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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. He won how Labour had defeated an hypocrisy - especially on the paigned for immediate steps that the backing of the opposition SNP motion along the same part of Labour. at least shield those hit by it from SNP councillors, but the ruling lines in East Lothian! The Tories and Lib Dems its worst effects, including de - Labour councillors refused to For the first time in modern exist to exploit the working mands on councils, local hous - hold an emergency council history, some local Labour par - class, so it’s no surprise they ing associations and the Scottish meeting to debate it - an outrage, ties have conducted street stalls launched the Bedroom Tax, like Government to outlaw all evic - considering since they took against the Bedroom Tax - an Exocet missile aimed at those tions arising from the rent arrests power in 2012, Labour has which we of course welcome,

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2 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 414 NEWS But at most, the SNP lead nine out of Scotland’s 32 councils. So Labour should match its talk with action by at least following suit. And the SNP government needs to be bombarded with de - mands to outlaw ALL Bedroom Tax evictions, to cover tenants in local housing associations as well as council tenants. Alongside that, they should fund the £50million shortfall in rental income that social sector landlords face this year because of the Tory Tax - and follow the example of Knowsley council’s Housing Trust which is re-desig - nating it’s entire housing stack to evade the Bedroom Tax. SNP Housing Minister Margaret JIM BOLLAN: SSP councillor was the first to call for a ‘No Evictions’ policy anywhere in Scotland Burgess has hinted at the latter in a letter to social landlords. even if they’re less effective at thereby cut the £21billion annual Workfare without compensation. doing it than the SSP! handout to these profiteers, she After initially saying “nothing Evict the Tories Labour has rightly demanded made it plain that a future much can be done until inde - The time for fudge and veiled - in common with the anti-Bed - Labour government will keep pendence” (Linda Fabiani hints are over - people desper - room Tax movement generally - the hated Bedroom Tax... “but it MSP), the SNP has at least taken ately need those elected to rep - that the Scottish Government should only apply if people have the welcome steps of declaring resent them to get off the fence should amend the Housing been offered a place to live and they would scrap the Bedroom and stand up straight in solidar - (Scotland) Act to remove the turned it down”. Tax under a future independent ity with tenants in defiance and threat of evictions based on Bed - To make matters worse, government, and the ruling SNP resistance to the Tories. Labour room Tax arrears. Labour’s Welfare spokesperson council in Dundee has pledged and SNP politicians can’t be al - To their shame, the SNP gov - Liam Byrne reiterated their devo - no evictions for the next year, lowed to play party games with ernment has refused to do this, tion to attacks on some of the poor - “provided the director of hous - people’s lives. even though it is well within est sections of the working class: ing is satisfied the tenant has The Scottish Socialist Party their devolved powers, and “The best way to bring down done all that can be reasonably will continue to unite with others would have demonstrated in the benefits bill is...a tough but expected to avoid arrears”. in putting demands on them to practice the advantages of full- fair Compulsory Jobs Guaran - In turn this has led to Alex outlaw evictions, fund the losses blown self government, to pro - tee...one they’d be required to Salmond’s declaration that all caused by the Bedroom Tax, and vide the powers to scrap the take, no ifs, no buts.” SNP-led councils will do like - join with working class commu - Bedroom Tax. And of course the vast major - wise. Those are welcome, if hes - nities in defence of all who are ity of Labour MPs abstained to itant steps forward for people hammered by this cut, building Labour hypocrisy let the Tories off with forcing worried sick at the prospect of a rebellion to evict the Tories, But Labour doth protest too unemployed people into unpaid being turfed out of their home. not tenants. much, methinks! In contrast to their attempts to embarrass the To subscribe, fill in this form and send it to: Scottish Socialist Voice, SNP in Holyrood on this issue of Suite 370, 4th Floor, Central Chambers, 93 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 6LD. amending housing law, and Or telephone: 0781 126 5388 Labour’s Margaret Curran Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to ‘Scottish Socialist Voice’ branding it “a cruel tax”, their Visit our website: www.scottishsocialistvoice.net Shadow Cabinet member Helen Goodman has spilt the beans. Name...... She trotted out the Labour line Address...... “in the short to medium term we ...... need to reduce the housing ben - efits bill”. Phone...... But instead of going on to Email...... pledge, for instance, to regulate I enclose: g £5 for 5 issues g £10 for 10 issues g £20 for 20 issues the private rented sector to cap Solidarity rate: g £6 for 5 issues g £12 for 10 issues g £24 for 20 issues outrageously high rents and

