PHOTO: Craig Maclean Bedroom Tax hypocrisy: deputy leader Anas Sarwar under pressure after he fails to vote against hated tax at Westminster • see page 2 £1 • issue 429 • 6th Dec 2013 - 9th Jan 2014 facebook.com/scottishsocialistvoice

AS THE independence White Paper fuelled debate on the real prospect of a more just Scotland with independence, UK PM David Cameron’s coalition dredged new depths of UKIP-style racism, attracting the United Kingdom the label “the nasty country” It offers a snapshot of the choice in next year’s A TALE referendum: Hope and change with the new politics offered by independence... Or fear, cuts, militarism and despair with Cameron and his ‘Better Together’ chums in Labour and the Lib OF TWO Dems. 2014 will be a year of decision – make it a decisive Yes. PHOTO: Craig MaOclean LITICS No

HOPE & NO HOPE & CHANGE NO CHANGE facebook.com/ScottishSocialistVoice @ssv_voice GLASGOW CLUTHA PUB SSP protest highlights Labour TRAGEDY ROCKS MP’s Bedroom Tax hypocPrHOiTOs: Cray ig Maclean SCOTLAND

WORKING CLASS poet John McGarrigle was one of the victims of the Clutha bar tragedy in Glasgow on Friday 29 November. Nine people were killed when a police helicopter crashed through the roof of the busy pub at 10.25pm. The Clutha Vaults has always held a special place in the hearts of local socialists. As we remember the nine who lost their lives on that Friday night, it is with the utmost respect that we pay tribute to John by reprinting one of his poems.

RENT ARREARS

Dear Sir

In answer to your letter dated March fifteenth concerning my non payment of rent arrears Gerritupyi Yes! Gerritrightupyi Yir hoose izny ON FRIDAY 15 November, the Scottish Socialist office, to express their disgust at his failure wurth Party initiated a peaceful protest at Scottish earlier that week to attend a Westminster debate a fuck Labour deputy leader Anas Sarwar’s shameful and vote for the abolition of the hated tax. The anywey failure to vote for the abolition of the Bedroom flash protest was initiated by SSP Glasgow Tax. The SSP appealed to anti-Bedroom Tax Shettleston council by-election candidate John McGarrigle activists to join the protest outside Sarwar’s Tommy Ball – a constituent of Mr Sarwar’s.

2 • • issue 429 EDITORIAL

bTy Kwen Feorgus ovn isions for Scotland collide

IN THE gloom of a storm a flash of lightning can illuminate the scene and so it was as the White Paper on independence was published by the Scottish Government. The ink was barely dry on the White Paper, and the metropolitan press corps back on the London flight, when the Cameron government launched its offensive on foreigners, immigrants and anti-vision of European co-operation. In both tone and content it was straight out of the UKIP play book. Given that its aim is to RADICAL IDEAS: 1000+ packed into the RIC’s second annual conference PHOTO: Craig Maclean counter the UKIP threat in England, this was no great been blown away, and the referendum year, progressive The Voice is the only surprise. However, it stood in real reactionary nature of the option is overwhelmingly socialist paper wholly edited stark contrast to the vision ConDems revealed. swinging behind and produced in Scotland offered in of a The nasty brand of independence with only an and we have consistently non-nuclear, inclusive social privatising, sub-racist and insignificant rump still backed independence as a democratic Scotland by the greed worshipping was pushing for a British Road to means to that other Scotland. Holyrood government, and underlined by the far right Socialism. Our first forum on this in the two events have done pseudo buffoon Boris Edinburgh is, we hope, the much to draw the battle lines Johnson who proclaimed the Routing of Farage first of many, and we will also and choices for next year’s gospel of Gordon Gekko From the 1,000-plus continue to bring the facts referendum. “greed is good”. Radical independence events and arguments in support of No wonder European through a mass Yes our vision on our pages. Political botox ministers warned Cameron campaign, the routing of This is our last paper before Cameron and his backers that the United Kingdom was Farage in Edinburgh and the the opening of 2014 – 800 spent a fortune on political in danger of being seen as work of parties such as the years after Bannockburn and botox to rid the Tories of the “the nasty country”. SSP the belief that another, nine months to a Yes vote. long shadow of the year of Meanwhile in Scotland, as more just Scotland is We look forward to playing vicious class war waged by we enter the decisive possible is gathering pace. our part in that fight. them in the Thatcher years and which earned them the To subscribe, fill in this form and send it to: Scottish Socialist Voice, label of the ‘the nasty party’. Suite 370, 4th Floor, Central Chambers, 93 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 6LD. Indeed, despite that hard Or telephone: 0781 126 5388 work and skilful spinning Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to ‘Scottish Socialist Voice’ Cameron – with his man of Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/scottishsocialistvoice & Twitter: @ssv_voice the people myth – still failed to win the general election Name...... and had to fall back on the Address...... copper-bottomed ...... opportunists in the Lib Dems as a prop for power. Phone...... Now, in a single speech, all Email...... that hard work to present the I enclose: g £5 for 5 issues g £10 for 10 issues g £20 for 20 issues Tory/Lib Dem gang as cosy, Solidarity rate: g £6 for 5 issues g £12 for 10 issues g £24 for 20 issues nice and on your side has

