Socialists, the SNP, and Scottish independence
The race for the leadership of the Scottish National Party
(SNP) took a dramatic twist in July when, on the day nominations closed, the
former SNP leader Alex Salmond announced that he was standing. PHILIP STOTT
writes.
ONLY A FEW weeks before his dramatic move Alex Salmond had
ruled out a return as party leader by quoting the words of a US civil war
leader, General Sherman: ‘If nominated I’ll decline, if drafted I’ll defer, and
if elected I’ll resign’.
This U-turn by Salmond, who is likely to have been supported
by a majority of SNP members when the result is announced on September 3, is a
desperate attempt to halt the slide in the party’s support following a series of
electoral setbacks which culminated in the resignation of the outgoing leader,
John Swinney. In June’s European elections the SNP’s share of the vote slumped
to 19%, their worst since the 1987 general election. The high point for the SNP
was the 1994 Euro elections when they polled 33%, followed by their 28% score at
the inaugural election for the Scottish parliament in 1999. However, in the 2003
Scottish elections the SNP lost one fifth of their MSPs when their vote fell to
23%. The claimed membership of the SNP has also fallen significantly to just
over 8,000 members, from more than 15,000 in the 1990s.
The decline in support for the SNP is partly a consequence
of a turn to the right by their leadership over the last few years. Ironically,
the evolution of the party to embrace a low business tax, pro-free market agenda
modelled on the ‘Celtic Tiger’ in Ireland, began under Alex Salmond, who was
leader of the SNP from 1990 until he resigned in 2000. As a result they have
been unable to build a basis of support among the working class and radicalised
young people.
Support for independence fallen
THE PERCEPTION OF the SNP as yet another tired old party of
the political establishment has also coincided with a general decline in support
for independence – the party’s flagship policy.
This has been a product of a number of factors. There is
enormous cynicism and disappointment at the performance of the devolved Scottish
parliament. Record levels of privatisation, increasing poverty and no
significant improvements in health and education in Scotland, has provoked
seething anger among the working class and the population generally toward the
political establishment, including the SNP. The cost of the Scottish parliament
building, now set to reach over £400 million, and the handsome wage rises handed
out by MSPs to themselves, has produced outrage. There is little or no
confidence that any of these politicians could, or should, be given the
responsibility to run any kind of parliament.
One of the effects of this has been a rise in support for
anti-establishment parties and candidates. At both the 2004 Euro elections and
the Scottish parliament election in 2003, more than 20% of voters backed the
smaller parties of the left – including the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) and
the Greens – as well as the right, including parties like the UK Independence
Party (UKIP). The main establishment parties of New Labour, the Tories and the
SNP, all saw their support fall.
The idea put forward by the SNP, of a big business-dominated
independent Scotland offering a route out of poverty, low pay and worsening
public services, is ruled out. Significant sections of the working class have
increasingly understood this, which has led to a fall in support for
independence. This has been reinforced among a section of more conscious workers
by the experience of the independent states that have emerged in the former USSR
and Eastern Europe following the collapse of Stalinism. Rather than bringing
stability and an improvement in living standards, from the Baltic states to the
former Yugoslavia the reintroduction of a capitalist market economy has resulted
in increased poverty, unemployment and exploitation for a majority of the
population.
The growing struggles of the working class in Scotland and
throughout Britain – which have included nursery nurses, fire-fighters, civil
servants and railworkers – as well as the opposition to the war and now the
occupation of Iraq, have pushed class and international issues to the fore in
the recent period. This has also had the effect, even if temporarily, of
undermining support for the ‘break up of the UK’ among people in Scotland.
So while in 1997 support for independence was 37%, by 2002
it had fallen to 28%. Today most polls show support for independence at around
25%. Nevertheless, backing for independence is higher, although still a
minority, among young people and the working class than the middle class. This
underlines the fact that for a section of the working class, the national
question in Scotland reflects a searching for a way out of the horrors that
capitalism represents.
The Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) has always
defended the right of the people of Scotland to decide their own relationship
with the rest of Britain up to and including the right of Scotland to form an
independent state. As support for independence grew significantly during the
1990s we put forward a programme on the national question which stands for an
independent socialist Scotland which would form part of a voluntary and
democratic confederation with England, Wales and Ireland. But at all times we
sought to expose the false idea that independence on a capitalist basis would
offer a way out of the nightmare of poverty, low pay and worsening social
conditions for the working class. We also emphasised the need for a united
struggle by workers across Britain to defend their class interests.