issue 414 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 3 McALLION by John McAllion or to deliver the lifestyles and security that we all derive from ACCORDING to the most being “British”. recent opinion poll on voting Conscious that the “British” intentions, the SNP enjoy a The reality Coalition government is already comfortable eight point lead destroying jobs, slashing over Scottish Labour. benefits and pension Meanwhile, the Scottish behind Better entitlements, as well as Tories and Scottish Lib Dems dismantling what is left of the trail the Nationalist party by 30 welfare state, Darling likes to and 36 points respectively. lace his speeches with It is no surprise therefore that Together’s rose references to the “profound Labour’s assumption of the disagreements” his party leadership of the ‘Better continues to have with their Together’ campaign went tinted unionism Tory and Lib Dem partners in unchallenged. The prospect of Better Together. either of the Coalition parties Darling tries to paint a picture heading up the No operation of a Labour Britain far removed north of the border, while their from the real Britain of Labour’s own UK leaderships pursued “Better Together” allies. The scorched earth policies across facts do not fit his argument. the Scottish public sector, was On the economy, Labour is as always a non-starter. committed as the Coalition to Labour, on the other hand, has free markets, public spending only recently seen half a century cuts and deficit reduction. The of Scottish political ascendancy interests of the City of London brought to a crushing halt by and international finance remain Nationalist electoral success. paramount whichever British More importantly, Labour is party is in office. now in opposition at Westminster and therefore able Savage to distance itself from the deeply Britain’s three big parties take unpopular UK austerity turns at reforming and shrinking programme. the public sector. All three Currently, only Labour can support the most savage anti- make any kind of case for trade union laws in Europe. The sticking with austerity Britain. HYPOCRITE: Better Together high heid yin Alistair Darling list could go on. The Britain that Better Labour inaction of the Bedroom Tax when or if taxation and free at the point of Together dreams of reviving Scottish Labour politicians, it ever again gets its hands on use. The one-time party of the remains rooted in its imperial for example, are able to Britain’s reins of power. welfare state now threatens to past – a permanent seat on the denounce the hated Bedroom Like the Tories and the Lib ditch many of the policies it UN Security Council; Tax as a “crazy” policy that Dems, Labour too favours what helped to introduce, including membership of the exclusive “won’t work” but is likely to Westminster terms “sensible free nursing and personal care, nuclear weapons club; punching leave thousands of Scots welfare reform”. Labour’s free concessionary travel for above its military and homeless. Labour’s Margaret Shadow Chancellor has also older people, free prescriptions, diplomatic weight; a big power Curran even denounced the made clear that he will not free university tuition and nation feared and respected Scottish Government for its reverse the Tory Chancellor’s much more. throughout the world and so on. inaction in failing to protect public spending cuts. There is, of course, no These are the real priorities of Scotland from this Coalition Westminster-style austerity mention of any of this on the Britain’s three big political assault. will be with us whatever the Better Together website or in the parties. There is no space in Obviously, had Labour still result of the next UK election. speeches of its chairperson such a Britain to prioritise been the Scottish Government, Nor can we look for any relief Alistair Darling. For North working class interests. the Shadow Secretary of State to Scottish Labour. Their leader, Britons, Scottish jobs, pensions, Scottish independence alone would never have dared to utter in her now infamous benefits and futures are will not guarantee those such a call to arms against “something for nothing” speech, threatened only by the spectre of interests. However, it will rid us Westminster rule. has given notice that her party independence. of a British state that has However, she also omitted to has renounced the redistributive Scotland, they argue, is too strangled workers’ aspirations mention that UK Labour is itself principle of universal benefits small, too poor and too for far too long. That has to be intent on introducing a version funded from progressive inconsequential to either afford progress.

4 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 414 MARTIN WILL ‘GREAT’ WAR COMMEMORATION

GET BEYOND THE TALES OF GLbOoth sRides Yamas? sed personal asks Campbell Martin fortunes running into millions of ON 4 August 1914, Britain pounds. declared war on Germany, Will the military men on the which had, in the preceding First World War advisory panel few days, declared war on commemorate the 1915 Rent Russia and France, and Strike in Glasgow, led by invaded Belgium. These women who rebelled when events unleashed the First capitalist landlords hiked-up World War and previously rents for overcrowded, unimaginable human carnage unsanitary and damp homes on an industrial scale. while the men were away at A recently-announced 12- the front? strong panel of ‘experts’ has Will the story be told of how, been formed to recommend a faced with rocketing inflation, preferred approach for which severely diminished the Scotland’s commemorations value of already poverty-level marking the 100th anniversary wages, and ever-increasing of the outbreak of the so-called demands for greater Great War and the blood- productivity as part of the war soaked battles that followed. effort, engineering workers in The panel has also been Glasgow took unofficial strike tasked with delivering a action? programme of events SLAUGHTER: the Battle of the Somme Will we hear how the British remembering what took place Government’s reaction to the from the fields of Flanders to determined the outcome of a of Britain were told they had to Glasgow strike involved the the shores of the Gallipoli global conflict. ‘do their duty’ by defending introduction of ‘treasury peninsula. If that turns out to be the their country when, in fact, the agreements’ that saw workers’ case, what are the chances we war was all about the imperial rights removed for the duration Panel will also see a jingoistic British aspirations of the ruling class of the war, including the right to Sitting on the panel that will press bombarding us with and the wealth they could strike? decide how the First World War Union Jacks and stories of how accumulate through colonial is remembered are retired ‘we’ in Britain fought together expansion and exploitation. Suffering former senior members of the against a common enemy and In a situation unchanged The story of the First World British armed services - were all the stronger for it – just since medieval times, ordinary War is one of suffering on a including a Brigadier, a as Scots go to the polls in the men were to fight and kill each previously unimaginable scale. Lieutenant-General, a independence referendum? other at the behest of their Next year we will see Commodore and a Group There is no doubt that lords and masters. newspaper and television Captain. The military men are people from across the British One unattributed comment reports showing men in joined by historians and Isles fought together in the perfectly summed-up the trenches, but from the distance Scotland’s largest land-owner, First World War, most of whom reality of the First World War of 100 years, we can not even the Duke of Buccleuch, who is marched off willingly to fight for when it described the close- begin to imagine the horror. there by virtue of his title as ‘King and Country’. quarter use of the bayonet What we must not have is Captain General, the Queen’s But how many of those men fixed to a rifle in the following the war portrayed as a British Bodyguard for Scotland, Royal fully understood the nature of terms: “A bayonet is a weapon success story, accompanied by Company of Archers. the conflict they were about to with a worker at each end.” waving Union Jacks and the I could be wrong, but the take part in - not just the new Any commemoration of the strains of catchy music hall membership of the advisory mechanised killing they would First World War must tell the tunes. panel suggests the focus of encounter, but the actual story of so many lives The First World War was commemoration might be on reasons for the war? destroyed – on both sides – fought for imperialist and the military history that pitched Whipped-up into a jingoistic working class men sent to kill capitalist gain, with the working armies against each other in fervour by capitalist-owned other working class men, while class of many nations paying tactical battles that ultimately newspapers, the working class capitalist arms-producers on the price in blood.

