Manifesto Part One About the Scottish Socialist Party “Work As If You Live in the Early Days of a Better Nation” Alasdair Gray
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manifesto part one About the Scottish Socialist Party “Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation” Alasdair Gray e are the Scottish Socialists of life’, across the world people are and we fight in hope. We cut already dying as a result of climate against the grain of the politi- change caused by that same way of life. W cal consensus, refusing to We have only a very short time left to accept that ‘in the real world’, millions stop the Earth from burning because of must live in poverty for a few to live in the destructive waste of capitalism. unimaginable wealth, that weapons of Since the last Scottish Parliamentary mass destruction must be moored in the election in 2003, a brutal war has been Clyde to keep us safe from weapons of raging in Iraq, courtesy of the British mass destruction, that wars mean peace, and American governments. and that a diminishing democracy deliv- Hundreds of thousands of civilians ers us greater security. have lost their lives, and their society has We believe we can make a better been pounded to dust. nation, where every state school child FIGHTING FOR A eats a nutritious, free lunch every day of FUTURE: for a the working week; where pensioners world without receive a decent income with access to poverty, war and well-funded, free public services; where environmental families are housed in warm, secure destruction, for a homes near green spaces and schools world of peace, equality and justice and shops; where refugees are welcomed and given the right to work and make a new life here, to the benefit of us all; PHOTO: where war is an ugly memory; where Craig Maclean energy is sustainable and nationalised; BACK PAGE where we protect instead of destroy our PHOTO: Eddie Truman environment; and where expanded, fare- free and publicly-owned train, bus and ferry services link every community in Scotland, from the heart of Glasgow to the shores of the Outer Hebrides. But we meet you in a dark time. As the British government declares terrorism the greatest threat to ‘our way SSPManifesto2007 1 manifesto part one END OF THE EMPIRE: by pulling Scotland out of the union, we can drag ourselves out of Britain’s illegal wars and end the tyranny of Trident on our shores PHOTO: Simon Whittle The SSP opposed this war long before There is now a consistent trend it started. So too did the majority of towards pro-independence parties. Scot- Scots. land is calling time on the 300-year old Yet the lives of our troops, and billions Union – and for a myriad of reasons, of our tax money, continue to be squan- none of them to do with anti-English dered on this ugly misadventure, this last sentiment. gasp of a dying, discredited empire. We are calling time on a Union that It’s long since time we pulled out of drags us into illegal, immoral wars, from Iraq and handed sovereignty to its peo- Flanders fields to the white heat of Hel- ple. mand. In Scotland, we have no say over this. On a Union that ignores the call for Such is the illusion of devolution. nuclear disarmament and instead An independent Scotland would have dumps its world-shattering arsenal with- full control over its foreign policy and in miles of our biggest city. where and how it deploys its soldiers. On a Union that opens up a democrat- 2 SSPManifesto2007 manifesto part one ic deficit of such proportions that, no We seek an independent, Scottish matter who we vote for, we always get the socialist republic that functions, not as choice of Middle England. an island, but as a part of a living, breath- On a Union that offers tax breaks to ing network of humanity. corporations and the rich, while screw- A network that will recognise that we ing the poor and forcing them into low- are part of nature, rather than masters of wage, short-term, soulless, meaningless nature, and that will build a global soci- jobs. ety that lives within the limits of the We have nearly full employment, yet Earth’s ecosystem. are plumbing new depths of poverty and We seek to reach out to others in strug- all that it entails, even amongst working gle, from the Palestinians in Gaza to the families, from premature birth to pre- trade unionists in Colombia, the politi- mature death, through barely habitable cal prisoners of Burma to the benighted housing, cheap, over-processed, nutri- indigenous peoples of Australia. tion-free food, pollution, crime, isola- We fight in hope, and we work hard. tion and physical and mental illness. In 2003, we returned six MSPs to On a Union so obsessed with fixing it Holyrood; the biggest parliamentary for its corporate friends that we have breakthrough of any left wing socialist badly and