DOCSLIB.ORG

Facebook.Com/Scottishsocialistvoice @Ssv Voice

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Facebook.Com/Scottishsocialistvoice @Ssv Voice Food banks: DWP director New pamphlet: For a says people ‘welcome the Modern Democratic jolt’ of benefit sanctions Republic by Colin Fox • see page 7 • see pages 8&9 £1 • issue 439 • 30th May –12th June 2014 facebook.com/scottishsocialistvoice “I’m the only politician keeping the flame of thatcherism alive,” says UKIP leader Nigel Farage. No he isn’t! All the No men sing from the same hymn sheet, and: • BACK ANtI-UNION LAWS ANOTHER FALSE • BACK tRIDeNt NUKeS • PAmPeR the RICh • DemONISe the POOR • CUt SeRVICeS • BACK PRIVAtISAtION FARAGE CLAIM • PUt PROFIt BeFORe PeOPLe As Westminster takes another lurch towards a new thatcherite nightmare of cuts, sackings, poverty and war, the AS HE BACKS Scottish Socialist Party says: VOte YeS FOR A ReAL ALteRNAtIVe! THE faNceboOok.c oCm/SAcottiMshSocP ialistVoice @ssv_voice EDITORIAL by Ken Ferguson FIRST THE context. Across England, the right wing populists of UKIP emerged from the Euro poll in first place. In Scotland, they Time to be bold in came fourth, scraping a seat ahead of the Greens. That is not complacency, simply fact. But that is not the same as suggesting that the wake of Euro poll UKIP surge is of no consequence for Scottish politics – it is. Puzzled commentators who portray the UKIP rise as demonstrating an “anti-politics” mood which is part of a wider mood sweeping both the UK and Europe really are missing the point. The truth is that since the rise of neoliberal economics, which removed all controls on big capital and saw de-industrialisation and mass job cuts undermining living standards, mainstream politicians have increasingly FOUR SHADES OF BLUE: UKIP, Labour and the ConDems offer nothing but different brands of Thatcherism acted as cheerleaders for the fat cats. Issues in such a programme Now a brutal reality of falling could include workers rights, UKIP coverage wages, insecure jobs, benefit public ownership of green This process, underway cuts and zero hours contracts energy, ambitious targets for since the Thatcher era and faces millions and the mainstream rented house building, action carried on by a deeply parties have no coherent answer on low pay and zero hours compromised New Labour, since they are actually part of the among others. was masked in the era of problem as supporters of the system Such an approach leaves cheap and easy credit which open discussion of the ended with the 2008 crash. causing it... contents of such a Now a brutal reality of a Scottish seat where they and green forces campaigning programme and, crucially, falling wages, insecure jobs, are a negligible presence on for a Yes vote to get beyond does not require the building benefit cuts and zero hours the ground. However, it also the pages of the broadsheet of new organisations or contracts faces millions and has implications both for the press and present concrete parties but the support of the the mainstream parties have broad sweep of progressive proposals to voters in a clear existing parts of the no coherent answer since opinion in Scotland and the and popular form. independence left. they are actually part of the role it must play in the drive to Loyalty to a party or group problem as supporters of the win a Yes vote in September. cannot be allowed to stand in Key battle system causing it. Tentative discussions last the way of such an approach, The prospect of a No vote, This is the underlying year about the possibilities of and talk of any one force followed by a Tory/UKIP cause of the support for the a Red/Green candidate or playing the leading role is this victory, is indeed close to a apparently easy answers slate came to nothing, yet the task are deeply unhelpful. Doomsday scenario not just offered by UKIP and their figures indicate that such a Both the SSP and the for Scottish democracy but European counterparts. formation might just have Voice have proposed that a our entire social fabric. That this was in large mobilised sufficient extra way that this can be achieved The Euro poll makes the measure driven by the votes to win the last Euro could be through a Common task of winning a Yes vote saturation coverage of UKIP seat and halt UKIP. Programme for the left, even more urgent, and in that offered by the mainstream More widely it also covering a range of policies key battle the role of the left media is part of the reason underlines the urgent need for in a succinct statement of in mobilising the working for their sweeping gains and the ideas and vision of the left what a Yes vote can deliver. class majority is central. 