{"id":18974,"date":"2021-04-30T18:52:14","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T18:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=18974"},"modified":"2022-09-13T16:48:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T16:48:54","slug":"the-alba-party-and-the-left-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2021\/04\/30\/the-alba-party-and-the-left-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"The Alba Party and the Left in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article by Allan Armstrong (RCF<\/acronym>) provides an analysis of the Alba Party and the response of the Left in Scotland.<\/p>\n

THE ALBA PARTY AND THE LEFT IN SCOTLAND<\/h2>\n
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Confusion in the ranks of Alba or Abla contributes to confusion on the Left<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Introduction<\/h3>\n

The public emergence of the Alba Party on 26th<\/sup> March has led to considerable political confusion on the Left as to its political significance and nature.\u00a0This is a contribution to further open up this debate. It will be related to the Left\u2019s more marginal role today than during the 2012-14 \u2018IndyRef1\u2019 campaign. The second part will look to see how Alba fares in \u00a0the May 6th Holyrood election.<\/p>\n

The Left\u2019s weakness today is demonstrated by the almost complete absence of any electoral intervention in the Holyrood election on May 6th<\/sup>. The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP<\/acronym>) is not standing, nor the now defunct RISE<\/acronym> and Solidarity.\u00a0Therefore, as electoral non-participants, some Socialists have tried to discern, in either the SNP<\/acronym> or Alba, surrogate vehicles for their particular political projects. However, despite promoting their own particular economic, social (and sometimes environmental) \u2018niche markets\u2019, such Socialists provide no independent political alternative to the SNP<\/acronym> or Alba\u2019s versions of Scottish self-determination.\u00a0Some hope that one or both of these parties can first lead the struggle for political independence. They argue this will then provide them with the opportunity to advance their economic, social and environmental projects in a new Scotland.<\/p>\n

There is no historical precedent for a nationalist party, which has achieved state independence, paving the way for a Socialist advance. Instead, such parties have used their power to turn on the exploited and oppressed within their new states. This is done to consolidate their position as representatives of a new ruling class, sometimes in alliance with sections of the national movement\u2019s former opponents. Three examples are post-apartheid South Africa, post-independence India and post-Treaty Ireland. The SNP<\/acronym> leadership, unlike the right wing of Sinn Fein in 1921, does not plan a \u2018counter-revolution within the democratic revolution\u2019 to create its new \u2018Free State\u2019. \u00a0Instead, they intend to do everything possible to pre-empt any democratic revolution.\u00a0This way they can bring about their desired Scottish Free State under the Crown and firmly within the current global order. Building up a new Scottish ruling class, prior to the creation of their proposed \u2018Indy-Lite\u2019 Scotland, is a key feature of the SNP<\/acronym> leadership\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n

There are two Socialist exceptions to this abstention from electoral participation on May 6th<\/sup>. These are the Left unionist, Communist Party of Britain (CPB<\/acronym>) and the economistic, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC<\/acronym>).\u00a0They are both standing candidates.\u00a0Although they are less prone than some others on the Left in Scotland to having illusions in either the SNP<\/acronym> or Alba, the CPB<\/acronym> and TUSC<\/acronym> have their own illusions about the nature of the UK<\/acronym> state.\u00a0They have overestimated the possibilities of trade union-backed, social democratic reform of this state with its profoundly anti-democratic Crown Powers and have underplayed the state’s wider all-islands unionist nature.<\/p>\n

This was highlighted by the CPB<\/acronym>\u2019s and TUSC<\/acronym>\u2019s own support for Jeremy Corbyn and a hoped for Left Labour government, backed by Leftist trade union officials, such as \u2018British jobs for British workers\u2019 supporter, UNITE general secretary, Len McCluskey.\u00a0They strongly backed the Labour Party in the 2017 and 2019 Westminster general elections. In both of these, Corbyn opposed the exercise of Scottish self-determination. In relation to Northern Ireland\/Ireland, Labour\u2019s 2019 election manifesto looked no further than re-establishing the Stormont Executive. These policies on Scotland and Northern Ireland were also supported by Boris Johnson and his Right populist Tories.<\/p>\n

The possibility of a Left social democratic-led UK<\/acronym> government has collapsed in the aftermath of the 2019 Westminster general election, and Corbyn’s \u00a0easy replacement by neo-Blairite, Sir Keir Starmer. However, some of the CPB<\/acronym>\u2019s close allies in the Labour Left, Campaign for Socialism (CfS<\/acronym>) in Scotland were already looking to another Westminster arena – the House of Lords. Corbyn nominated Pauline Bryan (editor of Class, Nation and Socialism: The Red Paper on Scotland – 2013<\/cite>) who became Baroness of Partick in 2018. After the 2019 election, she was followed by Katy Clark, CfS<\/acronym> supporter and an ex-MP<\/acronym>, who became Baroness of Kilwinning in 2020. However, Corbyn\u2019s close ally and McCluskey\u2019s partner, Karie Murphy, failed to get into the House of Lords to join the others in this \u2018democratic bastion\u2019 of struggle!<\/p>\n

