the Socialist Issue No 57 March/April 2021

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STRIKE FOR 15% NOW CASINO CAPITALISM JOBS, HOMES AND A PAY THE NHS AND CARE HEADING FOR A FUTURE FOR YOUNG WORKERS CRASH? Page 16 PEOPLE Pages 12/13 Page 10 We need a socialist recovery PAY RISES JOBS AND

Read more about Scottish TUSC’s HOMESelection campaign on 4,5,6,7,8,9 VOTE SOCIALIST ON MAY 6 Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition 2 thesocialist www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 thesocialist 3 editorial editorial

Labour’s Sturgeon/Salmond warfare exposes SNP millionaire tendency are WORKERS NEED THEIR OWN PARTY back in charge strengthens the case made by a conflict over how to confront Socialist Party Scotland that British capitalism's opposition the pro-capitalist SNP leader- to Scottish independence. ship are itself a barrier to lead- Sturgeon is widely seen out- Philip Stott Leonard defeated Anas Sarwar ing a successful mass struggle The task of socialists is to side of the SNP as too timid. when more than 21,000 mem- bers participated in a 60% for self-determination never give not one iota of support to Her insistence that only a AS EXPECTED Anas Sarwar, turnout from the then mem- mind and an independent so- e“ither S”turgeon or Salmond, 'legal' referendum, ie one the Blairite right wing candi- cialist Scotland. agreed by Boris Johnson, can bership of 35,300. far less call for a vote for the date, has won the leadership What we think offer a route to independence of the Scottish Labour Party. SNP as Tommy Sheridan and is increasingly seen as a The outcome, allied to class position utopia. Her fear of mobilising Starmer's increasing grip on Blairite SNP WARFARE has domi- many others of the left do. the working class in a mass the UK Labour Party, marks nated the political and press It is not the job of socialists It is the building of a new movement for democratic the end of the Corbyn left's There is no question about agenda in Scotland in early to defend one side or another rights is a morbid one. challenge to the dominant where Sarwar stood politically. 2021. A parliamentary com- workers' party in Scotland in this conflict. We have to take Salmond and other pro- capitalist wing of the Labour He has always been a Blairite. mittee of enquiry into the an independent class position. with the trade unions playing Salmond elements take a Party. As we have written perviously, Scottish government's han- Salmond's conduct towards more combative position, at Indeed Corbyn himself is Sarwar supported the at- dling of sexual harassment al- a lead role that is the essen- women is not defensible. Nor least in rhetoric. This could still excluded from the parlia- tempted coup against Corbyn legations against former first are his political positions, in- tial step that needs to be crystallise into a split from the mentary party and is no longer in 2016, backing Owen Smith minister Alex Salmond drove cluding passing on Tory cuts SNP after the election in May a Labour MP. The millionaire when he challenged for the even Covid off the front pages. taken. as first minister, or his support with the creation of a new po- tendency are definitively back UK leadership. And, as we Both Nicola Sturgeon, current for capitalism. Let's not forget litical formation. in the driving seat. have also commented, Sarwar SNP first minister, and her Salmond was the one who It's not ruled out that That the Corbyn 'revolution' himself is literally a million- predecessor Salmond have capitalist machine with a mid- championed major cuts to Salmond could even stand in has ended with the same aire. He transferred his £4.8 given hours of evidence amid dle class, careerist leadership corporation tax for big busi- the election, perhaps on one Blairites back in charge was million stake in the family wall-to-wall media coverage. in reality now the political es- ness in an independent Scot- of the pro-independence lists. only possible because of the cash and carry business to his In his testimony Salmond, tablishment in Scotland, that land in the SNP's 2014 Unfortunately, Tommy Sheri- political and organisational children during the 2017 lead- who has accused the Scottish fervently wish to rule in the in- independence 'white paper'. dan, the former socialist MSP, compromises to the right by ership contest. He was also government, the legal estab- terests of big business in an in- That does not mean that is calling for a Salmond to con- the Labour left. heavily criticised in 2017 when lishment and the civil service dependent Scotland. there wasn't a conspiracy sider standing, as well as back- Rather than use the mass it was exposed that his family of a witch hunt against him, Sturgeon is also no ally of among leading SNP members ing Salmond in this current enthusiasm for Corbyn, re- firm did not pay the living claimed: “The Scottish civil the working class and the to “get” Alex Salmond, partic- battle with Sturgeon. flected in the hundreds of wage or recognise trade service hasn’t failed, its leader- trade union movement. Her ularly after he announced he thousands who joined Labour, unions. ship has failed. The Crown Of- government have been un- was going to court to chal- socialist tasks to create a genuine workers' Sarwar's trenchant opposi- fice hasn’t failed, its leadership ending in their pursuit of cuts Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon in 2013 lenge the Scottish government party and drive out the pro- tion to self-determination for has failed. Scotland hasn’t to balance the books. If any- investigation and was himself The task of socialists is to capitalist elements, this op- Scotland and his pro-capitalist failed, its leadership has thing, Sturgeon has moved the being investigated by the po- give not one iota of support to portunity was squandered. policies will mean there can be failed.” Sturgeon, in return, SNP to the right and in an government had investigated into sexual harassment allega- cism after refusing for months lice on sexual assault. either Sturgeon or Salmond, Anas Sarwar defeated the no recovery for Scottish said it was as “absurd sugges- criminal charges even more pro-big business complaints about Salmond tions had previously spoken to to release key legal documents Indeed Sturgeon's partner far less call for a vote for the MSP Monica Lennon with Labour among the working tion that anyone acted with from two female civil servants the two women and was aware to the parliamentary commit- direction than even under Alex Salmond was charged and SNP CEO Peter Murrell al- SNP as Tommy Sheridan and more than 62% support class. Moreover, Sarwar is the malice or as part of a plot who had accused him of sex- of their claims. tee, which has still not been Salmond. in 2019 with 14 counts of sex- legedly sent texts to party offi- many others of the left do. The among Scottish Labour mem- fifth Scottish Labour leader against Alex Salmond”. ual harassment during the This meant the Scottish gov- fully done. It is still possible This warfare between these ual assault against nine cials saying: "it was a good SNP leadership have failed on bers and only narrowly lost to since the referendum of 2014 – Salmond has also accused the time when he was first minis- ernment has acted illegally. that either or both of the in- leading figures in the indepen- women, including attempted time to be pressuring the po- austerity, on Covid, on work- Lennon in the affiliated sec- the tenth if you include in- SNP leadership of seeking to ter and SNP leader. The inter- The case was collapsed and vestigations into aspects of dence movement is also re- rape. After the trial in March lice" to pursue Salmond. He ers' rights and on confronting tion which includes the trade terim stand ins. The Pasokifi- have him jailed. nal investigation that took Salmond was awarded around this saga will conclude that flected on other issues, 2020 he was found not guilty also send a text saying he capitalism. It is the building of unions. Scottish Labour have cation (Pasok was the The civil war in the SNP – al- place was under a new proce- £600,000 of public money in Sturgeon has broken the rules including gender recognition. on 12 counts and not proven wanted London’s Metropoli- a new workers' party in Scot- not released any information traditional party of the Greek though Salmond is no longer a dure for dealing with “inap- costs. Sturgeon, in her evi- of a first minister. However, at Key Salmond allies like Joanna on one charge – the other tan force to start a second in- land with the trade unions on the numbers who took part working class but saw its base member of the party – has propriate conduct” drawn up dence to the 2021 parliamen- this stage it is likely that she Cherry MP and others oppose charge had been dropped. It quiry into the former SNP playing a lead role that is the in the election. of support eradicated after spilled out into the broader in- in 2017 in the wake of the tary inquiry, admitted that the will lead the SNP into the elec- Sturgeon on the right for trans was clear during the trial, de- leader: “The more fronts he is essential step that needs to be However, earlier in February years of pro-capitalist rule and dependence movement as #MeToo movement. SNP government had made a tion on May 6. people to self-identify. spite the verdict, that he had having to firefight on the bet- taken. Indeed the election of it was leaked that the total eli- attacking Greek workers) of a well. Sides have been taken. It allowed for former minis- “dreadful, catastrophic mis- Nevertheless, both sides Cherry has been removed as acted in a sexist, predatory ter for all complainers.” the Blairite Anas Sarwar as the gible Labour membership to party in terminal decline The majority of the SNP estab- ters to be investigated and not take” by appointing a person have emerged damaged. a Westminster spokesperson and unacceptable manner to- At a certain point these new Scottish Labour leader vote in the election had shows no signs of reversal. lishment back Sturgeon and just current ones. The investi- who had already prior knowl- There is recent polling evi- recently by the Sturgeon lead- wards women he worked with. events became for Sturgeon underlines that task even dropped to just over 16,000, The need to build a new the #IstandwithNicola cam- gation into the complaints edge of the harassment allega- dence that shows support for ership for her stance and sup- Demands for parliamentary and her clique a battle for sur- more clearly. including affiliated members. workers' party in Scotland is paign is in full flow. Salmond, under this new procedure led tions. It did not prevent her independence has fallen, co- port for Salmond. Both sides, inquiries by Salmond and op- vival, for political positions The Scottish Trade Unionist The turnout for this election even more urgent following however, also has significant to a report being handed to government trying for months inciding with the while claiming to be 'feminist', position parties soon fol- and prestige. Defeat to and Socialist Coalition is was thought to be 42%, indi- Sarwar's victory. minority support among the the the police who began their to defend the case in 2018, Salmond/Sturgeon conflict. are engaging in a toxic, divi- lowed. Sturgeon is primarily Salmond was unthinkable. If standing across Scotland to cating that around 7,000 votes It is essential that the trade SNP membership, parliamen- own investigation. even after the Scottish govern- Certainly the Tories and Boris sive debate based on identity accused of “breaking the min- defending her position meant offer that fighting socialist al- were cast. unions in Scotland – and this tarians and in the Yes move- Salmond took the Scottish ment's legal team were telling Johnson have been hoping politics. Socialists, in contrast, isterial code” and there is a throwing Salmond 'under the ternative. For both a socialist The collapse in Labour's should begin with the left-led ment. government to court over the them it was “unwinnable”. And that long term damage will put forward the need for a separate inquiry led by a judge bus' then that was preferable recovery for the working class membership in Scotland is unions and leaders – plan for The catalyst for the blood- investigation and the way it that the government had with- have been inflicted and the united struggle against all op- into this due to report next to the alternative. after Covid and for a mass sharply illustrated by compar- a conference this year to dis- letting dates back almost three was handled. The civil servant held key information from its SNP will be a weakened polit- pression. month. The SNP government The SNP are not a workers' movement for the right to hold ing it to the 2017 leadership cuss the launching of a new years. In 2018, the Scottish who conducted the inquiry own legal team. ical force as a result. It Above all, these splits and have been under intense criti- party. They are a brutal pro- divisions are also indicative of indyref2. contest. Then Richard workers' party. 4 thesocialist www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 thesocialist 5 election 2021 election 2021