issue 414 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 5 INDEPENDENCE by Ken Ferguson who sprawls on the green benches at Westminster. AS the Voice goes to press, a Nor is this a secret weapon chill is running through the but it is hammered at all of us, smug unionists gathered under day-in day-out, that only auster - the union jack umbrella of the ity which pleases “the markets” Better Together anti-indepen - offers some kind of market-dri - dence campaign. Nightmare ven paradise somewhere be - After months of an appar - yond the far horizon. ently unassailable poll lead, the What this means can be latest survey shows the gap judged with the latest informa - narrowing to around 10 per tion telling us that the Scottish cent with some 18 campaign - reality of share of the welfare cuts com - ing months to go before the ref - ing down the track will be an erendum. More worrying for the eye-watering £4.5billion, and No camp, those 18 months are anybody who thinks voting No unlikely to bring much to boost will reduce those cuts needs to popular support for the union. No Camp’s get out more. The component parts of the If a No vote happens, expect, cross-class No campaign have shortly after Scots deliver them - existed, rather like a camel in selves handcuffed to British the desert , on the hump of control, to be told that so grave tales and half truths built up Scotland is the situation that further cuts over decades to brainwash in the cash given to Holyrood Scottish voters to believe an in - are unavoidable. dependent Scotland would be Down this path follows cuts on an impoverished basket case a scale likely to force the aban - compared to the shiny, secure donment of progressive policies Great Britain. such a free travel for over 60s, free prescriptions, the scrapping Myths of tuition fees and so on. We all know the myths from Scottish oil being worthless to ‘Freebie Scotland’ being cut off from Coronation There will be no need to Street on the telly and all the worry about the powers of boneheaded stuff in between. Holyrood as the anti-Scottish From the time of the 1707 lobby, powerfully entrenched union, which was passed after among the Tories who regards those in power were “bought the Scots as “subsidy junkies”, and sold for English gold”, will choke off the cash needed through New Labour “Divorce for distinctive Scottish policies. is expensive”, to todays crop of JOHANN LAMONT: highlighting Labour’s attitude to the poor Given that the leader of Scot - half-baked myths about pass - tish Labour, Johann Lamont, ports at Gretna, etc, it has been an electoral base in Scotland. people, and there is no con - has already underlined her a well worn strategy - but it is Labour - the supposed “peo - ceivable future UK government break with universal benefits - wearing thin. ples party” - promise more which will break with that sour crudely labelled “freebie Scot - That’s why we can expect a powers to Holyrood but abstain medicine. land” - it would be unwise to ex - crop of “exclusives” in the on compensating those illegally After all, Better Together’s pect to much resistance from shamelessly unionist press and sent on work schemes to earn front man is none other than that quarter. BBC telling us what our benev - benefits, and duck and dive on ex-Chancellor Alistair Darling, Increasingly, the fog is clear - olent friends in the No camp will the detested Bedroom Tax, who spent billions baling out ing and the historic choice be - “give” Scotland if we vote No. huffing and puffing but equally bonus-guzzling bankers, and tween continued support for Even the ingrained union supporting housing benefit whose only real difference with British made austerity and war, jack wavers of the tiny Tory cuts. the Tories is the speed at which and a people-based alternative, rump in Scotland are floating And this is the core of the the cuts axe should be wielded. becomes clearer. vague ideas about more pow - problem - all the No parties, in Indeed, this is the stark real - The outcome of that battle ers as their Westminster part - their own way support the ity of taking the British Road will be critical in shaping the fu - ners in crime, the Lib Dems, British policy of cuts, sacking and voting No next year. A No ture for decades ahead, and gush away about federalism. and austerity which favour the vote is a vote for cuts, cuts, that’s why winning a Yes vote is However, neither have much of bankers at the expense of the sackings and cuts, no matter such a vital task.

6 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 414 BEDROOM TAX SCRAP THE TORY BEDROOM TAX

by Richie Venton

APRIL Fool’s Day takes on new significance this year. That is the day the Tories and Lib Dems must think millions of people are too foolish to notice their vicious wealth transfusion from the needi - lose from £12 to £22 a week on av - public meetings organised by the COPD, making sleeping together est to the greediest, whilst the eNrage. HowO the hell ar e peEople supV- SSP aIcrossC the countrTy we heaIr ab - OimpossibNle. The ToSries make !no al - Westminster hypocrites prattle on posed to live? solutely heartbreaking stories of lowance for that. about us being “all in it together”, Of the 105,000 Scots hammered the effects on people’s lives. We have spoken to several in “the Big Society”. by this vicious Tory Tax, around 70 people newly bereaved, as they From April, big business enjoys per cent have a disabled person in Controversial traipse down to the council of - yet another state handout through the household. And the Twin To - The coyly named Housing Ben - fices in search of a smaller house, cuts to Corporation Tax, and the ries’ goal? To steal £1billion in efit (Amendment) Regulations to avoid the Bedroom Tax, im - pampered minority on incomes Housing Benefit off the poorest in 2012 declares that a person living mediately after losing the loved over £150,000 a year enjoy a tax society over the next two years. on their own, or as a couple, in a one they cared for with the essen - cut from 50p to 45p in the pound. Even the government’s own De - social sector house, are only enti - tial extra bedroom during pro - For millionaires, that means an an - partment for Work and Pensions tled to one bedroom - or face a 14 longed illness. The heartless nual ‘wage’ rise of £107,000! estimates that across the UK, per cent cut to Housing Benefit for gangsters in Westminster make 95,000 of the total 666,000 facing the first spare bedroom, 25 per cent no allowance for that. Brutal this slaughter of their meagre in - if they have a third bedroom. Likewise, hundreds of sepa - On the same day the brutal Bed - comes will be simply unable to af - On the surface, the idea of a sin - rated parents have described the room Tax clobbers people on the ford to pay it - which ultimately gle person or couple having just horrible prospect of not being al - lowest incomes, many of them on means the threat of evictions and one bedroom might not seem con - lowed a second bedroom for their £71 a week, others low-paid work - homelessness, a searing condem - troversial. But at virtually every children to stay over by arrange - ers who currently qualify for par - nation of 21st Century capitalism. street stall we talk to people whose ment with the other parent. The tial housing benefit. They stand to At the numerous street stalls and partner suffers ill health, such as • Continued on next page

issue 414 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 7 BEDROOM TAX

LET THEM KNOW: protesters put pressure on North Ayrshire Council over the Bedroom Tax recently PHOTO: Ian Wallace

