After the Scottish referendum politics on these islands will never be the same

Mick Hall gives his view of the Scottish independence referendum

If ever history needs yet another example of the disconnect between the
members of the Tory-led Coalition government, led by David Cameron, and the overwhelming majority of those they govern, they need look no further than the Scottish referendum debate. And it’s not only within the ruling Coalition where this is displayed, this total lack of empathy and an understanding about what makes ordinary people tick stretches right across the political, business, and media elites.

It’s as if the germ of neoliberalism which Margaret Thatcher first let
loose has infected the generation who now lead the ‘mainstream political
parties’. It is not an exaggeration to claim they are incapable of thinking outside of the box of what has become the dead weight of the age. Indeed it is even worse than that as they have no solutions to the UK’s problems, let alone innovative ones, beyond that is more of the same. They revert to 19th century type thinking and attempt to force the population to take the pain, so they and theirs, the 5% of the population who benefit from neoliberalism, can continue to accumulate even more personal wealth while everyone else suffers and ringfence it from the rage of the masses were it to explode.

Nowhere has the disconnect between ordinary folk and the political elite
been greater than in the Scottish referendum debate.

With the Labour Party leadership on side (I will return to this later) the Coalition believed the referendum would have been a walk in the park, when even a glimpse at the 2010 election result should have told them they were in for a tenacious struggle, a peaceful war. At the last election just over 64% of the UK electorate voted against the Tories, and this hatred of the Tories and neoliberalism was especially prevalent in Scotland where only one Tory MP was returned to the Westminster Parliament, making Scotland politically almost a Tory-free zone.

If you add in the record of the Tory-led coalition since they came to
power, student fees, benefit cuts, especially on the sick and disabled, the bedroom tax, tax cuts for the rich, and more foreign wars, only a political illiterate or an arrogant fool who doesn’t get out much would not have foreseen the Scottish independence referendum could lead to the break up of the UK.

Being creatures of habit who believe they are born to rule, once they saw the polls going against them, the English ruling class reached for the tools which until now have served their class well throughout their grubby and bloody history. First they tried selling the Scottish people bullshit and bluster in an attempt to get them to remain within the union, when that failed they tried threats about the currency, national debt, oil running out, and industry and commerce moving south – which was a bit rich given it was UK governments who deliberately decimated Scotland’s industrial heartlands. Finally last weekend they tried bribes and false promises.

What a joy it must be to be a Scot these days. Not only are they on the brink of righting a historic wrong, during the course of the referendum debate they have come to believe in great numbers that there is a better way and more importantly millions of them now have the confidence to put it into practice.

If the yes vote wins on the day, they will have a blank sheet on which to build a new nation, and in the process they will prove there is another way from the neoliberal sinkhole of low wage, low skilled economies, kept afloat by the roulette wheel spin of the markets and financial shenanigans of the banksters. A country in which every citizen is cherished and valued equally, a society which develops the best from the past, the NHS, the welfare state, social housing, organised labour, co-operatives, manufacturing and service industries which offer workers a decent day’s wage for a decent day’s work, and publicly owned amenities, utilities, and services, including those which have failed their consumers so dismally since privatisation.

All this and more will be for the Scottish people to decide if they vote
yes next week. What an adventure it would be, a challenge for sure, but
what a magnificent prize they have within their grasp. If successful, and I believe they can be, they will make history gasp. In all probability it would finish the Tories down here in England as a natural party of government – after all the party which lost the union could hardly continue to masquerade as the Conservative and Unionist Party, its official name, without being ridiculed.

As for the left, Miliband’s blunder in joining the Liberal Democrats and
Tories in the no campaign will also have consequences, although I doubt
they will fully emerge until after 2016 when Scotland leaves the union and becomes an independent nation. With the loss of the 44 Scottish Labour MPs a realignment of the left will be needed. Today there are almost as many former LP members as actual ones, most without a party political home. What is needed is a broad social democratic party which includes people from the soft left, across the political spectrum to the far left. Whether Labour can be that party is doubtful, but what the referendum debate has shown is when such a party exists, even in a modest way, it can achieve momentous things, big and small.

As to the Coalition government and the rest of the UK political elite who are shacked up in Westminster and the gentrified areas of London and the home counties, in recent years they have continuously boasted about the UK punching above its weight in the international arena, when in reality the referendum debate has exposed them as being unable to even punch their own weight in their backyard.

Whatever the outcome on the 18th September one thing is for sure, politics on these islands will never be the same.