violence increased by almost 140% from April to August last year and despite heroic levels of workers working from home to provide frontline ser- vice, years of cuts and a slow VOTE SOCIALIST ON MAY 6 response to the pandemic will inevitably lead to women and children being trapped in vio- lent relationships with no No going back to austerity - For public ownership means of escape. socialist alternative The Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is standing for election in GLASGOW DuNDEE WEST TUSC (The Trade Union and SCOTTISH TRADE UNIONIST AND Socialist Coalition) are stand- Glasgow, West Scotland, Highlands and ing candidates on the list in Islands, Dundee and Aberdeen on May 6. In the Scottish elections in May this feature, we look at the issues facing SOCIALIST COALITION CANDIDATES to offer a socialist alternative jIM to these cuts making politi- working-class communities and some of BrIAN cians. We will stand on an av- the socialist policies we’re standing for. McfArLANE erage workers wage and will NHS workers fighting for a 15% pay rise in Aberdeen SMITH WEST SCOTLAND HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS reject donations from big business. We call for the na- the council are frankly ridicu- hour for everyone. Through cialist Party). We refused to tionalisation of all privatised lous. The danger lies in the trade unions organising into a DuNDEE make any cuts and instead DuNDEE EAST care homes and a £12 an hour closures of important services mass movement this can be used the powers available to minimum wage as a step to- being taken as an opportunity achieved. build homes, community cen- wards £15 an hour. All care to make major cutbacks as the With the Scottish elections Wayne Scott tres and to protect public ser- SINEAD jIM SEAN workers and NHS staff should council have been chomping just round the corner, Scottish Scottish TUSC candidate, vices. receive a 15% pay rise now and at the bit to undertake them TUSC will be standing on a If the SNP continue to wield DALy HALfPENNy rOBErTSON Dundee East not the paltry and insulting 1% for years. The right wing basis of better pay and condi- the axe in the aftermath of the WAyNE the SNP offered them. Labour/Tory council’s years of tions and no return to cuts Scottish Parliament election, We will demand more fund- mismanagement show no and brutal austerity, among IN RECENT years, Dundee this can only play a role in un- SCOTT ing for women’s services in the signs of stopping at the cost of many other key policies for has experienced a series of dermining support for inde- area and for the child payment the wellbeing of working peo- workers in Scotland. slash and burn budgets from pendence amongst the OISIN LyNDA LukE to be increased to £50 per ple. It is obvious to see that we the SNP council, including the working class in Dundee and ABErDEEN DONSIDE week. TUSC candidate, Lynda The financial crash of need a transition away from closure of music centres, cuts elsewhere. DuNCAN MCEWAN IvOry McEwan, organised two re- 2007/08 and the following oil the fossil fuel industry to sus- to education staff numbers, The Labour Party in Dundee claim the night marches in the crash in 2014/15 saw the liveli- tainable, renewable energy introducing bin charges, have at no point over the last Vale of Leven against gender hoods of many workers being sources. amongst other measures. decade put forward a serious based violence and cuts. sacrificed on the pyre of capi- Not only will this help re- £130 million has been stolen challenge to the SNP over the LuCAS We will refuse to vote for talism. duce climate change, but they from Dundee by the Tories cuts and accept the argument cuts and say instead that the With so much of the local will provide long term em- since 2010. Council leader that cuts must be made. MADDIE IAN yOLANDA SMITH Scottish government should economy being dependent on ployment for energy sector John Alexander stated shortly In 2014, working-class Dun- PIOTrOWICZ GrANT use all financial mechanisms, the oil industry, the slow workers in Aberdeen. before the pandemic that donians overwhelmingly jAMIESON kErr such as borrowing and re- ebbing away of the industry is This however must be done Dundee was set for yet an- voted Yes for an Independent serves. likely to be drastically acceler- on a democratic basis with other decade of austerity. Scotland. We stand for the building of ated by the current economic workers and trade unions in It is clear it will be the work- We understood at the time a new mass workers party, for crisis. This will impact every control. To make a transition all the major parties. back decades. tion, heralded in by Thatcher’s in what was a YES majority ing class of Dundee - the peo- that for working class people a workers recovery from part of the local economy with that protects the jobs of those The working class of In Dundee East, we will Tory government in the 1970s voting area in the 2014 inde- ple who have kept our in Dundee and across Scot- Covid, for public ownership many more shop closures to working in the fossil fuels in- Dundee need and deserves a stand Wayne Scott, a young WEST began a process of rapid de- pendence referendum. essential services running land, a YES victory meant and the socialist planning of follow. dustry by ensuring guaranteed political alternative to the par- painter and decorator. Wayne cline for this once thriving Their first budget attacked throughout lockdown - who much more than simply the economy and for a mass Last year we saw a surge in redeployment without loss of ties of austerity and big busi- is a former shop steward with SCOTLAND community. Well paid, skilled trade union facility time and will be expected to foot the bill changing the flag from the working class campaign to win unemployment and universal pay. ness. We need a political force the GMB, and has previously jobs were replaced by unem- made cuts to council services, of the pandemic through fur- Union Jack to a Saltire. For the right to indyref 2. credit claimants in Aberdeen, ther attacks on jobs and con- many, it was a chance to hit that with a record of standing stood twice as a socialist can- ployment and a reliance on which led to a joint trade with a 122% percent increase Lynda McEwan Donside ditions before the end of the back at the neo-liberal agenda shoulder to shoulder with didate in the Coldside ward. benefits, leading to genera- union campaign against aus- in jobseekers on UC. next parliament. workers in struggle. We need a He is an organiser with the Scottish TUSC candidate tional poverty where some terity that the Socialist Party pushed by the political estab- Although figures are limited In Aberdeen, Scottish TUSC Currently, cuts are also working class party that will Young Socialists–Young Work- West Scotland region families never saw an adult in Scotland, through our mem- lishment since the 1980s. ABErDEEN for 2021 so far, there is no rea- will be standing in the Don- looming in our universities. The highest votes for YES fight for an independent so- ers’ Rights Campaign, and or- work. bers, Jim Halfpenny, joint con- son to believe that the situa- cialist Scotland. ganised the Black Lives Matter Cuts to the NHS, a lack of venor of the EIS trade union side constituency in May Bosses at Dundee Uni have were recorded in Dundee - POVERTY IN the working tion is any better and is in fact It is for this reason that So- demonstration in the City social housing and the delib- and local organiser Lynda where there is a great opportu- announced mergers which dubbed “YES city” - and Glas- class area of West Dunbarton- Lucas Smith Grant likely worse. More redundan- cialist Party Scotland mem- Square last year. Both candi- erate shrinking of the welfare McEwan, both now standing nity to bring socialist ideas to will lead to slashing of 34 gow, two cities that experi- shire has been at record high cies and closures will follow in bers will stand across the city dates have pledged to only state added another layer of as Scottish TUSC candidates Scottish TUSC candidate a wide audience and show that teaching posts. Students have enced the worst effects of levels for a number of years the coming period, with next as part of the Scottish Trade take the average wage of a misery to people already in the West Scotland region, Aberdeen Donside there is an alternative to the started to organise alongside de-industrialisation under with continued cuts to ser- to no protections offered to Unionist & Socialist Coalition skilled worker if elected. struggling to make ends meet. played an important role in re- wounds inflicted to the work- the UCU trade union to chal- Thatcherism. vices by successive Labour workers doubtless. in the Scottish parliament Dundee doesn’t need an- It’s no wonder then that versing. ing class in living memory. lenge management and de- and SNP led councils, but the COVID-19 HAS been a hard The importance of joining a elections. other decade of cuts, we need when Covid 19 appeared in Child poverty has increased, This election will likely be mand education is properly drugs crisis Covid pandemic has plunged experience for people trade union and organising In Dundee West, Jim McFar- jobs, wage rises and public early 2020 the area has had with over a quarter of all chil- focused on a second indepen- funded and resourced. residents into nightmarish throughout Scotland and Ab- the workplace has never been lane will be standing. Jim is ownership. To achieve this, we one of the highest death rates dren in West Dunbartonshire dence referendum but other Socialist Party Scotland The legacy of this is re- conditions reminiscent of erdeen is no exception. Union more important as it is today. well known amongst council need politicians with the in Scotland. We know that the living on the breadline, as has concerns will be at the fore- have consistently argued over flected in the sacking