more beneficial reforms. An independent Scotland would be dominated by an emboldened national bourgeoisie that would demand social harmony in the name of national interest. All opposition to exploitation will be branded as betraying the nation. In an independent Scotland the SNP would try to integrate the unions into the state apparatus. If that strategy failed, the SNP would show its true face by repressing workers’ struggles.

Independence is not in the objective interests of our fellow-workers. The Scottish working-class movement cannot stand alone in its confrontation with the employing owning class that dominate the country from Lands End to Lerwick. Who will benefit from the introduction of less unity among English, Welsh and Scottish workers? The very class we are trying to fight. The separation of Scottish workers would weaken the entire British working class. Its forces would be divided and diminished, and in facing the class enemy, its ranks disorganised. It will not be able to react to the employers' attacks with a unified fightback, and it’s exactly that class unity, rising above national barriers, which strikes the capitalists with fear.

The task of workers is to attack the root of the problem not tinker with the constitutional status. Workers must reject all compromises, all proposals of alliances with their masters for the sake of the unity of the nation. It is not the task of the Scotland's working class to unite the nation around any kind of battle for independence whatsoever. The struggle must be waged against the entire British and global bourgeoisie. It must be waged against those who have suppressed us for decade after decade. The Scottish workers will continue to carry out this task by rooting out the basic cause of national oppression – capitalism. To do so, workers must unite with the only class whose interests lie unreservedly in eliminating capitalism – the workers of all lands. It is capitalism that gives birth to national divisions and the oppression of one nation by another. By eliminating capitalism, workers create the conditions for the unity of nations. If the working class divides its forces, this can seriously retard its progress. But if it remains unified, it can triumph. This unity can only be forged in the struggle against national chauvinism and nationalism which only serve the interests of the ruling class. The separation of Scotland from the UK will not weaken the ruling class as some of the Left Nationalists claim. On the contrary, Scottish sovereignty would weaken the working class by dividing it and by binding Scots even closer to their bosses.

CLAYMORE SOCIALISTS

The Referendum - Where We Stand

The Herald reports on the independence referendum and when it is most likely to come.

Independence for Scotland?

Our rulers have decided to ask us our opinion on the matter. We should be flattered, but don’t be fooled. Constitutional reform is of no benefit or relevance to us. It leaves our lives and the problems the profit system causes completely unchanged. Exploitation through the wages system continues. Unemployment continues. A polluted environment, and the general breakdown of society all continue. As far as solving these problems is concerned, independence is just a useless irrelevancy.

Independence would be an extension of democracy, bringing power nearer to the people, so how can socialists not be in favour of this? Yet supporters of capitalism who talk about “democracy” always mean only political democracy since economic democracy - where people would democratically run the places where they work - is out of the question under capitalism, based as it is on these workplaces being owned and controlled by and for the benefit of a privileged minority. You can have the most democratic constitution imaginable but this won’t make any difference to the fact that profits have to come before meeting needs under capitalism. The people’s will to have their needs met properly is frustrated all the time by the operation of the economic laws of the capitalist system which no political structure, no matter how democratic, can control. If our rulers want to reform the machinery of capitalist government in this way, that’s up to them. But spare us the pretence that it’s some great extension of democracy. It is not imperfections in the political decision-making process that’s the problem but the profit system and its economic laws. And the answer is not political independence but the replacement of capitalism by socialism.

Socialists are not nationalists - in fact we are implacably opposed to nationalism in whatever form it rears its ugly head - and we see the establishment of an independent Scotland as yet another irrelevant, constitutional reform. One of the last things the world needs at the moment is more states, with their own armed forces and divisive nationalist ideologies. Nationalists like the SNP who preach the opposite are spreading a divisive poison amongst people who socialists say should unite to establish a frontier-less world community, based on the world’s resources becoming the common heritage of all humanity. Socialists and nationalists are implacably opposed to each other. We are working in opposite directions. Us to unite workers. Them to divide them.

In the end the point at issue - independence which leaves profit-making, exploitation and all the other social problems untouched - is so irrelevant that it is not worth taking sides. We don’t see any point in diverting our energies to changing the constitution but we certainly want things to change. We want people to change the economic and social basis of society and establish socialism in place of capitalism. Just because we are not prepared to back the efforts of Scottish nationalists to break away from the United Kingdom - and vigorously oppose their efforts to split the trade union movement - does not mean that we are unionists. We don’t support the Union. We just put up with it! Socialists are just as much opposed to British nationalism as we are to Scottish. So we won’t be voting “yes” or “no”. We’ll be writing the word “SOCIALISM” across the referendum voting paper whenever it eventually takes place.

