{"id":165,"date":"2006-03-05T13:19:34","date_gmt":"2006-03-05T13:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=165"},"modified":"2021-03-02T19:41:29","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T19:41:29","slug":"a-change-of-course-required","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/05\/a-change-of-course-required\/","title":{"rendered":"A Change of Course Required"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philip Stott, member of the SSP<\/acronym> and the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI<\/acronym>) gives his analysis of the Scottish Independence Convention and the trajectory of the SSP<\/acronym>.<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s been more than a decade and a half since the soothsayers of capitalism pronounced the triumph of the market and read the last rites for socialism. Events since then have not worked out as well as the free-market ideologues had initially hoped. Neo-liberal policies and capitalist globalisation – the twin hatchets that the capitalist class internationally have used to slash away at workers\u2019 rights and the social conditions of the majority of the world\u2019s population \u2013 have produced mass opposition in its wake. The deepening social revolt in Latin America, the first continent to suffer the laboratory experiment of neo-liberalism and privatisation has shaken imperialism. While not yet carrying through a socialist revolution, events in Venezuela, Bolivia and other countries underline a growing tide of revolt against capitalist policies internationally.<\/p>\n

The so-called developed west has seen the emergence of important class battles in Europe on pensions, jobs, wages and attacks on working conditions. This has provoked major strike movements in Belgium, Italy, Ireland and Greece in the last few months.<\/p>\n

US<\/acronym> imperialism, the colossus who bestrode the world unchallenged, has been exposed as having feet of clay. Bush\u2019s hopes following the Iraq invasion, a reliable source of cheap oil and a strengthened hand for imperialism\u2019s policies in the Middle East, are sinking into the quagmire. Iraq is becoming a nightmare for imperialism with no exit strategy. There is a majority inside the US<\/acronym> now opposed to Bush\u2019s strategy. While in Iraq the horrors of the occupation and the policies of the US<\/acronym> and UK<\/acronym> has led to tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths and a developing civil war with incalculable consequences for Iraq and the entire region. The weakening position for imperialism and their allies in the Middle East was also underlined by the election victory for Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza recently.<\/p>\n

Alongside these and other important developments is a tangible reawakening of interest in socialist ideas among sections of young people and the working class. The Committee for a Workers International has parties and organisations in almost 40 countries across the world and in many of these sections we have seen significant growth in the last year or so. (see Committee for a Workers International<\/a>)<\/p>\n

As well as building our own revolutionary Marxist forces, the CWI<\/acronym> has advocated the need to build new mass parties of the working class as an important step to challenging the neo-liberal offensive. Even where these parties don\u2019t adopt initially a clear socialist and internationalist programme they would represent a step forward.<\/p>\n

SSP<\/acronym><\/h3>\n

This is also the approach we have taken towards the SSP<\/acronym> in Scotland. We were founding members off the SSP<\/acronym> in 1998 and have worked to build the party since then, while arguing for an alternative political strategy and programme to that of the SSP<\/acronym> leadership. We believe there are big possibilities in Scotland to reach a new generation with socialist ideas and the SSP<\/acronym> has the potential to do that. Our differences with the SSP<\/acronym> leadership, a number of whom including Tommy Sheridan and Alan McCombes formally broke with the CWI<\/acronym> in 2001, were over their rejection of the need to defend and build support for a Marxist programme while building the politically broader SSP<\/acronym>. Their break from the policies and methods of the CWI<\/acronym> has also led to political mistakes which are jeopardising the very future of the SSP<\/acronym>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s against this background of new opportunities for socialists in Scotland and internationally that the setbacks suffered by the SSP<\/acronym> have been so disappointing. They have dealt a serious blow to the morale of party members and those who saw the SSP<\/acronym> as a refreshing alternative to the pro-capitalist establishment in Scotland. Public support for the SSP<\/acronym> has fallen significantly and without doubt it has complicated the task of building a more powerful and viable socialist force. The CWI<\/acronym> has dealt with these setbacks and outlined a strategy for recovery for the party in our statement, Which way now for the SSP<\/acronym>?<\/cite> (CWI<\/acronym> Scotland<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The enforced resignation of Tommy Sheridan as national convenor by the SSP<\/acronym> Executive Committee was the catalyst for a crisis that has done severe and possibly lasting damage to the SSP<\/acronym>. But it is important to understand that these events were a reflection of a fundamentally mistaken political approach by the party leadership to the tasks of building a mass socialist party; above all how, and on what programme, is a new party to be built and sustained. This mistaken approach is continuing and can further weaken the SSP<\/acronym> unless a political change of direction is undertaken and rapidly.<\/p>\n

In our view the SSP<\/acronym> leadership completely mis-judged the public impact that Tommy Sheridan\u2019s resignation would have on the fortunes of the SSP<\/acronym>. This was a reflection of a lack of an appreciation of the public standing Tommy Sheridan had, and still has, and the way in which his role in the mass struggles like the poll tax (when he was a member of the CWI<\/acronym>) and since then played a decisive role in laying the basis of support for what was to become the SSP<\/acronym>. Even more seriously, in our view, it exposes a leadership, or sections of the leadership of the SSP<\/acronym>, that has lost its ability to connect with the working class.<\/p>\n

The CWI<\/acronym> has fundamental political differences with Tommy Sheridan. In fact we were the only platform to challenge, in the form of a motion to the SSP<\/acronym> National Council, Tommy Sheridan\u2019s support for the mixed economy<\/q> during the 2003 general election campaign. While Tommy Sheridan was arguing there was no need to nationalise companies like Tesco, the CWI<\/acronym> counter posed the need to bring the multinational companies into public ownership under democratic working class control and management to form the basis of a planned socialist economy.<\/p>\n

Left nationalism<\/h3>\n

We have also opposed Tommy Sheridan and others in the leadership of the SSP<\/acronym> on their increasing turn to left nationalism.<\/p>\n

This has been graphically represented by the text of the Declaration of Calton Hill<\/q>, the approach taken towards the Independence Convention, and the now clearly expressed and formulated strategy of the need to break apart the UK<\/acronym><\/q> before it is possible to advance the cause of socialism. It is likely that independence and the break up of the British State will be posed long before the forces of socialism are strong enough to defeat capitalism in Scotland<\/q> (Alan McCombes\u2019 statement on the Independence Convention, October 2005)<\/p>\n

Two and an half years have passed since the SSP<\/acronym> EC<\/acronym> brought forward their proposal to launch the Independence Convention. The CWI<\/acronym> opposed this proposal when it was brought to the National Council in August 2003 for three key reasons:<\/p>\n