2 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 439 COLIN FOX by Colin Fox AS THE polls predicted, the right wing UKIP has again dom - inated the European elections in The prospects for a Yes Britain, winning more votes and more seats than any other party. And although Farage’s party trailed in behind the SNP, Labour vote after Euro elplaeins whcy thet rigihto has dn one so and the Tories in Scotland, some well in these elections and the left, 140,000 Scots voted for their such as it is, has done so badly. ‘dog-whistle’ brand of racist poli - The left must do much better tics to elect their first representa - in clarifying our message, deliv - tive here. Why did they win? And ering it with aplomb and con - what are the likely consequences fronting the racism of UKIP and for the independence referendum? its Tory, Labour and Lib Dem Incredible as it may seem, ‘bedfellows’ in this debate. UKIP, with its Home Counties The results of these elections base and right wing views, are will of course be fiercely con - DIFFERENT COUNTRIES: regarded not just as an anti-EU Nigel the first of England, tested in so far as they tell us any - and anti-immigrant party but also fourth of Scotland, was never thing about the independence as ‘outsiders’ by the British po - off our TV screens and his debate. The Yes side argued litical establishment. The more message was sponsored by UKIP was a xenophobic, far- Nigel Farage is attacked by the several tabloid newspapers right, English party by and large chattering classes and the metro - ‘ordinary guy’ hero rushed to We are asked by UKIP to ig - rejected by voters here. politan political elite, the more him in their droves. His face was nore the fact that immigrants popular he appears to become. never off our TV screens and his make this country wealthier by Grip of xenophobia message was sponsored by sev - coming here, that they pay far That view is undermined Merchant bankers eral tabloid newspapers. more taxes into the UK Treasury somewhat by the fact 140,000 This is a remarkable achieve - Millions of Britons in the mid - than they take out, that our NHS Scots voted for them. Yet Scot - ment given he is himself part of dle of the worst recession in 80 and other key services benefit land by and large does reject that elite. Here is a public school - years have seen their wages fall enormously from their labour, racist xenophobia whilst England boy, millionaire merchant banker 17 per cent on average since that immigrants come here for is in the grip of it. UKIP topped and former Tory, now mas - 2010 whilst the cost of basic work not for paltry benefits, that the poll in England whereas they querading as a ‘rebel’ who sticks commodities like gas and elec - young workers from Poland and came fourth in Scotland. two fingers up to EU bureaucrats tricity has doubled. Yet instead of Spain have halted Scotland’s However, it would have been and corrupt Westminster politi - turning to the left for answers, population decline, that our qual - much better for Yes if UKIP had cians whilst blaming immigrants they have turned to the right. ity of life is greatly improved by not secured a Euro seat here. and claimants for a crisis cause Whilst the turnout in Scotland multiculturalism and that Scots Finally the last word on these by merchant bankers! was only 33 per cent, there is themselves have emigrated for elections goes to that ‘expert’ on Whatever else may be said widespread revulsion at the po - centuries in search of a better life. Scottish politics, the Bradford about his odious, reactionary litical elite who are seen as both The right has persuaded some MP George Galloway who ap - message it is clear, simple and corrupt and completely out of people that the collapse in their parently suggested UKIP and the often repeated. UKIP dominated touch with ordinary people and living standards has been caused SNP were merely ‘two cheeks of these elections with a view that their lives. Like it or not, for mil - by immigrants and claimants the same arse’. This