The red herring of left nationalism

Nationalism is completely arbitrary and illogical and is the cause of much evil. Although socialists’ sympathies are with the oppressed, they relate not to emerging nationalism but to the particular plight of twice-oppressed people who face both a native and foreign ruling class. Nationalist aspirations are dressed up, in part, as “socialist” aspirations, as they include the illusory hope of impoverished populations that they can improve their conditions through national independence. Yet national independence has not emancipated the working class. It will not do so. It is a red herring that takes time and resources away from the more worthy and pressing matter of establishing socialism.

Surely, it must be evidently clear to all decent people that the greatest evil afflicting this planet is Capitalism. Surely, people must recognise this senseless economic system is the root cause of almost all injustice, suffering and premature death. But to blinker people to the blatantly obvious the capitalist class makes use of many tools. One of its most efficient is nationalism. Many, even supposedly socialists, don’t realise just how dangerous nationalist thought can be. Nationalism is a crucial crutch for keeping capitalism standing upright. Nationalism in its countless forms permeates all societies and individuals.  So powerful is the lure of nationalism that even socialists such as James Connolly have been preoccupied by it to the detriment of the class struggle. The very act of undermining nationalism will in itself severely weaken the capitalist class and will result in a heightened consciousness of the world’s workers.  We have to remove the blinkers of nationalism to look upon a new vista and see the prospect of a new world, not a new nation.

Why are socialists and radicals exactly asking for and expecting from their call for independence for Scotland? Is it really a sovereign Scottish workers’ state? If England and Wales became the same at the same time why would the Scots want to be different? If on the other hand, Scotland became “socialist” in isolation how long could it withstand the inevitable assaults from the capitalist states surrounding it?

But, of course, the realistic and pragmatic Leftist does not envisage a genuine socialist Scotland being achieved. Capitalism will prevail and predominate. So the question is now, are Scottish capitalists somehow more attractive and amenable than British ones.  Would they exploit Scottish workers less than UK employers? Now as economic competitors for jobs and livelihoods, would Scottish workers be content to see the English working class exploited perhaps worse than before, as bosses play divide and rule between the nations? Will class brothers and sisters turn their backs upon one another? Nationalist division further weakens the chances of solidarity between all workers.

There may well be a human impulse to join in groups and to favour one’s own group above all others if many anthropologists and sociologists are correct. Socialists can accept such findings. Bias towards our own group or tribe can be manifest itself in the rivalry between football fans.  In its most extreme form such affinity becomes passionate hatred against other racial groups, religions and nationalities. But such prejudice is not a necessary aspect of human society.  Rather, they can be deliberately inflamed by capitalist politicians, businessmen, religious leaders and anyone for whom such divisions are beneficial.  Our instinct can be exploited and magnified. However, similarly, our intelligence can resist and thwart our instincts and this is what makes us human. We can, in general, overcome our instincts.(for example, our greatest instinct is to have children, yet people today have learned to overcome that instinct and use family planning to delay having children, for economic reasons.) We can put off pleasure and gratification when our rational thoughts advise it. 

Imagine town councils waging violent wars for land and resources; sending young people to fight to the death to control landfill sites and greenbelt land.  If this thought is absurd then why is it so accepted that two countries will fight over living space and material resources? Around the world many thousands are dying violent deaths at the hands of armies, militias, police, mercenaries, terrorists and simply gangster war-lords. The arms manufacturers, in the meantime, make ever more increasing fortunes. Every war in modern history has been fought with the benefit of the ruling class solely in mind.

Although today's global ruling class have been internationalised and already live in world without borders for the rest of us, we are to be very much restricted by borders.  Nationhood and patriotism are to be fanned in our hearts as strongly as ever. The only threat to the status quo is an equally internationalised working class. When the working class of all countries recognise that their fortunes are all inextricably linked, and when they act on that recognition, then we enter the end-times of capitalism.