issue 429 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 3 JOHN M cALLION by John McAllion lationship to an independent Scotland. Will the Scottish A CRITIC once described the Crown in the British constitution as “not worth no longer be sovereign? Will the the paper it is not written on”. As Queen continue as commander- constitutions go, it certainly has Why a written in-chief of Scotland’s armed many democratic flaws. forces? Will her assent still be It is unwritten and infinitely required to Scottish legislation? flexible allowing our ruling elites constitution Will she continue to appoint Min - to define the limits or absence isters? Will there be a Scottish of limits on how they govern. It Privy Council? Will she and her embeds hereditary monarchy successors have any kind of po - and elitism at the core of the matters PHOTO: Craig Maclean litical role? There are simply no state. It wrests sovereignty from answers to any of these legiti - the people and places ultimate mate questions. political authority in the “Crown- The SNP’s ideas on the con - in-Parliament”. Effectively, it fa - tents of Scotland’s written consti - cilitates government by an tution are also limited. A ban on elected dictatorship. nuclear weapons being based in However, despite its many Scotland is fine as far as it goes. flaws, it also demonstrates that However, it does not go far constitutions do matter. They ef - enough since it leaves the way fectively determine the systems open for an independent Scot - of authority, law and practice land to shelter under the protec - under which political power is ex - tion of NATO’s nuclear weapons ercised in our daily lives. Without deployed elsewhere within the the British constitution, Scotland other nations of that alliance. could not have been governed More worryingly is the failure for 21 of the last 34 years by po - to properly address workers’ litical parties it did not elect. With - rights. If we can embed the Eu - out the British constitution, there YES...TO NATO? the SNP ropean Convention on Human would be no weapons of mass wants to ban Trident after Rights in our written constitution, destruction on the Clyde; no independence but also why can we not do the same for Scottish participation in the illegal wants to join NATO the ILO’s “Declaration on Fun - invasion of Iraq… the list could people of Scotland for the peo - advisory leaving final decisions damental Principles and Rights go on and on. ple of Scotland.” A duty will there - on the constitution to parlia - at Work”? if we can constitution - fore be placed upon the first ment? Will its proposals be bind - ally guarantee the right to edu - Sovereign authority independent Scottish Parliament ing and subject to a popular cation, why can’t we do the The left therefore cannot ig - to convene such a convention to referendum? same for the right to strike? nore the section of the White debate and draft a written consti - The White Paper provides no Paper “Scotland’s Future” tution. We are promised a fully answers to any of these funda - Impact headed “Constitutions, govern - “participative and inclusive mental questions. It is also less I have touched on only a few ment and citizens”. Within it lies process” involving just about than transparent on the role of examples of how written consti - the SNP Government’s pro - everyone and their granny. the monarchy in an independent tutions can impact on our every - posed framework for how politics Unfortunately, there is little de - Scotland. On the one hand we day lives. There are many more will be conducted in an inde - tail about how this is to be are told that Scotland will con - examples. The British constitu - pendent Scotland. Within it we achieved. Reference is made to tinue to be a “constitutional tion has facilitated elite rule on will discover how serious that citizen-led assemblies and other monarchy” and that the Queen, these islands for more than three Government is about recognis - convention examples from as head of state, will form “an in - centuries. The American version, ing the people rather than politi - around the world but there is no trinsic part” of Scotland’s consti - penned in 1776, continues to im - cians as the sovereign authority clarity whatsoever about what tutional future. On the other hand pact for better or worse in the in the new Scotland. Scotland would do. Would the we are told that the people rather 21st century United States. We will also discover the ex - Convention be directly elected? than politicians or state institu - Rarely does any generation tent to which democratic princi - Would it involve citizen-engage - tions (the monarchy?) are sover - have the opportunity to make a ple rather than party interest is ment through some kind of focus eign. Scotland’s sovereignty is completely new constitutional the driving force behind their group arrangement? Will it be a distinct from that of Westminster start. That privilege may yet fall constitutional proposals. self-selecting, elitist and ulti - to the extent that it is based on to this generation of Scots. “Scotland’s Future” promises mately unrepresentative gather - the people and only the people. We better make sure that we an independent Constitutional ing of politicians and other civil These assertions leave hang - are ready to seize that opportu - Convention “designed by the society actors? Will it be purely ing in the air the monarchy’s re - nity if and when it comes.