The SSP leadership and left nationalism
THIS APPROACH, WHICH at one time a number of the leaders of
the SSP would have defended, has now been abandoned by them. They left the CWI
over fundamental political differences and after rejecting the need to defend
and strengthen a Marxist programme and organisation while building the SSP.
A recent article in the Scottish Socialist Voice, the SSP’s
paper, entitled ‘Where now for the SNP’ (2 July), graphically underlined an
increasing tendency to put forward a left nationalist position on the national
question in Scotland. Left nationalism, which can use radical and socialistic
phraseology, is ultimately in agreement with right-wing nationalism that the
central task is the fight for independence and the ‘breaking apart of the UK
state’. This is done without explaining the need to break decisively with
capitalism as the only route out of poverty and inequality.
Alan McCombes, the author of the article and a former member
of the CWI, puts forward the idea that a central task facing the SSP is indeed a
campaign to ‘break apart the UK’. In order to accelerate this he advocates
support for a ‘left’ leadership for the SNP which, he hopes, would return the
party to its policies of the early 1990s. He states: "In the early to mid-1990s,
when the SNP was making huge inroads into the central belt Labour vote, the
party hammered home a message that was strong and clear. It stood for an
independent Scotland which would scrap nuclear weapons, create 200,000 new jobs,
build 50,000 new council houses, increase NHS spending by 15%, reverse Tory
privatisation, restore student grants, increase pensions, and scrap anti-trade
union laws".
Alan goes on explain his view of the benefits of the SNP
electing a ‘left’ candidate to lead the SNP: "A victory for either Roseanna
Cunningham or Alex Neil – both of them capable and charismatic figures – would
have the effect of regenerating interest in politics generally. It would help to
shift the ideological centre of gravity in Scotland further to the left and, at
the same time, strengthen support for independence. All of this would create a
more politicised climate, favourable to both the SNP and the SSP".
These two comments are extremely significant. In the first
case, Alan is guilty of exaggerating the ‘left’ programme of the SNP from the
early 1990s. Nowhere in the article does he attempt to explain the limitations
of that manifesto, which did not seek to go beyond the framework of capitalism.
It would have left the overwhelming majority of the Scottish economy in the
hands of big business, who would still have controlled the economic levers of
power and would have opposed even these relatively timid measures.
Indeed, in 1989 in an article in the Militant newspaper Alan
McCombes argued that even the left of the SNP at that time had an "economic
programme which is essentially no more radical than that of Labour’s right-wing
or even sections of the Liberal Democrats" (31 March 1989). He went on to
analyse SNP left-winger Jim Sillars, who had won a spectacular by-election
victory over Labour in Govan in 1988 and who described himself as a socialist in
the style of Keir Hardie, as promoting "a mild version of reformism –
nationalism decorated in pink ribbons".
Furthermore, even the SNP’s mild social-democratic programme
from 1992 would have incurred the wrath of the ruling class who were in the
middle of a counter-offensive against the gains won by the working class during
the economic upswing from 1950 to 1973. Only a programme that sought to bring
the multinationals that dominate the economy under public ownership and control
would have allowed significant reforms to be implemented and guaranteed for the
long term.
Scottish Militant Labour
ALAN ALSO FORGETS that it wasn’t only Scottish nationalism
that advanced as Labour moved to the right and began to lose its working class
base of support. Scottish Militant Labour (SML), the Marxist organisation that
both he and Tommy Sheridan, among others, were leading members of, also made a
significant impact at that time.
In total between May 1992 and February 1994, SML won 33.3%
of the vote in the 17 elections that we contested. Four SML councillors were
elected to Glasgow council and two to Strathclyde regional council during that
time. The vacuum that had opened up to the left of Labour was not only filled
partially by a radical nationalist party, the SNP, it also showed the potential
to build a clear socialist alternative that would defend the democratic rights
of the Scottish people. SML’s success was based not only on our leading role
during the anti-poll tax struggle, but also an effective exposing of the limits
of the SNP’s programme and their anti-working class actions when they ran local
councils in Scotland.
Importantly, the fact that the SNP, a middle class
pro-capitalist nationalist party, dumped that manifesto was itself a reflection
of the intense opposition from the ‘business community’ in Scotland to such mild
reforms. It also reflected the prevailing outlook of the capitalists
internationally who were pursuing a policy based on globalisation, of
neo-liberal policies and counter-reforms. The fact that Alan can describe the
SNP’s manifesto from that time as "a message that was strong and clear" is more
of a reflection of his own subsequent adaptation to reformist ideas that promote
illusions in what can be achieved within the framework of capitalism.