Patriotism with its flags and anthems, parades along streets and posturing on playing-field, keeps workers apart and weakened by exaggerating differences and not embracing diversity. Each nation believes it is the most deserving and dare a foreign worker set foot upon native soil they are immediately suspect and almost instantly hated, for they are seen as a threat to “us”. All rational thought evaporates, and like children fearing the bogeyman in the shadows, we run around crying out, ”Stop… Stop. Send them away…”  No matter if experts say immigrants are good for the economy and create prosperity.  Each immigrant who arrives is viewed as a danger. The indigenous native-born worker cannot be reassured over immigration with facts, figures or rational argument.  The only cure is from experience.

Overcoming nationalism is intrinsically linked to the development of socialism.  What is needed is to create a worldwide outlook amongst all the world's working class.  This is why it is wrong for socialists to back independence movements for the sake of it.  Imagine a nation oppressed by another power, perhaps Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation. Their struggle for independence may move us emotionally but we must resist the notion that independence is the most compelling goal for the people of that country.  A good socialist will not tell an oppressed people "you should fight for independence".  A good socialist will say "you are not independent, comrade, and you should not be.  You are dependent on the working class of the world and they are dependent on you.  We all depend on each other." There is no difference between a group of workers oppressed by a foreign power or corporation and those oppressed by domestic rulers.  The tactics and the message must remain the same, otherwise, our arguments become blurred. There is only one way we can defeat exploitation and there is one way we can make the defeat of capitalism a possibility. Labour organisations can become global and transform into the One Big Union.  They must make the workers of their own country fully aware of the struggles of workers in neighbouring countries and beyond.  Only international industrial action orchestrated by a global union network can possibly defeat the exploitation of the globalised corporations and banks. When unions bargain for wages and conditions on a national level the bosses now have the option of relocating production to another country where workers are being exploited harder. Unions already fully know that when dealing with a nationwide industry, national bargaining is the best chance for success.  The bosses attempt to fragment union power with regional or local bargaining.  Fatally, this basic knowledge is not applied on an international scale. British unions campaign to stop jobs moving abroad, which seems to send the message that Indians or Filipinos, for example, don't deserve jobs as much as we do.  Whether or not British workers actually think this matters less than the fact that workers of different nations are frequently at odds with one another, fighting over the scraps of global employment. The only solution is for the union movement to forge physical links with foreign unions and educate its members as to why this is a necessity.

People must know that all local issues have global causes and global solutions. It is why the Socialist Party calls for world socialism.

adapted from here

Against Caledonian Capitalism

The Socialist Party has often been accused of being aloof to workers' struggles but on the contrary we do not stand aside from the struggles of nationalism. These struggles are a potent force for the delusion of workers, for the promotion of divisive, anti-working class theories, for the diversion from the essential object of the establishment of socialism. So we cannot stand aside from them; we must expose their basic fallacy, we must be unrelentingly hostile to them and we must strive to replace their theories with the idea of the united, co-operative world of socialism.  It will be a society in which all human beings will be together in the single aim of making life as abundant, free and pleasurable as possible. There will be one people, working together for one object. In socialism the national divisions of capitalism will fade away into a distant memory.

The nationalist argument, as propounded by the SNP in Scotland, is quite simplistic. The people of Scotland, they say, suffer because they are misgoverned from England; what they need is an independent State of their own so that they could begin to solve their problems.  In fact, the problems faced by workers in Scotland are basically the same as those in any other country; they are caused by international capitalism A sovereign Scotland will remain dependent upon the whims of those who own the wealth. and whose interests whatever government is pledged to defend. The Scottish capitalists and their SNP servants will try to sway us one way or another with crumbs or the promises of crumbs but we’ll only receive what they feel they need to spare to protect their privilege and wealth.  The Scottish elite has got behind nationalism and the independence movement, disguising (as it always does) its own interests in the language of idealism. Yet the reality as explained by Edinburgh University's School of Business' Professor MacKay who said that his research suggested that business attitudes towards independence tended to be dictated by where their customers were primarily located. It's buses, hotels and betting shops versus international banks and mining companies. Consumer goods industries v producer goods industries. Big capitalists v smaller capitalists. Marx's Dept I v Dept II. Some choice. 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. In an independent Scotland, the City and the architects of the cuts would have more power over Scotland, not less. If Scots want to tame international capitalism, it can only be done internationally. They have to make links, not break links, with other people in other countries, like England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, who agree with them. The struggle of the workers of the United Kingdom must be a united one. The workers are under the domination of a class who rule by the use of a political machine which is the chief governing instrument for England, Scotland, and Wales. To appeal to the workers of Scotland for a Scottish Workers' Republic as the Left-nationalists do is to arouse and foster the narrow spirit of nationalism, so well used by our masters. Independence simply means a transfer of power to a new group of politicians, while the structure of state and society is but little changed. Foolishly, both the Brexit voter and the Scot Nat fanatically believe that Paradise awaits them. 