4 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 429 by Colin Fox, SSP where it took them both into national co-spokesperson public ownership rather than privatising them as Britain did. NOW THAT the dust has set - As a result of this decision Nor - tled on the Scottish Govern - way has now accrued £840bil - ment’s White Paper on lion in a state ‘Oil Fund’ with Independence, it is time to as - which to benefit its citizens and sess its likely impact on the future generations. 2014 referendum campaign. So for me the White Paper Whilst Joan McAlpine, MSP, should also have had a commit - compared it to ‘the Gettysburg ment to repeal the worst anti- address’ and George Kerevan union laws in Europe a move described it as ‘a game changer’ which would undoubtedly be other pro-independence com - welcomed by the country’s mentators were more measured 630,000 trade unionists and in welcoming the White Paper. their families. And where is the If less effusive than card-carry - progressive tax system which ing members of the SNP, Ian sees the rich pay more and the Bell writing in The Herald be - poor pay less? Or the guarantee lieved it marked the point of much needed affordable so - “where the independence argu - cial housing? ment properly began”. And what about policies re - PHOTO: Craig Maclean And Ian McWhirter felt it warding local communities was “simultaneously a bid for where our renewable energy independence and a platform schemes are situated with the for re-electing ”. cheap electricity it produces? He aptly described the SNP’s OTHER VISIONS OF Each of these would have com - vision of Independence as “a plemented the strong social rather Unionist one” pointing democratic tradition the inde - out that the White Paper seemed INDEPENDENCE ARE pendence case promotes. above all to “celebrate the BBC, the monarchy, NATO, the SSP’s crucial role pound, the Bank of England and AVAILABLE I accept that much of this will the British passport”. He left us country.” There is much in the like to have seen the Scottish form the basis of the 2016 Scot - wondering whether the First White Paper to welcome such Government go further and re- tish Parliament elections but I Minister had overplayed his as introducing a written consti - iterate the pledge it made in its am bound to say it is commit - ‘canny’ hand in seeking to woo tution, removing Trident nu - 2007 manifesto to eradicate fuel ments such as these that will conservative opinion in Scot - clear weapons, growing poverty in Scotland completely. help persuade working class land to the Yes case. If, as they Scotland’s economy and popu - I would also liked to have people across Scotland to vote say, ‘imitation is the sincerest lation by welcoming those who seen a commitment to take the Yes next year. form of flattery’ the Unionists wish to come and live here, re - renewable energy industry into And in this regard last week’s were predictably not so wel - turning the Royal Mail to public public ownership – just as the Panelbase opinion poll showing coming of his ‘flattery’. ownership, scrapping the hated Scottish Government did re - a 9 per cent lead for the No side Bedroom Tax, providing uni - cently with Prestwick Airport – revealed that support for them Muted response versal free childcare for pre- and return our gas and electric - was highest among the better The response on the left has school children, providing seats ity supply industry to public off social classes whereas sup - been more muted. for workers on company hands. port for Yes was higher among Chairman Dennis Canavan boards, supporting far greater Both measures are concomi - the poorest. And this latter cat - urged the entire Yes Scotland environmental protection, pro - tant with pledges to achieve egory also registered the highest coalition to welcome the White moting greater energy effi - greater economic prosperity, so - proportion of ‘don’t knows’. Paper and its progressive pro - ciency and extending much cial democracy and fairness. So, if we are to win the work - posals but referred to it a little needed social protection to vul - And I believe there should have ing class majority to independ - more obliquely saying: nerable and disadvantaged been a promise to return our ence, we need to provide them “I am confident, as more and groups. railways to public hands, an - with better reasons to vote Yes more people become engaged But we were also entitled to other progressive policy popu - than we have done so far. in the debate and learn about the ask for more. I publicly wel - lar with voters. And that is why the SSP has unique opportunities a Yes vote comed the commitment to re - And, as I have said many a crucial role to play in this de - promises, the more they will see duce gas and electricity bills by times, the SSP prefers the very bate in pointing out that ‘other that independence makes sense 10 per cent per annum with in - successful Norwegian approach visions of independence are for them, their families and our dependence but said I would to its oil and gas resources also available’.