• Continued from previous page Tories, ‘party of the family’, make no allowance for that. These millionaires living in mansions have the bare-faced cheek to dictate that kids under ten have to share a bedroom, regard - less of gender. And if they are of that will increase to students hav - action requirements in rent arrears the same gender, they are ex - NO EVingI to liCve at homeT a minimIum Ocases’. TNhis involvSes repaym! ents pected to share a bedroom up of six months in the year! being negotiated before moving to to the age of 16! So much for The Bedroom Tax is a clas - notice of eviction (Proceedings for children’s rights. So much sic case of class war by the Recovery of Possession). for aiding the development rich, hoping to divide and Eviction notices for arrears of a of independence and matu - conquer the rest of us. They few hundred pounds are common rity. The Coalition of West - must not succeed. already. So when people on very minster cut-throats are past Hundreds of people are low incomes lose £12 to £22 a masters at the tactics of divide pouring into public meetings on week, it won’t take long before and rule; going right back to the the Bedroom Tax, seeking an - they face the threat of eviction. days of Empire and colonial con - swers, pledging to stand together, quests. They demonise the sick, looking for how best to resist and Human cost disabled and unemployed, so as to the army target to recruit young defeat it. In addition, the Bedroom Tax try and split them away from the teenagers to do their dirty work in The meetings are red raw with will immediately impact on thou - solidarity of those in jobs. the killing fields of Afghanistan, or anger and anxiety, with passionate sands of repayment arrangements god knows where next. Only the speeches and applause, searching made for eviction cases already Deprivation heat of public uproar has forced the questions, and absolute determina - dealt with at the Sheriff Courts. For They hope to succeed this way Tories to beat a partial retreat in tion to show solidarity to all those example, there were 14,601 new in hammering the disabled, who their plans to tax the bedrooms of affected, including against the eviction cases brought by social face the Bedroom Tax on a second squaddies. threat of evictions. sector landlords in Scotland in bedroom even if they have occa - Educate yourself to secure a fu - And that is a very real and pres - 2010/11, plus older evictions that sional sleep-over carers - only ture, they tell us. But students will ent threat. Since new regulations have been ‘sisted’ (stayed, or de - being exempt if they literally rely have to stay in their parents’ home were passed last August in Scot - layed). on 24/7 live-in care - and it has to at least two weeks a year to dodge land, social housing landlords – The human cost of eviction is be registered carers, not family the Bedroom Tax; fairly manage - councils and local Housing Asso - beyond words. But they don’t even members, or else they’ll still face able, you might think, but when the ciations - are legally bound to pre - make financial sense; housing the tax. The areas of multiple dep - separate benefits attack that is Uni - vent rent arrears mounting up charity Shelter reckon they each rivation are precisely those which versal Credit eventually comes in, before taking what’s called ‘Pre- cost the taxpayer £24,000.

8 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 414 BEDROOM TAX FAT CAT FREUDS CHUFFED WITH THE BEDROOM TAX by Voice Reporter at council meetings, to demand that they do two things that are ONE family is more than chuffed well within their powers: declare at the Bedroom Tax. David and there will be no evictions arising Priscilla have three kids who have from Bedroom Tax arrears, and grown up and flown the nest. that they imitate the actions of But this couple do not share the Knowsley Council on Mersey - worry, distress and pain of not side, which is ‘re-designating’ all having a spare bedroom for their it’s houses, redefining what is a adult kids, or their grandchildren, bedroom, so as to dodge the tax. to visit and stay in. The same protests need to tar - David and Priscilla live in a get community housing associa - £1.9million townhouse in Highgate, tions - combined with demands on London. With four bedrooms. At the Scottish government to fund least they do during the week. At the £50million shortfall in social weekends and holidays they stay landlords’ rental income this year. in their second home, one of the ANGER: campaigner Ann Lynch at a Bedroom Tax lobby at Holyrood oldest country mansions in Kent - Pressure with eight bedrooms! So they have Likewise we need to mount The SSP is clear: we will unite stances changed? These are more a total of eleven spare bedrooms! pressure on the Scottish Govern - with communities to form walls of than bricks and mortar: they are But they don’t face the Bed - ment and individual MSPs to de - human solidarity to prevent every memories, the solidarity of good room Tax; in fact David is Lord mand a ‘No Evictions’ pledge, single eviction in Scotland! neighbours, a lifetime’s investment David Freud, grandson of the fa - which would lift a huge fear from The Tory/Lib Dem architects of - homes, not just houses. mous psychoanalyst Sigmund thousands of people, and support this brutal tax on the poorest are And where do these million - Freud, and the Tory Welfare Min - the demand to amend Section 16 telling people to downsize to a aire dictators propose people get ister who designed the details of of the Scotland Housing Act so smaller house, or get more hours extra hours of work, when their the Bedroom Tax - after he that Bedroom Tax arrears will not of work, or take in a lodger! own policies of public sector ceased to be a Labour govern - lead to evictions. They want to drive the working cuts and mass unemployment, ment adviser in 2009! The government should also class back to the days of the single- plus their anti-union laws, mean fund councils to ameliorate the end, of horrendous overcrowd - that employers are cutting back What the SSP say impact through Discretionary ing...whilst Lord and Lady Freud on hours available rather than The SSP is absolutely clear: we Housing Payments, and guide rattle round in their eleven spare expanding jobs? don’t want this tax amended, we councils and housing associa - bedrooms (see article to right). On top of all that, the Bedroom want it scrapped. We also see this tions on a definition of ‘bedroom’ Tax is already being used by some as an added reason for an inde - that avoids this iniquitous tax. Build homes councils and Housing Associations pendent Scotland, so we can elect A hundred thousand people This Tax will not create a single as an excuse for further cuts, as a government with the powers and need immediate action from coun - new house, nor a single new job. Scottish social landlords stand to political commitment to abolish it. cils, housing association bosses Quite the opposite. There are no lose over £50million in Housing But people can’t wait until 2014, and the Scottish Government. homes being built for rent. The Benefit payments this year alone, or the subsequent 2016 elections. Solidarity and unity in the legacy of the ‘right to buy’ ushered with people simply unable to pay We need action here and now. community is critical to resisting in by Thatcher in the 1980s is a ter - the Bedroom Tax. At SSP street stalls and public this appalling attack. rible lack of decent social sector This is not just a reason for cuts meetings we have appealed for The SSP is at the heart of this housing, including one-bedroom to staff and housing services, but volunteers to mount legal chal - resistance, whilst also fighting for houses. So we face the cruel ab - an opportunity: some housing as - lenges to the multitude of outra - longer-term, permanent solu - surdity of tenants potentially facing sociation bosses (themselves on geous anomalies and injustices tions, including the building of evictions, with the council then £100,000) are already demanding in the Bedroom Tax. decent, affordable housing for all legally obliged to rehouse them... redundancies and slashing staff We have helped to build net - needs, which in itself would gen - in a house of the same size, or even wages by £5,000 a year, at the very works of people prepared to de - erate jobs, and for taxation of the bigger, for lack of smaller ones! time frontline staff are at breaking fend anyone facing future rich to fund jobs and increased In any case, why should people point with the workload caused by evictions, in the ways many of us benefits for those unable to work. have to leave the family home tenants’ despair in dealing with did in the anti-Poll Tax struggle, to Unite against evictions. Unite they’ve been in for years, even benefit cuts. block the use of Sheriff Officers to to axe the Bedroom Tax. Unite decades, just because their kids Unity between communities throw people out on the streets. to use the nation’s wealth for the have grown up or their circum - and workers is essential. And we have organised protests millions, not the millionaires.

