21.11.1996

Scotland sees Red

It’s eclectic, it’s lively and it’s committed to debate. The first issue of Red, the magazine of the Scottish Socialist Alliance, is definitely a welcome development. It is easy to see the potential of this publication despite some obvious flaws. It makes no pretence at being a weighty theoretical journal. Instead the impression it gives is that it is targeting an audience new to socialist politics.

It provides a brief taste of all the campaigns, struggles and major political questions in Scotland today. The role of the Alliance must be to unite these struggles and give a socialist perspective to the confusion and contradictions that dominate Scottish political life.

It can also play a leading role in the process of uniting socialists throughout Britain in one Party. This perspective is still lacking in the SSA. As well as its energetic engagement in Scottish politics, this central task should find reflection in the pages of Red.

Donald Forrest, in his feature on the Basques, welcomes the “achievements of left wing movements, like our own, which are organised at other than existing state level”. The organisation of socialists in the SSA is of course a tremendous achievement, but, as revolutionaries who want to smash the whole of the UK state, we must organise workers in one party throughout that state to strike as one.

For much of the British left, that is used to sectarianism and talking to itself, Red will be easy to criticise. However, constructive criticism is necessary and obligatory if the SSA and Red are eventually to fulfil the role of organising the working class into a body that can actually win socialism, not just dream about it.

Unfortunately some of the articles are too short, with the contributors only managing to skim the surface of their subject. For example, ‘What now for Scotland’s parliament?’ consists of three contributions, none of which are long enough for the authors to develop their perspectives on the democratic deficit.

If unity is our aim, then the struggle of ideas must take centre stage in the paper. The class as a whole needs to be won to this struggle, as well as to supporting the numerous campaigns covered so well in the journal.

Red has nevertheless made a good beginning in deliberately including debate and differing views, something which is sadly lacking from the SLP’s Socialist News to date.

It was wrong to include the interview with David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party. There is nothing ‘progressive’ about the PUP; it is the political front for UVF death squads. There should be no platform in socialist publications for reactionaries such as this. As Jim Slaven rightly points out in his article in Red, even fellow Unionists refer to it as the “Northem Ireland Office party”.

But all of these criticisms can and should be developed in future issues. It is important that an atmosphere of open debate is fostered and not stifled. The SSA contains a number of different organisations, trends and traditions, as well as individuals, with conflicting views on various political questions. Red has a role to play in facilitating these debates.

To me, the overall feeling of Red is one of enthusiasm. It reflects a living movement that the SSA is attempting to organise. It does not create an artificial divide between culture and politics, and is looking outwards to build the kind of movement the working class needs

These gains now need to be taken to workers in England and Wales and infused with Partyism.

Karen Aitkin