Scottish left is in a story state

Submitted by Matthew on 20 April, 2011 - 11:47

Calling for a Labour vote, combined with rebuilding the left and pushing the unions to assert themselves politically, is the only serious left policy in Scottish Parliamentary elections on 5 May. That is not because the Labour campaign, or the Labour Party’s policies, are good.

The Scottish Tories will be lucky to hang on to a handful of seats. In the Holyrood elections the basic question is: do you want a Labour or an SNP government (or some kind of coalition with one of those parties at its core)?

The SNP does not claim to be a socialist party. But the policies on which it is contesting the Holyrood elections are far removed from those on which the Tories contested the Westminster elections. There is a big overlap between Labour and SNP policies.

The SNP will contest the elections on the basis of its record in power at Holyrood, rather than a promise of Scottish independence.

In the Westminster election campaign Labour turned to gut anti-Tory rhetoric to bolster its vote. Despite the hypocrisy of the Labour leadership — given their record in power — it did represent an assertion of basic working-class politics.

In the Holyrood elections, Labour’s anti-Tory rhetoric fulfils a different function. Fundamentally, it is used to avoid challenging the SNP’s policies.

Over the past four years the SNP has implemented reforms — however modest — which Labour failed to implement during the preceding eight years when it was in a coalition with the Lib-Dems. The SNP’s election is largely based on promising a continuation of those policies.

The Labour leadership in Scotland is not prepared to attack the SNP from the left and argue that the SNP’s policies do not go anywhere near far enough. Such an approach is precluded by the Labour leadership’s own politics.

Their way out of this dilemma is to appeal to a gut anti-Toryism and claim that Labour is best placed to challenge the Tory (and Lib-Dem) government in Westminster.

One difference between last year’s Westminster elections and this year’s Holyrood elections relates to the strength — or lack of it — of the Labour left in Scotland.

Numerically, it is probably even weaker than elsewhere in Britain, partly because of migrations to the SNP, or to the Scottish Socialist Party at the time when the SSP was a serious political force. Organisationally, it exists virtually only on paper.

But now and for the foreseeable future the Labour Party remains the focus for trade unions seeking change in the political arena (although how effectively unions organise and fight to secure such change is another question).

The SNP, on the other hand, has no such links with the trade union movement. Despite the fact that some union activists are SNP members, the SNP, by its very nature, has no interest in becoming the “political wing” of the trade union movement in Scotland.

The SNP has moved on from its primitive nationalism of the 1970s and earlier. And its commitment to independence is expressed less vigorously than in the past.

But its overarching political framework is still defined by its goal of an independent capitalist Scotland.

Another major difference between the Holyrood and Westminster elections is the fact that Scottish voters have two votes — one for first-past-the-post constituency candidates, and one for regional “lists”.

In a region such as Glasgow, where Labour wins all or nearly all of the individual constituencies, there is arguably little or no point in voting Labour in the regional “list”. In fact, throughout the history of the Scottish Parliament no Labour MSP has ever been elected as a Glasgow “list” MSP.

The Holyrood electoral system itself therefore provides openings for parties of the left to win representation in the Parliament, even if those parties are only the voters’ second choice.

So is there a case for voting for one of the socialist parties/coalitions in the regional “lists” (or at least in Glasgow, given the number of constituency seats which Labour is likely to win in that region)?

Certainly not for Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party (SLP), an organisation which embodies the essentially Stalinist politics of its founder, and does virtually nothing during elections and absolutely nothing between elections.

And certainly not for “The Respect Party George Galloway (Respect) — Coalition Against Cuts” either. This is no more than a vanity project to try to provide Galloway with a seat in Holyrood. The involvement of the Socialist Workers Party and the Socialist Party (Scotland) would be laughable if it was not so pathetic.

And the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP)? There is a stronger case for voting for them than for the SLP and the cheerleaders for Galloway; but the SSP has been unable to recover from the damage inflicted on it by Sheridan, the SWP and the Socialist Party.

Politically, the SSP remains an uneasy amalgam of Scottish populism and vaguely class politics, with more than a dash of vintage Stalinism thrown in for good measure. Its much reduced size also highlights a sectarian strand in its politics: its demand that unions disaffiliate from the Labour Party, for example, simply has no purchase on reality.

In fact, one of the strongest supplementary arguments for a vote for Labour in the Holyrood elections is the sorry state of the left outside of the Labour Party — above all as represented by those who have thrown in their lot with Galloway.

Whatever the outcome of the election, the incoming government will be one which seeks to pass on the Con-Dem cuts in public spending.

Socialists need to combine campaigning against cuts with rebuilding the Labour left, both individual Labour Party membership and also affiliated unions re-asserting themselves as a political force within the Scottish Labour Party structures.

These are the arguments socialists should be raising in the election campaign, along with trying to develop a network of activists which can provide a basis for campaigning along these lines after 5 May.

• More: George Galloway stands for the people? No, just for himself!

www.workersliberty.org
/node/16334

How the Socialist Party (Scotland) justifies its electoral alliance with George Galloway

www.workersliberty.org
/node/16401

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.