idiotic re - is not difficult to comprehend. lions of voters immigration is (who either work too cheaply or mark surely secures for Gal - Those looking for simple an - now the ‘dog whistle’ issue at the not at all) rather than the bankers loway the title of the biggest swers, easy scapegoats and an centre of British politics. and corporate capitalism. This ex - ‘arse’ in Scottish politics today? Always the bridesmaid: further disappointment for Greens THE SCOTTISH from 7.5 per cent in Bella Caledonia, Mike rootless and unable to the Greens and the Greens’ failure will 2009). This suggests Small of the Scottish reach beyond the SSP this time last year, again disappoint those they lack wider appeal Independence Guardianista.” it could have made the who felt they were the as ‘the torchbearer of Convention went even In due course, the difference.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • © Patricia M`Cafferty, May 2004. Abstract
    PATRICIA MCCAFFERTY WORKING THE 'THIRD WAY': NEW LABOUR, EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS, AND SCOTTISH DEVOLUTION THESIS PRESENTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW MAY 2004 © PATRICIA M`CAFFERTY, MAY 2004. ABSTRACT Labour's election victory in 1997 was heralded as a new era, the dawn of a Third Way, a novel attempt to chart a unique political course overcoming the perceivedlimitations of both New Right and Old Labour. In this thesis I explore the era of New Labour generally and, in particular, the impact of the Third Way on working lives. Key to my analysis is New Labour's attempt to synthesise oppositional interests,in particular those of capital and labour. This involves a crucial rhetoric of flexibility, competitivenessand partnership. My research explores the rhetoric of New Labour in relation to the reality of this new force in power. It does this by: " drawing out key features in the development of New Labour, especially its relation to Old Labour; " examining central elementsof New Labour ideology; " arguing that Scotland should be seen as central to the transition from Old to New :Labour; " utilising a case study of industrial relations developments in a major electronics factory in the West of Scotland and, to a lesser extent, key developmentsin public sector employment. My main finding is that where New Labour's ideology promisespositive benefits, the form of its implementation has negative impacts for workers. Since I take New Labour as a process, my thesis concludes with a more speculative exploration of possible future developments,both in relations to New Labour's role in them, and their possible impact on the New Labour project.
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Brexit: Thatcherites Snatch Power
    Rail guards stand firm: RMT Coup and counter strikers hold private train coup: tyranny in operater Abellio to account Turkey • see pages 12,10&11 • see page 8 £1 • issue 481 • 5th – 18th August 2016 scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com POST-BREXIT: THATCHERITES SNATCH POWER As Labour implodes, the choice is independence or a generation of Tory rule • SCRAP TRIDENT! Jobs not bombs • NO TO RACISM! Refugees welcome • END POVERTY PAY! £10 min. wage Thanks to Eddie Truman for the inspiration EDDIE TRUMAN EDDIE TRUMAN: hundreds have paid tribute to Eddie, who died on July 1st. Eddie was a founder member of the SSP and made friends across the political divide through a lifetime of tireless activism. Eddie is pictured above with former SSP MSP Frances Curran (photo: Craig Maclean) and left, with his partner Catriona Grant. A Voice -style tribute was handed out at his funeral Hundreds remember Eddie Truman: socialist, polemicist and grandfather by Ken Ferguson has deprived us all of years we analysed the world every mo - old grandfather but a carer for should have been able to share ment he was awake. his grandchildren. EDDIE TRUMAN, one of the with him and for me, as I am “He analysed it politically, “Last year Eddie started to founder members of the SSP, sure with others, leaves an socially, and economically. He become unwell and from mid- long term socialist activist, aching of sadness and regret. analysed it through philosophy April until his death on July 1st, photographer and polemicist in At his funeral at a packed and music. His analysis and he was in hospital three times.
