Bhopal – Keywords: Left Smashing the cistern: 23 years on Page 3 and Right Page 13 Irvine Welsh Page 8 radical feminist green

No 16 / WINTER 2007-08 / £2

THE END NO IT’S IS NIGH! NOT!

MAGAZINE OF SCOTLAND’S DEMOCRATIC LEFT EDITORIAL Contents ■ Perspectives No 16, winter 2007-08 LEFT AND RIGHT, SCOTS AND WELSH Eurig Scandrett Sketches from a small s we noted in the last issue of examines the concepts of left and 3world Perspectives, 2007 was a right. In a continuing period of Ahugely symbolic year for the pessimism for many on the left, When will it all end? SNP to become the Scottish gov- this article helps to map out some Scotland and the Union ernment, 300 years after the Act of of the ground that needs to be 5by Ewen A Cameron Union. Again in this issue we gained to tilt the balance away explore the impact of 1707, with from the currently dominant and Smashing the cistern: historian Ewen A. Cameron exam- pervasive neo-liberal political dis- Irvine Welsh ining various interpretations of the course. 8by Willy Maley history of Scotland since the Returning to last year’s Scottish Union. While he makes the point parliament elections, we lamented A new view from that historians are “notoriously the decline of the smaller parties. local government bad at peering into the future,” he The Scottish Greens saw their rep- 12by Maggie Chapman nonetheless underlines the conclu- resentation cut from six to two sion of his piece by arguing that MSPs. However, the adoption of Keywords: Left “Whatever happens to the Union multiple member wards and STV and Right it is vital that we do not fabricate a in the council elections on the 13by Davie Purdy sense of denial about deep-seated same day saw the Greens take seats and long-standing Scottish enthu- in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. Has Cameron siasm for it.” Maggie Chapman, who now rep- killed the BNP? Moving up to date, Willy Maley resents Edinburgh’s Leith Walk 17by Adam Ramsay presents an analysis of the work of ward, reflects on the role of coun- a major contributor to contempo- cils as agents for change. Christmas – cele- rary Scots literary culture, Irvine Adam Ramsay examines the bration or survival Welsh, concentrating particularly phenomenon of the BNP’s rise in 18by Maggie Lunan on his short stories, which best the 2006 English council elections, illustrate the unconventional radi- a rise that stalled the following Diary: party time calism which permeates his work. year. He points out that main- by The Hat This is contrasted particularly stream politicians should react to 19 with another great Scots writer, the BNP in a way that undermines James Kelman, whose work, Willy ■ Letters and them rather than playing to their Perspectives is published four times argues, is succeeded and usurped contributions agenda. a year by Democratic Left Scotland, Number Ten, 10 Constitution Road, by Welsh, who offers “a more (which we may In a post-seasonal contribution, Dundee DD1 1LL. subtle challenge to the state and edit) are Maggie Lunan writes about Tel: 01382 819641 the status quo than the more con- welcome and ALTERnativity, a project against e: [email protected] ventional radicalism represented should be sent consumer Christmas. Lastly, a www.democraticleftscotland.org.uk by Kelman.” to the editor – diary contribution from “The Editor: Sean Feeny Continuing with part two of the contact details Hat” lifts the lid on the problem of Articles in Perspectives are series on key words, David Purdy alongside. birthday party guest lists. copyright. Requests to reproduce any part of the magazine should be addressed to the editor. Copy deadline for the next issue is Friday 29th February 2008. For further information on Perspectives (including advertising rates), or to submit articles or letters, please contact: The Editor, Perspectives, Democratic Left Scotland, Number Ten, 10 Constitution Road, Dundee DD1 1LL e: [email protected] Printed by Hampden Advertising Ltd 73 Robertson Street Glasgow G2 8QD www.democraticleftscotland.org.uk

2 WINTER 2007-08 PERSPECTIVES EURIG SCANDRETT’S

have just been participating in activities of poverty, victims of bureaucratic corrup- to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of tion and medical neglect and ongoing contam- Ithe gas leak in Bhopal. The leak occurred a ination and corporate criminality. But at the same little after midnight on 3rd December 1984. It time, many survivors have been active campaigners, remains the world’s biggest single industrial environ- participants in creating a movement for justice to chal- mental disaster, killed 20,000 people and left 100,000 Many Bhopal lenge the corporatisation of India. In the face of an with ill health from the effects of the gas or the subse- survivors alliance of global corporate capital and vested inter- quent contaminated water. ests of state violence, this movement of poor, sick and The gas leak was caused by progressive and system- have been largely illiterate people has sustained a campaign for atic application of capitalist economic logic. The facto- active 23 years for justice, corporate accountability, health- ry was built by US multinational Union Carbide to campaigners, care, rehabilitation and human dignity. produce pesticides for the Green Revolution, which was concentrating agriculture into the hands of the participants ■ Eurig Scandrett is a Green activist and member of large landowners and the agricultural corporations. in creating a Democratic Left Scotland. Operated at arm’s length by an Indian subsidiary with movement controlling share ownership, it was a sister factory to one in Virginia, USA – with a number of key differ- for justice to ences. The Bhopal factory was made with cheaper challenge the materials, used unskilled labour above mechanisation, corporatis- and cut corners in the processes. When it was upgraded to store methyl isocyanate ation of (MIC), the state government granted permission India. despite it being too near to the railway station. As profits from pesticides started to level out, cuts were made in maintenance, staff training, inspections and safety precautions. A series of accidents and gas leaks preceded the 3rd December. On that night, water pen- etrated a corroded valve and started an exothermic reaction, which bypassed safety controls which had been deliberately cut back, were malfunctioning or inadequate or simply switched off. 40 tonnes of MIC leaked into the surrounding bastis where the poor of Bhopal lived. To date, nobody from Union Carbide, or Dow Chemicals which it merged with in 2001, has been held responsible. Dow is currently operating a charm offensive to take advantage of India’s embrace of neo- liberalism. Throughout India, special economic zones are being established to encourage inward investment from foreign capital. State governments from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal to Bharat Janata Party in Gujarat have been competing to collaborate with the neo-liberal project. Dow has recently announced the development of a chemical hub in Gujarat. I’m in Bhopal to set up a project to document the survivors who have campaigned for justice all these years. Survivors’ stories have been told many times, but mostly as victims. Victims of the gas leak, victims

PERSPECTIVES WINTER 2007-08 3 People and politics In Scotland, as in the rest of Britain, there is widespread disillusionment with politics. There’s The mainstream parties have lost touch with ordinary people and issues are trivialised and distorted by the media. We are continually told that “there is no alternative” to global capitalism. Yet this is more doing untold damage to our environment, our communities and the quality of our to lives, while millions of people remain poor and powerless because the market politics dominates our society and we do too little to protect and empower them. Democratic Left Scotland is a non-party political organisation that works for than progressive social change through activity in civil society – in community groups, social movements and single-issue campaigns – seeking at all times to promote discussion and alliances across the lines of party, position and identity. parties Political parties remain important, but they need to reconnect with the citizens they claim to represent, reject the copycat politics that stifles genuine debate and recognise ✁ that no single group or standpoint holds all the answers to the problems facing our society. Joining and supporting We are trying to develop a new kind of politics, one that Democratic Left Scotland starts from popular activity – in workplaces, localities and voluntary associations – and builds bridges to the world I support the aims and values of Democratic Left of parties and government, on the one hand, and the Scotland and have decided to join and/or to support the world of ideas and culture, on the other. organisation. (Please tick as appropriate)

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E-mail ...... Democratic Left Scotland Please return this form to Democratic Left Scotland, na Deamocrataich Chli an Alba 10 Constitution Road, Dundee DD1 1LL P16 WHEN WILL IT ALL END? SCOTLAND AND THE UNION OF 1707

