PoP Campaign’s Mark Scott offers some thoughts on the Scottish left from London
MAY 2003, a 19 year old is watching, weary eyed and battle worn, as he sees a new Scotland developing. Six Scottish Socialist Party and seven Green MSPs are elected to the new-ish parliament.
A decade of disappointments later, I’m watching something of a new beauty unfold; my home country leading the way in a democratic and impassioned debate about its future.
Of course, we all know how the story unfolds from there.
Watching from afar in London, I have been buoyed by the enthusiasm of the Radical Independence and Hope Over Fear movements. Successfully galvanising huge swathes of people bored with the status quo is a tremendous achievement.
The forthcoming Holyrood elections will bring a real test to the masses of Scotland. Will the electorate stick with the SNP or will they give smaller parties a chance? One thing is for certain: the left has got to get its act together.
Watching from afar in London, I have been buoyed by the enthusiasm of the Radical Independence and Hope Over Fear movements. Successfully galvanising huge swathes of people bored with the status quo is a tremendous achievement.
Obviously, many within those movements do not see a natural home in the existing confines of the parties on the left. Perhaps, like me, they feel that party politics is an archaic pursuit.
Enter the Scottish Left Project. A new venture to unite the left and win electoral representation.
However, is this battered and bruised left able to unify?
Given that recent attempts to build an alliance with the Greens have failed, we can assume that they will not be involved. A grand shame, in my opinion.
If Solidarity is excluded from any alliance there will be the same tired old vote split and socialists will be locked out once again.
Mind you, I can understand that the Greens probably feel that they will yield enough seats on their own merits. Of course, socialists and Greens have fundamental differences on the economics of a society so perhaps it’s best leaving that stone alone.
Which leaves us with the SSP, Solidarity, the Left Project and no doubt a myriad of others.
As confirmed by Colin Fox, the SSP and the Left Project are already in talks about an alliance. Great news.
With regards to Solidarity, there’s the Scottish left’s issue with Tommy Sheridan. Without doubt, he fuels the political fire within many and I’m sure there will be a fair vote for him and Solidarity.
If it is excluded from any alliance there will be the same tired old vote split and socialists will be locked out once again.
The Greens and the SNP are taking votes from socialists who cannot be bothered with the divisions between the SSP and Solidarity. Frankly, it’s a nonsense that two parties who have practically the same policies are standing against one another. Progressive politics this is not.
The wee boy in Easterhouse who goes to school hungry every morning doesn’t care who said or did what, he just needs a decent meal to help him learn.
There needs to be some form of reconciliation. I know there are those on both sides who are hurt and sickened by the actions of one another but if socialists want to change Scotland for the better then personal vendettas must be put aside.
After all, aren’t those standing hoping to better the lives of the ordinary, working class Scots, instead of concentrating on the small inner sanctum of Scottish politicos?
The wee boy in Easterhouse who goes to school hungry every morning doesn’t care who said or did what, he just needs a decent meal to help him learn.
That single mother in Maryhill doesn’t need to know about the inner details of a debacle over a decade ago, she simply needs money to pay her lecky bills. Strong socialist voices can only help raise these issues to the top of the Holyrood agenda. Those voices need to work together to become electable.
If the voices of yester year are too divisive then perhaps they must let newcomers such as Cat Boyd and Lindsay Jarrett lead the way. Whatever the case, the greater good must take precedence. Scotland needs genuine left voices in its parliament to tackle inequality and injustice.
If the left is its own worst enemy then how can it fight the real enemies of hunger, poverty and deprivation?
If the left is its own worst enemy then how can it fight the real enemies of hunger, poverty and deprivation?
Before that court case, the SSP, with Tommy Sheridan at the helm, left a wonderful stamp on Scottish politics: abolition of warrant sales, pushing for free prescriptions, campaigning for free school meals. Imagine what a properly united left could do again.
Friends of the left in Scotland, I leave it to you. Down here we can only dream of such possibilities.
Picture courtesy of photogreuhphies