Albeit with a bit of ritual Labour-basing (the Morning Star has always recommended a Labour vote at General Elections, unlike The Guardian), Tam Kirby writes:
So the pending Scottish Socialist Republic is
apparently just around the corner.
Once again we endure the rose-tinted vision presented by the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) in Scotland. What RIC offers, however, is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
It is a wish, an aspiration, a vista of a neo-social democratic Scotland.
The only thing missing is that in fact none of what RIC offers is up for grabs.
The Scottish National Party has written the new constitution - see its white paper.
It will all be in a constitution written by the SNP, enacted by the SNP, for all the Yes voters out there.
Where will RIC be in these negotiations? On the sidelines. It has no elected representatives to fight for its vision.
Where is the critique of EU membership from the radical left? Where is the analysis of what EU membership means?
Where is all the rhetoric against the EU-driven austerity that will inevitably follow a Yes vote?
Scotland will have a huge deficit that the EU will insist must be reduced. How will this be achieved?
Either through tax increases - as if that will happen - or more likely through further cuts, further privatisation of our public services and further reductions to the services provided by our welfare state.
That's what EU membership offers.
That's what neoliberal capitalism, perpetuated and controlled from Brussels, will enact on an independent Scotland.
The radical left offers us a wish list of nationalised industries, increased welfare, improved wages, improved working conditions and progressive taxes - in fact, a land of milk and honey within an EU-controlled land of cuts and unfettered neoliberal capitalism, a land dominated and controlled from outwith its own nationalistic borders.
I despair at wasted opportunities to unite and fight the real cause of the austerity agenda.
Who will control an independent Scotland?
The self-same neoliberal-obsessed SNP, Labour, Lib Dem, Ukip and Tories that are in charge now.
The same SNP that is still riddled with the Tartan Tories who started the party in the first place.
Are they for nationalisation? Are they for progressive taxes? Are they for radical left policies of any kind? Indeed are they for any form of socialism?
Apart from tinkering with the bare minimum of social democratic sops to gain votes they are for and support the capitalist status quo.
They have nothing to offer except more of the same.
The radical left has become disillusioned - quite rightly - with the so-called party of the working class.
It has grasped at what appears to be an easy option for social change.
This is unfortunately a misrepresentation, or at worst opportunistic.
There needs to be a reasoned debate on the EU. There needs to be a reasoned debate on the currency. We need a reasoned debate on the way forward.
Not the current entrenched and unbelievable Yes/No debates. Will this debate happen? The short answer is no.
RIC has tied its flag to the mast and continues to ignore the EU question. It continues to insist it can force through radical, progressive policies even though it has no representation.
What is required is a realistic appraisal of where radical left influence is and how that can be utilised to best effect change.
In my humble view it is within a Britain-wide perspective that we can achieve real change, not within a narrow nationalistic agenda doomed to failure and tied into an EU-driven neoliberal system of control.
Once again we endure the rose-tinted vision presented by the Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) in Scotland. What RIC offers, however, is nothing but smoke and mirrors.
It is a wish, an aspiration, a vista of a neo-social democratic Scotland.
The only thing missing is that in fact none of what RIC offers is up for grabs.
The Scottish National Party has written the new constitution - see its white paper.
It will all be in a constitution written by the SNP, enacted by the SNP, for all the Yes voters out there.
Where will RIC be in these negotiations? On the sidelines. It has no elected representatives to fight for its vision.
Where is the critique of EU membership from the radical left? Where is the analysis of what EU membership means?
Where is all the rhetoric against the EU-driven austerity that will inevitably follow a Yes vote?
Scotland will have a huge deficit that the EU will insist must be reduced. How will this be achieved?
Either through tax increases - as if that will happen - or more likely through further cuts, further privatisation of our public services and further reductions to the services provided by our welfare state.
That's what EU membership offers.
That's what neoliberal capitalism, perpetuated and controlled from Brussels, will enact on an independent Scotland.
The radical left offers us a wish list of nationalised industries, increased welfare, improved wages, improved working conditions and progressive taxes - in fact, a land of milk and honey within an EU-controlled land of cuts and unfettered neoliberal capitalism, a land dominated and controlled from outwith its own nationalistic borders.
I despair at wasted opportunities to unite and fight the real cause of the austerity agenda.
Who will control an independent Scotland?
The self-same neoliberal-obsessed SNP, Labour, Lib Dem, Ukip and Tories that are in charge now.
The same SNP that is still riddled with the Tartan Tories who started the party in the first place.
Are they for nationalisation? Are they for progressive taxes? Are they for radical left policies of any kind? Indeed are they for any form of socialism?
Apart from tinkering with the bare minimum of social democratic sops to gain votes they are for and support the capitalist status quo.
They have nothing to offer except more of the same.
The radical left has become disillusioned - quite rightly - with the so-called party of the working class.
It has grasped at what appears to be an easy option for social change.
This is unfortunately a misrepresentation, or at worst opportunistic.
There needs to be a reasoned debate on the EU. There needs to be a reasoned debate on the currency. We need a reasoned debate on the way forward.
Not the current entrenched and unbelievable Yes/No debates. Will this debate happen? The short answer is no.
RIC has tied its flag to the mast and continues to ignore the EU question. It continues to insist it can force through radical, progressive policies even though it has no representation.
What is required is a realistic appraisal of where radical left influence is and how that can be utilised to best effect change.
In my humble view it is within a Britain-wide perspective that we can achieve real change, not within a narrow nationalistic agenda doomed to failure and tied into an EU-driven neoliberal system of control.
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