Whatever happens to the Union of England the constitutional arrangements put in place in 1707. Indeed, in and Scotland in the future, historian some formulations “the Union” is Ewen A Cameron believes it essential that a shorthand description of Scottish history since 1707. Scotland’s con- “we do not fabricate a sense of denial about stitutional position has only been deep-seated and long-standing Scottish one of a range of important fea- tures of modern Scottish history, enthusiasm for it.” and probably not the most impor- tant in explaining the trajectory of the nation. Even in political histo- he earl of Seafield’s remark abolition. Similarly, the history of In some ry an emphasis on the constitu- from 1707 – “There’s ane end the Union since 1707 has not been important tional question will only produce a Tto ane auld sang” – is well as straightforward as those who partial picture. In some important known. Indeed, Scottish independ- celebrate it as an unbroken tradi- areas of areas of modern Scottish history ence, ended in a constitutional tion often assume. The new United modern the Union can only be forced onto sense with the Union, was “ane Kingdom which was created in Scottish centre stage by gross manipula- auld sang”. It was not, however, a 1707 was augmented in 1801 with tion. simple one. Scotland’s constitu- the addition of the Island of history the tional position had been altered by Ireland after the abolition of the Union can RAPID DEVELOPMENT the Union of the Crowns in 1603. parliament in Dublin, an institu- only be Scotland’s economic development, This was followed by several tion which had also had a late and exceedingly rapid in the late eigh- attempts by James VI and I to com- possibly fatal flowering. In 1922, forced onto teenth and nineteenth centuries, is plete with an incorporating after over a century of mutually centre stage only put down to the political arrangement. These attempts unhappy relations, Ireland was by gross arrangements of 1707 by the most foundered on the rock of English partitioned and only six of the one-dimensional supporters of the reluctance to get too close to the thirty-two counties remained as manipulation. perpetuation of the Union. Indeed, Scots. What James failed to part of the United Kingdom of for much of the first century after achieve by politics, Cromwell Great Britain and Northern 1707 Scotland did not seem a managed by unambiguous military Ireland. Nevertheless, in its vari- likely candidate for the rapid power and from 1651 to 1660 ous incarnations, the Union itself is development which ensued. Scotland and England were incor- now an “auld sang” and its melody Strange as it may seem, given what porated and ruled by a unicameral may be more difficult to forget we know of later history, Ireland legislature in London. The than is often assumed. seemed a more likely candidate for Restoration of 1660 and the Historians, however, should prosperity in the modern world of Revolution of 1689, especially the generally eschew the temptation of commerce and industry. Dublin, latter which released the potential gazing into the future: the past has more than any Scottish city, was of the Scottish parliament, pro- sufficient complexities. These the second city of the Empire in duced further changes in the rela- include the difficulty of assessing the eighteenth century. Glasgow’s tionship between Scotland and such issues as the importance of prominence was to come in the England. the Union to the last three hun- nineteenth century as a result of dred years of Scottish history, or prodigious economic growth. PRELUDE TO ABOLITION asking what we mean when we In an undergraduate list of “rea- Finally, the Scottish parliament’s talk about “the Union”, or make sons” for the pattern of modern period of assertiveness was the remarks about “Unionists”. It is Scottish economic history geology, prelude, perhaps the cause, of its clear that “the Union” is more than geography and topography ought

PERSPECTIVES WINTER 2007-08 5 SCOTLAND AND THE UNION OF 1707 to feature as prominently as placency was celebrated in the It is sensible kailyard, the difficulties encoun- constitutional arrangements. Kailyard literature of the late nine- to recognise tered by intellectually able but Nationalists are also sometimes teenth and early twentieth century. poor children faced with the social simplistic in their assertion that the Mostly written by Presbyterian that there is challenges of academic education Union is the primary reason for clergymen it presented an image – a version of in Scotland. Other critics have Scotland’s economic difficulties in albeit a highly popular one – of Scottish argued that the achievements of the period since 1914. There has small town Scotland, untouched the Scottish system have been also been a similarly reductionist by industry or symbols of moder- history rather narrow. The acquisition of view of Scotland’s intellectual nity like the railway. This was not, which does empirical knowledge was empha- flowering in the eighteenth centu- of course, the sum total of Scottish not sised at the expense of sceptical ry: how was it that a poverty cultural endeavour in the period, and critical thinking. stricken country with a dark theo- but it was suggestive. Herein lie emphasise cratic past could produce such an the roots of a prominent Scottish the agency of recent development in our outburst of genius? For some the myth, extensively deconstructed the Union of Aunderstanding of the Union has simplistic answer has been the con- by sociologists in recent years, but been the attention paid to tacts provided by the new political still at the forefront of the popular 1707. Scotland’s role in the British arrangement of 1707. More recent imagination: Scotland as an inher- Empire. Scottish access to imperial scholarship has presented a differ- ently democratic and egalitarian opportunities was part of the ent picture of both economic and place. Access to education was sin- attraction for those who supported cultural development in the eigh- gularly open. Indeed, in the the Union in 1707. Despite the teenth century. This emphasises Edwardian imagination the image signs of confidence evident in the the extent to which the roots of of the son of the laird and the establishment of the Bank of change in the eighteenth century ploughman seated in the same Scotland in 1695 and the ambition were embedded in the foundations school and enduring corporal pun- – ultimately disastrous – which led of Scotland in the seventeenth cen- ishment by the same tawse was a to the disaster at Darien, the tury: its education system, contacts powerful one. Those, like the Scottish economy was in a parlous with Europe, advances in science, Victorian eccentric classicist and state and the famines of the late its agriculture and environment. controversialist John Stuart 1690s had seen food shortage and Whether one agrees with these Blackie, who chose to differ and death stalk the land. In this con- views or not, it is sensible to recog- argued that the Scottish education text, and the possible value of illic- nise that there is a version of system, especially the Universities, it trades notwithstanding, the Scottish history which does not were verging on a national joke attractions of the Empire, especial- emphasise the agency of the Union compared to European, especially ly the riches on offer in India, were of 1707. German, models, had to shout an important consideration in a long and hard to make their point cash-strapped economy. f course, there is an equally of view known. Odistorted view of Scottish his- One of the best known works to “BRITISH” ARISTOCRACY tory which argues that the con- emerge from the Scottish universi- The Empire was also an important tours of our modern history can be ties in the twentieth century, The source of place and patronage for a attributed to engrained features of Democratic Intellect by the late wide section of Scottish society Scottish society which pre-date the George E. Davie, has been taken below the aristocratic elite with Union of 1707 and the independ- up by politicians, most of whom purchase in London. We can ence of which were supposedly don’t seem to have read it, as a debate Britishness endlessly but guaranteed by its provisions. Chief defence of this popular idealisation the one unambiguously “British” among these are the holy trinity of of the classless empowerment of group was the aristocracy: far the Presbyterian established the Scottish university system. This more than the working class they church, the parochial system of selective reading of Scotland’s edu- have been reluctant to recognise education and the legal system cational history leaves much out – national boundaries in their identi- based on Roman principles. These, the subordinate place of women ty. The Empire is important, how- especially the first two are the and girls, the patchy geographic ever, as it can help Scots to reach foundation of a complacent, but coverage, the controversies over an understanding of their history persistent, view of Scottish history. state provision of secondary edu- which helps to undermine another This emphasises a protestant, male cation, the effective social exclu- element of complacency. and subtly elitist version of the sivity of many of the best schools There is sometimes a tendency Scottish past which elides the con- in the public sector. These prob- to wallow in victimhood and to tribution of women and immi- lems persisted in the twentieth flaunt the scars inflicted by a sup- grants and passes quietly over the century and many of their subtle posed history of oppression. This groups which may have been vic- effects are captured in the novels is difficult to sustain. Scots were tims of the celebrated march of of Robin Jenkins who continually involved in every arena of the progress and prosperity. This com- returned to the antithesis of the British Empire and in every aspect