    [Show full text]
  • SLR I15 March April 03.Indd
    scottishleftreview comment Issue 15 March/April 2003 A journal of the left in Scotland brought about since the formation of the t is one of those questions that the partial-democrats Scottish Parliament in July 1999 Imock, but it has never been more crucial; what is your vote for? Too much of our political culture in Britain Contents (although this is changing in Scotland) still sees a vote Comment ...............................................................2 as a weapon of last resort. Democracy, for the partial- democrat, is about giving legitimacy to what was going Vote for us ..............................................................4 to happen anyway. If what was going to happen anyway becomes just too much for the public to stomach (or if Bill Butler, Linda Fabiani, Donald Gorrie, Tommy Sheridan, they just tire of the incumbents or, on a rare occasion, Robin Harper are actually enthusiastic about an alternative choice) then End of the affair .....................................................8 they can invoke their right of veto and bring in the next lot. Tommy Sheppard, Dorothy Grace Elder And then it is back to business as before. Three million uses for a second vote ..................11 Blair is the partial-democrat par excellence. There are David Miller two ways in which this is easily recognisable. The first, More parties, more choice?.................................14 and by far the most obvious, is the manner in which he Isobel Lindsay views international democracy. In Blair’s world view, the If voting changed anything...................................16 purpose of the United Nations is not to make a reasoned, debated, democratic decision but to give legitimacy to the Robin McAlpine actions of the powerful.
    [Show full text]
  • Renewing Economic Democracy
    Issue 30 September/October 2005 scottishleftreview £2.00 WHAT NEXT FOR EUROPE? scottishleftreviewIssue 30 September/October 2005 Contents Comment ........................................................2 Do we need Europe anyway? ........................12 André Brie Feedback .........................................................4 Power/imbalance ..........................................16 Ian Davidson Five years of SLR ............................................6 Sanctuary in Europe? ....................................18 Robin McAlpine Bob Thomson Another constitution .......................................8 Renewing economic democracy ...................20 Henry McCubbin Andy Cumbers The motor of neoliberalism ..........................10 Uncle Sam hasn’t lost the plot... ..................22 Bob Crow Derrick White Blair in the lead). That we got there under the propulsion of Comment this coalition is all we need to know to assume that this isn’t over. Blair has defiantly told us all that he is going to address o many it may feel like having a debate about the future shape the concerns of those who voted know by giving them a double Tof Europe is like having a debate about whether a dead mouse helping of what they didn’t want in the first place. He is like would have preferred cheese or chocolate. Surely the decisive a Victorian schoolmaster pouring twice as much cod liver oil rejections of the proposed European constitution in France and down the throat of the child who complained. Holland – along with the almost certain rejection
    [Show full text]
  • Ssv Voice NEWS by Sandra Webster, SSP Class Women to Come Together National Co-Spokesperson and Gain Confidence
    SSP conference: Scotland’s Stop TTIP: threat socialist party and guests to our democracy gathered in Edinburgh must be opposed • see page 12 • see page 9 £1 • issue 447 • 7th –20th November 2014 scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com PHOTO: Craig Maclean ScottishSocialistVoice.wordpress.com /ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice NEWS by Sandra Webster, SSP class women to come together national co-spokesperson and gain confidence. That may be the confidence to speak at confer - OUR CONFERENCE of a ence, or to take on a role at a local few weeks ago was an inspiration. branch member. Democracy is bursting out all We are women who don’t need over the SSP. There was great de - a t-shirt to declare we are femi - bate and a great mix of older and nists and understand the politics newer comrades all there to sup - of why such goods should not be port each other. produced in a sweatshop where We had all come together to other women are exploited. begin the fightback and stake our There is often talk of the glass claim to share our vision of an in - ceiling but we are aware that we dependent socialist Scotland. SSSSPP wwoommeenn’’ss nneettwwoorrkk should not will step up on other Part of this was our unanimous women to break through it. Our decision to re-establish the feminism is born from many dif - women’s network—one of the LiEiFssT P L bAbTFaOaRMcc: sokkme wooest nncoa s tt drerleagaateccs arkkrive for SSP conference ferent backgrounds and experi - groups I believe will help build the ences but we will find common party, as well as being a safe place me with their achievements.
