05.06.1997

Reality in Scotland missed

Dave Craig, in his haste to criticise the CPGB in Scotland for cosying up to Scottish Militant Labour, displays a severe lack of knowledge regarding the position of the Scottish Socialist Alliance on Scottish self-government. In an attempt to cut through the crap, I would like to point out the factual position on these issues for Dave and anyone else who is failing to follow the developments in Scotland as they unfold.

The SSA has at the heart of its position on Scotland a commitment to “a democratic republic where sovereignty rests with the people, and where there is no role for an unelected House of Lords nor for the royal prerogative and crown powers.” The SSA National Council also accepted that for any multi-option referendum, our position should be “... for a democratic republic, with a view to negotiating a federal relationship with England, Wales and the other nations in Europe.”

We in the CPGB in Scotland resent being accused of abandoning our republican stance, because it is untrue. We insisted that the Alliance election address in Dundee contained our position on the monarchy and we are happily working with members of the ‘Republican Group’ within the Alliance as part of the Campaign for Genuine Self-Determination. The suggestion that the CPGB has split programmatically is an idle fantasy of Dave’s.

We in Scotland are fighting for our position for a federal republic. In fact, as Dave reads this, CPGB comrades will be putting forward this view to a significant section of the Scottish left at a day school in Edinburgh. We continue to view the demand for a federal republic as a mechanism for establishing the revolutionary unity of the working class in Britain and of taking on the national question. But while theory is vital, so is practice. We need to take our ideas to the working class in Scotland. We need to cut through the morass which is the national question in Scotland. Through the boycott campaign we can distinguish ourselves from those who are reformists and believe in Blair’s proposals as a first step.

The CPGB will shortly produce a pamphlet as part of the campaign which outlines our views on a federal republic and why Blair’s sop is beneath contempt. Asthe campaign proceeds, and as more individuals and groups work with us, then I am sure other materials will be produced. We will not foster illusions in any parliament: it is the struggle for genuine self-determination and for a federal republic which will determine what is won.

Do not criticise from afar, Dave: come up and see the campaign on the ground over the summer.

Mary Ward