The second extract from the article exaggerates the ‘left’
credentials of both Alex Neil (who, in the event, did not stand for the
leadership) and Roseanna Cunningham. Cunningham is one of the deputy leaders of
the SNP and, while formerly on the left, has also moved to the right along with
the rest of the SNP leadership during the 1990s. She has not opposed the turn to
a more pronounced business agenda by the SNP leadership, explicitly coming out
in favour of the SNP’s ‘wealth creation’ (ie pro-capitalist) policies, for
example, in a recent Sunday Herald article (25 July).
More important, however, are Alan’s comments that a left
nationalist leadership "would have the effect of regenerating interest in
politics generally. It would help to shift the ideological centre of gravity in
Scotland further to the left" which, he argues, would benefit both the SNP and
the SSP. This betrays a significant turning away from the idea that it is the
working class, moving increasingly into conflict with capitalism, which will be
the main driving force in radicalising Scottish society.
The national question can play a very important role in
sharpening class conflict in Scotland and any party that aims to build majority
support among the working class must maintain a principled approach on this
issue at all times. But to come out in favour of a left SNP ‘to help push
Scotland to the left’ can lead to the SSP basing itself on developments in the
SNP and not on the new, radicalised workers, trade unionists and young people,
many of whom are not in favour of independence at this stage.
Instead, it is the class questions that are the dominant
issues at present. There is also a growing interest in socialist and Marxist
ideas generally in society. The real danger exists of the SSP leadership now
facing in the wrong direction and missing out on the chance to significantly
strengthen the forces of socialism in the next period. Not only that, but even
the gains made by the SSP up till now could be lost if the perception among
workers and young people was that the SSP’s primary concern was the break up of
the UK and that this was leading to a watering down of a socialist and class
approach to the national question, as well as moves towards an accommodation
with sections of the not-very-left SNP.
In a bizarre twist the SSP leadership are proposing a
strategy to resuscitate ailing Scottish nationalism in the form of the SNP. This
attempt to act as unpaid political advisors to the SNP is linked to the outlook
of the SSP leadership that only through the fight for Scottish independence can
political advances be made for socialism and the SSP. Therefore the main
priority is to support all measures that can advance the cause of an independent
Scotland.
This has led to Alan blurring the differences between ‘left’
nationalism and socialism. It will have the effect of disarming activists in the
SSP and mis-educating those who are looking towards the SSP at this stage. In
fact the biggest obstacle to the building of a genuine mass socialist force in
Scotland is likely to be left nationalism. Not that of Roseanna Cunningham or
others that Alan cites in the article but a radical, populist nationalism that
is capable of condemning some of the worst aspects of capitalism without putting
forward a programme for its overthrow.
It is essential that socialists and Marxists clearly
differentiate their political and programmatic ideas from those of radical
nationalism that doesn’t aim to go beyond the limits of capitalism. This means
explaining that only through a policy based on the need to break completely with
capitalism, while defending the national and democratic rights of the people of
Scotland up to and including independence, can a solution to poverty and
inequality be found. That does not mean the SSP should not take part in
campaigns involving the SNP, or sections of it. However, it does mean that the
SSP leadership ought to maintain a clear political independence and a right to
criticise the false ideas of nationalism.
Break up the UK
THE SSP LEADERSHIP, unfortunately, is doing the opposite.
They are proposing to set up an ‘independence convention’, which is designed as
a parliamentary bloc between the SSP, SNP and the Greens. The consequence of
this will be to submerge a broad socialist banner into an independence movement
that will promote illusions in the so-called benefits of capitalist
independence.
A recent SSP amendment in a Scottish parliament debate,
which condemned the inaction of the Scottish Executive over poverty, stated that
"the problem of poverty will never be solved until there is a fundamental
redistribution of income and wealth, which requires an independent Scotland"
(September 2003). This can only sow illusions in the ability of independence on
a capitalist basis to tackle the problems facing working class communities in
Scotland and is a serious error.
The CWI is not proposing that the SSP abandon its policy of
an independent socialist Scotland, which we have argued should be linked to the
idea of a socialist confederation with England, Wales and Ireland – a point
which the SSP leadership have opposed. We are saying, however, that it is
increasingly the case that the SSP leadership is moving away from a commitment
to explain that only socialism can offer a way out. If this goes uncorrected the
SSP can move further in this direction and end up not as a vehicle for the
advancement of socialist ideas but of nationalism, particularly its left
variant.
But Alan is also guilty of a dangerous, light-minded
attitude when he writes: "The clearest route to independence is the fast, broad
highway of the independence convention, involving a united front of the SNP, the
SSP, the Greens and other pro-independence forces". This is a consistent – and
false – idea from the SSP leadership, that there will be a rapid transition to
Scottish independence. It completely ignores the entrenched opposition that
exists among the overwhelming majority of the capitalist class both in Scotland
and throughout Britain to such a move – not to mention the fact that only a
minority of the Scottish people are in favour of independence at this stage.