capitalism is necessarily a competitive system for profits and that states are and have to be, just as much involved in this as capitalist enterprises. Capitalism is a system of competitive accumulation based on wage labour, and these two defining aspects also point to the reason for the persistence of the state's system: on the one hand, the need for capitals to be territorially aggregated for competitive purposes; on the other, the need for that territory to have an ideological basis – nationalism – that can be used to bind the working class to the state and hence to capital.  Nationalism is a product of capitalism,

Edinburgh-born James Connolly tried to stand with a foot in both the socialist and nationalist camps simultaneously. Like the left nationalists of today, he hoped that the bulk of nationalist supporters would learn in the course of the independence struggle to throw in their lot with the socialist movement. Unfortunately, that was not to be, as the siren call of the national patriot proved stronger than the appeal to class solidarity. The Socialist Party rejects nationalism as an anti-working class because it has always tied the working people to its class enemy and divided it amongst itself. Independence has not benefited the working class of Ireland. It has not freed them from wage slavery. It has not freed them from exploitation and inequality. The Irish economy is not run on behalf of the people who live in Ireland, but on behalf of the owners of capital. For all the state intervention, it is still subject to the anarchy of production and the vagaries of the market. Ireland is enmeshed in a worldwide capitalist system, and only by joining a general struggle to emancipate the working class of the whole world, and turn the planet into the common property of humanity will people in Ireland or Scotland liberate themselves.

Ultimately can only be solved by world socialism. Socialists reject allegiance to any State and regard ourselves as citizens of the world. We accept the boundaries between States as they are (and as they may change) and work within them to win control of each State with a view to abolishing them all. Our aim is the establishment of a world community without frontiers based on a cooperative commonwealth, sharing ownership of the world's resources. The only way to end nationalism is for us to take ownership and control of the wealth into our own hands.  We could use the wealth to meet our mutual needs and grant the true independence of being able to control our work and our lives in a free and voluntary association of equals. The message of socialism is worldwide. It reaches across the artificial national boundaries erected by mankind.

In this general election, we have adopted the only possible socialist policy when we have no Socialist Party candidate to vote for - casting a write-in vote for world socialism.  If you want to register your rejection of both SNP nationalism and British unionism in favour of World Socialism, we suggest you don't abstain but go to the polling booths and write the words "WORLD SOCIALISM" across your ballot papers. The real issue is that of rallying the workers to something which will hold their allegiance against all spurious appeals and hold it for all time. Only socialism can do that. Only socialism is worth struggling for. The job of socialists at all times is to propagate the case for socialism 

Scottish Independence : Tartan Delusions

On the 31January the blue Euro-banner was hauled down at Westminster and the Union flag raised in its stead. In Edinburgh, though, the self-awarded gold stars flag was pointedly left fluttering in place next to the saltire.

The SNP are making a none too subtle point. The antidote to the referendum they don’t like is to be… another referendum. It would seem the political ‘logic’ is that the best way to counter leaving a union is to leave a union.

It is somewhat ironic that the clash between Holyrood and Westminster stems from a single shared source, nationalism, be it competing nationalisms. The cause is perceived sovereignty, as if Scotland, or England, or Britain can stand alone, or at least break away from a power portrayed as inhibiting its freedom.

However, what would the SNP do in short order should they achieve independence? Give it up to the EU of course. Similarly, should Britain shake off the last vestiges of EU influence, then treaties will be sought and signed with such as the USA.

Not only will the USA want untrammelled access to the NHS for its big pharma, for example, there will be a demand for any arrangements to be subject to America’s legal system. For the USA substitute any other major trading nation/bloc and something similar will apply.

This is what ‘independence’ means in a global capitalist world. Significant change cannot be achieved by a binary vote in a referendum. At best there is some reordering of the arrangements, but essentially, adjustments made, capitalism continues unhindered other than by its own contradictions.