6 WINTER 2007-08 PERSPECTIVES of its history: slavery, economic Empire, however, further demon- Scots were than any other comparator. exploitation, colonisation, brutal strates the paradoxes at the heart involved in Although this may be a partial military repression. Although the of the Union: nothing better sym- product of the Union it would not Scots may not have been especially bolised Britishness, but it provided every arena be quickly altered by further con- egregious in this regard, neither an ideal arena for Scots to express of the British stitutional change. Indeed, if were they especially noted for their national identity without Empire and Scotland’s eighteenth and nine- their humanitarianism. John conforming to an anglo-centric teenth century history cannot be Mackenzie, the minister of lands in model. in every entirely explained by reference to the Liberal governments in New aspect of its the Union, the latter has increas- Zealand in the late nineteenth cen- ne conception of the Union is history: ingly left its impression on the tury, may have emerged from the Othat it is a partnership between twentieth century – the Welfare eastern highlands of Scotland Scotland and England. It is a little slavery, State might be an even greater during the clearances, but that did odd that this element of Scottish economic symbol of the Union than the not give him any empathy for the history has not been much empha- exploitation, British Empire. Maori whose land rights were sised. Much effort has been eroded by his land reforms. expended on comparing Scottish colonisation, uch of the writing about the Another prominent New Zealand history with that of Ireland. Much brutal MUnion in the twentieth centu- Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, less attention has been devoted to military ry has been pessimistic and has emerged from the working-class the Anglo-Scottish relationship. A sought reasons for its apparently political culture of the western recent book on the subject, pub- repression. likely demise: an event which, lowlands of Scotland. lished by the British Academy no inconveniently, has not yet taken less, ended up saying very little on place. Despite devolution, perhaps SOURCE OF WEALTH the subject of the relationship even despite the advent of an SNP If there is a theme which brings between Scotland and England administration in Holyrood, this together the activities of Scots in and more about the relationship may be the wrong question. It is the Empire it is a willingness to see between Scotland and the British the longevity, rather than the the Empire as a source of wealth. state, the centre of power of which fragility, of the Anglo-Scottish The activities of William Jardine is located in England of course. Union which requires explana- and James Matheson in the opium Freud, referring specifically to tion. This is not to say that the trade and the development of Scotland and England, referred to Union may not founder in the Hong Kong are fairly well known. the “narcissism of small differ- future, perhaps even the near Even in Singapore, where promi- ences”. If Scotland is not quite an future. Historians are notoriously nent statuary and luxury hotels additional county of England there bad at peering into the future, but commemorate that most quintes- are more similarities and links than one can confidently predict the sentially English figure Sir Thomas many are prepared to contem- outbreak of a fierce debate Stamford Raffles, the Scots lurked plate. between those who argue that the in the background. His predeces- inherent features of the Union sor, William Farquhar, born in MASSIVE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE sowed the seeds of its destruction Kincardineshire in 1774, is per- There has been massive movement over a long period; and others haps not the best example of impe- of people, in both directions, who argue that the sundering of rial success as his failings in the between Scotland and England. the Union can be found in the con- matter of land allocation induced The English in Scotland and the sequences of the political diver- the hostility which led to his dis- Scots in England have integrated gence between Scotland and missal by Raffles. His successor, more seamlessly than any other England, despite the socio-eco- John Crawfurd, an Islay man born minority in either host society. nomic similarities of their elec- in 1783, was a classic example of There have been outbursts of torates, in the period since 1979. the Scot in the Empire. He was Scotophobia – we are perhaps The latter argument, for which devoted to the idea of Singapore as enduring one at the moment, and there might be very strong evi- a centre of free trade and low taxa- Gordon Brown is not the first dence, would at least obviate the tion. It was Crawfurd who under- Scottish Prime Minister to induce need to entirely rewrite, or took the delicate political this reaction, although his rewish, three hundred years of negotiations with local interests Presbyterianism and Edinburgh, Scottish history. Whatever hap- which ultimately saw the East rather than Oxbridge, degrees dis- pens to the Union it is vital that we India Company acquire control tinguish him from his predecessors do not fabricate a sense of denial over the whole island. – but they have not proved to be a about deep-seated and long-stand- Many diverse examples of central feature of the Anglo- ing Scottish enthusiasm for it. Scottish imperial activity can be Scottish relationship, and the same found and we should be wary of can be said for Anglophobia in ■ Ewen A. Cameron is senior lec- stereotypes, either of the benevo- Scotland. Scotland bears a greater turer in Scottish history at the lent or rapacious Scot. The degree of similarity to England Univerity of Edinburgh.

PERSPECTIVES WINTER 2007-08 7 SMASHING THE CISTERN: of larger narratives of nation and empire, and sets up counter-narra- THE ACID TEST OF IRVINE tives of regional dissent. Welsh’s style – sampling, streetwise, syn- thesising – is implicitly anti-colo- WELSH’S SHORT STORIES nial. Welsh is more inclined than his predecessors to sift through the junk and pulp of Scottish culture, Willy Maley argues that it is hence his cult status. Welsh’s influ- ences, or effluences, range across Irvine Welsh’s short stories that contemporary film, music and tel- best illustrate the unconventional evision rather than resting on the canon. He excels at that potent radicalism that permeates blend of the excremental and exis- his writing. tential, “keech and Kierkegaard”, that is all the rage in new Scottish writing, a social surrealism that takes its cue from cinema and rvine Welsh made his name as a The new now excels, characterised by car- dance as much as literature. The merciless chronicler of fiction is toon violence, endlessly inventive pop video, the club, and the IEdinburgh’s underside. Welsh’s sloganeering, and increasingly fanzine are its archives. It is this novels have attracted most critical concerned intricate typographical experimen- openness to the most basic ele- attention, but aspects of the short- with the tation. If the “bittiness” of Welsh’s ments of society, as well as its most er fiction go beyond the scope of proliferation writing, its episodic quality, is due commodified culture, that marks the novel. Welsh’s strengths as in part to its origins in the pam- Welsh out from James Kelman, a writer lie in spiky vignettes of phlet culture of small presses, it rather than the endorsement of the and swift explosive scenes. “Scotlands”, can also be seen to reflect the myth of individualism, which both Trainspotting itself is a loosely con- plural and actual fragmentation of the culture writers share. They also share a nected sequence of short stories at large. Where an earlier litera- contempt for the conventional, stitched together, not just by diverse. ture might have perceived its aim conforming, and collaborationist common characters, but by a as inventing or proclaiming working class, who appear as common language, a patchwork “Scotland” in the singular, and a “draftpaks”, “schemies”, or quilt of colloquialisms, criss- more recent writing may have “straight pegs” in Welsh’s work, crossed by catch phrase, cliché, regarded its mission as debunking and are characterised by one of and cursing. Its acceptance as a the myths of an idealised Scotland, Kelman’s protagonists in The novel, despite its many voices and the new fiction is concerned with Busconductor Hines as “a bunch of broken form, is due to a new the proliferation of “Scotlands”, bastarn imbeciles” (p.180). “postmodern” sensibility that no plural and diverse. longer looks to the novel as a reas- The short stories from his first THE VANQUISHED suring site of unity and cohesion. collection, The Acid House (1994), Prolific, polemical and provoca- Though it could be argued that the reveal the depths and lengths to tive, Welsh has staked his place at figure of Mark Renton acts as an which Welsh is willing to go in the forefront of the new wave of anchor in Trainspotting, a break- order to ground his texts in the Scottish writers. Famously labeled down of narrative perspectives in multiple realities and fantasies of “the poet laureate of the chemical the novel reveals the extent to Scottish culture. Welsh’s writing is generation”, his appeal is much which Welsh disperses viewpoints remarkably rich in verbal texture. broader than the drug and youth and voices. Its author’s commitment to a culture he depicts so trenchantly. vibrant oral culture rather than to The devil is in the detail, and in the SCOTLANDS VERSUS SCOTLAND any specific political project or vitality of the local idioms, but Welsh established himself initially party makes it hard to see it as sub- there are big issues at stake too: through small publishing ventures versive in any conventional sense. cruelty, revenge, cycles of violence, such as Rebel Inc (later a major In its twenty-one short stories and crime and punishment, responsi- imprint of Canongate) and closing novella, The Acid House bility and guilt. Like Zola, Welsh is Clocktower Press (recently anthol- can be seen to be mapping a lin- on the side of the vanquished, and ogised by Jonathan Cape), though guistic and geographical domain arguably to a greater extent than it could be argued that he launched hitherto disregarded or disenfran- his contemporaries and predeces- them as much as they launched chised. sors in a Scottish context. The him. These fringe ventures afford- The civic and social specificity social realist tradition stood in the ed Welsh the freedom to explore of Welsh’s shorter fiction under- way of the downtrodden, repre- the fanzine format at which he mines the claims to inclusiveness senting them without lending an

