13.02.1997

Democracy bypassed in Scottish Socialist Alliance

Nick Clarke looks at the development of the SSA as the general election looms

The Scottish Socialist Alliance (SSA) has launched its election campaign. It is committed to standing 15 candidates in constituencies across Scotland: 10 in Glasgow, two in Dundee, and one each in Edinburgh, Cumbernauld, Paisley and Dumbarton. The campaign promises to be the largest intervention by the left in a general election in Scotland for many years.

After 18 years of Tory rule, the likely election of a Labour government will deliver nothing to the working class. It is, therefore, crucial that an independent, socialist alternative is established now. The use of the election tactic is a vital part of establishing that alternative and the sooner all the left recognise this the better.

The participation of revolutionaries in bourgeois elections is not a contradiction. Standing candidates allows us to more effectively intervene with our propaganda and literature among large sections of the working class at a time of heightened political activity. Free distribution of election leaflets to every voter in the constituency by the post office, as well as the opportunity of widespread media coverage are a couple of the advantages gained by standing. It also gives voters an opportunity to vote for and join in building a real alternative to capitalism.

It is important that when standing in such elections we do not reinforce illusions in the parliamentary system. A parliament in Westminster, Edinburgh or Brussels will not deliver socialism. It is only the self-activity and involvement of the masses struggling in a revolutionary way that will make genuine socialism possible. However, it should be pointed out that we do fight for the fullest extension of democracy under capitalism. This includes the right to self-determination and the fight for a Scottish parliament with full powers, which will extend democracy to the Scottish people, although it cannot lead directly to genuine socialism.

There is a section - particularly in Edinburgh, including the Republican Worker Tendency and left nationalists - within the SSA that considers independent campaigning a necessary prerequisite before adopting the election tactic. This introduces an artificial barrier between these two activities, when in fact they can complement each other.

The other side of this coin was presented at the last national council meeting of the SSA. The majority of that body, in the form of Scottish Militant Labour, wrongly in my view decided to temporarily sacrifice the annual conference of the SSA at the expense of the general election campaign. This postponement has denied the membership the opportunity of making an input or changes to the SSA’s election manifesto. Instead it is now “based broadly” on decisions of the national council.

The lack of a conference before the election has led to the picking and choosing of what to include or what to omit. In the Glasgow SSA election bulletin, which carries extensive statements on policy, ‘difficult’ areas such as Ireland and abortion are ignored while Blair’s referendum is supported with a calling for a ‘yes, yes’ vote despite the fact that no collective decision has been reached within the SSA on the referendum (see review below).

Notwithstanding such criticism, it should be the duty of all revolutionary organisations and individuals to campaign and support the SSA candidates, to ensure the socialist alternative is heard and seen above the marketing, advertising and publicity of the mainstream capitalist parties. The Socialist Workers Parry dismisses the SSA as electoralist without offering any firm evidence of this (It should not be forgotten that the same organisation stood in elections for a period in the 1970s, but, presumably, as the tactic did not meet with much success, it was not seen as worthwhile).

Organisations like the SWP must not only drop their sectarianism, but also their pro-Labourism, by not saying, ‘Vote Labour, but...’

Maximising the impact, vote and influence of the SSA must be the aim of the left in this election. Not burying differences and criticisms, but precisely ensuring that they are debated out in the open. The task of genuine revolutionaries, communists and socialists must be to advance the liberation of the working class, not to build this group, that organisation or ‘party’ in a narrow sectarian manner, but with our focus firmly set on the best way of winning socialism.

With the general election possibly only a matter of weeks away the SSA has produced election bulletins in their thousands for Glasgow and Dundee. These give extensive coverage to a variety of policy areas that the SSA is campaigning for during the election and will be delivered door-to-door throughout the working class areas of the constituencies, as well as distributed on the streets and at demonstrations, etc. While the Communist Parry of Great Britain will be seeking to maximise the SSA vote, it is also right that we criticise and highlight any differences. A good place to start is by looking at these bulletins.

Glasgow election bulletin

The front page of Glasgow’s election bulletin contains a message from Tommy Sheridan and an article campaigning against the vicious council cuts that are now on the agenda across Scotland. The SSA in Glasgow led a highly successful campaign against school closures last year and is pledged to building an even bigger fightback this year.

On reading Sheridan’s message, the first thing that strikes the reader is the way the word “Tory” permeates almost every sentence. It should be remembered that although this is the party that has governed Britain for the last 18 years, wreaking havoc on working class communities and jobs, they are not even the second choice of the voters of Glasgow. As Tommy himself rightly points out, “they are a fringe Party with just six percent of the vote.” In Scotland Tory MPs and councillors represent nothing more than a rump. Glasgow council, however, has an unassailable Labour majority even with all the ‘junkets for votes’ scandal and a severe budget crisis.

Sheridan states:

“A vote for the new SSA is a vote against the Tories. Wherever the Tories have a chance of winning a seat the SSA will stand aside to avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote. We want to turn Scotland into a Tory-free zone.”

This is not SSA policy. At the founding conference last year a statement on electoral strategy was agreed, with the only obstacle to standing being the financial burden, nothing about anti-Tory electoral pacts. A few lines later he goes on to contradict himself, pointing out that “the alternative on offer from Labour, Liberals and SNP is more Toryism”.