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9 comments

9 responses to “After the Scottish referendum politics on these islands will never be the same”

  1. sandy says:

    think No will win but not by much. Whatever the result the labour movement in scotland is in a bad way. Scottish nationalism now has mass support within the working class and the left nationalist groups will keep pushing the divisive agenda of Scottish separation. I dont think the leaders of the left nat groups are self aware enough to know that they are lying to the working class about the benefits of a YES vote. They believe their own hype. Useful idiots for the Scottish establishment.The labour party is hollowed out with little prospect of any left emerging from within its ranks. The non nationalist socialist groups are divided and very weak. The only good thing about a YES win would be that it would destroy the leftist pretensions of the “left” nationalists within a short period of time and thus clear the way for the development of an authentic socialist movement. However the effect of a YES vote on the living standards of the working class could be disastrous in the short term – expect big capital out flows from Scotland, growing unemployment and a further significant drop in the pound- and most importantly the growth of national antagonism on both sides of the border. A NO vote will limit the damage but the forces of disintegration have had a boost whatever the outcome of the vote tomorrow. The need for a british wide socialist party which links up with socialist forces in the rest of Europe should be clear. Socialists must reject and combat the divisive and dead end forces of nationalism. They lead nowhere positive. We can only move forward by working class unity

    • John Penney says:

      A good, accurate,comment, Sandy. Gloomy – but very realistic – and spot on politically.

      I was amazed this week to learn that my sister in Edinburgh had been out, politically active for the first time her life – going door to door for the “Yes” Campaign . Aghast, I asked her why this was . ” I’m a Socialist , John”, she informed me (to my considerable surprise) , “I want to live in a fairer, more prosperous, more equal Scotland , with a world class Health Service, and jobs for all” she riposted.

      Trying to explain to her that the empty promises of the SNP ,and the much more radical future Scottish socialist utopia image promoted by their Left nationalist fellow travellers, could simply not be sustained in the real capitalist world of today’s global crisis – not for a tiny economy in isolation like Scotland that is – with a future Scottish currency crisis – and big doubts even about quick entry into the EU to complicate matters further – under the leadership of the firmly capitalist (Murdoch empire stooge) SNP . This cut no ice with sis I’m afraid. A collective delusion of ” guaranteed wine and roses forever under tartan skies” once “independence” dawns seems to have gripped major sections of Scotland’s population.

      Hear, hear to your final conclusion, Sandy :

      “The need for a British-wide socialist party which links up with socialist forces in the rest of Europe should be clear. Socialists must reject and combat the divisive and dead end forces of nationalism. They lead nowhere positive. We can only move forward by working class unity”.

  2. sandy says:

    The referendum on Scottish independence could go either way. Whatever the result the whole business is an example of the ruling class losing control of its system. Losing control not to the organized forces of the working class but to the forces of nationalist populism. We are witnessing disintegration not transcendence.

    Scottish nationalism has been the dominant ideology north of the border since the late 60s. No one ever lost their job for being a “Scottish patriot”or for shouting their mouth off about how Scottish they feel. The labour bureaucracy which ran scotland and its main cities for years used anti Westminster rhetoric as an alternative and block to anti capitalist sentiment and struggle. The CPGB were often the forerunners in this. Deflect any anger against the Scottish establishment onto London. Blame the foreigner in effect. National antagonism has been stoked up and built up as a barrier to class struggle working class self activity. The chickens are now coming home to roost. Workers in scotland have been told for years that Westminster rule is the problem. That they are being ripped off by the English- that our oil money is being squandered on them down south. The “far left” has become the worse culprit in this regard. They have given up on socialism and now fly the saltire. The essence of nationalist populism is reactionary and that will become evident in the next few years. We are not witnessing a great upsurge in working class self activity but the growth of a nationalist movement that can go nowhere positive. There is no Scottish road to socialism but there is a scottish road to another neo liberal national prison for the working class

  3. Jimmy Haddow says:

    As an active socialist living in Scotland I have to say that John Penney’s sister has more understanding of the real situation in Scotland than either John Penney himself, I assume living in England, and sandy living in Scotland.

    They cannot see that the opportunity to vote Yes is being taken up by big sections of the working class as a weapon to hit back at the hated Westminster political elite, those responsible for benefit cuts, wage freezes and savage public sector cuts. It’s become a mass revolt by the victims of austerity against their class enemy. In the absence, temporarily, of mass action organised by the trade unions against the cuts as a vital strategy in turning the tide against austerity; the referendum has taken on a proxy form of class struggle, reflecting the huge anger and desire for economic and social change.