of 1930s Britain. Street as well as George Street The fight for proper wages workers in Dundee because of backbone to fight for it. most deprived communities the number of people claim- front of peoples minds also, the last decade that there is an Dundee West MSP - “no show” Historically, West Dunbar- and other major centres have cannot come soon enough. the role he has played as a We encourage workers and are worst affected and that ing benefits. that of the toll of the pandemic alternative to cuts. Councils Joe Fitzpatrick - from his posi- tonshire forged the way for in- seen many closures. The paltry minimum wage is workers’ leader within Unison. youth across the city to vote poverty plays a huge role in Food bank use is at its high- handling and fears of more should launch a serious strug- tion as health minister after a dustry in Scotland. It was Public services have been not adequate to cover any- He played an instrumental Scottish TUSC in May, to put those figures. est with some feeding their brutal austerity. gle to demand a return of all sharp rise in drug deaths dominated by shipbuilding, largely stunted also, with cut- thing close to security. role in the successful struggle socialist, fighters into Holy- Since the SNP were elected usual amount for a week, in Scottish TUSC is the only or- money stolen from the city across the city left Dundee engineering and manufactur- backs and closures due to the The need for real wages for of home care workers against rood. If you agree with us on as a minority administration one day. ganisation willing to deliver through austerity. with some of the highest drugs ing, producing whisky, glass virus hurting any hopes of job- all regardless of age or any the imposition of split shifts. the need for a new mass party in 2017 in West Dunbarton- Many services are running real change, while protecting This was the approach of death rates in Europe. An ab- and textiles and provided em- seeking. other factor is essential. A £12 Jim has a proud record of of the working class, join the shire they have meekly passed at a reduced rate meaning and fighting for the livelihoods the Liverpool City council in solute scandal brought on by ployment for thousands of Public internet spots are minimum wage is realistic, but standing as a socialist candi- Socialist Party and fight for so- on Tory cuts. They have be- those most at need are falling of workers that is standing in the 1980s, under the leader- decades of poverty and depri- workers in the area. near non-existent and the crucially this must be a step- date in the constituency going cialist change. come increasingly unpopular through the gaps. Domestic this election. ship of Militant (now the So- vation inflicted on the city by However, deindustrialisa- food parcels being offered by ping stone towards £15 an 6 thesocialist www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 thesocialist 7 election 2021 election manifesto VOTE SOCIALIST ON MAY 6 ELECTION 21: FIGHT FOR A in Glasgow. Joining Brian on the list will be fighting trade union, women’s rights and student activists from across the city. Brian was a Scottish TUSC SOCIALIST RECOVERY candidate for the 2016 Holy- rood election gaining the highest left vote in Scotland. The Scottish parliament election, on May 6 2021, will take place Brian commented: “It is a priv- against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic, majority support for ilege to have been selected as A mass movement a Scottish TUSC candidate for Scottish independence and a growing confrontation with the Glasgow region. As a trade Brian Smith Westminster government over a second indyref. Yet it’s clear that a unionist I know the incredible recovery from Covid in the interests of the working-class majority for indyref2 efforts and sacrifices made by poverty and inequality which and the struggle for the right to self-determination are inextricably workers and their families have rocketed during the last during the pandemic. year of the pandemic. Glasgow bound together. The Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Both in the public and pri- is a city where food bank usage Coalition (TUSC), which Socialist Party Scotland plays a leading vate sector, it has been the and universal credit claims are working class not the bosses, rocketing, while life ex- role in, has produced the following socialist manifesto for the who have come to the fore to pectancy is falling. election which we produce here on pages 7, 8 & 9 ensure public services, retail, Crucially we need to build a transport, mail, delivery and new mass working-class party logistics, among many other based on the trade unions to among other facilities, have able jobs and training for local vital services, have been deliv- offer that socialist alternative. attacked workers’ conditions workers and young people. ered. In Glasgow, it has been “In addition to a real recov- HIGHLANDS by ending permanent con- We will campaign for failing the trade unions and their ery for the working class ma- tracts and rehiring staff companies in the retail, and members who have, through jority from the Covid crisis, the and ISLANDS through agencies, despite gar- leisure sector to be nation- campaigning, enforced health other key issue in this election nering several multi million alised to protect jobs, and for and safety in the workplace. will be the right for a second pound contracts for the oil large tourism businesses “Now, as hopefully the pan- independence referendum. By Sean Robertson and renewable sectors in re- like Britannia hotels to be demic begins to recede in the With Boris Johnson setting Scottish TUSC candidate cent months. (see picture brought into democratic pub- next weeks and months, we his face against the right of the SCOTTISH TUSC sup- also widespread and coordi- Highland and Islands above) lic ownership, with surpluses are demanding a real recovery Scottish people to decide their ports a second indepen- nated strike action by trade The Arnish yard on Lewis produced in future to be used for the working class. There future, it's clear that we have a dence referendum. We stand unions and occupations of can be no more going back to unequivocably for the right workplaces, schools and col- WHILE THE Highlands and has closed as a result of the to protect jobs throughout the fight on our hands. Scottish even a single penny of auster- of the Scottish people to leges by workers and young Islands were relatively less af- collapse of BiFab after the un- sector and aid the post-Covid TUSC is clear; a mass working- ity and cuts. self-determination. Boris people. fected than other areas by the necessary removal of recovery. class movement including Already several hundred Johnson’s refusal to agree to Only Scottish TUSC is pre- health effects of the first wave promised support by the Scot- Decades of austerity cuts demos, strike action and occu- million in cuts has been in- an indyref2 is not his just his pared to stand for such a of Covid-19, with notable ex- tish Government. have hit services provided by pations will be needed to de- flicted on Glasgow in the last refusal. It represents the policy. While understand- ceptions such as the Home None of the mainstream po- local authorities in the region feat the Tories intransigence. decade. The Tories, the SNP overwhelming position of ably many will vote SNP at Farm care home in Skye, the litical parties have the answers hard. Councils should defy I look forward standing as a and Labour are responsible. the capitalist elite through- this election, partly in defi- second wave has reaped a ter- to the challenges faced by cuts imposed by Westminster socialist in this election cam- We need investment in jobs, out Britain. ance of the Tories and Boris rible toll. workers in the North of Scot- and Holyrood and instead im- paign and playing my part in wages and public services in The break-up of the UK, Johnson, the SNP leadership The virus has also taken a land, either from the pan- plement budgets which meet that struggle in the months Glasgow, which is critically and it’s Scotland that is cur- have no intention of leading heavy toll on the economies of demic and the social havoc it the needs of the community. ahead.” starved of funds. rently the weakest link in the type of struggle needed the Highlands, Islands and is wreaking, or to the eco- TUSC Highlands and Is- Like all Scottish TUSC can- We need socialist policies that chain, would be a catas- to win self-determination Moray. The tourist and leisure nomic disaster which will fol- lands will call for historic pub- didates, Brian has pledged to THE CAPITALIST establish- early March 2021 approaching many other sectors. Yet these including public ownership trophe for the ruling class for Scotland. industries upon which much low in coming years. lic works loans debt (PWLB) to take on a skilled workers' wage ment and their political repre- 10,000 people had lost their same workers will be expected and an end to all forms of pri- and their economic, strate- And that is because ulti- of the region relies have been be scrapped. In the Highlands if elected as an MSP, donating sentatives have proven lives in Covid-related deaths in to pay the price, in many cases vatisation. We must end the gic and geopolitical inter- mately the SNP leaders sup- shut down, making thousands alone, where the current the rest back to trade union incapable of protecting the Scotland. Across the UK that through job losses, pay cuts socialist recovery scandal of rising levels of ests. port capitalism. They wish redundant or at risk of redun- PWLB debt stands at £700 mil- and socialist movement. population from the catastro- figure is well over 120,000. and attacks on working condi- lion, this policy would free up phe of the pandemic. That puts both Scotland and tions. Scottish TUSC demands The knock-on impact on to maintain that system in dancy. Socialist Party Scotland en- tens of millions of pounds per Failure to act quickly the UK among the very worst a recovery from Covid in the Northern Ireland and Wales an independent Scotland as In a survey of the region car- visage a different future for the annum to allow the council to enough as the virus ap- levels of fatalities per head of interests of the working-class would be dramatic. For their 2018 growth commis- ried out by the Federation of region based on a socialist re- reverse cuts, reduce rates, Have you got some news for us? proached was magnified by a the population in the world. majority, not the greedy these reasons the capitalist sion report made clear. Small Businesses, almost half covery for the working class. build more council homes and complete lack of resources for Working-class communities bosses and the billionaire elite class, including the Labour It is very likely that there of respondents said that they That’s why we will be standing improve infrastructure. The paper of Socialist Party Scotland testing and contact tracing, have seen a death rate at more who are even richer than they leadership under Keir will be a big majority of pro- feared their business would as part of the Trade Unionist PPE and the funds needed for than double the average - were at the start of the pan- Starmer, will oppose tooth indyref2 MSPs elected in not re-open, risking further and Socialist Coalition E-mail: [email protected] the health emergency at the many of them were workers demic. and nail conceding an in- May. However, a parliamen- jobs. Several big name stores (TUSC) in the upcoming Holy- Website: www.socialistpartyscot- start