8 WINTER 2007-08 PERSPECTIVES ear and giving voice. A moralistic culture who move within an infor- the bold and blind Sammy senses and patronising approach to repre- mal economy, surviving by stealing that drug addicts – “junkies” – are sentations of the working class has and stealth. The users and abusers hanging around beside the elevator also been present in Marxist who inhabit his fiction are not the in his block of flats. They present a thought. Leon Trotsky railed proletariat as traditionally con- threat to him, these “fucking junky against scurrilous speech, seeing it ceived, nor can they be dismissed fucking shooting-up bastards” as a product of oppression rather as lumpen or as an underclass. (p.156). Sammy shares the domi- than a means of resistance: Rather, because they defy easy cat- nant culture’s fear and loathing of “Abusive language and swearing egorisation, and upset accepted addicts. This is the same Sammy are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, notions of who is radical, and who who later cautions his son, who and disrespect for human dignity – Critics have repressed, Welsh’s characters are has alluded to ”darkies”, against one’s own and that of other noted the best described as “subaltern”, a using racist epithets: “All I’m people”. Trotsky went so far as to term whose original meaning, saying son if people dont want ye argue for the imposition of fines ways in “next in line”, is entirely appropri- to call them a name, ye shouldnay upon those who swore in factories. which Welsh ate since Welsh, as Kelman’s suc- call them it” (p.345). There is a The new Scottish writers not only attacks both cessor and usurper, takes his cue question here of political consis- fly – or fart – in the face of this old from the back of the queue. tency and hypocrisy. Such unthink- Left response to scurrility, but also Romantic ing antipathies, authorial refuse to be confined within the Scotland and ritics have noted the ways in intrusions and professions of polit- factory gates, gates that are in any Radical Cwhich Welsh attacks both ical correctness are rare in Welsh’s case closed to the unconventional Romantic Scotland and Radical work. Where “respect” in the liter- working class characters who Scotland, Scotland, kailyard and Clydeside. ature of commitment might have people their fiction. That those kailyard and Where Kelman writes grittily and meant respect for one’s self, or for same factory gates are increasingly Clydeside. wittily of Glasgow, Welsh’s narra- one’s elders or betters, boiling closed to their own workers is a tives harness the apathy and abjec- down to deference, in the context contributory factor in the shift tion of his native Edinburgh, of the new writing it means respect from “workerist” fiction to a liter- specifically the outlying “schemes” for other cultures, in other words, ature of unemployment. of Leith, Muirhouse, Pilton and difference. In Kelman’s novel, we Wester Hailes. A rhetoric of resist- follow Sammy’s progress and COMMITMENT ance yields to a grammar of the share his perspective: that of a man Duncan McLean spoke of new grotesque, a magic and tragic real- who survives with integrity. Scottish writing precisely in terms ism that can strike the reader as Welsh’s writing lurks with the of a commitment to voice: “a com- surreal. Welsh’s language is in “junkies”, rather than loiters with mitment to the voice as the basis of some ways even more uncompro- the disaffected, such as the funda- literary art, rather than some sup- mising than Kelman’s, his charac- mentally decent and humane posed canonical ‘officially ter’s consciousnesses more Sammy. approved’ language.” Welsh is disordered. The kind of language a engaged in this kind of commit- pejorative criticism would call SRONG MORAL STANCE ment as distinct from political “strong” or “bad” is a familiar fea- In “A Smart Cunt”, the nerve-jan- activism as it is conventionally per- ture, the use of Scots making fewer gling novella that brings the cur- ceived. Of course, Kelman is also concessions to the reader brought tain down on The Acid House, two committed to voice, but there is, up on a diet of standard English. young drug users rob and kill a on his part and that of his charac- But where in Kelman there is mini- blind man. The story is told ters, a residual commitment of a mal violence in terms of grammar through the eyes of one of the more orthodox nature to individ- and lexis – a bit of backfronting assailants, Brian, and sets out to ual morality. Welsh is more linguis- (placing “but” at the end of a sen- place the violence and intolerance tically subversive, more in touch tence), a few phonetic transcrip- he feels in several contexts – famil- with the contemporary moment, tions, some fucking insertion – ial, social, vocational, national, and he takes us down a step lower Welsh goes to town on the tongue, and political. The reader of on the social ladder, to the bottom taking liberties and risks along the Welsh’s fiction is carried along rung, in fact. Sometimes he takes way. Where Kelman is a writer of with the perpetrators, until the the ladder away altogether, sug- commitment and integrity, Welsh lines blur, and it slowly dawns that gesting immobility and entrap- is an author of anarchy and disin- behind every perpetrator is a ment at the lowest levels of society. tegration. victim. It’s a strong moral stance Welsh’s subjects are marginal or One example will suffice to indi- that seeks to understand rather fringe figures, migrant and cate a key difference between the than condemn, and to compre- vagrant. Like the “Eurotrash” of two writers in terms of individuali- hend first and foremost by enter- the story that bears that title, they ty and morality. In How Late It ing the world and words of the are not part of any mainstream Was, How Late (1994), published individual and their community. movement, but elements of a sub- the same year as The Acid House, Welsh’s immersion in the idiom

PERSPECTIVES WINTER 2007-08 9 IRVINE WELSH and outlook of his characters is Critics who exposing the extent to which insti- decide to impose themselves on similar to Kelman’s, but the crucial see Welsh’s tutions and communities are struc- one patron who “seemed to have a difference lies in the absence of a tured by the very forces they seek view on everything” (p.114). The moral centre and of a controlling writing as a to exclude. In The Acid House two philosophers order drinks, consciousness. Renton is clearly product of there is a tale of two cities and two commandeer a table, and com- the key figure in Trainspotting, but the logic of cultures that takes as its premise a mence their set-piece quarrel. other characters are given a fair social encounter between two pro- Ornstein rehearses his familiar hearing, something lacking in late fessors in Glasgow’s West End. argument about the limits of exist- Kelman’s fiction. Where Kelman capitalism, a “The Two Philosophers” features ing scientific wisdom; McGlone can be seen to keep in place a dis- symptom of Lou Ornstein, an American holds firmly to his line of tinction between the good work- Professor of Metaphysics at Popperian provability and soon, ing class individual – capitalist Edinburgh University, and Gus surrounded by a crowd, they have conscientious, progressive, resist- decay… fail McGlone, Professor of Moral takers on either side whilst the ant – and the bad guys who hover to take Philosophy at Glasgow University. argument becomes increasingly on the periphery – addicts, hedo- The Conservative McGlone is a heated. Unbeknown to them, a nists, time-servers – Welsh champi- seriously his bourgeois Glaswegian from a posse of young soccer supporters is ons not only the socially excluded revolution in wealthy suburb, while Ornstein is tuning in to their discourse. but the politically inarticulate and language, a working-class Chicago Jew. Eventually, one of the football fans even the morally reprehensible. Ornstein believes in the inexplica- has had enough: enough of fight- Which is not to say that he is and his sense ble and the unexpected, what he ing talk that never comes to blows, amoral, merely that his subjects are of outrage at terms “unknown science”. As a and enough of what is obviously a not the deliberately dissenting injustice. reconstructed Marxist he clings to patronising effort to let the prole- individuals that a certain radical the possibility of social change, tariat judge a patrician feud. The criticism finds it all too easy to and a belief in a future emancipa- youth is especially angry at the pair countenance and indeed support, tion, though less through the of intellectuals for treating a friend but a less palatable rabble whose working class organised as the of his father’s “like a fuckin unspeakable hatred and violence is ruling class than by way of some monkey”. McGlone’s protests are shown to have a source and a ref- unforeseen departure in rationali- silenced with a sneer and he is told erent, an objective correlative, in ty. McGlone holds firmly to the that the only way to resolve this the shape of a complacent political facts, and is a hardened dispute is by way of a “squerr go”, culture. “refutenik”. a roundtable discussion having Critics who see Welsh’s writing failed to deliver a clear verdict. as a product of the logic of late LOGIC VERSUS MAGIC The youth orders the two pro- capitalism, a symptom of capitalist On this particular day, ensconced fessors to go outside and settle decay, or just another commodity in a university bar, they lament the their differences there man to in a postmodern culture that fact that their conversation always man. The Scot is somewhat reluc- shelves resistance, fail to take seri- turns inevitably to logic versus tant to see conceptual frisson ously his revolution in language, magic. They decide to test their translated into kerbside fisticuffs. and his sense of outrage at injus- differing theories of knowledge Conversely, Ornstein, recalling an tice. Welsh gives us a constructive and reality in a less “intellectual” undergraduate slight on moral address within apparently location, or at least one far McGlone’s part, is willing to hopeless situations. The difference removed from the informed eaves- comply with subaltern ethics, and is that his characters do not have to dropping of colleagues and stu- so they step out into the sun. The be good or sorry to earn our dents. Seeking a spot closer to two philosophers are taken to a respect. According to Kelman: reality, they take the subway south deserted car park behind a nearby “Good art is usually dissent; I want of the river to a rough neighbour- shopping centre. McGlone again to be involved in creating good hood where they enter a notori- demurs, but Ornstein starts boxing art”. “Good art” and “dissent” go ously tough bar with the intention clever and McGlone is soon hand-in-pocket for Kelman, but of airing their ideas within earshot bested, the fight ending with the for Irvine Welsh, as for Mae West, of an unschooled audience, and memorable line: “The Chicago goodness has nothing to do with it. thus establishing once and for all materialist, urged on by the crowd, who has the clearest arguments in put the boot into the prostrate A TALE OF TWO CITIES lay terms. They concede that this classical liberal” (p.115). The Welsh, like Kelman, directs his will prove nothing beyond the police intervene, and both brawl- anger and energies at authorities clarity and precision of their com- ing scholars are apprehended. and bureaucracies, but it is less a peting rhetorics, but it will provide McGlone tries to assert himself question of the individual versus some sport – more than they bar- during questioning. By contrast, the state – an opposition that can gained for, it transpires. Ornstein is tactful and polite, and always come down to a bourgeois In the event, they locate a pair of so gets off scot-free. The Glasgow tautology – but more a matter of elderly men playing dominoes, and police, predictably enough, mani-