issue 414 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 9 BEDROOM TAX As living standards fall, the reasons to vote Yes rise and rise by Colin Fox

THE independence movement in Scotland is understandably focused, with 18 months to go until the referendum, on how best to turn around opinion polls and win a Yes vote. There are those, like the Scotsman colum - nist and SNP insider George Kerevan, who in - sist the referendum is more likely to be won on the back of a growing UK economy which makes people feel confident about their future. But with economic and social conditions across Britain facing a prolonged deterioration for the working class majority, the key challenge must surely rather be to show that independ - ence offers us the chance to avoid the worst re - cession in 80 years, to avoid another generation POSITIVELY YES : Scottish Socialist Party co-spokesperson Colin Fox sits on the Yes being lost to under-employment, to avoid the Campaign Advisory Board, giving the working classes a voice there PHOTO: Craig Maclean further vicious attacks on our living standards planned by the Tory/Lib Dem Coalition. more Tory governments hacking away our dependence and we must not underestimate The ‘under occupation penalty’, as the gov - standard of living if we were able to make our the profound sense of change that is sweeping ernment prefer to call the Bedroom Tax, is the own decisions. the country. Independence could offer us the latest policy of a Coalition making working class But for the Scottish Socialist Party, independ - chance to avoid a profound fall in our living people pay for a crisis caused by the bankers ence means much more than that. It involves standards. and the rich. It is a harbinger of what is to come a commitment to full employment, with every - All supporters of independence will have re - for more and more of us. It means a cut in one earning a living wage and enjoying far bet - alised, I’m sure, that our opponents pay us the housing benefit of up to £35 per week for those ter working conditions than is currently the great complement in ditching the central mes - least able to weather the economic collapse. case. It means ending fuel poverty, with our gas sage they used when they argued that Scot - and electricity industries returned to public own - land was ‘too small, too poor and too weak to Poll Tax comparisons ership and control. It means ridding our nation be an independent nation’. Due to be implemented on April 1st, the Bed - of chronic poverty and inequality that brings But that argument has been soundly de - room Tax is being compared to the Poll Tax be - shame on our international reputation. For the feated so they now insist ‘Of course we could cause it is again being implemented here SSP, being part of the UK holds Scotland’s run our own affairs. Of course Scotland could despite the opposition of the overwhelming ma - working class majority back. be one of the wealthiest nations on earth they jority of Scots. We remain powerless to stop it The referendum is increasingly being fought say, it’s just we will be even better off if we re - because we are at the mercy of a government against a background of deteriorating eco - main in the UK.’ that has no mandate to govern here. nomic and social conditions for millions. Re - Unfortunately for them, the Bedroom Tax, ris - Scotland has rejected the Bedroom Tax as cently for example The Independent [14/3/13] ing fuel poverty, falling living standards, rising we overwhelmingly as we rejected NHS pre - warned in a page one banner headline “Half under-employment, rising child poverty and the scription charges, elderly care charges and uni - UK children will be living below the breadline worst recession in 80 years make this claim in - versity tuition fees. But unlike the latter changes by 2015”. And similarly The Scotsman [13/3/13] creasingly difficult to sustain. made at Holyrood the Bedroom Tax is foisted reported government figures showing the stan - The choice then is increasingly clear. We can upon us by Westminster. dard of living of Scotland’s working class ma - vote Yes and become a nation free to deter - We have, as is plain to see, different political jority had plunged over the last five years with mine our own future, or watch our living stan - values North of the Border. The independence household bills up 25 per cent whilst wages in - dards plummet with further attacks on public movement must therefore explain to our fellow creased on average by only 6 per cent. services and social support as our reward for Scots there would be no Bedroom Tax and no This then is the context of the debate on in - remaining part of the United Kingdom.