of the crisis. forced to operate in unsafe It’s a scandal that the 10 dyref2, probably while offer- tary majority will not be are to close in the Eastgate rood elections. GLASGOW Not only the woeful Boris conditions without proper richest billionaires have in- ing to concede more powers enough to force the Tories to shopping centre and Inver- In addition to the fight for land.org.uk Johnson Westminster govern- protection. Health, care work- creased their wealth by $580 to Scotland as a trade-off. retreat. ness Retail Park, such as an independent socialist Scot- Editor: Philip Stott BRIAN SMITH, a leading ment but also the SNP Scottish ers and frontline staff in gen- billion in the last year - enough The only power capable of A mass working-class Debenhams and Arcadia land, in the Highlands we will Glasgow trade unionist, will government are complicit. As eral have fought heroically to vaccinate every human overcoming the entrenched movement is essential, group owned stores like Top- campaign for our region to be head up the Glasgow regional they are over care home throughout. Yet years of un- being in the world and still opposition of British and in- armed with socialist policies shop, Topman and Burton. the centre of the fight against list of socialist candidates for deaths and the fixation with derfunding for NHS, care and have enough left over to begin ternational capitalism to not just for the right to de- Other industries are using climate change, given the Join Socialist Party Scotland the May 6 Holyrood election. forcing schools back full time public services have left them tackling inequality. The bil- self-determination for Scot- cide our relationship with the pandemic as an excuse to wealth of renewable resources Brian is the secretary of in the late summer of 2020 fighting with too few staff and lionaire elite across the world land is the mobilisation of the rest of the UK, but also to attack jobs and terms and in the region. VISIT www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk click on Glasgow City Unison which with no social distancing too little resources. now hold a colossal $12 trillion the working class in a mass fight to end poverty, in- conditions of workers. Lifes- This fight would include has a proud record of fighting JOIN or MORE INFO which gave the virus further As usual it was workers who in their collective bank ac- movement for democratic equality, racism and ex- can, the Highlands’ biggest taking into public ownership for its members and the wider EMAIL [email protected] opportunity to spread in the proved essential during the counts. In contrast, by the end rights. ploitation. private employer, have made vital facilities such as the Nigg working class in the city. Brian, autumn and winter period. crisis, whether that was deliv- of 2021 there will be 500 mil- That would involve not That means a fight for an around 10% of their workforce and Arnish fabrication yards TEXT your name and postcode 07761 818 206 as well as defending workers' The colossal death toll from ering care, working in public lion more people living in only mass demonstrations independent socialist Scot- redundant. under democratic workers’ rights, has also played a key FACEBOOK Socialist Party Scotland Covid is heartbreaking - but it services, retail, transport, de- poverty than at the start of the for the right to indyref2 but land. Global Energy Group, own- control and management, to role in community campaigns TWITTER @cwiscot was also unnecessary. As of livery and logistics and in Covid crisis. ers of the Nigg fabrication yard guarantee well paid, sustain- 8 thesocialist www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 thesocialist 9 election manifesto election manifesto

NO TO RACISM, OPPRESSION AND DISCRIMINATION ● Black Lives Matter - Oppose racism, Islamophobia, anti-semi- tism and all forms of discrimination. Opposition to the far right A MANIfESTO fOr SOCIALIST CHANGE and fascism. Defend the right to asylum, repeal the 2014 Immi- gration Act and all racist immigration controls Scotland is no exception to the economy, the environment, ● Build a mass, united struggle of workers and young people that global inequality scandal. or the future for young people. WHO ARE WE? against racism and capitalism - For jobs, homes and a living Here, the top 1% of the popula- Scottish TUSC is standing to wage for all tion have more wealth than the offer those alternatives, but also Scottish TUSC is a coalition ● No to sexism and all forms of gender oppression. Ensure poorest 50% of society. to call for the building of a new formed in 2010 of trade union- women have genuinely equal rights, pay and income. End the ists, community campaigners Poverty is on the increase mass working-class party in cuts and closures of women’s services in Scotland. Defend a and socialists, including as affil- while health inequalities are at Scotland. women's right to choose record levels. The explosion in The trade unions in Scotland, iated organisations both Social- ist Party Scotland and the RMT ● No to all forms of homophobia and transphobia - Full equal- food banks in Scotland is accel- with over 500,000 members, ity and rights for LGBT+ people erating and the drug death should lead and call a confer- trade union. scandal goes from awful to dis- ence to discuss building a new We will be standing candi- ● Scrap Police Scotland. For full democratic control of the po- astrous. workers’ party that will oppose dates on a number of regional lice at a local level. No to further anti-working class repressive Never have socialist policies all cuts and all attempts to make lists, including Glasgow, High- laws and powers land and West Scotland and in been more important. Policies us pay for the economic crisis. ● End the scandal of blacklisting. Full compensation for all some parliamentary con- to redistribute wealth, to invest We need politicians who will workers who have suffered in the past and now in job creation, housing, health stand and fight any and all new stituencies such as Dundee and ● For the right to vote at 16 in all elections and public services, a living efforts to cut public spending - Aberdeen. minimum wage, to bring the in other words austerity. It’s long Scottish TUSC candidates will stand for election pledging to main sectors of the economy past time that councillors and NO TO WAR STOP ATTACKS ON into public ownership, for so- MSPs refused to implement live on the average wage of a cialist change to end the climate Tory cuts. skilled worker. This is our core ● No to imperialist wars DISABLED PEOPLE manifesto setting out some of and occupations - Fight for catastrophe. That they stop being the main ● Promote policies to en- our key policies. Individual a socialist world to end con- None of the main parties in delivery mechanism for the sys- able disabled people to par- this election are prepared to tematic destruction of the jobs, Scottish TUSC candidates can flict and oppression add to these policies ticipate in, and have equal take the decisive measures incomes and services l that mil- ● Scrap Trident. No more Many of the our policies are access to, education, em- against capitalism that are es- lions of us rely on. Neither the spending on a new genera- covered under the current re- ployment, housing, trans- sential. SNP nor Scottish Labour have tion of nuclear weapons and sponsibilities of Holyrood and port and welfare provision That recovery from Covid proven themselves capable of huge aircraft carriers. Con- local councils in Scotland. In ● Ensure disabled people must be based on a clear policy being up to that task. vert arms spending to create some cases they would require receive a level of income ac- that makes the rich and big That’s why we need a new jobs, public services and so- to be implemented by a socialist cording to needs. Equal pay business pay - the capitalist elite party based on the trade unions cially useful products whose stewardship of society and the independence move- government in an independent for equal work has been shown to be so harm- ment to offer that fighting alter- Scotland or using the current ful. Whether that is over Covid, native. powers at Westminster. AN INDEPENDENT SOCIALIST SCOTLAND A LIVING WAGE AND TRADE UNION RIGHTS A DECENT INCOME FOR ALL TAX THE RICH ● March, Strike and Occupy for Indyref2 - Build a mass work- ● Repeal all anti-trade union laws. For councils and the Scottish ● A living income that covers the cost of living – reverse all cuts ● Tax the rich. For a Scottish ing-class and trade union-led campaign to defy the Tories government to refuse to implement all aspects of the Tories’ to benefits and end child poverty government that uses its ● anti-trade union laws. No to attacks on facility time, defend the Scottish government must organise the indyref if Boris John- ● For the Scottish government to use its powers to mitigate the new powers to raise the A SOCIALIST RECOVERY FROM THE COVID CRISIS right to collect subs by check-off, a simple majority for strike son or the UK Supreme Court refuses a section 30 order Tory welfare cuts and to top up benefits highest rate of tax to 90% for ballots and no prosecution of trade unionists under any aspect ● No return to austerity - Scottish government ● Bring oil, gas, banks, major industry, retail and services into ● For an immediate increase of 50% in the state pension as a those who earn more than of the trade union laws and Scottish local authorities must refuse to democratic public ownership under workers’ control and man- step to a living pension. Campaign for the restoration of the pre- £150,000 a year (TUSC be- pass on cuts from Westminster and instead use agement in an independent socialist Scotland. Plan the econ- ● For an immediate increase of the minimum wage to £12 an Thatcher real value of pensions. Reinstate the link with average lieves this tax band should their powers to set no cuts budgets that defend omy for working-class need instead of bosses’ greed hour as a step to a £15 an hour living wage and for it to then rise earnings be changed to kick-in at jobs and public services in Scotland in line with inflation or wages, whichever is higher. No exemp- ● Build a united struggle of working-class people across Scot- ● Scottish government to use devolved powers over benefits to £90,000) ● Trade unions should actively seek to build a tions land, England, Wales and Ireland for a free and voluntary so- give a mitigation payment, non-means tested, of £137.60 a week ● For Scotland to have full mass campaign of opposition to all cuts. De- ● Cut the working week to a maximum of 35 hours with no loss cialist confederation to those women born in the 1950s/60s who have been denied range of tax raising powers mand a return of the around £3 billion stolen of pay ● No to rejoining the bosses’ EU - Fight for a socialist Europe their pension which would allow a Scot- from public services in Scotland over the last for workers and young people ● Scrap zero-hour contracts. Guaranteed hours and full em- ● For the abolition of the increases imposed on state retirement tish government to tackle is- decade to allow for the full funding of services ployment rights for all age, creating jobs for younger people sues such as social and to reverse the effects of austerity ● Invest to create and protect jobs, including for young people ● Scrap benefit sanctions. Scottish government to provide 100% deprivation and poverty and ● No to rent and council tax increases FREE EDUCATION, QUALITY SERVICES AND ● Solidarity with workers