10 WINTER 2007-08 PERSPECTIVES fest more sympathy for the ami- violence, is utterly uncompromis- than the old stereotypes of mascu- able American than they do his ing, or, rather, it is completely line workerism and principled supercilious and objectionable compromising in its capitulation to opposition we find in the fiction counterpart. The result is that the brutal realities arising from of, say, William McIllvanney. McGlone is detained on a charge cultures of poverty and despair. Welsh’s characters seldom have of breach of the peace (and Where others might gloss over and recourse to officially sanctioned roughed up a little for good meas- editorialise the meaner aspects of forms of political resistance, or ure). As he leaves the police station society, Welsh deals with them even wildcat actions such as strikes and heads for the subway, Ornstein directly in a manner so cool and or sit-ins. Instead, they practise a is spotted by one of the young men dispassionate as to seem cold and subtle and pervasive guerilla war- from the bar who witnessed the Welsh’s distant. In interviews he is quick to fare, blocking rather than tackling earlier altercation: characters rebut any claims that he revels in its moral agents and servants of – Ah saw you fightin this violence. Instead, he argues that power. Let me end with arguably efternin, big man. Ye were magic, seldom have his writing shows things as they Welsh’s most explicitly political so ye wir. recourse to are, not as he would like them to tale, “A Blockage in the System”, – No, Ornstein replied, – I was officially be. As with most writing that cuts one of his most effective realist unknown science (p.117). across the popular/cerebral divide, narratives, an absurdist, anarchist, sanctioned there are inevitably readers who obstructionist account of recalci- LATENT VIOLENCE MANIFEST forms of are on a package holiday to hell as trant plumbers caught between We have come a long way for the political well as those who live there, two bosses and two local authori- sake of this joke, but it has natives and tourists. Welsh is ties, the siren call of a card game revealed the hypocrisy of resistance … aware of his mixed readership, and that represents a triumph of leisure McGlone’s posturing in the fur- Instead, they in an interview in the Big Issue he time and social desire over the nace of the very factuality to which practise a maintained that the film version of work ethic. “A Blockage in the he has so often had recourse. This The Acid House, which he scripted System” is a piece of straight realist little story engages with class, cul- subtle and himself, would be more disturbing fiction in which a group of city ture and varieties of violence, liter- pervasive than Trainspotting: “It will be council plumbers debate whether al and linguistic, as well as with guerilla more inaccessible, more hard-core. or not to tackle a job that involves different ways of knowing. It The accents will be harder, so a blockage at a block of flats, makes manifest the latent violence warfare, spoiled middle-class brats who whose source may be internal, in and hierarchical structure of aca- blocking want to shop around for their next which case it is their province, or demic debate and exposes what rather than cultural fix will find it more external, in which case it comes was carefully hidden in the aca- impenetrable. And those lazy, under the jurisdiction of the demic institution, namely aggres- tackling its wanky critics who don’t quite get regional authority. Again, as with sion and exclusivity. The moral agents it can f**k off – it was nothing to many of Welsh’s stories, there is an entrenched resistance to Irvine and servants do with them in the first place.” old joke at the heart of it: “Well, as Welsh within the Scottish estab- The problem is that the two con- one anarchist plumber sais tae the lishment can be read in terms of of power. stituencies Welsh wants to turn his other: smash the cistern” (p.78). the kind of macho posturing that back on – “spoiled middle-class Paradoxically, the blockage is out- “The Two Philosophers” locates brats” and “lazy, wanky critics” – side the system: “Wir talkin aboot within an apparently civil intellec- are often one and the same. an ootside joab here. Defo” (p.79). tual discourse. It is less a question Moreover, his hybrid style, with its But it is also inside the system, of the Scottish version of native highs and lows, acts as a magnet insofar as the plumbers themselves inferiorism – the famous “cultural for those he wishes to ward off. Far block the attempts of their boss to cringe” – than of blatant social from repelling such readers by have them investigate it. In refus- snobbery. This tale lays bare the proliferating profanity or intensi- ing to get their hands dirty and connection between fictional fying idiolect Welsh is likely to win showing a clean pair of heels, the strategies and situations of dis- new readers of the same type. workers draw on the existing divi- crimination and exclusion. It is After all, if one wants to live vicar- sion of labour within local govern- appropriate that the last word goes iously then the lower the language ment, and their own rich to an “outsider”, an American, a the better. The lure of a “cultural rhetorical reserves, in order to Jew, and an Edinburgh-based aca- fix” is too great for those addicted defy the state. This is an important demic. Welsh’s love affair with to tickling the underbelly to be put story because it sums up a kind of American culture, antipathy off by more of the same. politics of refusal, of blockage, of towards Glasgow, and sympathy hoarding, a cultivated indolence for the underdog, not to mention GUERILLA WARFARE that impedes the progress of the his rigorous class politics, makes Welsh’s world of failures and con- system, chokes its passage. In him the scourge of Gus McGlone. sumers is marked by pessimism, terms of class and the cause of As this story indicates, Welsh’s but also, paradoxically, by a realist labour, to be obstructive, in this treatment of politics, sexuality, and mode more acute and accurate context, is constructive. What we

PERSPECTIVES WINTER 2007-08 11 IRVINE WELSH A NEW VIEW FROM have here is a highly localised con- flict that will never go as far as an LOCAL GOVERNMENT industrial tribunal, or even involve the union, since it is a matter of the The Scottish Greens lost seats in last May’s boss disregarding the professional advice of his workers. The narra- Scottish Parliament elections, but gained new tor remarks: “Whit’s it the gadge councillors in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Maggie thit took us fir the ONC at Telford College sais? The maist important Chapman reflects on future challenges. skill in any trade is accurate prob- lem diagnosis. Ah goat a fuckin hen I was elected an Similarly, many voluntary distinction, ah pointed at masel” Edinburgh councillor last organisations need support in (p.81). The workers who quibble WMay many of my friends pump priming and organisational on the source of the blockage are wondered what I would do as a development. Rather than allow- themselves the blockage. member of a local authority. One ing these organisations to follow even suggested that I’d be much the funding available, local author- SUBTLE CHALLENGE better getting the qualification and ities should follow a more strategic The phrase “accurate problem actually becoming a social worker. approach to growing the third diagnosis” may be allowed to stand I was, though, quite excited by the sector. as the final demand of Welsh’s opportunities for change that lay A good, if rare, example of this writing. As with all subversives, ahead. was the decision by City of there is a risk that the poet laureate Local government shapes much Edinburgh Council to give of the chemical generation will not of the way in which we live our Edinburgh Community Food fulfil his end of the bargain, will lives. It has massive possibilities for Initiative a grant to buy delivery sell out, welsh on the deal. There change, and I hope to be able to vans that allowed it to bid for the are already signs of a backlash. But harness those opportunities while “Fruit in Schools” funding. Welsh’s writing arguably offers a I’m the councillor for Leith Walk. Without the grant, ECFI would more subtle challenge to the state One of the most significant ways have been unable to bid for the and the status quo than the more that a council can change the way contract, which would have gone conventional radicalism represent- in which a city is run is through the to a private sector organisation. ed by Kelman. Welsh’s writing relationship between the local The additional value offered by forms part of an emerging litera- authority and third sector organi- the voluntary sector also shines ture of abuse. Where an earlier sations. There is a massive oppor- through in this instance, as ECFI culture would have blamed the vic- tunity to release the potential of delivered workshops for children tims and tried to teach them a new Scottish civil society if councils offering basic education on food. language, the new generation of choose to realise it. By a variety of Other measures, such as offering writers are exploring, on their own mechanisms, it will be possible to full recompense for the service terms, and in their own voices, the reinforce the social economy to provided (Full Cost Recovery) and violence and values of subaltern improve Scottish society. From automatic five year funding agree- states. True subversion transforms reducing reoffending to tackling ments will provide the sector with both form and content and, for climate change, communities and the support that it needs to deliver Welsh, language itself has to be community organisations are the not only basic services, but the sort turned over in order for subver- often forgotten force that offers of additional value I have high- sion to take place. Welsh’s writing real opportunities for change. lighted above. is multiple and marginal, in this Local authorities can maximise I see the role of Greens in local manner, rather than singular and this change by focusing on the authorities as not only providing central. It may not be “radical” in third sector and adapting the way good community-based council- hackneyed, stereotypical or dog- in which they support voluntary lors, but also ensuring that coun- matic ways, but it does undermine organisations and the way they cils make the best use of their unity and authority in its use of devise and award contracts. For massive resources to help commu- voices, in its mixing of forms, instance, many contracts offered nities and to make Scotland a more genres, modes, and registers, and by local authorities are bundled in socially and environmentally just in its plumbing of depths that such a way that small organisations place. require a plunger and rubber find it impossible to bid to supply gloves. these services. This means that if a ■ Maggie Chapman is one of the contract to supply social care has first Green councillors in Scotland, ■ Willy Maley is professor of ren- an element of catering in it as well, representing Leith Walk ward in aissance studies at the University of only an organisation capable of Edinburgh. The Greens have eight Glasgow and has published widely providing both services can bid for local councillors in all – three in on modern Scottish culture. the contract. Edinburgh and five in Glasgow.