10 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 414 AXE THE BEDROOM TAX NEWS SOLWAY’S DEADLY DEPLETED URANIUM MILITARY LEGACY MAY BE ILLEGAL by Ken Ferguson Annex II of the OSPAR conven - tion, states are prohibited from THE main claim to fame of the dumping waste in the sea. The ancient burgh of Kirkcudbright on agreements state that dumping the Solway coast is it links to a does not include ‘...placement of thriving artists colony in the last matter for a purpose other than the century which included notables mere disposal thereof...’ such as Jessie M King and Charles “Thus as the purpose of firing Oppenheimer. However, under the of DU rounds into the Solway tranquil waves of the Solway, the Firth is to test fire weapons as British Army has left a more sin - opposed to disposing of nuclear ister legacy of some 30 tonnes of waste, officially DU can be de - depleted uranium (DU), fired at scribed as being ‘placed’ into the nearby Dundrennan tank test - the sea.” ing ranges. Not only are the military pol - DU has been linked with a NO: UK’s DU rounds expire soon but MoD wants to keep using them luters in Britain’s war machine range of cancers and illnesses of dodging the problems of the exist - the brain, kidneys and lungs, and Minutes from an internal MoD poses was considered, it was ing 30 tonnes of pollution but, the scale of the Solway pollution committee released to CADU in a shown to be technically complex campaigners fear, despite evasion can be judged by comparing the FoI request highlight concerns that and expensive and concerns were from MoD officials, further test - 30 tonnes in the Solway to the 1.9 “…there could be a future prob - raised over setting a precedent for ing to add to it is planned. tonnes fired by British forces dur - lem with regard to firing into the recovering DU rounds. Later that The charge for the misnamed ing the entire Iraq war. seas… the OSPAR agreements year, Dr Lewis Moonie, the then CHARM3 tank ammunition, the Cleaning up the DU pollution stated now that it was illegal to Labour Secretary of State for De - UK’s last type DU munitions will caused by coalition forces in Iraq dump waste into the sea.” fence stated at a public meeting expire this year and the military is set to cost $30million and may OSPAR agreements exist be - that: “…the MoD did not consider want to extend the life of the result in the current Iraqi govern - tween fifteen European govern - it possible to recover fired rounds round even as international pres - ment suing UK and US forces. ments, including the UK, and the from the seabed”. sure grows over the acceptability European Community, with the Facing the prospect of manag - of the use of DU in weapons. Panic aim of protecting the marine envi - ing a potentially illegal test firing For more than 30 years, the ra - ronment of the north-east Atlantic. programme, the shadowy man - Pollution hazard dioactive waste product depleted Concern over whether the MoD darins in Whitehall came up with This has to, at the end of the uranium has been fired into the has been acting illegally by firing a defence which is straight from process, involve live firing, and Solway Firth as a part of the Min - DU into the sea was echoed ex - the pages of Yes Minister . the Dundrennan Range is the only istry of Defence’s (MoD) test fir - actly 30 years earlier in an assess - The current agreements prohibit range suited to the purpose of test ing programme at the Dundrennan ment of the then proposed MoD the “dumping” of such waste, but firing in the UK. range, near Kirkcudbright. Some firing programme. In 1974, the as - not its “placing” in the sea - so the Those fighting to defeat a Yes 6,759 DU tank rounds have been sessor Safety Official Bowman likely defence from best brains ad - vote next year never tire of hyping fired from the range, amounting to pointed out that it was unlikely vising ministers look likely to be the “benefits” to Scotland of approximately 30 tonnes of DU. that all the fired projectiles would to suggest that loading a shell in a British war spending north of the Now panic is spreading in the be recovered from the seabed, and tank or field gun pointing it out border but have said little about corridors of the MoD as a Free - therefore that the firing pro - into the Solway and firing it this pollution hazard which, dom of Information (FoI) request gramme would be contrary to the amounts to “placing” it into the should independence happen, be from the Campaign Against De - Oslo convention (the predecessor sea. This will, of course, not alter left for the locals to sort out. pleted Uranium (CADU) has re - to the OSPAR agreements). by a gramme the amount of DU vealed internal MoD concerns Bowman was clear in his disap - sloshing about the seabed in the • The Voice was greatly helped over whether the controversial proval, stating that: “It is unlikely Solway’s notoriously fast moving in producing this report by DU test firing programme is legal the ‘losing’ of the projectiles in tides with a radioactive life of Aneaka Kellay at the after it emerged that the dumping this way would be considered an some 700 million years, just pro - Campaign Against Depleted of radioactive and toxic DU into approved method [of disposal]”. vide a legal fig leaf for crown Uranium which has and the Solway Firth would be in In 2001 when a potential proj - forces who put it there. continues to oppose the use of breach of EU legislation protect - ect for recovering a small number This is confirmed by the FoI re - DU and campaigns to have it ing the marine environment. of DU rounds for research pur - sponse which says: “According to banned. See: www.cadu.org.uk

12 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 414 CULTURE WAITING FOR THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD Ken Loach’s call to arms for a united left