Capitalists oppose independence
THE RULING CLASS will be prepared to go to great lengths to
avoid the economic and political destabilisation that the break up of the UK
would entail. They are of course primarily concerned about their profits and
class interests. The Scottish economy is tied by a thousand threads to that of
Britain as a whole, as well as to foreign multinational corporations. Therefore
the capitalists are organically opposed to any moves that would threaten to
undermine the running of capitalism.
Another concern for the ruling class in Britain is the
inevitable loss of prestige and influence on the international arena that would
follow the loss of Scotland from the union. British imperialism does not have
the same weight as it did in the past, but it still has to compete with other
capitalist powers in Europe and internationally. The idea of Scottish
independence, which has the potential to ignite secessionist movements in Wales
and add more combustible material to the volatile situation in Northern Ireland,
is viewed with horror by the ruling class in Britain.
They are, therefore, prepared to marshal their forces to
prevent this from happening. They will point out, as they did in the 1999
Scottish parliament elections, that economic Armageddon would be visited on
Scotland if the union was broken. This does not mean there won’t be a
significant growth in support for independence in Scotland in the future,
depending on future conditions. There could also be a movement that could result
in the break up of the UK state but it will not be the linear, straightforward
process that Alan believes. Instead, it will inevitably be protracted and drawn
out and in no sense will it develop through the "fast, broad highway of the
independence convention".
Alan also ignores the fact that the working class can also
oppose moves towards independence. If there was a fear of the social and
economic consequences that could develop in the event of the break up of the UK,
and a threat to split the working class who are still organised in trade unions
across Britain, then there can be a backlash against the idea of independence.
On the other hand, if the ruling class were in the future to block moves at
further autonomy in Scotland it could create a constitutional crisis and ignite
a ferocious struggle around the national question. At all times it is incumbent
on socialists, while being the best fighters for the democratic rights of the
people of Scotland, to advocate the unity of the working class in Scotland,
England and Wales – and across Europe and internationally for that matter.
Nationalist ideas, on the other hand, in all their guises, carry the threat of
dividing the working class on national lines.
It is necessary to understand that the mood and intensity on
the national question can ebb and flow. There are a combination of factors that
can hold it back or propel it forward. But the approach put forward by Alan
completely underestimates the complications that will inevitably develop around
this key question.
The situation that is opening up in Scotland can offer big
opportunities to strengthen the forces of socialism. Unfortunately the direction
of the leadership of the SSP, if not altered, will lead to a weakening of the
ability of the SSP to reach that new generation, some of whom can have illusions
in nationalism, but who can be won to socialist ideas if a clear fighting and
socialist explanation is given.
While raising our criticisms of the increasing adaptation to
left nationalism by leading members of the SSP, the CWI will continue to put
forward a principled defence of the democratic rights of the Scottish people.
Crucially, we will also advance a clear socialist and Marxist programme that is
sensitive to the national aspirations of workers and young people in Scotland
but also drives home the need for the working class to build a movement to end
capitalism in Scotland. This is part of the struggle for a socialist alternative
to poverty, hunger and war internationally.
Who are the SNP?
THE SNP, FORMED in 1934, are a pro-capitalist, middle-class
nationalist party. Their base of support historically is not big business, who
are overwhelmingly opposed to the break up of the UK, but sections of the
Scottish middle class and smaller business people. The SNP leadership and big
sections of its membership has traditionally been drawn from those ranks. This
partially reflected the way in which the middle class in Scotland, who played an
important role in the running of British imperialism, were affected by the
demise of the British empire and the shutting off of opportunities to advance
their position.
It is also a reflection of the feeling of injustice that
existed, and still does, at the way Scotland was incorporated into the union.
Brutal methods were utilised by the English ruling class in conjunction with
sections of the Scottish ruling class, to ‘fast track’ the incorporation of the
largely feudal, land-based Scottish economy into that of the more industrial,
capitalist economy in England. Horrific episodes such as the Highland
Clearances, when thousands of families were driven from their homes and land to
work in the towns and cities, left an indelible imprint on consciousness that is
still apparent today.
The SNP were seen by many workers in Scotland in the 1970s
as Tartan Tories. This was a reflection of the make-up of their membership and
the fact that their main base of support was in the rural parts of Scotland.
However, after 1979 there was a section of the SNP who moved to the left.