12 WINTER 2007-08 PERSPECTIVES KEYWORDS: LEFT AND RIGHT

Continuing our series of articles which critically examines words and their meanings – and their role in the struggle for a better society – David Purdy carefully looks both ways: left and right.

n Perspectives 15, we launched a new series examin- of the legislature, the powers of the executive, the ing keywords in modern political discourse. In this independence of the judiciary and the extent of the Iissue, we consider the distinction between left and franchise. The left, led by the Jacobins, sought to abol- right, which have been at war with each other for the ish the royal veto and hereditary privilege; favoured a past two hundred years. Since the collapse of commu- single-chamber legislature; insisted that all power nism, the view has gained ground that the war is should rest with the elected assembly, including over. In what follows, drawing on the work of the appointment of judges and the power to the Italian political thinker, Norberto Bobbio quash judicial decisions; and called for “one (1996), I contest this view and argue that man, one vote”, (women being excluded while not all political conflict pits left from full citizenship). There were groups against right, the distinction continues to further to the left who demanded absolute mark a deep ethical and philosophical day-to-day control over the government divide. and challenged the Jacobin tendency towards dictatorial centralisation. But both ECHOES OF THE MARSEILLAISE the left and the extreme left were more or All human societies experience conflict – of less united in their struggle against the bour- interest, value, opinion or judgment – and all geois liberals and the Girondins, who approved have political arrangements to deal with it – author- of the anti-monarchical and anti-aristocratic aspects itarian or democratic, as the case may be. Political of the revolution, but were strongly opposed to popu- conflict is typically bipolar: protagonists tend to Ideas, lar sovereignty. divide into two opposing sides, just as in war – “the programmes The words “left” and “right” may be used in three continuation of politics by other means” – partici- main ways: descriptively, to summarise the two sides pants are either friend or foe, if only because my and parties in a conflict; evaluatively, to express a positive or neg- enemy’s enemy is my friend and my enemy’s friend is may be left- ative judgment on one side or the other; and interpre- my enemy. War leaves no room for neutral third par- wing at one tatively, to mark a shift in the balance of political ties except as intermediaries seeking to end hostili- forces or a passage from one phase to another in the ties. Indeed, the archetypal form of warfare is the time and life of the nation. The terms are, of course, antitheti- duel: the old form of bellum, the Latin word for war, right-wing at cal: one cannot be on both left and right at the same was duellum; and Clausewitz begins his classic trea- another. time. And they have opposite signs: to commend one tise on war by defining it as “a duel on an extensive is to condemn the other. Nevertheless, the difference scale”. between them is relative, not absolute: ideas, pro- Bipolar conflict has always existed: think of ple- grammes and parties may be left-wing at one time and beian versus patrician, parliament versus crown, Whig right-wing at another. Until the mid-nineteenth centu- versus Tory or Hanoverian versus Jacobite. But the ry, for example, the political left in Europe was prima- terms left and right did not enter the vocabulary of rily concerned with issues of civil freedom, politics until the early years of the French Revolution. parliamentary reform and national liberation. But as Meeting in an amphitheatre, members of the liberal demands were achieved without disturbing the Constituent Assembly sat on the left, right or centre, prevailing class structure, the mantle of the left passed as viewed from the president’s chair, according to to socialists and anarchists, hitherto minority sects, their views on the great constitutional questions who argued that the ideals of 1789 could not be before them: the scope of the royal veto, the structure realised within the framework of bourgeois democra-

PERSPECTIVES WINTER 2007-08 13 KEYWORDS: LEFT AND RIGHT cy, but would require radical changes in the ownership The defeated emergence of Islamic radicalism and the so-called war of property, the organisation of the economy and the left has an on terror, the chief problem with this view is that it distribution of life-chances. Thus, the entire political has all been said before: the end of ideology was con- spectrum shifted to the left: a distinct right and centre obvious fidently proclaimed by Daniel Bell and others in the continued to exist, but they were now defined by interest in late 1960s, just as the advanced capitalist countries virtue of their opposition to the socialist movement, disguising its were about to be rocked by a whirlwind of social dis- which rapidly overshadowed its anarchist siblings and sent, economic crisis and political radicalism. henceforth formed the core of the left, notwithstand- weakness, Ideology, it seems, springs eternal. ing the later schism between Soviet communism and while the A different argument for saying that politics is no social democracy. victorious longer polarised between left and right is that the old ideologies have no solutions to contemporary prob- RADICAL RIGHT, CONSERVATIVE LEFT right has lems. Neither the minimum state of the free market The left-right distinction is not the only spatial every reason right nor the big state of the collectivist left is capable metaphor in politics: we speak of frontbench and to propagate of tackling new sources of social exclusion and pover- backbench, centre and periphery or top-down and ty such as failed education, family breakdown and bottom-up, not to mention base and superstructure. the view that deviant lifestyles, of rehabilitating offenders and We also use various temporal metaphors: radical/con- there is no repairing collapsed communities, or of building new servative, innovative/traditionalist, forward-look- alternative to forms of transnational governance to combat climate ing/backward-looking, progressive/reactionary and change and regulate the global marketplace. The best- idealist/realist. Until the 1970s, these contrasting pairs the way known exponent of this view in Britain is Anthony largely aligned with the left-right axis: the left stood things are. Giddens. In a series of books beginning with Beyond for radical social transformation, the reduction of Left and Right (1994), he has argued for a “third way” social inequality and progress towards a new and which transcends the old dichotomy. This is not, he better world; the right stood for the maintenance insists, a mere exercise in triangulation, but a of the existing order, the defence or acceptance novel synthesis, which incorporates elements of social hierarchy and scepticism about of both left and right and gives them a fresh ambitious schemes for social improvement; significance. The general approach is encap- the centre stood somewhere in between sulated in New Labour soundbites such as these poles and since it claimed to be nei- “economic efficiency and social justice”, ther left nor right, its whole existence and “tough on crime and tough on the causes raison d’être depended on the underlying of crime”, “no rights without responsibili- antithesis. ties”, “work for those who can, security for The collapse of the post-war social settle- those cannot”; and so on. ment, the demise of Keynesian social democ- Unlike the end-of-history thesis, the “third racy and the rise of neo-liberalism as the way” does not disclaim ideological status. But is polestar of politics changed all that. From the crisis it coherent and effective? Can we really make sense of the 1970s it was the free-market right that of the world and engage with it to some purpose if we emerged as the radical, dynamic, modern and for- discard the distinction between left and right or rele- ward-looking force, particularly in Britain and the gate it to the second rank of importance? After all, US, while the left was pushed into a conservative, capitalism remains an unstable, unjust and undemoc- hidebound and backward-looking stance. This his- ratic economic system that continues to degrade our toric reversal of roles ushered in a period of defeat habitat, deform our society and diminish the human for the left in Western Europe, North America and spirit. Moreover, these various harms are generated by the Antipodes, which the collapse of communism in mechanisms that are intrinsic to the system. Hence, as 1989–91 only intensified and from which it has still the left has maintained for the past 150 years, the cen- not recovered. Indeed, it has become a commonplace tral problem of politics is still how to mitigate and of contemporary politics that the division between counter the harm that capitalism does and, in the long left and right is irrelevant to the problems and con- run, to transform and transcend it. flicts of the world in which we now live. Of course, the precise manner in which capitalism functions and the specific problems it throws up vary CHALLENGES TO THE LEFT-RIGHT DISTINCTION from one culture and epoch to another. Thus, as times One version of this general claim is the end-of-history change, political movements must adapt their pro- thesis propounded by Francis Fukuyama (1992), who grammes, priorities, methods and styles or risk argued that the big questions about how society becoming obsolete. No party, for example, can afford should be organised and governed had finally been to ignore the increased salience of resource depletion settled by the victory of democratic capitalism over and environmental pollution since the 1970s. It does the other main contenders for world supremacy: fas- not follow, however, that the categories of left and cism and communism. With ideological conflict now right are redundant. On the contrary, the left-right at an end, politics would henceforth revolve around split is reproduced within the Green movement: there problems rather than positions. Leaving aside the is a green, pro-capitalist right and a green, anti-capi-