issue 429 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 5 WORKPLACE SHAPE SCOTLAND’S FUTURE by general as a means to reverse prof - the public sector and for a ‘review’ and Browns Labour regimes, bru - FOR WOiteerRing andK servicEe cuRts at thSe of’ u nioRn balloItingG laws oHn indus T- taS lly added to by the current THE SNP government’s White hands of the privateers. trial action whereby those members Thatcherites – both Tory and Lib Paper on ‘Scotland’s Future’ con - With 630,000 workers organised who abstain would be counted as Dem! No mention of the guaran - tains many welcome reforms, and in trade unions – and probably at voting against any proposed collec - teed right to be in a union, the right certainly represents a massive step least as many again willing to join tive action. And as well as ushering to strike without fear of victimisa - forward from the jail-house condi - but terrified of victimization, job in further cuts to the block grant to tion, the right to take solidarity ac - tions working class people cur - losses and blacklisting if they Scotland from Westminster, a No tion with fellow workers. rently endure. But a Freedom openly joined a union – the White vote would embolden the Old Eto - In sharp contrast to the vilifica - Charter for workers it is not. Paper was a golden opportunity to nians to lay waste to what little tion of trade unions offered by the Many of the measures pledged enlist the support of the working workplace rights remain. Better Together parties, ‘Scotland’s by an aspiring SNP government in class majority population of Scot - So trade unionists don’t even Future’ sets as its priority “working an independent Scotland would land. But for those hesitating, or face a choice between the status directly with the trade unions, em - substantially boost the living stan - even being dragooned into the No quo and independence, but be - ployers’ associations, employers dards of Scottish workers and their camp by the scurrilous Fear Fac - tween a further clawing back of and voluntary sector to build a part - families. Abolition of the bedroom tory that is Better Together and gains won by past generations of nership approach to addressing tax, calling a halt to the dreaded their offshoot United with Labour, trade unionists and socialists in labour market challenges”. Universal Credit scheme, scrap - a bold, striking vision of a struggle – or a chance to improve ping of Trident - such plans would markedly different future under in - our lot as workers by voting for the Positive role halt attacks on the poorest, and po - dependence is the necessary right to get whatever government The Paper goes on to promise tentially release a fortune for method of persuasion. the Scottish people elect! “particular focus on encouraging spending on jobs, public services The White Paper rightly states wider trade union participation and and people’s incomes that is cur - Win over workers that under Devolution, “the Scot - recognition of the positive role that rently squandered on devilish Again, measured against what tish government is responsible for can be played by collective bar - weapons of mass destruction. we suffer now under Westminster’s training the present and future gaining in improving labour market The headline-grabbing promise rule by and for the millionaires, the workforce, equipping them with conditions”. The central proposals of free childcare of 30 hours a week SNP’s prospectus is progress. But the skills and knowledge they need, on offer from the SNP are the for - during term time for all 3-4 year nothing like the advances the likes but has no say in how they are mation of a National Convention olds and vulnerable 2-year-olds is of the SSP or the broad based Trade treated once they are in a job.” on Employment and Labour Rela - a powerfully welcome key to Unionists for Independence are It makes the welcome pledge that tions, involving employers and many, many women (and some striving for. What do we face as a an SNP government with the full trade unions, and a subsidiary Fair men) being able to realistically future if a No vote is cast next Sep - powers that independence provides Work Commission. choose to work – provided of tember? The UK already boasts the would “reverse recent changes in - The latter “will deliver the course the jobs were created. infamy of some of the lowest pay, troduced at Westminster which re - mechanisms for uprating the na - Promises of a Youth Guarantee longest working hours, shortest duce key aspects of workers rights. tional minimum wage” with the of either education, training or em - holiday entitlement and most sav - “For example, on independence we “guarantee that it will rise, at the ployment as a constitutional right age anti-trade union laws in the will restore a 90-day consultation very least, in line with inflation, to for all aged under 24 is in stark, western capitalist world. And period on redundancies affecting ensure work is a route out of glittering contrast to the wasted things can only get worse! 100 or more employees”. poverty”. generation under Westminster rule, The Tory Lib Dem boot-boys Likewise they will abolish the Considering the UK minimum and is indeed something socialists have slapped prohibitive fees on ‘shares for rights’ scheme recently wage has lagged inflation for years, have demanded for years – again, Employment Tribunal cases, pric - initiated by the Coalition, bribing leaving workers at least £675 worse provided we fight to ensure it is ing workers out of any measure of workers into surrendering funda - off than if it had tracked price rises based on provision of a living in - justice. They are hammering the mental redundancy and unfair dis - for the past five years, this is better come or student grant and is not a right of union reps to function and missal rights, etc, for a few than the No campaign can offer device exploited by employers to represent members in the civil non-voting company shares. hundreds of thousands of workers. displace unionised, older workers service. Welcome promises, but very But it is miserably timid, with no with cheap youth labour. Boris Johnston, an obnoxious re - timid. Not a word about scrapping pledge nor proposal for a guaran - Renationalisation of Royal Mail actionary disguised as a boisterous the bulging package of anti-union teed living level of minimum wage, has been welcomed not just by buffoon, has pioneered a drive to - laws ushered in by Thatcher’s To - legally enforced. Matching inflation CWU members but workers in wards banning the right to strike in ries in the 1980s, retained by Blair but starting with the current £6.19

6 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 429 WORKPLACE partly to pass down the message of top management to the shop floor, disguised as the ‘decisions’ of these workers on the carefully moulded committee. Despite all the window dressing, this is an attempt to un - dermine, not enhance, the collec - tive bargaining of organised workers. The proposed Convention is of course a welcome arena for the unions to independently advo - cate measures that meet the needs of their members – ranging from advocating a formula for a living level of legally enforced national minimum wage for all over 16, to a charter of workplace rights. Scotland’s trade unions should welcome the Convention, and use it to put forward the views of inde - pendent trade unions. But they need to thoroughly discuss the les - sons of experience here and abroad when it comes to so-called social partnership and ‘worker directors’.