    [Show full text]
  • But Fair Wages, Benefits and Union
    Bedroom Tax: As the Voice went to press, the High Court in London ruled the Bedroom Tax did not unlawfully discriminate against disabled people. Here we look at the brutal reality of living in the shadow of eviction caused by the tax. • see page 5 £1 • issue 421 • 2nd - 15th August 2013 facebook.com/scottishsocialistvoice RETREAT: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said he was “embarrassed” by revelations that his Church’s own pension fund has links to Wonga - the payday lender he had said he wanted to put out of business NEITHER WONGA NBUTO FAIRR W ATGEHS, BEENE FBITS IANSD UHNIOON RPIGHS TS • See inside - pages 2, 6 & 7 facebook.com/ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice NEWS Royal baby media blitz can’t bcy Keon Fenrgusocn eal ConDem claswosrld o f mwisery foar the r many alongside opulence for the DAY after day of royal baby few. overkill with colour This however is a world supplements, mindless TV endorsed enthusiastically by coverage and sick-making all the No parties and most “experts” gushing may fill the shamefully by the misnamed media but back on planet Labour Party. Scotland the reality of the Without the participation if ConDem class war continues. Labour in Better Together, the Elsewhere in this Voice we No camp would be exposed look at the continuing impact as the pro-bosses, anti- of the war on welfare and worker bunch they are. wages which is slashing That’s why the Yes living standards and driving campaign needs to ruthlessly increasing numbers into the expose the fact that Labour arms of loan sharks.
    [Show full text]
  • EXIT the BRITISH ROAD SCOTLAND 18/ 9 Make Tories History People Not Profit Scrap Trident Choose Your Government
    Armed police: cops with Rejecting UKIP: guns could routinely be on pics from the demo the streets in the Highlands in Edinburgh • see page 11 • see page 2 £1 • issue 438 • 16th –29th May 2014 facebook.com/scottishsocialistvoice EXIT THE BRITISH ROAD SCOTLAND 18/ 9 Make Tories history People not profit Scrap Trident Choose your government WESTMINSTER More fat cat rule Austerity & cuts Bombs not jobs Rejected Tories rule AS THE Tories take the lead over Labour in the UK and showing growing Yes support are suppressed and both promise more austerity, nuclear missiles and savage evidence mounts that the scares and smears of Project attacks on the poor, the prospects offered by staying in Fear are failing. the United Kingdom looks less and less attractive. From the Oxford Union to the trade unions, the Scottish No wonder the No camp faces mounting panic. Socialist Party is driving home the message that Uncharismatic Better Together boss Alistair Darling independence opens the way to a more just, democratic faces the push, Scottish Office polls – paid for by us – Scotland, putting people before profit. facebook.com/ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice OPPOSING UKIP INDY LEFT SAYS NO: the pro-independence Scottish left descended on Edinburgh Corn Exchange on the evening of Friday 9 May to declare Scotland a UKIP-free zone and tell Nigel Farage and his nazi Scottish Defence League and Britain First minders that their politics of hate and lies will never be welcome in our country PHOTOS: Craig Maclean (top left, bottom right) and Scott Macdonald 2 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 438 EDITORIAL by Ken Ferguson TWO YEARS into their relentlessly negative campaign – codenamed, in best Biggles style, as Operation Fear – early signs Growing smell of fear of a change of tone if not message are emerging from the bowels of Better Together.