Some on the Labour Left seem to have greater illusions in the UK<\/acronym> set-up, based on the sovereignty of the Crown in Westminster, than Johnson\u2019s incumbent Tory government.\u00a0The latter fully appreciates the need for the UK<\/acronym> \u2018sacred\u2019 institutions to be changed the better to suit British ruling class needs.\u00a0This means \u2018rewriting\u2019 the unwritten constitution as they go along.\u00a0They want to \u2018bring back {more} control\u2019 for themselves in their increasingly authoritarian Brexit Britain.<\/p>\n

1. The longer term background to the emergence of Alba<\/h3>\n

The political significance of the emergence of Alba cannot be separated from the shock to the British ruling class of the impact 2012-14 \u2018IndyRef1\u2019 campaign; the consequent and unforeseen mainstreaming of Scottish independence as a political issue; the emergence of the SNP<\/acronym> as the majority Scottish party at Westminster in 2015; coupled to the SNP<\/acronym> leadership\u2019s subsequent inability to achieve \u2018IndyRef2\u2019. This has been a significant contributory factor in the emergence of Alba.\u00a0Alba has come up with a \u2018magic bullet\u2019 to win independence \u2013 force the Tory government at Westminster to concede \u2018IndyRef2\u2019 by gaming Holyrood\u2019s electoral system and winning a \u2018super majority\u2019 on May 6th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Alba\u2019s candidates have also been testing out various ways of finding new support, based on both actual and dog whistle transphobia, homophobia, racism and anti-English chauvinism.\u00a0Nevertheless, any significant electoral breakthrough probably more depends on Alba\u2019s \u2018super majority\u2019 appeal, something emphasised by its Left supporters like George Kerevan.\u00a0This is also what seems to have motivated and initially won over SNP<\/acronym> councillor, Austin Sheridan, before closer scrutiny and\u00a0disgust at Alba\u2019s transphobia and homophobia, quickly forced him to change his mind and resign.<\/p>\n

However others, more distant from the leading personnel in Alba, may still be swayed by the \u2018super majority\u2019 argument.\u00a0They may not personally support or may ignore Alba\u2019s reactionary elements. Many Scottish electors in the recent past have also overlooked individual SNP<\/acronym> candidates\u2019 reactionary stances, prioritising instead their support for independence , e.g. John Mason (MSP<\/acronym> since 2011) and Neale Hanvey (MP<\/acronym> since 2019), who has now found a more congenial home in Alba.<\/p>\n

As a breakaway from the SNP<\/acronym>, Alba remains another constitutional Scottish nationalist party.\u00a0Both the SNP<\/acronym> and Alba downplay the nature of the UK<\/acronym> state with its profoundly anti-democratic Crown Powers.\u00a0They don\u2019t have quite as many illusions as the Left unionists, but as constitutional nationalists they tend to concentrate their critical attentions on particular features of the UK<\/acronym> state, such as Westminster and the BBC<\/acronym>.<\/p>\n

One reason for this is that these two parties hope to develop their own power on the basis of accepting Holyrood as the devolved offspring of the Crown-in-Westminster. They want to retain key aspects of the UK<\/acronym> state, including some of its disciplinary powers.\u00a0They would also use their anticipated incumbent position at Holyrood, at the time of any future independence declaration, to draw up a new constitution with the minimum involvement of the people of Scotland.\u00a0An interim Constituent Assembly, based on the sovereignty of the people, does not figure in their plans.<\/p>\n

Therefore, as with the SNP<\/acronym> leadership\u2019s \u2018Indy-Lite\u2019 campaign between 2012-14, any future extra-parliamentary action, even if accepted by Salmond and Alba, will be within the confines of their own narrow independence aims.\u00a0Alba hasn\u2019t even managed to find a token trade union official, never mind a trade union activist, as a candidate.\u00a0But like the SNP<\/acronym> had previously, Alba also has an ex-Tory (Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh), lawyers (e.g. Kenny MacAskill), business leaders (e.g, company director, Cynthia Guthrie) and self-declared careerists (e.g. Eva Comrie)[1]<\/sup><\/a>Alex Salmond’s Alba Party unveils full list of candidates as ex-MP<\/acronym> confirms Holyrood bid<\/a><\/span><\/span>