Of course the SSA is anti-Tory, but surely we must be aiming to win large sections of the working class to our ideas and organisation by planting the red flag of socialism, not the rainbow banner of anti-Toryism. We have to win those who usually vote Labour and those who do not bother to vote. As such the SSA must show that it is not an apologist for Labour but the champion of socialism. If the SSA splits the anti-Tory vote, then so be it. What is more important is building a viable and influential working class alternative to all varieties of capitalist party - Tory, Labour, SNP or Lib Dems. Is there any real political difference between Ken Clarke and Gordon Brown, or between Michael Howard and Jack Straw? Although ML has completely broken organisationally from Labour, the hangover of Labourism still infects its politics.

In the Glasgow bulletin there are at least a couple of references to the SSA as a political party - it is not. As the name suggests, it is a political ‘alliance’. Following the general election it is possible that some forces may want to transform it into a political party, but that is a debate that needs to take place amongst the entire membership - not just those in Glasgow or on the national committee. A mass, revolutionary working class party is needed, but the form it takes and the principles that underpin it are crucial - not least the role the SSA can play in forging a Party throughout Britain. SML, which it seems will change its name to the Socialist Party after the election, seems bent on turning the SSA itself into that organisation - a separate Scottish party dominated by ex-SML members. This is evidenced by Glasgow’s bulletin which is full of SML policy, not agreed by the SSA. This debate will no doubt develop in the coming months.

In the section, ‘For a socialist Scotland’, it is unequivocally stated that the SSA stands for a “parliament prepared to transform Scotland into a modern socialist democracy”. This is SML reformism - genuine socialism will never come through a vote in any bourgeois parliament. It must be the product of the active participation, mobilisation and struggle of large sections of the working class. It will not be legislated into being by some ‘Enabling Act’ or other decree of parliament. The SSA has not had a comprehensive debate, let alone vote, on this question yet.

This section concludes,

“The SSA supports every step - no matter how small - towards greater self-government. Despite our criticisms of Labour’s rigged referendum, if it goes ahead, we will campaign for a double yes vote.”

This bulletin was printed before a decision had even been taken by the National Committee on campaigning for a double yes vote, though this is the position of SML. There is no mention of campaigning for a multi-option referendum, which has been agreed by the NC. The response to Blair’s referendum as it stands should be an active boycott campaign that fights for the SSA’s basic minimum of a sovereign Scottish parliament with all powers.

Other important issues that are not even touched upon by the Glasgow bulletin are abortion, Ireland and the monarchy. All current ‘controversial’ issues that most working class people have views on - sometimes very strong ones.

On abortion, the announcement by the Pro-Life Alliance that it will stand candidates attacking women’s rights, together with the catholic hierarchy’s attack on Labour’s attitude to abortion, show that this will be a live political issue. The SSA must stand with women in their fight for the democratic right to choose.

On Ireland and the monarchy, again the SSA does not have an agreed policy. However, as noted above, there is no official policy on avoiding splitting the anti-Tory vote, or supporting Labour’s referendum. In relation to Ireland, the fundamental democratic minimum must be the right of self-determination for the Irish people. We fight for it in Scotland: it is our internationalist duty as socialists to fight for that right to be extended to Ireland. So why has the SSA avoided it in Glasgow? This - together with the silence over the monarchy, which is another live political issue, following the recent TV debates and the proposal to spend £60 million on a new royal yacht - suggest a concession to loyalism and orangism, which have a strong base in Scotland. This attitude is consistent with SML’s failure to take side with the forces of anti-imperialism in the Six Counties. It represents an opportunist compromise, which does the cause of socialists across Britain no favours.

Glasgow SSA is dominated by SML and its first bulletin does not bode well for the future of the SSA. It was also Glasgow which moved the motion on the NC, without any prior warning to postpone the conference. If SML does want to transform the SSA into a separate party in Scotland, its opportunism and denial of democracy will only turn the SSA into yet another sect - albeit a Scottish one.

Dundee election bulletin

Having been involved in the discussions around the content of this publication, I can assure readers there was some intense debate over the tone, emphasis and detail between comrades from SML and the CPGB. The majority of the debate revolved around the issues raised above in connection with the Glasgow version. Although concessions were made, the document does benefit from a communist influence and we managed to win some important points.

While the headline on the front page is “Drive out the Tories. Back the fighting socialist alternative”, there is no accommodation with standing candidates tactically to avoid splitting the anti-Tory vote. Sections have been included on abolition of the monarchy and internationalism, which included the demand for the “right of all nations to self-determination, including Ireland”. The section on women also included the demand “for the right of women to safe, legal, free abortion on the NHS”. The Dundee version of “For a socialist Scotland” has a completely different emphasis to the Glasgow one. There is no concession to a ‘parliamentary road to socialism’, although the phrase, “A parliament prepared to fight for socialism”, has been included, which admittedly does have a certain vagueness about it.

Electoral work within the SSA was never going to be easy. Controversial issues have to be tackled and progressive policies campaigned for. Differences in the SSA must not be stifled, but allowed to contend, ensuring that it is a living, dynamic, thinking organisation. Such an altitude must flourish if the Alliance is ever to become fused in a genuine revolutionary party of the working class.