{"id":4229,"date":"2012-11-19T21:34:30","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T21:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=4229"},"modified":"2021-03-08T19:09:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T19:09:19","slug":"radical-independence-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/19\/radical-independence-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Radical Independence Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Radical Independence Conference (http:\/\/radicalindependence.org\/<\/a>), being held this Saturday, 24th November in Glasgow, is likely to be the biggest gathering of the Left in Scotland for many years. The RCN has been covering this event since the first open organising meeting in June. We have produced a special issue of our magazine, Emancipation & Liberation<\/cite>, no, 21, for this conference. Anyone attending, who would like a free copy, just collect it from our stall.<\/p>\n

Below, can be found the list of the magazine’s contents and the Editorial which outlines our hopes for this Conference.<\/p>\n

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Image from front cover of Emancipation & Liberation, no. 21<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Editorial<\/cite><\/p>\n

For An Independent Scottish Socialist Republic<\/cite><\/p>\n

The Declaration of Calton Hill<\/cite><\/p>\n

For a Socialist and Feminist Republican Scotland: Gender Equality and Beyond<\/cite> – Susan Dorazio<\/p>\n

Imagining Radical Independence; Learning from the Venezuelan Experience<\/cite> – Ewan Robertson<\/p>\n

The Slippery Slope<\/cite> – Murdo Ritchie<\/p>\n

Ireland and the broader consequences of the 2014 Scottish Referendum<\/cite> – Jim Slaven<\/p>\n

What is happening in Greece and why<\/cite> – Lina Christou<\/p>\n

Republican Communist Network: What We Stand For – From Theory to Practice<\/cite><\/p>\n

Michael Marra – A Tribute<\/cite> – Mary McGregor<\/p>\n

The front cover montage has been made by Patricia Kirk and John Lanigan<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

EDITORIAL<\/h3>\n

The Radical Independence Conference represents the biggest gathering organised by the Left, so far, around the issue of Scottish independence. For Socialists the political issue we confront is that of self-determination. This is a broad democratic concept. It involves our collective and individual attempts to overcome the exploitation, oppression and the alienation we feel under capitalism. Genuine self-determination is part of the broader struggle for emancipation and liberation. It is about gaining control and creating a society \u201cwhere the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The very idea of self-determination sits uneasily with \u2018Rule Britannia\u2019 and our subject status within the UK. The Labour\/Tory\/Lib-Dems\u2019 Better Together<\/cite> campaign shows us that upholding the UK and \u2018Britishness\u2019 can not be separated from support for Empire, Union and the Crown Powers; or from jingoistic triumphalism and forelock-tugging subservience in a class-divided society.<\/p>\n

The UK is a profoundly undemocratic state, with an arsenal of repressive measures sanctioned under the Crown Powers, as political activists, particularly in Northern Ireland, know only too well. The UK plays a key role in propping up the global corporate order as a junior partner to US imperialism. Therefore, Socialists should welcome the chance provided by the 2014 referendum to challenge this.<\/p>\n

However, we need to be quite clear that the SNP leadership\u2019s notion of self-determination is also very limited. Indeed, in practical terms, it does not extend beyond the \u2018self-determination\u2019, or the narrow class interest, of a wannabe Scottish ruling class. We are meant to be satisfied with the pious aims of \u2018Yes\u2019 Scotland, and with vague SNP social democratic election \u2018promises\u2019. Yet, these are soon withdrawn when the SNP\u2019s business backers demand it, or when their first priority is paying the tribute demanded by the banksters.<\/p>\n

This is why the SNP leadership\u2019s \u2018Independence-Lite\u2019 proposals keep the British monarchy, and hence those anti-democratic Crown Powers. This why they want to keep sterling, giving the City of London, along with its Edinburgh outriders, a controlling role over the economy. This is why they now support NATO, and back continued Scottish military participation in imperial wars. Ditching opposition to Trident bases will almost certainly follow the latest SNP climb-down.<\/p>\n

Far from opposing the current economic and military imperial order, the SNP leadership seeks no more than a junior management buy-out of the UK\u2019s Scotland branch, with permission to rebrand it with saltires – and then to continue with business as usual. They want an increased slice of the corporate imperial cake for their business backers, with only crumbs remaining for us.<\/p>\n

What would a vote for the SNP\u2019s independence proposals amount to? Salmond has recently claimed victory in negotiations with Westminster, now that Holyrood can draft and conduct the 2014 referendum. However, by accepting the limited constitutional arrangements permitted under the Crown Powers, any \u2018Yes\u2019 vote will not lead to the setting up of an independent Constituent Assembly, drawing its mandate from the people of Scotland in the making of a new democratic constitution. Instead, Salmond accepts that his mandate comes from holding office in the UK\u2019s devolved Holyrood parliament. He sees his Scottish government as the inheritor of Westminster\u2019s powers.<\/p>\n

So, a \u2018Yes\u2019 vote can only lead to negotiations between the SNP and the Con-Dem (if still in office) governments. \u2018Independence-Lite\u2019 forms the opening negotiating gambit. A whole host of decidedly unsavoury practices would be hardwired into any \u2018Scottish Free State\u2019. And this is before any further concessions are imposed, as undoubtedly they would be – either openly or secretly. Salmond has shown a considerable penchant for secrecy.<\/p>\n

The wider Scottish Left does not enter this contested field from a position of political strength. \u2018Tommygate\u2019 has ensured that. Yet, as recently as the 2004 Holyrood election, the then recently unified Scottish Socialist Party was able to take members, votes and seats from both Labour and the SNP. Furthermore, with the SNP already making its first serious moves to the Right under John Swinney, the SSP was able to win considerable support for its openly declared, republican, Declaration of Calton Hill, based on the principles of genuine Scottish self-determination. It was able to organise a well-supported demonstration in protest at the royal opening of the new Holyrood building.<\/p>\n

Events can still quickly change the political climate. The 2014 referendum is two years away. To the credit of the RIC organisers, they have been able to bring together many on the Left – some of whom had become disillusioned, whilst others had retreated into various sectarian ghettoes. The RCN has outlined elsewhere the political conditions needed to bring about principled socialist unity once more[1]<\/sup><\/a>THE RCN CALL FOR SOCIALIST\/COMMUNIST REGROUPMENT IN SCOTLAND<\/a><\/span><\/span>