14 WINTER 2007-08 PERSPECTIVES talist left. The same goes for feminism and the other cross yields four basic categories: liberal-democratic social movements that came to prominence in the left and right, and authoritarian left and right. late 1960s and 1970s, and for nationalist par- Bobbio uses the words “moderate” and ties like the SNP, which seek to secede from “extreme”, but this terminology elides the an established state. distinction between ends and means: there This is not to deny that after almost is no inconsistency in supporting what are thirty years of neo-liberal hegemony, the conventionally regarded as “extreme” poli- left is very much weaker than the right. cies while eschewing the use of authoritar- But as Bobbio suggests, the very domi- ian methods and respecting democratic nance of the right helps to explain why so norms. Admittedly, the further to the left many people now believe that the war one stands relative to the prevailing consen- between left and right is over. The defeated sus about how much of what kinds of equality left has an obvious interest in disguising its and inequality the good society contains, the weakness, while the victorious right has every more difficult it is to influence current policy reason to propagate the view that there is no alterna- through the democratic process. But to describe an tive to the way things are. To describe ideal society is by no means to be committed to impos- an ideal ing one’s ideal on everyone else, regardless of whether THE BASIS OF THE DISTINCTION they agree. Despite this conspiracy of silence, the left-right dis- society is by Suitably relabelled, Bobbio’s categories offer a tinction survives, not just in everyday speech, but at a no means to useful guide to the political history of the last century. deeper philosophical level. As we have seen, the rise of be At the authoritarian end of the vertical axis – on left neo-liberalism reversed the roles of left and right on and right, respectively – stand communism and fas- the temporal plane of politics. But attitudes towards committed to cism. At the opposite end, ranging from left to right, social equality still form a basic dimension of political imposing are social democracy, liberalism and conservatism. space. Equality is, of course, a relationship between one’s ideal After the First World War, the course of political con- two or more entities. Hence, whenever the word is flict in Europe fell into three partially overlapping used, three questions necessarily arise: Equality of on everyone phases. In the 1920s, liberals and conservatives were what or in what respects? Between or among whom? else, more or less united in seeking to repel the perceived And on what basis? The left is sometimes accused of regardless of threat of Bolshevism, while social democrats were wanting to equalise the distribution of absolutely divided between those who supported the new Soviet everything among all human beings everywhere as an whether they republic and were prepared to work with the commu- end in itself. This is a caricature. By the same token, agree. nists and those who saw them as enemies. In Italy, no political movement can avoid having some view on where the post-war social and political crisis was par- the three questions about equality. ticularly severe, conservatives threw in their lot with What really divides left from right are their respec- the fascists in a pre-emptive strike against the left, tive attitudes towards the origins and consequences of anticipating a realignment that became more general human inequalities and the possibility of overcoming in the 1930s. After the Nazis came to power in them. Roughly speaking, the left believes that Germany, communists came out of sectarian isolation although some inequalities result from natural condi- and made common cause with social democrats and tions, most are the product of social arrangements; liberals in order to combat the growing threat to that the consequences of inequalities for both individ- democracy itself.1 This pattern of conflict persisted uals and society as a whole are largely harmful; and through the Second World War and its immediate that while the scope for reducing them is constrained aftermath and was only disrupted by the onset of the by the need to avoid compromising other values such Cold War. Thereafter, social democrats, liberals and as liberty and democracy, in general the pursuit of conservatives united in opposition to communism and equality is both highly desirable and far more feasible fascism, while continuing to compete with each other than its opponents allow. On each of these counts, the for influence, votes and power. right takes the opposite view: that human inequalities Where they were strong, as in Italy and France, are largely natural; that their consequences are broad- communists were systematically excluded from gov- ly beneficial; and that attempts to overcome them are ernment. Elsewhere, they remained politically mar- either futile or pernicious. ginal. In an attempt to break out of their ghetto, most Western communist parties sought to distance them- THE SHORT TWENTIETH CENTURY selves from the Soviet Union and to develop national- Important though it is, the horizontal division democratic “roads to socialism”. By the 1970s, between left and right is not sufficient to explain the Eurocommunism, as it came to be known, had pattern of political conflict since the French become a recognised political tendency and in Italy, Revolution. Political space also contains a vertical France and Spain broad left coalitions in which dimension along which movements can be placed Eurocommunist parties played a leading or prominent according to their attachment to personal liberty and role, stood on the brink of power. Meanwhile, a new their commitment to democratic norms. The resulting formation was emerging on the right. Unlike the fas-

PERSPECTIVES WINTER 2007-08 15 KEYWORDS: LEFT AND RIGHT cist movements of the inter-war years, the new right challenge neo-liberal hegemony, the left must look proclaimed its commitment to liberty and democ- beyond the short-term exigencies of electoral-leg- racy, while repudiating the post-war social set- islative politics and seek to reclaim the ideologi- tlement, which its conservative forebears had cal ground that is now occupied by endorsed and, indeed, helped to shape. neo-liberals of varying hues. In summary form, the table below indicates what the CHALLENGING THE NEO-LIBERAL contest is about and how the ideals of the CONSENSUS AND DECONGESTING THE contestants diverge. The opposing para- CROWDED CENTRE digms are models or ideal-types from which At this point, a realignment began which has the programmes of actual political move- not yet run its course. Since the collapse of ments are likely to deviate as they compete communism, Western communist parties have for support and court allies. There is, in other disbanded, declined or reinvented themselves as words, an important distinction between projects technocratic parties of the liberal-democratic centre. and policies. Nevertheless, it remains vital for the left Ex- or sub-fascist parties, for their part, now pay lip to have a strong sense of where it wants to go if it is to service to democracy and have repositioned them- The left must have any chance of shifting the balance of forces and selves on the nationalist right. Thus, the authoritari- look beyond starting to build a new, post-capitalist civilisation. an side of political space currently stands vacant. At the same time, with the triumph of neo-liberalism, the NOTE the entire political spectrum has been pulled to the short-term 1 Note that communists and fascists never formed right, dragging erstwhile social democrats and liber- exigencies of an alliance, with the sole exception of the mutual als with it. As a result, the left-hand side of political non-aggression pact between Stalin and Hitler in space is also vacant and the mainstream parties clus- electoral- 1939, which was short-lived and of tactical rather ter around a narrow range of positions in the centre. legislative than strategic significance. The titanic military Thus, while the ethical and philosophical issues that politics and struggle that followed the Nazi invasion of Russia divide left and right have lost none of their signifi- in 1941 strongly suggests that the division cance, the effective framework of politics has shrunk, seek to between left and right carried more weight than creating an unhealthy gulf between the political class reclaim the the authoritarian features that the two movements and the general public and weakening the culture of ideological shared in common. democracy. From this standpoint, the emergence of the demo- ground that REFERENCES cratic left as a serious political force would be an is now – Bobbio, N. (1996) Left and Right: The Significance important step towards reforming our society’s politi- occupied by of a Political Distinction (Cambridge: Polity Press) cal institutions and revitalising democracy. Clearly, – Fukuyama, F. (1992) The End of History and the however, if it is to recover from defeat, regroup and neo-liberals. Last Man (London: Penguin)

Democratic Left Contested Issues Neo-Liberal Paradigm

Political philosophy Positive autonomy Conception of freedom Negative liberty Social condition Ideals of equality Respect, status, opportunity Civil, political and social Scope of citizenship Civil and political only State and society Domain of democracy State

Economic organisation Post-capitalist Generic form Capitalist Broad Accounting framework Narrow Business, public, household and voluntary Sectoral categories Private and public Collective and systematic Environmental responsibility Individual and piecemeal Mainly social Business ownership Mainly private Democratic planning Co-ordinating mechanism Market forces Restrained Growth dynamic Unrestrained Managed global convergence International regime Global market framework

Cultural norms Socially embedded Conception of the person Atomistic Self-development and control Cardinal virtue Self-reliance Economic, ethical and aesthetic Criteria of value Strictly commercial Living well Central preoccupation Getting and spending

16 WINTER 2007-08 PERSPECTIVES HAS CAMERON KILLED THE BNP?

The rise of the British National Party in the local elections of 2006 stalled the following year. Adam Ramsay examines the background and argues that mainstream politicians who “address the BNP agenda” with racist responses actually fuel the far right.

n the 2006 local elections the The more about immigration. Slowly, the being rude to voters. However, the British National Party more politicians media obsession with asylum seek- fact that it was on the 2003 cycle Ithan doubled its number of ers waned. So did BNP growth. also shows that there were elec- seats, from 20 to 56. In 2007, the tell voters Conventional political wisdom tions in many core BNP areas. BNP had a net gain of only one. that would say that the BNP vote Under such circumstances, with an What – or who – stopped the immigration would rise as Cameron left space unpopular Blair still hanging on, rising tide of the BNP? to the right. Labour Culture and Cameron all but ignoring The BNP have grown in size is the cause Minister Margaret Hodge claims immigration, many would have since 2002, when three councillors of their that 80% of her constituents have expected the BNP vote to grow to were elected in Burnley. Both problems, considered voting BNP. She uses fill the space to the right of Labour and Conservative politi- this as an excuse to say that social Cameron. The BNP themselves cians reacted by talking about the more housing should be distributed on were expecting to double their immigration more. They told us they will the basis of ethnicity rather than number of seats. The fact that they that they had to become slightly vote BNP. need – her argument is, essentially, failed to do so seems to show that fascist to stop people voting for a that if she fails to be a bit racist, the the analysis used by politicians like real fascist party. In the 2005 gen- BNP will get in, and be even more Hodge is simply wrong. eral election Michael Howard pro- racist. The evidence from the elec- posed that the UK withdraw from tion this year seems to show that POLITICAL LEADERSHIP the 1951 UN refugee convention, the opposite is true. The more What this seems to demonstrate is and impose a quota of refugees politicians tell voters that immigra- the significance of political leader- coming to the UK1. He made tion is the cause of their problems, ship. If politicians and the media immigration one of six themes for the more they will vote BNP. tell voters that an election is about his election campaign. He told cutting immigration, voters will people immigrants were to blame DIFFERENT REASONS elect those they think will deal for their problems. Labour prom- This argument does assume a with the “problem”. If politicians ised to introduce electronic tag- causal link between public dis- tell voters that petty racism is ok, ging and detention for those with course during the election and the they are more likely to be petty “unfounded” asylum claims2. The result of the election. It may be racists. BNP’s share of the national vote that the BNP rise has slowed for There are two things that are almost quadrupled. different reasons. However, the interesting about this. The first is 2007 election was on the same that it seems to show Labour and MEDIA OBSESSION WANED cycle as the 2003 election – where the Tories either get it wrong when In December 2006, David the BNP did fairly well. Many of they attempt to squeeze the BNP, Cameron became leader of the those who lost their seats – such as or they just use the BNP as an Conservative Party. As we know, in Burnley – may well have just excuse to scapegoat immigrants he attempted to change the party’s been bad local councillors. There for the failures in their policies image. He flew to Svalbard to look are numerous stories of BNP coun- more broadly. The second is how at melting glaciers. He changed the cillors failing to turn up, admitting this impacts on how we look at party logo. He stopped talking they don’t understand meetings, or politics more broadly. It shows