taking action to defend jobs, condi- mitigation of those who are sanctioned provide increased funding ● Cancel historic local authority debt to free up AFFORDABLE HOUSING tions, pensions, public services and trade unions for the NHS, education etc. money for urgent investment ● For the Scottish government to ensure a fully-funded, high- ● Scrap the council tax. Re- ● For an immediate 15% pay rise for NHS and quality, free National Health Service under democratic public SOCIALIST CHANGE TO END CLIMATE place it with a new gradu- care workers. Raise the minimum wage in these ownership and control - For a qualitative expansion in mental END PRIVATISATION CATASTROPHE ated wealth tax based on sectors to £15 an hour health services to meet demand ability to pay (calculated by ● End all privatisation, including the Private Finance Initiative ● Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions - otherwise climate income) that will exempt all ● Scottish government and councils must meet ● Nationalise the pharmaceutical companies under demo- (PFI), Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and Non-Profit Distrib- change, caused by capitalism, will destroy the planet those on low incomes. the pay increase demands of trade unions for cratic control uting model (NPD). For real public investment into schools, all public sector workers ● Invest in publicly owned and controlled renewable energy ● For urgent investment into health and rehabilitation services hospitals and community facilities ● Bring North Sea oil and gas into public ownership to allow the ● Build coordinated strike action across the ● Bring into public ownership under demo- to help reduce the drug deaths scandal. Legislate to allow for ● Bring privatised public services and utilities back into public SOCIALISM sustainable transition to alternative forms of energy under public and private sector for a workers’ recovery cratic working-class control any company the implementation of harm reduction measures for people ownership under democratic control workers’ control. Guaranteed work with no job losses or loss of ● Bring into democratic from the Covid crisis threatening major job losses or closures with addiction issues ● Cancellation/Renegotiation/buy-out on terms set by the pay for all workers moving from fossil fuel production public ownership the major ● Increase the minimum wage immediately to ● For a massive public programme of job cre- ● For the Scottish Parliament and councils to ensure the build- Scottish parliament of all current PFI/PPP/NPD schemes to ● All major renewable energy projects to be under public own- companies and banks that £12 an hour and build a mass trade union-led ation paid for by an emergency wealth tax to ing of 100,000 high-standard, eco-friendly, affordable council help free up billions for public investment dominate the economy, so campaign for a £15 an hour minimum wage for seize some of the uninvested profits of big busi- ership and workers’ control and social rented homes over the next five years ● Bring Royal Mail and all privatised gas and electricity compa- that production and serv- all ness and the billionaire elite ● Move to sustainable, low-pollution industry and farming - ● Scottish government must scrap all student debt and intro- nies into public ownership ices can be planned on a so- ● Nationalise the care sector now - End the ● Build a new mass workers’ party in Scotland stop the pollution that is destroying our environment cialist basis to meet the duce a living grant for all ● Public ownership of all rail, bus and ferry services to build an profiteering - For national trade union agree- to fight for socialist change ● Produce for need, not profit, and design goods for reuse and needs of all and to protect ● Suspend evictions for debt and introduce rent controls now integrated, low-pollution public transport system. ment on pay and conditions for all care workers recycling and oppose all forms of fracking to end profiteering by rip-off landlords the environment 10 thesocialist www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 thesocialist 11 youth and students trade union news

Build council homes Support Socialist policies to - rent controls now! Bring care into the gas end the jobs crisis public ownership engineers

By a Scottish care home nurse and Unison member

THE COVID crisis has ex- posed social care to unprece- dented challenges and the limits of private ownership of care services have been clear. Over 40,000 residents have courses online from home was British Gas workers on strike. William Campbell, Dundee died of COVID-19 across the only given after the deadline care home sector. Photo Iain Dalton to book their accommodation A major public health emer- AROUND 7,000 British Gas SCOTLAND FACES a hous- on campus had past. gency was left for private engineers, members of the ing crisis, with an estimated From private to public, providers to manage. The To- GMB trade union, are contin- 23,000 new homes needed to housing in Scotland has mor- ries have long been commit- uing their strike action be- be built to keep up with de- phed into a far bigger crisis ted to the privatisation of cause the company bosses mand. that will have devastating con- essential services worsening have refused to withdraw their The Scottish government sequences for workers and the impact of the pandemic. 'fire and rehire' contract which have put forward no plans to young people long after the The Scottish government would leave workers on worse ramp up the rate of new lockdown and social distanc- discharged untested patients pay and conditions. The engi- homes being built. The profit ing measures have been lifted. from NHS care into care neers remain determined to motive of private housing We highlight historical exam- homes at an alarming rate defeat the plans of this prof- continues to entrap workers ples of how a socialist pro- during the first wave and Privatised NHS workers employed by Care UK in Doncaster striking against cuts, photo Paul itable company, as reflected in and young in often poor hous- gram in a local council could deaths followed. Mattsson the nearly four weeks of com- Oisin Duncan, Glasgow ing at high rents. not only alleviate the fierce The biggest private provider bined strike action. WE DEMAND: Living Rent Scotland's own conditions workers face under of care home services in the the rising costs of the pan- sale to be brought under local the Tories show that the praise YOUNG WORKERS are ❐ An immediate £12 an hour minimum wage as a step to £15 research showed a 7.3% in- an economic crisis but lift UK, HC One, has announced it demic. This, allied with the authority control with central given to the workforce bearing the brunt of the jobs an hour crease in rent across Scotland workers and young people out will be selling 52 homes and drop in occupancy rates, government funding the tran- through Clap for Carers is one slaughter. Youth unemploy- ❐ A ban on zero-hours contracts. End casualisation and pre- since the start of the coron- of poverty. closing 4, this represents 1 in 6 means increased costs limit sition costs. It is clear we need thing but true improvement in ment across all of the UK sits carious work! avirus pandemic. Even in Like that of the Liverpool of the homes in its portfolio. profits for the private a fully funded public owned the pay of so called essential reinstate at 14.1%. ❐ A jobs and training scheme with guaranteed employment council-controlled housing, city council in the 1980s, led at HC One have called the move providers. national care service. workers quite another. The Furthermore, the number of or further training opportunities afterwards. rent rates have increased be- the time by the Labour party inevitable given changes in When HC One sold its home Care home staff in the trade unions must demand unemployment benefit ❐ No more fire and rehire! End the discarding of trade union- yond the threshold of many by members of the Militant care anticipated before the on Skye to NHS Highlands and homes affected face an uncer- Declan claimants aged 16-24 more negotiated contracts and let’s fight for a socialist recovery to working family’s budgets with Tendency. pandemic. Islands, that meant the poten- tain future at a time of extraor- ● Democratic public owner- than doubled compared to last the pandemic crisis. a sharp rise in rent arrears of Scottish TUSC stands for a However, it is clear that this tial reintegration of social care dinary challenge, public ship of the care sector with na- year (120% increase). ❐ Apprentices and student nurses taken on to meet labour 15% according to Scottish progressive tax system that re- announcement is driven by as a public service. empathy for care staff is at an tional pay and terms and Clune Across Scotland and the rest shortages should be employed on trade union conditions and Housing Regulator (SHR) with trieves the wealth many of the the the drop in profits for care The announcement that HC all time high. conditions for staff of the UK, employers are at- rates of pay; we will not be used to drive down wages! total rent arrears in Scotland mega-landlords and bosses in home providers. HC One is One is to sell off and transfer Yet in both the private and ● Trade union rights for all totalling £100 million. Scotland have been able to tempting to lay off workers, owned by an offshore com- care homes during a public public sector the brutal reality workers from day 1 Sue Atkins using the pandemic as an ex- Scottish TUSC are calling peel from both the treasury pany based in the Cayman Is- health crisis shows how bro- is that staff are taken for ● A 15% pay rise for care “scarring” impacts of unem- stand for a publicly-owned, president, Southampton cuse, and then rehiring them for rent controls and that and from workers, millions of lands and councils across the ken the system is. granted, even expendable. workers and a minimum wage ployment. democratically-controlled Trades Council on worse conditions and lower housing should be treated as a whom still have had to work UK will not be increasing fees Not for nothing the GMB is The national pay settlement of £15 an hour across the sec- Even worse is the SNP’s re- economy which could meet rates of pay (see more example social service like that of the throughout this pandemic. for residents next year to offset calling for the 52 homes on for NHS staff of 1% offered by tor peated flat refusals to use the everyone’s needs with a social- of this with British Gas and NHS. For a mass council hous- Taxation alone will not solve DECLAN CLUNE, secretary tax and borrowing powers al- ist plan for production. Scottish. Gas and the electri- ing projects to fully match de- the crisis Scotland faces. That of the Southampton District located to the Scottish Gov- There is a way out of unem- cians on page 11). mand for housing. requires mass nationalisation Bus and Coach branch of the ernment; this has contributed ployment, falling wages and All of these developments Students across Scotland’s and a democratically con- RMT and a Socialist Party to such disastrous decision- deteriorating conditions if point to the real nature of the many universities have strug- trolled economy run by the member, was sacked on 26 making as investing £52 mil- working people, and espe- Electricians fight back against deskilling bosses ‘upgrades’ to the economy gled with university manage- majority of society, the work- February by Bluestar Bus lion in three BiFab steel cially young workers, come to- which Boris Johnson has