{"id":15782,"date":"2005-03-01T16:06:19","date_gmt":"2005-03-01T16:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=15782"},"modified":"2021-02-28T13:39:14","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T13:39:14","slug":"the-declaration-of-calton-hill-and-the-scottish-independence-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2005\/03\/01\/the-declaration-of-calton-hill-and-the-scottish-independence-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"The Declaration of Calton Hill and the Scottish Independence Convention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Text of leaflet produced and distributed by RCN<\/acronym> (Scotland) for the Declaration of Calton Hill event on October 9th<\/h2>\n

Today\u2019s Declaration of Calton Hill will be welcomed by freedom-loving democrats. What a contrast to all the toadying surrounding that alternative event – the royal opening of the Westminster sub-office next to Holyrood Palace and its forelock-tugging New Labour management. This devolved Scottish \u2018parliament\u2019 has no power to prevent her majesty\u2019s Scottish regiments imposing the British imperial will, whether in Basra or Belfast. It has few powers when it comes to any meaningful redistribution of wealth.<\/p>\n

The Scottish Socialist Party has made a significant political step forward by giving its support to an independent Scottish republic built on the principles of liberty, equality, diversity and solidarity<\/q>. It has taken quite a political struggle to get the SSP<\/acronym> to adopt republican principles. The RCN<\/acronym> is proud to have been in the forefront of that struggle. Now that the SSP<\/acronym> has nailed its colours to the mast, with the support of others, in framing an explicitly republican Calton Hill Declaration, it must ensure that its other political initiative, the Scottish Independence Convention, is also built on republican principles.<\/p>\n

Building the Convention on democratic republican principles<\/h3>\n

The RCN<\/acronym> has always placed a high priority on contesting the British state\u2019s Crown Powers. Consistent democratic republicanism challenges all the state\u2019s anti-democratic powers. Just being anti-monarchist means you only challenge the UK<\/acronym>\u2019s hereditary office bearers – the power structure is left intact. This is why at SSP<\/acronym> Conferences we have proposed that any elected MSP<\/acronym>s should refuse the oath of allegiance which gives sanction to these powers.<\/p>\n

The RCN<\/acronym> believes a widespread republican sentiment already exists in Scotland and if we build on firm democratic republican principles, this sentiment can be organised as a practical force demanding a Scottish republic. This should be the aim of the proposed Convention. That would end the prospect of anti-democratic powers being transferred to the new representatives of a Scottish ruling class. Whilst a Scottish republic isn\u2019t socialism, it represents firmer ground on which to advance than devolution, federalism under the Crown or \u2018independence\u2019 under the Windsors.<\/p>\n

There are sentimental republicans in the SNP<\/acronym>, but under Alex Salmond, republicanism remains just a sentiment, like that old \u2018May Day socialism\u2019 under Labour. Inthe meantime the SNP<\/acronym> supports knighthoods for the rich and famous and gives its support to Scottish regiments which have served British imperial interests faithfully from Culloden to Crossmaglen and from India to Iraq.<\/p>\n

A practical republican strategy for the Convention should seek the widest participation from the beginning. This means rejecting a narrow cross-party pressure group approach, with its emphasis on party political representatives supplemented by the \u2018great and good\u2019. Our aim should be for a Constituent Assembly with wide-ranging popular representatives drawn from the network of trade union, community and cultural campaigns, as well as supporting political parties and individual representatives.<\/p>\n

Internationalism from below<\/h3>\n

We must also realise that the British ruling class strategy to maintain its control covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, not just Scotland. Jack McConnell can get support from Labour and other unionists throughout the UK<\/acronym>, when necessary, to prop up his administration in Scotland. The British and Irish governments have their own Council of the Isles, with representatives from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Convention proposals can only meet with hostility from the rulers of the UK<\/acronym> and their state.<\/p>\n

We also need to unite our forces throughout these islands. Here again the Calton Hill Declaration points the way forward. Our aim is not to erect walls of separation but to build an outward Scotland that will extend its hand of friendship<\/q>. This points the way to an internationalism from below strategy. We need to form a republican Socialist Alliance covering Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. There should be a joint platform which recognises the full autonomy of socialist organisation in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. The political aim should be the abolition of the Crown Powers, the breaking of the Union and the ending of Partition in Ireland.<\/p>\n

This point can not be emphasised too strongly. Time and again the British state has created suspicions, divisions and even hatreds between sections of the working class throughout these islands. They have set Scots and English against each other, Highlander and Lowlander, Catholic against Protestant, Rosyth dockworkers against Devonport dockworkers. The state will respond to any moves by us to establish a Scottish republic by whipping up anti-Scots feelings amongst the working classes of England, Wales and Ireland. An independence convention with nothing to say to the mass of people in England, Wales and Ireland is going nowhere or worse – it leaves the door wide open to the forces of reaction.<\/p>\n

John Maclean, James Connolly and the Workers\u2019 Republican Tradition<\/h3>\n

As socialist republicans we welcome the support of all genuine democrats who are interested in winning a Scottish republic. However, we are also clear that only the uprooting of the capitalist economic and social relations can bring about real emancipation and liberation. This is why we follow in the tradition of Glasgow\u2019s John Maclean and Edinburgh\u2019s James Connolly, two great socialist republicans.<\/p>\n

This is why our political aim is a Scottish Workers\u2019 Republic as part of an International Socialist Federation. Only then we can end those remaining forms of slavery – wage, domestic and debt – and bring about the society we really need, built on the following communist principles:- from each according to their abilities; to each according to their needs<\/q> and where the free development of each is the condition of the free development of all<\/q>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Text of leaflet produced and distributed by RCN (Scotland) for the Declaration of Calton Hill event on October 9th Today\u2019s Declaration of Calton Hill will be welcomed by freedom-loving democrats. What a contrast to all the toadying surrounding that alternative event – the royal opening of the Westminster sub-office next to Holyrood Palace and its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8974,1875,8784],"tags":[264],"class_list":["post-15782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leaflet","category-scotland-against-unionism","category-issue-09","tag-author-rcn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"views":1611,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15782"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17960,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15782\/revisions\/17960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}