The Spirit Of ’45, directed by Ken Loach by Simon Whittle

KEN Loach’s The Spirit Of ‘45 blends archive footage with inter - views of those who remember the socialist policies implemented by the post-WW2 Labour govern - ment, and those who seek such changes now. Loach’s aim is clear - to remind his audience of the Britain we had, and to highlight what we’ve lost, what we could lose, what we’re fighting for and who we should be fighting. The film opens with black and white footage of VE day celebrations, and it builds up a HAPPY DAYS AREN’T HERE AGAIN: not while the working classes are attacked by Tory policies picture of what life was like for the working classes before and forms such as nationalisation of getherness, they bring selfishness. intent on building a better immediately after the war, transport, coal, electricity, and gas Then, as we know, all the points world,” says Loach. through archive film and mod - - and the establishment of the NHS the film has built up are undone by But how we fight capitalism’s ern interviews - all presented in - a defeated Churchill begged the the Tories - through anti-working assaults is a salient point in this black and white. US for the money to pay for these class policies and with the strong film - a strong, united left chal - Soldiers returned home having changes (we borrowed the equiv - arm of the law at their side. lenge to the Thatcherite parties of defeated fascism, determined to alent of £200billion now - still a The programme of privatisation New Labour, the Lib Dems and build a better country, a better life quarter of the UK’s debt), warning Thatcher started is still being car - of course the Tories is what the than the one they’d left behind a that a real workers’ revolution ried through - the coal industry working classes need to protect its few years before. could engulf Britain if these re - was decimated, it’s workers interests. The Spirit Of ’45 ends “The achievements of the ’45 forms weren’t delivered. crushed and defeated by the state; with its opening footage, this time Labour government have largely Loach skilfully moves us privatised energy spells misery for in colour, signifying the hope of been written out of our history,” through the victories of these na - millions of families, as they strug - this brave, almost forgotten gen - says Ken Loach. tionalisations, but not without crit - gle to pay bills that will line the eration, a reminder of the strength icisms - dock workers were still pockets of a few shareholders. that we have as a class if we are Welfare State casual hired hands right up until unified against the terror of multi - “From near economic collapse, 1967; many brutal industry bosses Under attack national capitalism and selfish - we took leading industries into retained their positions of power The pursuit of profit and cost- ness of individualism. public ownership and established after the reforms; private health - cutting under a privatised rail net - Labour is finished as a repre - the Welfare State. Generosity, mu - care consultants still operated, work has led to tragedies at the sentative party of the working tual support and co-operation their mouths “stuffed with gold”. hands of corporate greed and in - classes, and has been for genera - were the watch words of the age.” The film’s great leap forward is competence. And the NHS, one tions. Socialist and green policies And remember this film does. society’s great leap backwards – of the last bastions of the spirit of are desperately needed to protect Describing the childhood squalor jumping from a confident country ’45, is still under attack by us from the brutality of capitalism of sleeping five to a bed infested at the dawn of the 1951 Festival Cameron, Osborne and Clegg. and its corrupt cheerleaders. with bugs and vermin, former dock Of Britain, to May 1979 and Mar - Living standards are declining The depth of socialist and envi - shop steward Sam Watts recounts garet Thatcher entering Downing now, council houses aren’t being ronmentalist unity will determine the joy of seeing his new council Street, quoting St Francis of Assisi built now, ordinary people are not how effectively we take on capi - house for the first time as being one (the cinema erupted with boos and being looked after now. The sheer talism, and transform not just our of the best moments of his life. hisses at this point). Where there horror of the Bedroom Tax is like lives but also the lives of our chil - Labour’s 1945 landslide took is harmony, the Tories bring dis - an axe hovering over all our heads. dren and the generations to come. everyone by surprise. As they em - cord; where there is hope, they “It is time to remember the de - barked on carrying through re - bring despair; where there is to - termination of those who were • See www.thespiritof45.com

issue 414 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 13 INTERNATIONAL After Chavez: what future

Bfillo Bonnrar ta keLs a laook tin America’s left? IT STARTED as a funeral and commemora - tion - millions of people gathering to remember the life and legacy of Hugo Chavez. Yet very quickly the sadness was replaced by a celebra - tion of the achievements of the revolution so identified by the departed president and a de - termination to carry on the struggle to its in - evitable victory. Overlooking the proceedings where Presi - dents Rousseff (Brazil), Humala (Peru), Morales (Bolivia), Fernandez (Argentina), Mu - jica (Uruguay), Correa (Ecuador), Otega (Nicaragua) and Cuba’s elder statesman, Raul Castro. As they watched events unfolding, all would have cast their minds back to a darker time. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the military coup on Chile which overthrew the socialist government of President Allende. The American representative at the funeral would no doubt have harkened back to a time DODGING WASHINGTON BULLETS : democratically-elected Marxist Chilean President when things were so much simpler; when an Salvador Allende (left) meets his fate on 11 September 1973, as the CIA-backed coup began ‘anti-American’ government emerged in your backyard, you simply had it removed. dictatorships waging all-out war against their and sustainability at the heart of their eco - When the Allende government was elected own people on behalf of the a rich elite and in nomic strategy. Second, an understanding that in 1970, it was on a programme which included defence of US hegemony. the poverty and inequality so endemic in the bringing key national resources into public In the eighties and nineties, the continent was region is not there by accident. It is structural ownership so they served the interests of the devastated by the impact of free market, neo- in nature and requires active government in - Chilean people and not the multi-national com - liberal economic policies which systematically tervention to deal with the problem. panies, an ambitious programme of economic wrecked economies, plunged millions into even and social reform aimed at lifting significant more poverty, widened the gulf between rich Rich elites numbers of its people from poverty, the quaint and poor to almost unimaginable proportions Third, democratic reform which takes notion that the rich should actually pay some and wreaked havoc with the environment. power away from the rich elites and strength - taxes and the equally quaint notion that Chile’s The election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela ens democratic institutions in a continent foreign policy should be set in Santiago, not and the other left governments which followed blighted by military dictatorships; fourth, a re - Washington DC. was the political reaction to this capitalist night - pudiation of the so-called Munro Doctrine mare. The system had proved itself to be eco - which declared that Latin America belonged Violent coup nomically, politically, socially and morally to the United States sphere of influence giving For the American government and the bankrupt. An alternative was necessary. it the right to intervene and shape the destiny wealthy elite that ruled Chile, it was as if the The left governments which have come to of the continent to suit American interests. Martians had landed. The country was battered power in large parts of the continent, often win - Lastly, the need to increase the co-operation by economic sanctions, political and economic ning successive elections, range from the social and integration of Latin American states. sabotage, orchestrated violence, and when all democratic to the more overtly socialist, yet all The record has been impressive. Sustained that failed, the Allende government was over - share a basic agenda. economic growth and radical economic reform thrown in a violent military coup in which the First, a complete rejection of the kind of at a time when much of the world has been president died. The destruction of the socialist free market economic policies which proved plunged into recession. Tens of millions of the experiment in Chile plunged the continent into so damaging and their replacement with an poorest people lifted from poverty by huge in - a kind of dark ages. For the next three decades, alternative economic strategy which places vestments in health, education, housing and South America was ruled by vicious military state ownership, public spending, regulation employment. Political reforms which have con -

