Swans Letters Page

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Socialist Disagreement between two Joes:

Joe Middleton's The Only Road To Scottish Socialism Is Independence

To the Editor:

Joe Middleton continues to trumpet, erroneously, Scottish independence under any banner as a way forward for the Scottish working class. It is not. Unless the struggle for independence is wedded to the class struggle (and where applicable, subordinated to the class struggle), then it is based on nothing more than a Scottish exceptionalism which does not, and cannot, enjoy any credibility with anyone who is in possession of anything approaching political awareness or consciousness.

Elements campaigning for independence under the umbrella of Independence First envisage a future Scotland with the monarchy continuing as head of state; with Scotland becoming a haven for global corporations; and with Scotland as a member of NATO.

Progress? I think not.

Unless the minimum demand in any campaign for Scottish independence is for a republic, then it is not independence we are discussing, but rather enhanced devolution, with no qualitative change in the composition of the British State.

Any meaningful campaign for Scottish independence can only be waged under the banner of anti-imperialism and internationalism, with the only relevant argument in support of independence, based on existing material conditions, the breakup of the British State, an imperialist construct which today is a major ally of US imperialism, the common enemy of all humanity. Anything else is nationalism, an emotional and atavistic desire to replace the Union Jack with the Saltire (the Scottish flag) over Edinburgh Castle.

The great James Connolly, the finest Marxist ever to come out of the British Isles, put it best when he said: "There can be no socialism without national liberation. There can be no national liberation without socialism."

Regards, Joe Davison (aka John Wight of the SSP) Edinburgh, Scotland - April 26, 2006

Joe Middleton responds:

The clear choice for the Scottish left must be whether they operate on a "we are politically purer than all the rest" philosophy, whereby they make excuses for disengagement with the rest of the independence movement and thereby accept continued British rule, or whether they engage positively with other pro independence forces in the Independence Convention and Independence First. I know which action the British state would prefer!

As a republican socialist I believe the arguments for both can be won within a future independent and democratic Scotland but we need to get our national independence first. The independence referendum campaign Independence First (http://www.independence1st.com) has no position on the monarchy or the EU or any other political issue because we believe the people of Scotland must decide on all issues once they have the democratic space to do so.

The simple reason for this stance is that we're heartily sick of the British state's policy of Divide "N" Rule and have decided to remove all extraneous policies and go for the simple question -- do you support Scottish democracy or not? If you do, then you can support Independence First, and indeed many MSP's and most pro-independence groups have decided to do so.

James Connolly was a Scot who believed in smashing the British state, not contemplating his own navel. I'm sure he wouldn't thank Mr Davison for his accolade of "the finest Marxist ever to come out of the British Isles" if it meant turning his back on his fellow countrymen. According to opinion polls most of the Scottish public now support independence. We need to translate that majority into victory at the Scottish elections in 2007 and we will only achieve that objective by working together.