ment who have sought to ing class. company, on the spurious fabrication yards, only for a gether to form an alternative tastic victory and shows what same ferocious struggle of well as defend living stan- blathered on about; its an up- continue to collect fees and Support Scottish TUSC in Rob Williams grounds of "bringing the com- private firm to sweep in and political voice and campaign is possible when a fighting protests and walkouts that de- dards. Unite general secretary grade to the profits and exor- rent. This is despite growing the upcoming 2021 May Scot- pany into disrepute". His buy the yards at a bargain for improving the lives of ordi- lead is given. feated the bosses then. Len McCluskey said: "Unite bitant lifestyles of CEOs, demands to reverse the tish Parliament elections. Here RANK-AND-FILE construc- crime? In line with health and price. nary people, not increasing But the Unite Electrical and Two of the Besna compa- defeated the Besna agreement politicians and the rest of the charges. is an excerpt of Scottish tion electricians launched safety regulations, as branch Wedded to the free market the profits for billionaire Mechanical Combine has nies, NG Baileys and Balfour then and we will defeat this fat-cat ruling class, a down- A rent strike committee has TUSC’s manifesto on housing their fight against deskilling at secretary he reported a bus and to big business as Stur- bosses! ❐ promised that the fight goes Beatty, are now at the forefront latest attempt to deskill elec- grade to the jobs, pay and liv- set up at the University of For the Scottish Parliament the £22.5 billion Hinkley Point collision with a railway bridge geon and the SNP are, they That is why we are partici- on until the bosses "cease of the latest dispute. tricians. ing standards of the working Dundee, part of a wider wave and councils to ensure the nuclear power station with a that the company denies. can see no economic solutions pating in the Trade Unionist their systematic attack on the The electricians are deter- The sparks are determined class. of students across the UK who building of 100,000 high stan- number of Wednesday early We demand the full rein- other than whatever dodgy and Socialist Coalition skill set of electricians and mined that the same old story that any suspension of train- Yet this isn’t just Westmin- are demanding the return of dard, eco-friendly, affordable morning protests, including in statement of Declan to his job deal individual capitalists are (TUSC), the only 100% anti- other trades immediately and of making workers pay for the ing has to be permanently ster’s problem: the SNP-led rents spent on accommoda- council, and social rented Scotland as a bus driver and are build- willing to offer them. austerity and pro-indepen- forever." bosses' profits by using ended and, the promise of 500 Scottish Government have sat tion and the cancelling of fess homes over the next five years. Socialist Party Scotland ing support from the labour Socialist Party Scotland and dence voice in Scotland. The protests sent a clear deskilling to attack wages and electrical apprenticeships be on their hands time and again and debt. Students pointed ❐ Scottish government must members have been out sup- movement - an injury to one is our Young Workers’ Rights We believe that building a message to the electrical con- terms and conditions must be honoured at Hinkley. when workers needed help. out that universities had in- scrap all student debt and in- porting these workers. an injury to all. Campaign propose a socialist platform for socialist ideas is tractors that an attempt to defeated. The fight continues, with Despite releasing a report sisted that it would be safe to troduce a living grant for all. It appears that a training Please send messages of alternative to the selfish, the only way to ensure that the deskill the trade, and thereby This pandemic has deci- weekly protests at NG Baileys on the necessity of a jobs guar- return to university last ❐ Suspend evictions for debt course for 'electrical support support to southamp- greedy and short-sighted ap- recovery from the pandemic is attack pay, terms and condi- sively shown that militant and Balfour Beatty sites and antee scheme last summer, September and that face to and introduce rent control operatives' has now been sus- [email protected] Donate to proach of capitalist politicians a genuine recovery for the tions, as they tried to do a union organisation on the will escalate up to and includ- nothing has been done to pro- face teaching would continue. now to end profiteering by rip pended. Declan's campaign at like Sturgeon and Johnson; we working class. decade ago in the Besna dis- sites is the only way to ensure ing strike action until this at- tect young workers from the The option to complete their off landlords! This is undoubtedly a fan- https://bit.ly/3kD6Pq9 pute, will be met with the workers' health and safety as tack is defeated. 12 thesocialist www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 thesocialist 13 UK news news

'Casino capitalism' - heading for a crash? Tory budget will

Robin Clapp turnover on the world’s foreign ‘miners’ who use high-pow- currency exchanges is almost ered computers to verify Socialist Party England and one hundred times the value transactions, with bitcoin of- Wales bring more misery of commodities being traded. fered as the reward. Its price has skyrocketed to flation, the Tories and majority ACROSS THE globe, at least over $50,000 in the last days, of the British ruling class are 2.4 million people have now ‘Weapons of mass as investors pour into the cautious about the political died from contracting Covid- financial destruc- market trying to ‘earn’ easy consequences of this level of 19. Livelihoods have been money. Nouriel Roubini, a state intervention being seen wrecked and economies have tion’ professor of economics who as permanent and are prepar- crashed, with the world econ- forecast the 2007 financial ing future attacks on the con- omy shrinking by over 4% and Borrowing and debt con- crash, has warned that the ditions and income of the UK suffering a fall in the tinue to plaster over the deep bubble will eventually burst, workers. gross domestic product (GDP structural problems of global witheringly saying the Flint- A section of the capitalist – total economic output) of capitalism. QE money has stones had a more stable class is also unwilling to wait 9.9% in 2020, the steepest col- largely ended up in the pock- monetary system when they forever for Johnson’s post lapse in over 300 years. ets of traders, hedge funds and exchanged shells! Brexit promise of a “Singapore Yet for the self-proclaimed companies that see little pur- But siren voices, led by Tesla on Thames” low tax haven. financial wizards, the pan- pose in investing in produc- boss Elon Musk, briefly the The level of investment and demic has provided rich pick- tive capital when vast paper world’s richest capitalist and raised taxes also has to be seen ings. Wealth inequality has profits can apparently be con- certainly one of the system’s in the context of the vast widened further as the asset- jured out of thin air through most arrogant, have talked up Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak Photo: Andrew Parsons,10 Downing wealth inequality in society driven boom in shares, hous- speculative dabbling in the its price by calling it the mon- Street/CC and the scale of profiteering ing and crypto-currencies has casino that now masquerades etary system of the future. Its during the crisis. seen the super-rich enjoy huge as modern capitalism. evangels ignore its wildly un- and unemployment peaks – The day before the budget, surges in paper profits. Revolutionary socialist Karl predictable price swings and Matt Dobson reports will pull 500,000 people in- billionaire hedge fund specu- There continues to be an ex- Marx long ago explained that its minimal utility in being cluding 200,000 children into lator and former boss of the traordinary expansion in new capital (surplus value) able to perform only five IN THE aftermath of the poverty as we head into win- current chancellor, Sir major stock markets as asset can only be produced through transactions per second, com- world economic crash a ter. The Resolution Founda- Christopher Hohn, paid him- prices soar. After the financial exploiting workers’ labour- pared to the visa network decade ago, Con Dem Chan- tion’s analysis of the budget self a dividend of £345 million, crash and global recession of power and producing com- which executes 24,000 per cellor Osbourne stated “we are revealed that: “The real earn- one of the largest-ever annual 2007-2009, it took several modities for exchange. second. A staggering amount all in this together” attempting ings of UK workers will fall this personal payouts in the UK. years for stock markets to re- Capitalism’s historic purpose of energy is consumed by bit- to invoke national unity, while year and remain stagnant after British Airways, for exam- cover lost ground. Yet, pro- was to then plough back into coin computer mining, now implementing the most vi- that even as the economy re- ple, is sitting on billions of pelled by historically production a proportion of equivalent to the total annual cious neoliberal austerity covers from the coronavirus pounds of reserves but has low-interest rates and the that surplus value as invest- energy usage of Japan. Any package on the working class pandemic. used the crisis to fire 42,000 prodigious sums of central ment capital, thus increasing rigorous carbon tax applied to since Geddes in the 1920s. Incomes will lag behind in- workers and rehire them on bank generated income productivity growth. bitcoin would wipe out this It is not all that long ago that flation during 2021-22 – permanently reduced wages. Now, however, whole sec- pumped into economies Boris Johnson could be removed as prime minister frothy speculative mania. the current Tory Chancellor meaning living standards will Even after Sunak’s increase, through Quantitative Easing tions of the capitalist class pre- Rishi Sunak was using his drop – and will only rise by an British corporation tax will still (QE), an unrelenting search fer to transform themselves speeches on the commons average of 0.3% annually over be the lowest in the G7. dominant role. Over 90% of fi- while the sun shone. mortgage securities. That’s algorithm models, Marx nev- socialism for yield (profit) has seen the into speculators. Hence the in- benches to openly mock the the course of the next four Socialist Party Scotland pro- nancial transactions through The notional value of all equivalent to permitting sev- ertheless well understood that price of stocks rocket upwards, creased movement of even “works of fantasy” proposals years.” pose an immediate windfall the electronic stock exchanges derivatives reached $863 tril- eral separate parties to buy in- speculation, like poverty, is Only the tech giants – bearing no link to increased sections of traditional indus- of previous left Labour chan- tax on the hundreds of billions no longer have the remotest lion in 2006 – eleven times surance on the same house! woven into the very warp and Apple, Amazon, Facebook, real values expressed by GDP trial capital into shady and cellor John McDonnell’s pol- hoarded by big business bearing on real commodity ex- greater than real-world capi- The notorious act of ‘short- weft of capitalism. Google and Netflix – have re- growth. opaque get-rich-quick scams, icy, to stagger a rise in cuts