    What is clear that there is no going back to the situation that existed prior to January this year when Project Fear began in earnest, let alone going back to before the referendum was announced. There has been a radicalisation among the working class and an increasing tendency for their class interests to be put forward through the prism of the campaign. As I have said above the referendum has been used as an opportunity for working class people to hit back against austerity and the political elite who are implementing these policies. That mood will not disappear, even in the wake of a No majority (but with many working class areas of Scotland likely having voted Yes). In fact class anger can increase even further, especially against those who will have been seen to have stolen a Yes victory; the Labour Party, big business and the media. A Yes majority will usher in an unprecedented crisis for the bourgeois and apply huge pressure on an SNP leadership who will attempt to move to quickly dampen down expectations. It will also have international repercussions in Spain, Italy and Belgium as well as in the rest of the UK. The demand that socialists should champion of not a penny more of Westminster cuts, for mass campaigning against austerity and for a new working class party can gain an even wider echo.

    Sandy quite frankly has and is isolated to and from the real processes that is taking place within the working class of Scotland and does not know what he is talking about. He even does not believe in the present Scottish Parliament that has been going for 15 years and still calls for an all British socialist group as though the Scottish Parliament is not there. Socialists should have a programme and policies that are based in reality today and in the coming future not what is in the past. Anything else they become sectarian and that is what sandy is.

    Whether there is a yes vote or not the powers of the Scottish Parliament should be used to nationalise, under democratic workers’ control and management, the oil and gas industry, the renewable energy sector and the major sectors of the Scottish economy. This would release billions to invest in a massive programme of job creation and to rebuild our public services. Bring the banks and finance sector into public ownership under democratic working class control and renationalise gas, electricity, transport and the privatised sectors of the economy. Also tax the rich and big business and increase the minimum wage to £10 per hour and end the attacks on welfare along with abolishment of all anti-trade union laws. For a Scottish government representing working people, the unemployed and the poor that defends jobs, wages, public services and pensions and refuses to make cuts to pay for the crisis.

    That can only take place if the trade unions break from Labour and build a new mass working class party in Scotland, and in England and Wales too, and has on its red banner a socialist plan of production in an independent socialist Scotland as part of a voluntary confederation with England, Wales and Ireland as a step to a socialist Europe. That is why socialists like myself have helped to initiated a Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition conference on preparing for the 2015 and 2016 elections by building an anti-cuts and socialist election challenge in Scotland in early November in Glasgow.

    Whatever the outcome of the vote the political terrain will have changed decisively in Scotland. The urgent task of capitalising and channelling the colossal anger that has been so evident into a mass struggle to defeat the cuts agenda and to strengthen the ideas of socialism in Scotland and throughout Britain. That is something sandy and the John Pennies of this world just cannot at present, with their lack of understanding of the social process within the working class, comprehend.

    • Ray G says:

      TUSC is merely the latest front organisation for a Trotskyist sect that sees itself as the vanguard of the proletariat – you know, the kind that has been so successful so far, the kind with the same leader since 1964 and no recognisable internal democracy at all. As such, it will never be a mass force either by recruiting directly or by being a kernel around which a wider left party will form. A party that cannot bring itself to campaign around almost any issue with any other socialists has no right to demand that other socialists support it.

  4. Jimmy Haddow says:

    Now I am away to get changed so I can go out to the polling station to vote YES and do a stall against zero hour contracts and campaign for a living wage of £10 per hour.

  5. Jimmy Haddow says:

    I voted YES and I am still fighting for an independent Socialist Scotland.

  6. John Tummon says:

    Just look at No 6 on this exit poll to see how few No voters wanted to keep the Union. They have been fooled by the 3 mainstream parties, who will now fail to keep that promise:

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/7-fascinating-insights-into-why-scotland-voted-against-indep#1bux91s

    The General Election will dominate this agenda, as the main parties jockey to win ‘middle’ English votes, which always decide the outcome under FPTP, a fraudulent peice of so-called ‘democracy.

    Just look at the Scottish referendum results by proportion and then at the consequence if these results has been for two parties under FPTP – 45% would become just 3 seats out of 32!

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2014/sep/18/-sp-scottish-independence-referendum-results-in-full

    Which is also why LU should not bother with the General Election campaign – it legitmises a distorted electoral system.

    • Ray G says:

      John, your comments about the 3/32 is nonsense. A Westminster FPTP (first past the post) election would be based on equal electoral areas, the referendum was counted by council area, so Glasgow was one area (with hundreds of thousands of votes) and the 20,000 people of Orkney, for example, was another. If there really were only two parties, FPTP would work in not too bad a way. Now that there are three, four or five parties the FPTP system is utterly absurd and should be replaced by proportional representation (PR).


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