    [Show full text]
  • Ssv Voice WELFARE by Sandra Webster, SSP National Co-Spokesperson
    Standing up for workers: SSP wants Salmond book: Fox £10/hr min. wage, publicly-owned lifts the lid on Yes banks, scrap anti-trade union laws... leadership and SNP • see pages 6&7 NOW! • see page 9 £1 • issue 456 • 10th – 23rd April 2015 scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com SMEARS • LIES • SCARES The Better Together zombies stagger into the election fray BACK THE REAL ANTI- •A£1U0S/hToEuRr mITinY. wAaGgEeN NDOA W • End zero hours contracts • Axe anti-trade union laws ScottishSocialistVoice.wordpress.com /ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice WELFARE by Sandra Webster, SSP national co-spokesperson THE PRESS is full of pictures and interviews of ordinary everyday life in Number 10. Sam and Dave posed with their family. Dave was praised for combing his daughter’s hair even though he is left handed. The emphasis was on an ordinary family with a father with an extraordinary job. Look a little closer though and the staging of the UNPOPULAR CHOICE: many people left disability charity pictures was evident. Despite ‘Contact a Family’ when Sam Cam was made their patron the children sitting round the kitchen table doing their homework. The three Rs are important to the Camerons, the dishwasher was empty at dNifficualt, pusttintg soyme atpanort cotveyr the egxtra ecost tof s cnall peaoples out tof iwoerk r 9.20am. Given most of us breaking point. disability which multiplies “feckless” and “lazy”. These can’t afford one how many Carer’s Allowance is a with the number of disabled are the actions of Cameron’s “ordinary” dishwashers are pitiful amount £62 a week people in a family.
    [Show full text]
  • • NO EVICTIONS • VOTE YES to MAKE the TORIES HISTORY Facebook.Com/Scottishsocialistvoice @Ssv Voice NEWS Playing Party Games
    BEDROOM TAX SPECIAL: As the ConDems try to make April Fools of us all, the people take to the streets to fight back • see pages 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 11 £1 • issue 414 • 29th March - 11th April 2013 www.scottishsocialistvoice.net AXE THE BEDROOM As 105,000 Scots face the Bedroom Tax attacks, the ConDems award millionaires an eTxtra £A107,000X a year in tax cuts... • NO EVICTIONS • VOTE YES TO MAKE THE TORIES HISTORY facebook.com/ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice NEWS Playing party games bwy Richiei Vetnton h pdespeerately juoggling thpe bills tlo ethat inev’itasbly follo w lwhein pevo - slaeshed bacs k council meetings to survive, as they have to choose ple on rock-bottom incomes are just four a year! THE Tory onslaught on the between heating, or eating, or expected to cough up from £10 In contrast to this stance, the poorest to pay for the million - keeping a roof over their head. to £22 a week. opposition Labour councillors in aires’ tax cuts and bankers’ From the outset, the Scottish North Ayrshire proposed a Mo - bailouts has put both Labour and Socialist Party has been up-front SSP Motion tion very similar to Jim Bollan’s, the SNP to the test. in calling for abolition of the The first such motion raised including the call for no evic - And behind their headline- Bedroom Tax. anywhere by a councillor was tions by the council. The SNP grabbing statements lurks a lot But whilst helping to build a put by the Scottish Socialist delayed a decision, seeking legal of fudge, party political manoeu - movement to bring about it’s Party councillor in West Dun - advice - and their leader told me vring and outright cynicism and downfall, we have also cam - bartonshire, Jim Bollan.
    [Show full text]
  • Scottish Leftreview
    ScottishLeft Review Issue 106 July/August 2018 - £2.00 'best re(a)d' 1 - ScottishLeftReview Issue 106 July/August 2018 LRD TUC Sept15_Layout 1 10/07/2015 14:09 Page 1 FIGHT ANTI-UNION LAWS www.rmt.org.uk General Secretary: Mick Cash President President: PSeaneter P iHoylenkney 2 - ScottishLeftReview Issue 106 July/August 2018 feedback comment Killing independence ‘stone dead’? eaders will keenly recall the result would square their circle, they have needed reassurance in order to turn of the independence referendum quickly been disavowed of this. The 45:55 into 55:45. Essentially, this was Ron 18 September 2014 – 55% report has created an almighty right- an appeal to the right – of voters, against and 45% for. After the dust had left chasm within the independence business, commentators and the settled a bit and after much grinding of movement. Sure enough, there was reviewsmedia. For them, it was a message of teeth, it was concluded by mainstream already such a chasm but it was a independence won’t scare the horses nationalist and unionist thinkers that relatively minor one while both right and things won’t be that different the critical reason why more voters and left could have continued illusions under independence. were not turned on to the case for in what independence could be. But In making such an appeal, the independence was down to poor now the Wilson report, released on 25 miscalculations have been several-fold. economics – specifically, that the issue May, has shown in a disarmingly explicit First and probably most importantly, of a currency and future economic way what independence would look in appealing to the right, the support growth were poorly thought out in like under the SNP.