continue linked to a program of socialist change, ie, real value. talist output! When they selling’ where investors bor- ally prospered in the last year. Where once financial mar- rarely questioned by share- corporation tax of 25%. nationalisation under demo- These and other obscure fi- turned sour as the US housing row shares and immediately Capitalism generally is drown- kets were seen as places where holders as long as dividends However, Sunak’s March Deep cuts to council bud- cratic workers’ control of the nancial instruments, un- market collapsed, due to reck- sell them, hoping they can buy ing in debt with worldwide business and governments keep flowing. crypto-currencies 2021 budget announced an in- gets will also continue. There main levers of the economy. known in Marx’s day, were less lending by banks to work- again later at a lower price, re- public, private and consumer could raise capital for produc- More companies are priced crease of corporation tax to is no extra funding and there SNP Westminster leader Ian famously condemned by US ers who could not afford their turn them to the lender and The fabled ‘animal spirits’ of debt already exceeding $199 tive investment, now debt-fu- today at more than 100 times 25% from April 2023 - the first will be pay freezes in the NHS, Blackford continued to ver- billionaire Warren Buffet who mortgage repayments (the pocket the difference, is typi- the hedge funds and assorted trillion by 2016. The emer- elled finance drives markets their earnings than at any pre- rise since 1974. The budget social care and the public sec- bally rage against Tory auster- charged derivatives with being sub-prime housing crisis), cal of the disease of greed that entrepreneurial bandits know gency governmental bailouts further into the stratosphere, vious point in history, leading also included the continua- tor. Mass anger is building ity, but it is clear the Scottish ‘weapons of mass financial de- these ‘credit slips’ held by a pervades the City of London no limits. The world’s top 15 of the last year have added in- providing speculators with veteran investor Jeremy tion of the job retention (fur- over the 1% pay rise an- government has no fighting struction’ that triggered the myriad of institutions around and elsewhere. private hedge fund managers numerable noughts to this es- new gambling opportunities, Grantham to warn in January lough) scheme until nounced by the Tories for NHS strategy and will continue to 2007 US sub-prime housing the world became instantly An alphabet soup of new raked in $23.2 billion last year calating ledger. but also dangerous fuel for an- that “The long, long bull mar- September, albeit with in- workers. pass on Tory attacks. meltdown. toxic, unleashing a contagion asset-backed securities are through investing aggressively Meanwhile, capitalists with- other potential financial Ar- ket since 2009 has finally ma- creased employer contribu- The Tories have to recognise Why not launch a mass po- that penetrated into the real constantly being marketed, and using derivatives and hold investment in productive mageddon. tured into a fully-fledged epic tions this summer. Plus the the “acute” damage of the cri- litical struggle to force the To- economy triggering the ‘Great such is the absurd and wholly leverage to make money for fields, preferring to hoard Multitudes of financial bub- bubble.” This era is charac- unproductive extension of the extra univer- sis on the economy. The UK ries into a u turn by setting a Recession’ of 2008-2009. unproductive merry-go-round their millionaire clients. their profits while instead bles endanger the world econ- terised by unprecedented sal credit payment for six economy shrank by 9.9% in no cuts budget utilising the fi- Derivatives were largely un- that is finance capital today. New forms of speculation reaping short-term easy gains omy, combining to create a growth in what Marx called While many workers may months. 2020, the biggest fall since the nancial powers of the de- regulated before 2007. The These barely contribute a frac- emerge like weeds, such as the from what they see as the ‘al- cocktail of risk expressed ‘fictitious capital’. scratch their heads and ask In total, over £400 billion Great Frost Crisis of the 18th volved parliament and credit rating agencies, nomi- tion of real value to the world rise of crypto-currencies. ways a winner’ virtual magic through inflated share prices, This traditionally included how derivatives, collateralised has been spent by the Tories in century, 700,000 have lost demanding a return of the nally independent but in hock economy but load up more These digital currencies per- roulette wheel. foreign currency speculations, stocks, shares and other forms debt obligations (CDOs) and economic support measures their jobs. Sunak admitted the three billion stolen from Scot- to finance capitalism, failed to and more explosive under the form none of the functions Tomorrow, however, this emerging markets mayhem, of financial security, but today Credit-Default Swaps work, it’s since the pandemic started. UK economy will have perma- land by Tory cuts? distinguish between good in- foundations of capitalism. that Marx attributed to turbo-charged speculative commodities, junk bonds and is dominated by increasingly sobering to learn that prior to However, effectively an- nently lost 3% in GDP as a re- Such an approach could be vestments and dodgy ones. Marx wryly commented that money. Bitcoin and others are model will bring only further parasitic debt-purchased complex electronic financial 2007 a proper understanding nounced an end to state sup- sult of Covid, which it won’t linked to a mass struggle mo- Credit Default Swaps, which “Business is always thoroughly neither a universal equivalent, chaos, as bubbles burst, a new company takeovers. products such as derivatives, of CDOs -which are structured port and a return to austerity get back. bilising the workers move- are supposed to act as insur- sound and the campaign in a medium of exchange, a unit downturn strikes, and the un- The IMF warns that 40% of securitised assets and foreign bundles of sliced-up IOUs from September. Currently the Tories, with ment to demand the ance policies, a hedge against full swing, until the collapse of account, nor a reliable store derlying structural weak- corporate debt in eight major currency-held mortgages. made available to investors by As the Joseph Rowentree interest and borrowing rates democratic right to indyref2. risk that investors buy to pro- suddenly overcomes them”, of value. Reliant on nesses of capitalism are laid capitalist countries would be Paper money and cheque banks – would have required Foundation pointed out: “The internationally being low have Only Socialist Party Scotland tect themselves should a com- words the capitalists would be ‘blockchain’ technology, bare. Only the international impossible to service in the money (money of account) reading 30,000 pages of docu- government’s decision to cut flexibility with borrowing and the Trade Unionist and pany default on its loans, well advised to ponder on which is a shared database of socialist transformation of so- event of another economic may still act as lubricants in mentation. Few capitalists un- universal credit and working (now up to 17% of GDP) but Socialist Coalition standing in routinely enabled speculators today. Though obviously unfa- transactions, the network is ciety can provide an antidote crash even half as serious as circulation, but increasingly derstood their destructive tax credit in six months – just this will not always be the the forthcoming elections to stack bets on the same miliar with computer-driven secured by individuals called to this market madness. that of 2008-2009, while daily fictitious capital plays the potential and fewer still cared as the furlough scheme ends case. As well as the risk of in- have such an approach. 14 thesocialist www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk - March/April 2021 thesocialist Scotland Scotland15 Build a mass movement for indyref2

Socialist Party Scotland roadmap. The document re- executive committee states the preferred position of the SNP, that they will request and receive a section 30 order The SNP-led Scottish gov- from Johnson after the elec- ernment’s latest road map to- tion. whatwe wards a second independence As they go on to state: “there referendum was unveiled in could be no moral or demo- February. Boris Johnson’s cratic justification for denying standfor Westminster government has that request. If the UK Govern- also launched a five step plan ment were to adopt such a po- Socialist Party Scotland fights for a socialist soci- to save the union. Battle lines sition its position would be ety, democratically run for the needs of all and New pamphlet available now are being drawn for a explo- unsustainable both at home not for the profits of the few. We oppose every cut sive collision on the national and abroad.” So far so much question in the coming the same. and austerity measure by fighting in the trade months. The tweak this time is that unions, communities, colleges and schools for The SNP’s road map illus- the say they intend to go every possible improvement in the lives of work- trates two things. Firstly, the ahead with a “legal referen- No to the return of tuition fees in enormous pressure that is ing class people. Organised, we, the working class dum” if one is refused by West- Scotland. Cancel the student debt and end building on the SNP leader- and the 99%, have the potential to change soci- minster. Leaving the Johnson the cuts in education funding. ship as a result of the growing government with the option of ety. Socialist Party Scotland is part of the Com- ● A socialist NHS to provide for everyone’s mood among the working delivering a section 30 agree- mittee for a Workers’ International (CWI), a health - free at the point of use and class and young people in ment or much more likely re- under democratic control. Kick out the favour of an independent fusing and going to the courts socialist organisation that organises in over 40 Scotland. to block a referendum if nec- countries. private contractors from all parts of the Sunday 24 January was the essary. www.socialistworld.net NHS. 20th consecutive poll in Scot- ● Keep council housing public. For a land showing majority sup- massive programme of publicly owned port for the break-up of the road map to work and income housing to provide good quality homes at UK. Among those aged 34 and where? ● For trade union action for an immediate low rents. under, a colossal 71% back in- £12 an hour minimum wage as a step to ● Fully fund all services and run them Secondly, the roadmap re- dependence. £15 an hour. No age exemptions. For an under accountable, democratic committees veals that little has changed in Moreover, the last few years annual increase in the minimum wage, that include representatives of workers have seen very large demon- the SNP’s own strategic think- Socialist Party Scotland members on a pro-independence demo in Edinburgh 2019 linked to average earnings. and service users. strations organised by the likes ing. To be clear, nowhere in the ● Reject Workfare; for the right to decent of All Under One Banner de- roadmap do the SNP say they ple, a new workers’ party with concede more powers to Scot- vide hostile opposition to the mass movement in Scot- England, Wales and Ireland rights benefits, training or a job without manding a second indyref. will hold a ‘wildcat’ or an ‘ille- fighting