Social Contrick Back in the 1974-79 Labour gov - RADICAL: socialists want to carve a future that goes beyond the vision painted in the White Paper ernment, something very similar was implemented, named the So - an hour for those over 21 – and the Given the way workers’ trade partnership of the rider and the cial Contract, initially popular with White Paper is silent on the lower unions have been cast out into an horse – not two people with com - some of the lower paid who won youth rate – would certainly not be industrial Siberia the last 30 years, mon interests, equals. In many wage rises in the first phase, but bit - ‘a route out of poverty’. frozen out of important discus - cases worker directors are gagged terly nicknamed the Social Contrick The SNP swear their allegiance sions, with dictatorial management from speaking out on company se - in the following years – until it was to the Living Wage campaign, and all too common, this is a very se - crets, or at the very least bound by smashed on the rocks of workers’ are right now funding a Poverty Al - ductive prospectus. But it is strewn the decisions the majority on the strike action in 1978-9. The core liance Accreditation Scheme – with pitfalls and lethal traps. board. That seems to be the situa - problem was that the government seeking to persuade employers to tion already in the NHS. could control (i.e. hold down!) pay at least £7.45 an hour. 400,000 Secret accounts The SNP White Paper lauds First wages, but they couldn’t control Scottish workers earn less than this. Of course, elected union repre - Group as a local example of their prices in a capitalist economy, lead - But again this is not a legally en - sentatives having direct access to model for the future, mentioning ing to rip-roaring inflation and a forced government figure, merely discussions on their employers’ the transport giant has had a worker collapse in workers’ real wages. an aim that they seek to cajole em - plans would be a massive advan - director since it was set up in 1989. Union leaders who were the archi - ployers into paying, based on the tage compared to, for instance, the That begs the question, where was tects of this earlier edition of ‘social core faith the SNP has in busi - capitalist dictatorship on display by this ‘workers’ voice’ when First partnership’ were discredited, nesses big, medium and small. INEOS boss Jim Ratcliffe at ScotRail launched its savage as - workers confused, Labour defeated, These proposed structures are Grangemouth. Access to secret sault on rail workers a few years and Thatcher elected by default! founded on a central philosophy of company accounts would help ago – when in fact it was uncov - More recently, workers in the ‘social partnership’ between em - unions restrict the shenanigans of ered that the SNP government had South of Ireland have been ham - ployers, trade unions and govern - employers. But the problems arise secretly agreed to subsidise the strung and made to pay the price of ment. The SNP even raise the idea because the interests of workers company for any losses they in - horrendous capitalist crisis because of worker directors – imitating the and those of their capitalist private curred through strike action by the their national union leaders sold actions of 14 out of the 28 EU employers clash; in essence there’s RMT union? Is that what social them a pup - successive National states where workers have some a conflict over who gets the bigger partnership entails? Agreements that allegedly ensured form or other of representation on share of the wealth produced, In some retail companies, com - bosses and workers were ‘all in it to - company boards. They advocate whether in wages and conditions mittees exist with handpicked gether’, which drastically hampered “employee representation to bolster for the workforce, or profits and workers on them, partly in an at - their ability to fight back collectively longterm decision-making and im - dividends for the big shareholders. tempt to bypass the collective and defend living standards. prove industrial relations”. Social partnership amounts to the union and it’s elected stewards, • continued on page 8