    [Show full text]
  • Scottish Leftreview
    ScottishLeft Review Issue 103 January/February 2018 - £2.00 'best re(a)d' PLUS: PFI/PPP scandal in North Ayrshire I Universal Credit Politics in Germany after their election I and more ... 1 - ScottishLeftReview Issue 103 January/February 2018 ASLEF CALLS FOR AN INTEGRATED, PUBLICLY OWNED, ACCOUNTABLE RAILWAY FOR SCOTLAND (which used to be the SNP’s position – before they became the government!) Mick Whelan Tosh McDonald Kevin Lindsay General Secretary President Scottish Ocer ASLEF the train drivers union- www.aslef.org.uk 2 - ScottishLeftReview Issue 103 January/February 2018 feedback comment 2018: here we go cottish Left Review wholeheartedly interview with Richard, we have asked campaign, it became clear that Leonard welcomes the election of Richard others to lay out their perspectives on did not command a majority of support SLeonard to the leadership of what difference his election makes and from his parliamentary colleagues in Scottish Labour. As outlined in the last what difference he may make in future. the 24 strong Labour group at Holyrood. editorial, his election was we argued to Indeed, the composition of his front He won by a sizable margin (57% to 43%) be a benefit to all of the left in the age bench team reflects this, with the likes of overall but not amongst individual party of the hegemony of austerity and neo- Jackie Ballie, Sarwar and Iain Gray in its members (52% to 48%) or registered liberalism. How much worse off the left ranks. supporters (48% to 52%), indicating that reviews would have been without his election despite progress being made the right is What this all means is that the task can be gleaned when one considers not still a considerable force within Scottish of Scottish Labour under Leonard’s just his competitor’s personal behaviour Labour.
    [Show full text]
  • British Unionist Myth Exploded
    Indy appeal: help the SSP storm Oxford: Colin Fox is SSP raise £50k to set to take on the UK elite in finance our campaign the heart of Oxford University • see page 2 • see page 10 £1 • issue 437 • 2nd –15th May 2014 facebook.com/scottishsocialistvoice British Unionist myth exploded by Richie Venton, SSP national workplace INDEPENDENorgaCniser E WORKERS celebrating so - cialism and internationalism on May Day events will doubtless be subjected to the annual ritual of Labour politicians making nause - ating declarations of their undy - ing devotion to the working class, BOOST TO international solidarity and so - cialism. These chancers don’t even blush as they make speeches that totally contradict what they practice all the rest of the year. They fail to explain how intro - ducing what became the Bedroom WORKERS’ Tax under a Labour government – and Labour’s refusal to pledge its abolition for a clear six months after it was imposed – helped the cause of workers’ unity. Track record SOLIDARITY They won’t be highlighting Labour’s track record of retain - ing the most vicious anti-union laws in Europe – with Tony Blair boasting about it! – for their en - tire 13 years in government. They won’t want us to recall that it was a Labour government that dragged us into bloody im - perialist wars as they prattle plat - itudes about internationalism. SACK LABOUR AND THE TORIES: more cuts, austerity and unjust wars await if we vote No PHOTO: Craig Maclean • Continued on page 8 facebook.com/ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice FINANCE APPEAL by Jim McVicar, SSP National Treasurer THE SCOTTISH Socialist Cash vital to fuel indy fight Party has registered with the to be seen to be impartial.
    [Show full text]