socialist policies. land as a trade off. But the SNP Scottish independence. They land was to adopt the idea of would take root. ● Oppose discrimination on the grounds of gal’ referendum if a section 30 compulsion. These have been outwith the They will seek to avoid this leadership’s entire strategy is fear such a development fighting for an independent The building of a new race, sex, disability, sexuality, age and all order is not forthcoming. at all costs, however. Either to rely only on their electoral would also add further to se- socialist Scotland based on mass workers’ party based ● A maximum 35-hour week without loss of control and influence of Stur- other forms of prejudice. geon and the SNP leadership. The capitalist courts, which way, the response from the To- mandate in May 2021 to use as cessionist movements in public ownership, an end to on the trade unions and the pay. ● Repeal laws that trample of civil liberties. Opposition to what has routinely are used by the ries et al will be to resist all op- a lever backed up by the Spain, Belgium, Italy and all forms of austerity and independence movement is ● All workers, including part-timers, temps, For the right to protest. End police been largely viewed as the bosses against trade union tions that could result in an bosses’ courts if necessary. across the continent. massive investment in hous- a vital step in ensuring the casual and migrant workers to have trade harassment. cautious and timid approach ballots, will be very unlikely to independent Scotland. The SNP’s deputy first min- The only power capable of ing, jobs and public services, struggle for self-determina- union rates of pay, employment ● of Sturgeon has also been re- rule in favour of an indepen- ister, John Swinney, under- overcoming the entrenched this would find fertile ground tion and socialism go hand in protection, sickness and holiday rights Defend abortion rights. For a women’s flected inside the SNP itself. dence referendum being legal lined the Scottish opposition of British and in- among tens of millions of hand. from the first day of employment. End right to choose when and whether to A number of dissident if Westminster has not given changed conditions government’s real position by ternational capitalism to self- workers in the rest of Britain Socialist Party Scotland zero-hour contracts. have children. voices were elected in ballots its agreement. stating: “What the proposals determination for Scotland is who have suffered through and the Scottish Trade ● Scrap the anti-union laws. Build fighting ● For the right of asylum. No to racist last year to leading internal If the courts and/or the As Socialist Party Scotland that we have set out do is de- the mobilisation of the work- more than a decade of aus- Unionist and Socialist Coali- trade unions, democratically controlled by immigration laws. SNP committees. Growing de- Westminster government were has consistently explained this fine exactly how, on a legal ing class in a mass movement terity. tion will be standing on that their members. Full-time officials should is not 2014. Tory PM David A mass working class party mands for a Plan B should, as to rule that the SNP can’t or- basis, we can have a referen- for democratic rights. By making clear that the programme in the May elec- be regularly elected and receive no more Cameron agreed to a section seems inevitable, the Tories ganise a binding indepen- dum on independence – that That would involve not only struggle in Scotland is one tions. than a worker’s wage. ● For a mass workers’ party that draws 30 order because he was con- refuse a section 30 order for a dence referendum, Sturgeon is the Government’s preferred mass demonstrations for the not just for democracy but Our candidates will stand ● An immediate 50% increase in the state together workers, young people and may seek a ‘legal’ option, for fident they would win a major- option and that’s the strategy right to indyref2 but also also for the social and eco- on a pledge of living on a ‘legal’ referendum have piled retirement pension, as a step towards a activists to build a political alternative to example a referendum that ity for Scotland remaining in that we will pursue should we widespread and coordinated nomic emancipation of the workers’ wage, for public further pressure on the pro- living pension. Reinstate the link with the big business parties. capitalist leadership of the could be ‘advisory’ or worded the union. be successful in securing a strike action by trade unions oppressed working class ownership and socialist ● Trade unions should play a central role Today, in the context of an average earnings now. SNP. to request negotiations on the majority in favour of that and occupations of work- from capitalism, a united planning of the economy, for in helping to build a new workers’ party. In addition, the likely over- possible terms of indepen- economic crisis, the pandemic proposition in the elections in places, schools and colleges by movement for a voluntary a real recovery for the work- environment whelming majority for parties dence with Westminster but and majority support for inde- May.” workers and young people. socialist confederation of an ing-class majority from the socialism and internationalism falling short of declaring an in- pendence in Scotland, that ● Major research and investment into who support a second indyref As the BBC’s Scottish politi- Moreover, such a movement independent Scotland with Covid crisis. ● Tax the rich. For a socialist government dependent state. confidence has evaporated. cal reporter, Philip Sim, put it: would have to appeal to work- replacing fossil fuels with renewable in the May 2021 Scottish par- that takes the major companies in liamentary election will deto- It is likely that such a refer- The break-up of the UK, and She [Nicola Sturgeon] wants ers in England, Wales and Ire- energy. End the problems of early Scotland into public ownership Run them nate an explosive endum would be met with a it’s Scotland that is currently any new vote to be unim- land for their support for the Available now from Socialist obsolescence and unrecycled waste. under democratic working class control confrontation between the boycott campaign by the pro- the weakest link in that chain, peachable in its legitimacy, to right to decide Scotland’s con- Party Scotland ● Public ownership of the energy industry. union side as it was in the Cat- would be a catastrophe for the have international recognition stitutional future. No to nuclear power. No to Trident and management. Compensation should Scottish working class and the Scotland and the National capitalist establishment. This alonia referendum. ruling class and their eco- – particularly from the EU, ● A democratically planned, low fare, be paid only on the basis of proven need. Question - A Marxist Ap- ● will put the pro-capitalist SNP That is not to rule out that nomic, strategic and geopolit- which she would like to see publicly owned transport system, to For an independent socialist Scotland. A socialist policies proach leadership in a very difficult under pressure from a mass ical interests. The knock-on Scotland rejoin some day.” protect the environment. free and voluntary socialist federation of position. movement the SNP could be impact on Northern Ireland The pro-big business EU’s To do that effectively – and Click donate button at: Scotland with England Wales and Ireland. The roadmap is an attempt forced, against its instincts, and Wales would be dramatic. refusal to recognise the ‘illegal’ to cut across the concerted at- socialistpartyscotland.org.uk public services ● A democratic socialist, environmentally to head off demands from the into sanctioning a referendum For these reasons the capi- Catalonia independence refer- tempts to divide the working £8 or £10 solidarity price. ● Fight all cuts. No to privatisation. secure plan of production based on the talist class, including the independence movement for that was technically illegal. endum in 2017 looms large in class through, for example, Renationalise all privatised utilities and interests of the overwhelming majority. Labour leadership under Keir Email info@socialistpartyscot- extra-parliamentary struggle Particularly if they were in this equation. using English nationalism and services. ● No to the bosses European Union. For a Starmer, will oppose tooth and land.org.uk with the address and an ‘illegal’ referendum. danger of losing large sections Ultimately the main Euro- religious sectarianism by sec- ● Free, high quality education for all from socialist Europe and a socialist world free of their base of support among nail conceding an indyref2, pean powers, even with tions of the ruling class – a so- you want the book sent to. This pressure has, in part, nursery to university; with a living grant. from poverty. been reflected in the new the working class to, for exam- probably while offering to Britain out of the EU, will pro- cialist approach is essential. If Issue No 57 March/April 2021 price: £1 the Socialist solidarity price: £2 The Paper of Socialist Party Scotland - Committee for a Workers’ International www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk

NHS AND CARE WORKERS’ PAY INSULT STRIKE FOR

15ing for an immediate%was this? for fear of losing their Sean Robertson 15% pay rise and a £15 As a direct result of jobs or wages. NHS worker and Scot- per hour minimum wage austerity, the NHS did We call for fully pub- tish TUSC candidate for all NHS and care not have enough of even licly owned health and workers and for the Scot- basic equipment such as care sectors to end profi- tish government and masks and gowns. Worse, teering, and put the PAY RESTRAINT over councils to meet the pay low levels of pay meant needs of service users, ❐ the last decade has A 15% pay rise for increase demands of that our NHS was chron- communities and staff meant that health work- trade unions for all pub- ically understaffed, with first. ers have seen wage cuts NHS and care work- lic sector workers. thousands of nursing va- Capitalism, is a virus. amounting to 20%. It's essential that the cancies unfilled. The symptoms are Care workers are low trade unions across the In the care sector, the poverty, low wages, cuts ers and a minimum paid workers. Many are NHS and care sectors situation of a lack of ad- to services and job on less than the mini- launch a national cam- equate PPE was repli- losses. But we have the wage of £15 an hour mum wage when travel paign of industrial action cated. vaccine: workers’ unity. time and sleep overs are to win the pay rises we so Furthermore, many Together we can fight for included. desperately need. staff working in the pri- and win a better society, ❐ Trade unions build The paltry and insult- When the first lock- vate care sector were on socialism. A society ing 1% pay rise offered down was announced in zero hours contracts, or which values care and a national campaign by the Scottish govern- March 2020, the reason lacked access to protec- NHS workers over profit, ment to NHS workers given was that the NHS tions such as full sick pay and puts the needs of the shows they haven’t learnt of industrial action to was in danger of being which made it less likely 99% above the bank bal- the lessons of the past overwhelmed and would that they would take ances of the richest one year. win the fight be unable to cope with time off when they had percent. Vote Scottish Scottish TUSC is call- the rise in cases. Why symptoms of the virus, TUSC on May 6.