issue 429 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 7 WELFARE • continued from page 7 Of course, in all probability an independent SOCIALIST Scotland would include properly elected INVESTING IN workers’ representatives on work - place committees, to control day- THEIR FUTURE to-day operations, and a working class majority elected onto boards of publicly owned industries, serv - ices and cooperatives. But that is a far cry from what is on offer from this White Paper, which is rooted in the open continuation of privately owned capitalist enterprises, which in fact are promised cuts of up to 3 per cent in Corporation Tax. Trade unions and their members cannot afford to be neutral on the referendum. We have far too much by , SSP Paper is preventing barriers to often require support into adult - to lose if we don’t help win a ma - national co-spokesperson mothers returning to work. hood is not addressed. Many car - jority for independence. More wage One thing it doesn’t lay out is ers felt let down by the Scottish cuts. Even worse assaults on serv - POLITICIANS measure their the choice that mothers of young Government as their caring role is ices. Catastrophic removal of the re - words carefully. Any document children should have the choice to not to be mentioned in the White maining rights we have at work. they publish will be full of buzz choose to care for their children Paper. And all of these regardless of what word bingo terms but when they rather than send them to nursery The White Paper is described colour of rosette the capitalist Prime use words such as “transform” provision. Does one size fit all? as a conversation which should Minister in Westminster wears. about a statement of intent we The White Paper states it in - be a two way process. They have should all sit up and read between tends to lessen inequalities listened to the needs of families Duty the lines. among disadvantaged groups in and the need for pre school child - The SNP government’s White The word is used several times society and create a kinder fairer care provision. Paper is one version of independ - by the SNP government in the society but for women caring for However with recognising ence, but only one. It says itself, White Paper about pre-five provi - children perhaps at the crux of these needs they cannot claim to “Each of Scotland’s political par - sion of pre-school childcare. this should be choice. transform society perhaps just ties will bring forward policy pro - It lays out their intentions to For pre-five provision this might make things easier and provide posals at the future election to an offer by the end of a second term mean knowing that high care excellent child care support. Independent Scottish parliament.” hours equivalent to hours spent in quality exists but also the choice This support will be welcomed Absolutely. And the duty of trade school for all three and four year to be able to care for your children and allow our future citizens to unions, as the biggest single collec - olds. There has been some good and stay at home without being reach their full potential. Children tive body in Scotland, is to seize the thinking behind this. Rather than economically punished. are our future they will be citizens unique opportunity offered by na - leave this all in the hands of the Provision should be not a one in an independent Scotland so tional self-government, and com - private sector they have called for size fits all provision but individual much should be invested in them. bine with socialists to carve out a capital investment in new build for to each need then it can be de - To transform society through future that goes far beyond the vi - local authority provision. scribed as truly unique. the provision of additional pre sion painted in this White Paper. They call for quality in pre- All our children are unique and school provision is worthy and a Fight for public ownership of key school provision and a nurturing all come with varying level of sup - vision that may encourage some sectors like energy, North Sea oil environment for children. To this port needs. Childcare commit - voters to vote Yes but a transfor - and gas, the banks and industrial gi - end they will increase the training ment and the stresses of looking mation of society? ants - with new forms of democratic of nursery nurses creating new after children does not end when How does the extension of control and management by work - jobs too. They emphasise that the they reach school. childcare become a game-player ing class people that go way beyond quality of childcare is essential. Many parents still require pre within the vision of a low corpora - a few token ‘worker directors’. Such emphasis is crucial. and after school care. Some par - tion tax nation where employees With socialist change we could Some recent academic studies ents of pre-five schoolchildren rights are secondary to those of build a genuine social partnership. have raised concerns about the also have to work in the evenings the demands of corporate greed. This White Paper is a very substan - impact of spending long amounts and weekends. How will an independent Scot - tial improvement on what we have of times in a nursery setting will The White Paper addresses land dare to be different? Trans - in the capitalist UK; it is pale and have on young children. the need of “flexibility” but does formation of society and the timid compared to what socialists For many working parents not lay out how this will be pro - tarmacking of inequalities means and the trade union movement quality of service is essential to vided or what “flexibility” means. any more measures to be taken need to campaign for on the road to them returning to work and an - The needs of parents caring for and we as the socialists can a Scottish workers’ republic. other key measure of the White children with disabilities who will share our vision with others.

8 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 429 CULTURE A dead impressive addition to Scotland’s crime fiction scene Where The Dead Men Go overlap with his by Liam McIlvanney personal life in a (Faber 2013, £12.99) sometimes frightening way. by Alex Miller McIlvanney is a compelling ALTHOUGH THE huge storyteller, and has success of Ian Rankin’s an eye for the To order your copy of ‘The Inspector Rebus novels have Glasgow street Case For An Independent put Edinburgh centre-stage in theatre and an ear Socialist Scotland’ by the contemporary crime fiction for the banter. The scene, many would say that book contains Colin Fox, send £5 to: SSP, the “Tartan Noir” genre was many striking Suite 370, 4th Floor, born in Glasgow, with William images: for Central Chambers, 93 Hope McIlvanney’s 1977 Laidlaw, example, the St, Glasgow G2 6LD. and Jack Laidlaw’s subsequent Finnieston Crane Cheques: ‘Scottish appearances in The Papers of is described as Socialist Party’. Tony Veitch (1983) and looking like “a vast To order your copy of ‘End Strange Loyalties (1991). handgun trained Fuel Poverty And Power With the emergence of on the city”. It also Company Profiteering’ by writers such as Denise Mina, captures well the Colin Fox, send £4. there has been a resurgence political Or get both pamphlets for of Glasgow-based crime atmosphere in only £8 (inc. p+p) fiction in recent years. Liam three years working in PR. which the Labour Party’s McIlvanney’s debut novel All Conway is now on the politics erstwhile stranglehold on The Colours of the Town desk of the Tribune, and Scottish politics is quickly (2009) – set mainly in much of the action in the unravelling. As one character Glasgow and Belfast – book is set against the says of the Scottish Labour introduced Gerry Conway, backdrop of the upcoming leadership: “You’ve seen crime reporter for the Independence referendum. them, Gerry, the Party’s Glasgow-based Sunday When the body of Martin Scottish emissaries. It’s not Tribune, and constituted a Moir, the current crime the brains trust. They’re not in powerful and acclaimed reporter at the Tribune, turns government, they know fuck addition to the West of up in suspicious all about opposition”. Scotland genre. circumstances, Conway finds Where The Dead Men Go is McIlvanney’s second novel himself plunged into the an impressive addition to the sees Conway returning to the twilight zone in which the already flourishing crime Tribune after an absence of worlds of politics and crime fiction scene in Scotland.

