{"id":6726,"date":"2014-03-15T16:22:23","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T16:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/?p=6726"},"modified":"2021-03-14T18:52:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T18:52:47","slug":"on-how-the-vetigialleft-is-failing-to-understand-the-political-life-of-scotland-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/republicancommunist.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/15\/on-how-the-vetigialleft-is-failing-to-understand-the-political-life-of-scotland-today\/","title":{"rendered":"On How The Vestigial Left Is Failing To Understand The Political Life Of Scotland Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Murdo Ritchie (RCN) provides his response to the Red Paper Collective’s critique of the Scottish SNP government’s White Paper<\/cite>.<\/p>\n

THE RED PAPER<\/cite> ON THE WHITE PAPER or HOW NOT TO UNDERSTAND CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE<\/h2>\n
\"Red
Red Paper on Scotland, 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As moves toward Scottish national independence happen, the \u201cmainstream\u201d camps have presented their visions, but on the fringes lots of different illusions reveal themselves. Over the years, there have been some who have painted a picture that national independence would inevitably turn into the dictatorship of the proletariat or, at least, the very first steps towards it.\u00a0On the other side, some see only tartan Toryism and the destruction of all the labour movement has historically achieved across the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the coming independence referendum, a \u2018Yes\u2019 vote would signal a clear vote for change, even if not as far as some of its supporters claim. A \u2018No\u2019 vote, however, would be interpreted by the \u2018Better Together\u2019 campaign and political mainstream as approval for the status quo, even a modified version.\u00a0So it requires a highly elaborate self-justifying rationale to support it.<\/p>\n

All objective assessments of the possible outcomes of the vote are unable to see a latent transition to socialism in either Scottish national independence or remaining within the UK.\u00a0But the political circumstances for both Scotland and the rest of the UK would undergo greater changes if a \u2018Yes\u2019 vote did occur.<\/p>\n

The Red Papers Collective, made up essentially of the vestigial left of the Labour Party and the Communist Party of Britain, assemble a case that most of the Labour mainstream would quickly disassociate from itself.\u00a0Because of the enormous reliance of the \u2018Better Together\u2019 on alliance with big business, as well as the Tory and Liberal Democratic coalition government, this distances them from every leftward force that can be found in the UK.\u00a0Essentially a conservative campaign designed to keep the status quo, it lacks the initiative demonstrated by the supporters of national independence. So leftward illusions have to be created to justify keeping in place a Westminster government that only returns Tories, Liberal-Democrats and a thatcherised Labour Party.<\/p>\n

CONSTITUTIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES<\/h3>\n

One of the greatest ironies of the Red Paper Collective\u2019s[1]<\/sup><\/a>http:\/\/redpaper.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/20131129redpaper_pamphlet.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>