inappropriately constructed party in the UK in a generation. schools and hospitals, built for double or We use that parliamentary representa- triple the cost through PFI, to keep us in tion to highlight grassroots campaigns - hoc for decades to come; infants suffer- for free school meals, the scrapping of pre- ing from middle-aged diseases that will scription charges, opposition to the illegal kill them, through the government’s invasion of Iraq. To highlight the plight of refusal to regulate the processed food low-income households, of children industry; generations sliding into growing up in a world of consumerism unimaginable, unpayable debt through and dense traffic and commodified edu- unregulated credit and finance compa- cation, of asylum seekers locked up in for- nies; cities, towns and villages gutted by mer prisons, of all who are left out in the out-of-town retail developments and the cold by the market system that puts a price unstoppable invasion of the big four on everything, yet values nothing. supermarket cartel; and a countryside We seek a We fight in hope, for people every- bulldozed over by developers and Scottish where. agribusiness, at the cost of our rural ways Our MSPs take only the workers’ wage, of life, our indigenous food culture and a socialist donating the rest to the party; we have solid husbandry of the land. republic no career politicians in our ranks. This is no way to live, and wrenching Our focus is always at street-level, our ourselves free of this dysfunctional rela- that aim being to build a mass movement to tionship will do us, and England, the functions, promote and develop the ideas of social- world of good. not as an ism. The bogus ‘British’ identity that To put the idea of real equality, real Labour politicians are currently strug- island, but social justice, back on the agenda. gling to articulate is nothing more than a as a part To make this a better world for the jingoistic relic of the past. In re-estab- upcoming generations and ensure that lishing our identity, as Scots, as socialists, of a living, the Earth is still in a fit state to support as members of an international commu- breathing them. nity that stretches from pole to pole, we Join us in the only war worth fighting enable the English, the Welsh and Irish network of – against poverty and greed, and for to do so too. humanity. humanity and peace. People, not profit. SSPManifesto2007 3 manifesto part two Our six flagship policies The SSP believes in telling the truth to the people. We do not pretend that we will form the next government of Scotland. But we can make a difference. n Scotland’s multi-coloured political politics. We are a working class party that system, no single party can command stands up for ordinary people against big an outright majority. If opinion polls business and the rich. Our flag is deepest Iare accurate, the Lib-Lab coalition red. could be defeated in May 2007 and a new But we work with other parties on the government formed. Small parties such immediate objective of independence. as the SSP could then punch well above The SSP was the first party in Scotland to their weight politically. sign up to the cross-party Independence The SSP has no intention of selling our Convention, which now draws together principles for a few ministerial seats. We the SSP, the SNP, the Greens and a range will work with other parties on an issue- of individuals. by-issue basis, supporting progressive We also back the non-party Indepen- legislation and opposing regressive legis- dence First campaign, launched in 2005 lation. to fight for an independence referendum. The SSP has its own priorities. In the In 300 years the people of Scotland run-up to May 2007, we will strive to have never been given the chance to build mass public support for six key decide our own future. policies which we believe would trans- Should we remain dependent on form Scotland. pocket money from London? Should we After May 2007 we will seek to build continue to be dragged into the inferno cross-party support inside the parlia- of war by a government which we cannot ment for these six policies. deselect? Should we continue to tolerate in our 1) AN INDEPENDENCE midst a nuclear arsenal capable of wip- REFERENDUM WITHIN ONE YEAR. ing out a million years of evolution? The SSP is striving to create an indepen- Should we continue to accept dawn dent, nuclear-free, multi-cultural, Scot- raids and forced deportation of our chil- tish socialist republic. dren? That is a long term goal. In the short Or should we move forward into the term, we can take a mighty leap forward 21st century as an independent nation towards that goal by breaking free of the state that can engage directly with the suffocating stranglehold of the British wider world beyond the English Channel state.