FJill ino thisi fonrm a ndt sehnd ite to: S coSttishS SociaPlist P arhty, Seuite 3r70e, 4th Floor, Central Chambers, 93 Hope St, Glasgow G2 6LD. Or telephone: 0781 126 5388 Or see our website: www.scottishsocialistparty.org g I would like to join the g I would also like to join Scottish Socialist Youth g I would like more info on the Scottish Socialist Party Name...... Address...... Phone...... Email......

issue 429 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 9 INTERNATIONAL

bCy Billr Boinntar ical time for Veneestsz’ in uthe regeion. Thle Va enezue - lan revolution is now facing its FORTY YEARS ago, a violent greatest challenge. While a mili - military coup overthrew the dem - tary coup is unlikely the possibil - ocratically elected left wing gov - ity of a drift into civil war cannot ernment of Salvador Allende. The be ruled out. For many in the op - coup didn’t just happen but fol - position this seems to be their pre - lowed months of political and eco - ferred option. While the nomic chaos. This included government in Caracas needs to widespread political violence, stand firm against this threat it mostly originating from the right, also needs to find ways of reach - and widespread economic disrup - ing out to those genuinely demo - tion which pushed the economy cratic elements in the opposition. into a major crisis. In fact, apolo - The country is dangerously po - gists for the coup point to this pe - larised something which can only riod as the reason why the coup benefit the right. Meanwhile the was necessary; to sort out this need for solidarity is vital. chaos. It’s a neat theory except for The Venezuelan Solidarity one problem. We knew at the time Campaign is stepping up its activ - and certainly know now that much ities. This includes trying to break of this crisis was manufactured by SALVADOR ALLENDE: overthrown in 1973 right wing Chilean coup through a hostile media happy to the right and overseen by their peddle the lies coming from the paymasters in Washington DC. mostly in drive by shootings. That tionary, racist, anti-democratic and opposition and Washington. Ex - The political violence was campaign of violence has contin - increasingly violent. Led by what posing the true nature of the op - highly organised while much of ued ever since. There is also remains of Venezuela’s wealthy position while showing that the the economic crisis was deliber - growing evidence of economic elite and supported by most of the revolution has been the true de - ately created. To give one exam - sabotage. Last month the country privately owned media they have fender of democracy in the coun - ple; in the months prior to the suffered widespread power cuts waged a campaign against the try. Publicising the enormous coup the country’s economy was due to faults at generating sta - Venezuelan revolution charac - gains of the revolution in terms of crippled by a strike of lorry own - tions. An investigation showed terised by violence, sabotage, an health, education, social care and ers. We now know that this was that they had been sabotaged. This absolute contempt for democracy lifting millions out of poverty. organised and paid for by the is the most serious in what ap - and at least one attempted coup. United States. It’s called de-stabil - pears to be a growing campaign. Emboldened by the closeness of US support isation and aims to bring the The opposition have called for the last election result and cheered The coming months will be country to its knees preparing the the overthrow of the government on by their supporters in Washing - critical. The opposition probably way for a military coup. and the revolution. They are or - ton they are involved in a cam - feel that this is their time to strike. chestrating violence hoping to paign of de-stabilisation aimed at They already appear to have writ - Coup hallmarks provoke a violent government re - destroying the revolution and turn - ten off the democratic process and There is now growing evidence sponse while actively engaging in ing the clock back to that point be - know that in any upcoming con - that this strategy is at work in a campaign of disruption and civil fore Chavez came to power. That flict they will have extensive sup - Venezuela. While the outcome is disobedience. On 8 December, they have a close ally in the port from the United States and unlikely to be a coup all the other local elections will take place Obama Administration is clear. their allies in the region. hallmarks are there. The right throughout the country. The Right Nothing strips away Obama’s In Chile in 1973 the Allende wing opposition and their Ameri - have called on their supporters to ‘progressive’ credentials than his government was overthrown pri - can sponsors have refused to make this a ‘day of rage’; a clear actions in Latin America. One of marily because it was so isolated; recognise the result of the last sanction for widespread violence his first acts as President was to its only allies an equally isolated presidential election alleging vote and the destroying of the demo - vastly increase the scope for Cuba and the Soviet Union a rigging. This despite the fact that cratic process. American intervention in the re - world away. Forty years later the the election was given a clean bill Who are the right? Most west - gion including a huge increase in region has changed. The of health by international moni - ern media describe them as the America’s Latin American based Venezuelan revolution has pow - tors and the failure to provide ev - ‘democratic opposition’. Nothing 7th Fleet and support for every re - erful regional allies and the sup - idence. Their initial response was could be further from the truth. actionary movement on the con - port of a worldwide solidarity to launch a campaign of violence While no doubt there are legiti - tinent. His main criticism of the campaign. Its survival is central to which included the murdering of mate democratic elements, at its Bush Government has been its the entire movement for progres - seven government supporters core is a movement which is reac - failure to defend ‘American inter - sive change in the continent.