The SNP has previously stated its intention of retaining the monarch as their country’s head of state, continuing the use of sterling and joining NATO. Presumably unaware of any contradiction, they also want to be rid of the Trident submarine bases.

Do they really think that if capitalism degenerates to the point where international warfare results in the use of nuclear weapons, the removal of Trident bases will somehow insulate Scotland from the consequences?

Should the SNP decide the monarch was not to be their head of state, then a president or some such would fulfil that function. Has being a republic lessened the grip of capitalism, with its extremes of war, inequality and crises, on the USA?

If Scotland was denied the use of sterling presumably that would mean embracing the euro with all its financial hazards and, more importantly, subservience to, not independence from, the European Union. If sterling is retained, then economic policy would, ultimately, continue to be determined in London.

The formation of Britain enabled the industrial revolution to create a dynamic economy in which Scots, Welsh and English played full parts. This also led to the formation of the working class with interests transcending those of constituent regional and national parts. Workers in Scotland faced the same exploitative capitalism as they did in England and Wales and expressed their voice through their own organisations, the trade unions.

And nothing has changed. Workers on any side of a border, wherever it is drawn, all face the same fundamental problem, capitalism. To exist, capitalism must exploit workers to make profit. Painting your face blue with crossed white stripes alters this not one iota.

Whatever the outcome of another referendum the people of Scotland will continue to live under a parliamentary system designed to preserve the interests of capitalism. If they have opted for ‘independence’ they will find ‘sovereignty’ surrendered to the EU.

The parliamentary system has evolved to serve the interests of capitalism, not democracy. It does not matter if a parliament is situated in London or Edinburgh, nor if its benches are upholstered in tartan and populated by nationalist MSPs, it will remain subservient to the needs and preservation of capitalism.

Referendums are designed to give apparently simple solutions to complex problems, they are the chosen way of despots and demagogues attempting to garner some semblance of popular support of their self-serving programmes.

The ballot box can indeed be part of the response of the working class to taking economic and political power away from the capitalist class. But this will have to be just one element of a much wider movement in which the working class consciously acts for itself.

No referendum can solve problems for the working class, not in Scotland, not in Britain via Brexit (or re-joining the EU at some point), not anywhere. There is no Tartan alternative to socialism.

DAVE ALTON

https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2020/2020s/no-1387-march-2020/scottish-independence-tartan-delusions/

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.

Happy New Year?

Much Ado About Nothing

The new year will bring no doubt a heightening of the independence referendum debate, with the politicians and press and TV pundits declaring themselves for or against.

Will “independence” make the Scottish workers better off and happier?  Is it “London rule” that is responsible for the problems faced by workers in Scotland, or is it capitalism?  It can be seen in retrospect that independence for the vast majority of the people has simply meant the exchange of one set of exploiters for another. The realisation of "political independence" by a country leaves the workers' conditions untouched (or actually worsens them in some cases). As socialists, we don't take sides in this inter-capitalist argument. We don't support one section of the capitalist class or the other, and we don't have any illusions about the "sovereign power" of Parliaments to pass reformist legislation that can make capitalism work in the interest of the exploited class of wage and salary earners. Capitalism just cannot be reformed to work in this way; so transferring  the powers of the House of Commons to a Scottish Parliament sitting in Edinburgh makes little difference.

We are all one species. Our world is the only one we've got and we must share it with everybody. Socialists do not stand for world government because we are opposed to governments everywhere. A socialist One World represents an entirely different vision of the future to the "United Nations" or "Internationalism" which, as their names imply, are attempts to improvise a patchwork from the fragments which capitalism makes of the world. We are for the planned production and distribution of wealth on a world scale to meet human needs. To move forward the dispossessed of the world must now look beyond the artificial barriers of nation-states and regional blocs, to perceive a common identity and purpose. We seek a global community with no private property beyond immediate possessions, no need for money, no racism or sexism, no enslavement of children, no profit motive to drive the oppression of working people, no battles over personal interpretations of spirituality, and no disrespect for the 'other'.