PERSPECTIVES WINTER 2007-08 17 CAMERON AND THE BNP CHRISTMAS – how susceptible voters are to polit- ical leadership – especially when it comes to priorities. CELEBRATION OR

ELECTORAL AGENDA That politicians and the media SURVIVAL? have more agency in setting the electoral agenda than they admit – hat did last Christmas poorer areas of the cities the or, perhaps, realise – is not an orig- mean for you? Was it “Provvy Man” – lenders with a inal point. The government has Wsomething you looked 140% interest charge – is knocking succeeded in taking away civil lib- forward to – a festival that brought the doors just when the pressure to erties by telling us terrorism is a your family together? Or was it buy is at its highest. national emergency. Alex Salmond something that you approached So what is ALTERnativity’s persuaded Scottish voters that the with dread – with only rows and answer to this? It is very simple – recent election was a poll for First debt to look forward to? Was get women together, get them talk- Minister, and his “vision for Christmas something to be cele- ing, and then get them to agree Scotland”. The 2004 US presiden- brated or survived? what they will do differently. The tial election was not about the fact For many women today, women who took part in the pilot that Bush had made most people Christmas brings feeling of panic, said that it acted as a form of poorer. It was about “patriotism”. followed by exhaustion and then group counselling; they were also However, it is a relevant one. If the anti-climax. They feel driven to very clear that they would not con- electorate doesn’t care enough spend, spend, spend on presents sider joining facilities offered by about climate change or poverty, is for the children and then provide a the authorities, such as financial this the fault of voters, or politi- feast that would normally feed management or stress counselling. cians? them for at least a week. And all They felt free to share their wor- More directly, what the BNP this on the minimum income. No ries and their pressures and the result seems to show is that the wonder all some of them hope for materials in the pack helped them “need to address the agenda of the is the ability to get through it in one to make decisions together. BNP” is not a valid excuse for piece. Could there be another way? ALTERnativity recognises that it is racism. When Margaret Hodge A way of celebrating that doesn’t almost impossible to stand against says housing should be distributed break the bank or create stress? the consumer Christmas alone, but on the grounds of ethnicity rather ALTERnativity has produced a trying to do it with friends not than need, she is not squeezing the resource pack (Christmas – only gives the necessary support BNP. She is fuelling them. She is Celebration or Survival), for but is also fun. blaming the housing crisis on women that enables them to think Using women’s own experiences immigrants. Does she do this through some of the questions as a starting point, the pack draws because she really thinks this is the they have, the problems they face, on the Christmas story, as well as best way to deal with the BNP, or and then develop their own coping scenes from around the world and because immigrants are an easy strategies. The material has been popular films like The Wizard of scapegoat for failed government produced by women – written and Oz, and provides the basis for housing policy? trialled in areas of poverty in evenings (or mornings, or after- Glasgow and Paisley – by women noons) that are both thought-pro- ■ Adam Ramsay is a social and of all ages, in differing circum- voking and entertaining. environmental activist concerned stances, but with one thing in The pack deliberately spans with student issues, international common: they somehow feel let from October through to February development and environmental down by the way we celebrate – beginning early enough for some justice. A politics and philosophy Christmas. decisions to be made together student at Edinburgh University, he The facts of Christmas are a about any change they might want is Scottish regional representative long way from the glitzy display to make, but allowing space to for People and Planet, and recently shown in magazines, and the pres- reflect after Christmas on the sto- organised the inaugural event for sure to live up to these images adds ries and, if appropriate, to support Student Democratic Left. stress, not least to the finances. In each other through the grey days June of last year the average of the early New Year. NOTES household in the UK had debts of It is offered as a resource for 1 Are you thinking what we’re £7,750 (excluding mortgage) and leaders of women’s groups or thinking? – the Conservative a recent survey found that almost indeed for anyone who wants to Party manifesto 2005 80% of people worry about the bring women together to talk 2 Britain – forward not back – financing of Christmas. Many will about Christmas. The Labour Party manifesto still not have paid off last year’s Maggie Lunan 2005 presents by this Christmas. In the www.alternativity.org.uk

18 WINTER 2007-08 PERSPECTIVES DIARY: PARTY TIME Party politics preoccupy “The Hat” in the run-up to his 65th thrash …

t’s party time, folks, and man “Comrade” Howells Gangster Monthly, Iabout town, yours truly, is about was a coal-miner Donald MacCorleone, to celebrate 65 glorious years on and professional godfather of Scotland’s the planet. As you would expect, rugby player, most powerful cosa nostra, many celebs will be there. But then a mature explained their plight. “They missing from the guest list are two student (and come over here and they rob friends of yore, due in part to distinguished our banks. They move into other commitments but mainly himself by gaining our brothels. They steal our jobs because I am choosy. a doctorate). As selling drugs tae kids. Some of Dr John (Hard Man) Reid, an students did in those days he got He was deaf them cannae even threaten folk in old friend from my “ivy-covered” by with the assistance of various to all appeals oor ane language! Ahm I alone in days at uni used to be a real party grants. After a spell in the employ thinking something should be animal and attended many a bash of the Welsh NUM (where, so someone done aboot it?” Makes you yearn in our fair capital. He required no incidentally, he gained a close-up decided to for the days when you could rely invitation to lift his voice in song view of Arthur Scargill’s vanity improve his on being beaten up and robbed by and at one such party that was politics) he became a Welsh MP. one of your own. fairly lowpin’ with dancing, At Westminster a blinding flash of hearing by To the Joan Eardley exhibition drinking and the crack he light from the sky converted him applying the on the Mound for the regular demanded in the soft, reverential to the unwisdom of the “plush” well-known dosage of culture my sensitive tones for which he is noted that student life he oft had led. soul requires. It’s the biggest there be a sing-song. He was told Prudent principles of political curative exhibition of her paintings since in no uncertain terms that a economy should be applied and powers of she settled here and began to period of silence from him would the corrupting effect of student the copper- derive her inspiration from the be appreciated. Undaunted, he grants ended. And they should harsh Scottish environment. Truly found a guitar and proceeded to pay their own fees! The ladder he bottomed a remarkable show. One of the murder a medley of rebel songs to had so recently climbed was frying pan to attendants told me that the unanimous disapproval. pulled up thus ensuring that fewer his bonce. standing exhibition in the He was deaf to all appeals so working-class youngsters from the National Gallery includes the someone decided to improve his valleys would follow in his foot- work of not one single woman hearing by applying the well- steps. As we are sometimes heard artist. Comment is superfluous. known curative powers of the to say in Scotland, “Tae hell wi’ And what about the workers? copper-bottomed frying pan to his you, Jack. Ah’m fire-proof.” Well, yours truly had a recent chat bonce. Unsurprisingly, Dr Kim of the Coalfields was with some postal workers about “Comrade” Reid was rendered last seen out on the town with the their efforts to keep this crucial unconscious. On reviving he King of Saudi Arabia! See service alive and well. They had resumed his recital showing at an ambition. See oil. See arms sales. very unflattering opinions as to early age that he was oblivious to See human rights! Excuse me the competence of their informed taste and majority while I collapse with merriment. employers. One of them, no opinion. By the way, the hard man So my two former friends will doubt an extremist, was of the image was a late acquisition which be absent friends the Big Day, but view that if the IQs of the entire seemed to coincide with power. At their space will more than amply management were added up it Uni he was a pussy cat and in the filled by the presence of my old would total less than that of your event of a “stramash” his absence pal, TAM WHITE, the great average table. In current postal could be relied upon. And once in Scottish blues exponent. Play it service promotions customers are power you don’t have to get blood again, Tam. being urged to use their local on your hands when you can get it According to our postal service (with the aid of a on the hands of your unimpeachable media there Joan Collins icon: very tasteful) subordinates. appears to be a blight on the land while hundreds of offices are Another absentee from my in the form of a dearth of systematically closed down. Talk birthday bash will be my former aboriginal desperadoes. Honest. If about the contradictions of side-kick Dr Kim, Today a it’s not the Russian mafia, it’s East capitalism! Ministry, Tomorrow the Cabinet, European or Turkish or Chinese And so to bed. Howells. In an earlier incarnation drugs lords. In the last edition of The Hat

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