10 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 429 PARTY PEOPLE More than 300 people have applied to join the Scottish Socialist Party since April. Jamie Kindhaugh met one of the newest ones, Fiona WELCOME TO THEbr anPch oAf the SRSP aTnd aYn Donaldson from active Yes campaigner. Edinburgh, to find out what Only a few weeks ago – led her to join while travelling on the bus after work - Fiona noticed SURROUNDED BY Paolo wearing his canapés and clinking wine ‘Independent Socialist glasses, Fiona Donaldson Scotland’ badge whilst was eager to pursue her campaigning and struck up a passion for the politics of conversation with him to food when she attended a learn more about the SSP. taster session for a Hearing about the party’s gastronomy course at Queen policies and reading the Margaret University. articles on the party website Her potential classmates, prompted her to fill in the however, were more online application form. interested in chatting about Colin Fox, the SSP’s luxurious delicacies and national co-spokesperson pretentious beverages than contacted her the following grappling with the everyday day to welcome her into the realities of food banks and party. “After a really bad day cooperatives. at work, that made my day,” Leaving with a bad taste in she tells us. her mouth, Fiona used her last £3 on bus fare home. Rather Values than meeting like-minded Since then, her experience people as she had hoped, she of being an SSP member has felt alienated by the posturing been very positive: she had encountered. “Joining the SSP has been When I interviewed her, in therapeutic for me” she says. the very unpretentious “People actually want to surroundings of a branch of ‘FOR REAL’: Fiona Donaldson with Colin Fox at last month’s know what I have to say and McDonald’s in Central Radical Independence Conference in Glasgow PHOTO: Craig Maclean they respect me. Edinburgh, she told me that “I have heard people speak since she joined the Scottish who was sent to Calton Jail for her and she felt they made little passionately and have been Socialist Party recently, she conscientious objection and effort to get her involved inspired by them to do work has finally met people who took part in a three-day anti- beyond requesting her vote at for the party.” share her values and respect war protest in The Meadows in election time. It is perhaps little Fiona feels she has found her opinion. the 1940s because she did not wonder then that she left the an organisation of like-minded wish her sons’ lives to be put at SNP about five years ago, but people who share her values Class struggle risk on the front line during the the debate around the and want to hear her opinions. At 25, Fiona is a relatively Second World War. forthcoming independence Upbeat about the SSP’s young political activist; but As she was growing up, referendum kept her immersed future, she sees the party coming from a staunch left- this working class family in political ideas: going forward, but she warns wing Edinburgh family gave history gave Fiona an “I think independence has we must be committed to our her an early insight into the immense sense of pride and gotten more people principles above all else: class struggle. an early interest in politics, interested in politics. “I think potentially, the Her grandfather, a socialist, but rather than following her “There is an inquisitive majority of people would had been a miner in Gilmerton parents in their support for atmosphere in this country.” share the SSP’s beliefs, but I along with his brother – Fiona’s the Labour party, Fiona joined The hard work done by wouldn’t want the party to great uncle – who earned the the SNP when she was 15. Scottish Socialist Party become a glossy pile of nickname ‘commie Tommy’ “I felt distant from the UK members in the Yes campaign nonsense. I’m glad to feel among his fellow workers. And state,” she explains, “and caught Fiona’s interest and part of something and be her militant lineage can be definitely in favour of admiration. One such proud of it; this isn’t like traced even further back to her independence.” comrade was Paolo Caserta, joining the Labour Party or great grandmother Euphemia But the SNP failed to engage the secretary of the Lothians the SNP: this is for real.”

issue 429 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 11 for Socialism, Independence facebook.com/scottishsocialistvoice and Internationalism [email protected] Issue 429 6th Dec 2013 - 9th Jan 2014 e l t t i h W n o m i S

: O T O H P n a e l c a M g i a r C

: O T O H P

to independence in 2014 e l t t i h W n o m i S

: O T O H P