14 • Scottish Socialist Voice • issue 414 INTERNATIONAL solidated and extended democracy despite the while keeping the country on the road to social - As has been stated already, but for coups in protests of the right and even some ill-informed ism. How to deal with right wing anti-democ - Paraguay and Honduras, and rigged elections in liberals abroad. Practical measures across the ratic forces, often supported by outside powers, Mexico, these countries would have joined the continent which have accelerated integration while maintaining democracy and civil rights. camp. The move towards political and eco - reawakening the Bolivarian dream of a United So far, the various governments above have nomic integration across the continent and be - Latin America and a willingness to face down managed to navigate these complicated waters yond is accelerating with talk of the US threats on issues like Cuba. although this has involved trying to square a establishment of a Latin American equivalent of Forty years ago, the Allende Government number of circles, for example in Brazil, the the EU. Many of these governments claim so - was overthrown because it was so isolated from combination of state intervention and colossal cialism to be the final destination, although the its allies. It is almost inconceivable that some - public expenditure has created a phenomenal details of when and what this socialism will ac - thing similar would happen again although the growth in the private sector strengthening the tually look like is unclear. Perhaps this is not a United States has orchestrated less violent con - political influence of this sector. The success of bad thing. Socialism cannot come in a pre-pack - stitutional coups in Honduras and Paraguay and the ruling Workers Party has undermined the aged form. It has to grow organically from the actively supported the flagrant rigging of elec - case for even more radical reform and has conditions and struggles that it finds itself in. tions in Mexico in a desperate attempt to turn opened up the debate on the left as to whether However, if the next decade is anything like the tide of history. the WP can be the vehicle for further change. the last, we will be a lot closer to answering What of the future? The likelihood is that the some of these questions. Global struggle left of centre governments which have already For those of us old enough to remember the emerged will consolidate their hold on Allende government, the events of the past government and are likely to be decade have been exhilarating with the frontline joined by others. in the global struggle against capitalism now firmly set in Latin America. It also opens up a debate about the nature of that struggle, partic - ularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. When left governments come to power they face a number of dilemmas. How to maintain economic stability and growth while pushing through radical economic and social reforms. How to maintain broad coalitions for change

HUGO VICTORY: under Chavez, Venezuelan oil was made available at favourable rates to neighbours struggling to build more just societies

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 Scottish Socialist Party 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 414 • Scottish Socialist Voice • 15 for Socialism, Independence Issue 414 and Internationalism 29th March - 11th April 2013 [email protected] www.scottishsocialistvoice.net Pivotal times for Scotland’s media NUJ Scottish organiser Paul Holleran reports

THIS is a pivotal week in the future of the Scottish media. Unions at BBC Scotland will be taking strike action in the fight against compulsory redundancies and bullying. Journalists at The Scotsman will be in shock at the scale of restructuring proposed this week as management seek a radical approach to the downward spiral of circulations and ad revenues. The third major issue facing the press is the next stage of debate around the Leveson and McCluskey reports on the setting up of a regulator in place of the Press Complaints Commission. These events are important in respect to the direction of JOBS RISK: journalists at The Scotsman are worried about editorial department restructuring the industry. The future of BBC management is on the misnomer of Delivering The editor hopes to turn proposals, particularly as cusp, as the old guard cling Quality First. the paper into a high level they are working in practice to the flawed approach of The new Director General - forum and drive the agenda across the water in the ruling by cuts, through Lord Hall of Birkenhead, or on the Scottish political and Republic of Ireland under an bullying and targeting of Tony to his pals, starts in his cultural fronts by focussing Irish model not a million miles individuals including union new post next week and has on content by good writers. away from the Scottish reps from NUJ and BECTU. the opportunity to get off on proposals. the right foot and bring a new Grand plan I came in for a bit of flak for Bullying broom to sweep away the It is a grand plan which standing up for the main A full scale investigation into bullying fat cats currently encompasses a view on what elements of the McCluskey systemic bullying has been mismanaging the BBC. a future Scottish media report from some senior completed and is due to be The announcement on should look like but can only editorial people, but the reported on soon, although Tuesday by Johnston Press work with continued and union’s national executive there is no surprise that to restructure editorial correctly targeted investment. council last weekend drafted members of management are departments came as a The McCluskey report put a constructive response to already trying to minimise major shock to staff, although together by an expert the move towards a regulator details of the scale and depth anyone reading the company independent panel took many broadly welcoming the Royal of the evidence. results earlier this week people by surprise with its Charter, with the fall back of Union members however shouldn’t be that surprised. radical proposals to regulate a Scottish model if employers know what is happening and The proposals to cut the press. In effect it set the and politicians try and renege have voted overwhelmingly specific jobs and change the stall out for a robust Scottish on engagement with the to strike this week. They are dynamic of The Scotsman is Press Ombudsman or Leveson principles. still determined to save the a brave move, although Regulator working with a A crucial week ahead nine jobs at risk in BBC those journalists whose jobs Press Council independent of which could be a compass Scotland and stop the are at risk won’t appreciate it the media and politicians. for which direction the ensuing cuts under the too much. The NUJ has backed such industry is heading.