Ironically Alex Salmond, Kenny McKaskill and Roseanna Cunningham were all
expelled for a short time by the right-wing SNP leadership for their membership
of the ’79 group. The ’79 group wanted to push the party to the left and it
declared itself in favour of a socialist republic in Scotland.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s the SNP, by moving to
the left, did attract a new layer of younger activists many of whom were working
class and some of whom had a socialist outlook. Nevertheless, there was a
conflict between the conservative leadership and membership and the new members
who were more to the left and based in the working class areas of Scotland.
At a local level, wherever the SNP have won control of local
councils, they have carried out cuts programmes and attacks on council workers
and trade unions. For example, when the SNP won control of Tayside regional
council in 1988 they sacked hundreds of cleaners in an effort to ‘balance the
books’. During the recent nursery nurses’ strike the SNP-run Angus council made
one of the worst offers in Scotland to the nursery nurses. One SNP councillor,
also a farmer, told them he employed agricultural workers who worked 80 hours a
week for less than the nursery nurses were paid, so they should be satisfied
with what they had.
When Salmond won the leadership in 1990 it coincided with
the most favourable period for the SNP in its history. Support for independence
was growing and the SNP were going forward. The move to the right by the party
leadership, however, and the dip in support for independence, checked that
trend. The working-class membership of the SNP have largely left or become
inactive. The SNP’s membership, now down to a claimed 8,500 from 15,000, is
heavily concentrated in the rural areas of Scotland. The North Tayside
constituency of the ex-leader, John Swinney, makes up 10% of the entire national
membership.
The electoral base of the SNP has been eroded in the last
four years. They are left with their traditional areas of support of the
north-east and parts of the Highlands of Scotland. In the overwhelmingly working
class central belt of Scotland the SNP have been pushed back.
Alex Salmond is now almost certain to be elected as leader.
He will attempt to rekindle the fortunes of the SNP through an appeal to the
‘heart and the head’ of Scotland. That is Salmond-speak for a return to an
element of radical populism, taking up issues like the pensions scandal,
poverty, and the war in Iraq, combined with an appeal to the business community
with a promise of low tax rates and a high-growth capitalist economy.
There is no question that Salmond is a much more effective
leader than Swinney and can articulate, partially, the anger that exists against
New Labour and the Blair government. However, there are stronger factors that
can mitigate against the SNP making a significant comeback in the next period.
Our record on the national question
THE CWI HAS always defended the right of the Scottish people
to decide their own relationship with the rest of Britain. We stand for the
right of nations to self-determination. In the 1979 referendum, for example, we
called for a Yes vote to set up a devolved parliament in Scotland. We did so
while emphasising that it was necessary to fight to end capitalism and build a
movement for a socialist Britain.
Similarly in the 1997 referendum we again backed a Yes vote,
or in that case a double Yes vote as two questions were on the ballot paper.
Again we explained the limitations of the powers granted to the parliament in
Scotland and put forward a programme that also emphasised the need to build a
movement to break decisively with capitalism.
To end poverty and inequality we argued for the public
ownership of the monopolies under democratic working-class control and
management and the building of a socialist Scotland linked to a working class
movement for socialism across Britain. We also maintained a sensitive attitude
towards the illusions that some workers and young people have had that
independence would represent a way forward for their class interests.
The national question in Scotland has strengthened
significantly since 1979. At that time the idea of a completely independent
Scotland was only supported by 7% of the population. During the 1980s and 1990s,
however, after the experience of Thatcherism, the poll tax, and the move to the
right by the Labour and trade union leaders, there was a significant growth in
nationalist ideas. Backing for independence, for example, grew to over 30% by
the mid-1990s.
As a result of the hardening of support for independence we
updated our programme on the national question in 1998. We stand for an
independent socialist Scotland which we advocate would form a voluntary and
democratic confederation with a socialist England, Wales and Ireland, as a step
to a socialist Europe.
With this approach we aimed to reach the growing sections of
workers and young people who looked to independence as a way out. Our programme
also emphasized, however, that a capitalist independent Scotland would not be a
solution to the problems facing working-class communities in Scotland. It was
therefore necessary to build a movement of the working class to break decisively
with capitalism. It is also essential that the working class in Scotland link up
with workers in the rest of Britain.
We never held the view that an independent Scotland would
inevitably come into existence before socialism could be achieved. It is
possible that a revolutionary movement of the working class across Britain to
overthrow capitalism could emerge. This would lay the basis for a voluntary
socialist confederation of states which Scotland would be part of as an
independent socialist state. Or a socialist federation with a high degree of
autonomy for Scotland but which fell short of full independence. That decision
would be one for the people of Scotland to make.
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