The socialist aim is a world where we peacefully cohabit our home planet. There never has been, and never can be, socialism in just one country. No longer will there be governments and their state machinery, or national frontiers. Instead of government over people there would be various levels of democratic administration, from the local up to regional and world levels, with responsibility being delegated if necessary to groups or individuals. A united humanity, sharing a world of common interests, would also share world administration. It is sometimes said that world administration would mean power of central control over local democracy. We, however, envisage an integrated system that would be adaptable and could be used for decision-making and action on any scale between the local and the world. In socialism, for the first time, local communities will be free to make decisions about the development of their areas. These would be decisions about local services such as health, education and transport; public facilities such as parks, libraries, leisure centres and sports grounds; local housing, the siting of production units, management of farming, care of the local environment, cultural events, and so on. The principle of local democracy would be that decisions affecting just local populations would be made by them and not for them by any larger or outside body. Local communities, nevertheless, cannot be completely independent or self-reliant as far as meeting their material needs goes; they are interdependent. People in small communities aren't able to produce all they need, or anything like it. The final stage of the production of a range of goods for everyday use could be done locally -- food, clothes, shoes, furniture -- as well as repairs but most of the raw materials cannot be produced locally. It is a question of them being interlinked in a single network of production which in the end embraces the whole world.

There is in reality only one world. Capitalism brought into being the one world. It is high time we reclaimed it. We have no country but have a world to win. Socialists aren't dreaming up a “perfect” or an “ideal” world. What we struggle to establish is a better world. Why we should prefer Scottish rather than British police to be used against strikes and pickets? Why we should want the government that presides over the operation of capitalism in Britain to be situated in Edinburgh rather than London? We remain unconvinced that we should take sides in the referendum debate about the political structure for running capitalism today.

The Socialist Party of Great Britain is part of the World Socialist Movement which didn't get its name for nothing. Unique amongst all political parties left and right we have no national axe to grind. We side with no particular state, no government. We have no time for border controls. The Left nationalists claim that if only Scotland was politically independent then this would lead to universal social justice. All over the world there are independent nations and yet we still have the very opposite of what the Left thinks political independence will bring. Many of these independent nations have had leftist governments, which all claimed they could solve capitalism’s problems but failed because the system’s problems are inseparable from it. The nationalists of the left-wing simply havn’t noticed that we live in a global economy over which they could have no control. Capitalism’s problems are global so their solution can only be global. This means world socialism and not any narrow, nationalist proposals.

Many on the Left advance nationalism and the nation-state as a bulwark against imperialism. This is a dangerous fallacy. The role of nationalism has always been a source of conflict on the Left. For those on the Scottish Left the Socialist Party's consistent anti-nationalist position seems to support imperialism. But, imperialism functions quite independently of socialist attitudes toward nationalism and, furthermore, socialists are not required for the launching of struggles for national autonomy as the various independence movements have shown. Also contrary to some Leftist expectations, nationalism could not be utilised to further socialist aims, nor was it a successful strategy to weaken and hasten the demise of capitalism. Does national aspirations  hasten the end of capitalism by weakening the capitalist class? Contrary to expectations, nationalism could not be utilised to further socialist aims, nor was it a successful strategy to hasten the demise of capitalism. Rather, nationalism destroyed socialism by using it for nationalist ends. It is not the function of socialism to support nationalism. Nationalism divides workers. We advocate class war and declare that the capitalist can never have interests in harmony with the worker. We hold up socialism as the only hope of the workers.

The population of  Scotland have nothing to gain from the return of nationalism. No “national” solution is worth considering. The stakes of today clearly are international, nobody can make it “on his own”, we are all interdependent.  Nationalist divisions hide class relationships. As long as the Scots let themselves be taken in by national adventure their situation will only worsen. Like anywhere else, the Scottish people must envisage their power as the base for new, democratic, cross-border and equal solutions.  We must seek a true solidarity-based federation, not just of the UK or within Europe but of all mankind.  This is the viable and desirable project. Working for this means fighting against nationalism and against the different ruling cliques which try get a bigger slice of the cake, and building through the struggle an international social movement.

 This system ensures that a minority owns and controls the means with which wealth is produced and distributed whilst the vast majority who actually does the production owns nothing. The resources and wealth of the world must be owned and controlled by all humanity. No-one will care who goes where or who belongs where. We will recognise ourselves, not as Scottish, British, French, or any of the other labels our rulers impose on us, but as members of the human race, citizens of the world, Earth-people. Then nationalism will have been well and truly buried.

“Let's not be English, French or German anymore. Let's be European. No not European, let's be men. Let's be Humanity. All we have to do is get rid of one last piece of egocentricity - patriotism.” -Victor Hugo