25.09.1997

Getting embarrassing

Around the left

There are no two ways about it. Most of those on the left have made a fool of themselves with regard to the recent Scottish and Welsh referendums. The tactics, strategies and analyses developed were a depressing mixture of utter self-deluding stupidity and (inadvertent) comic genius.

The primary source of all this crassness has been the left’s crippling ‘one very small step at a time’ gradualism, which guarantees that it completely lose sight of the goal - ie, workers’ self-activity, leading to real socialism. Instead we get an unedifying cocktail of pseudo-community politics which bows to spontaneity from below, combined with a bureaucratic mind-set which believes that ‘socialism’ can be legislated in from above by bourgeois institutions.

This, unfortunately, has been the approach adopted by Scottish Militant Labour/the Socialist Party. The ‘novelty’ with SML/SP is that you get a sinister conspiracy theory thrown in with your left reformist perspective - and both organisations are still clinging desperately to this fanciful notion, which is marginally less convincing than the Roswell incident. Those of us with a more rational frame of mind issue this heartfelt plea: comrades, please give it a rest - it is getting embarrassing.

According to SP/SML the existence of the Scottish parliament, despite itself, poses a mortal threat to Tony Blair and “the bosses”. The comrades really do believe that a ‘red base’ is about to be implanted in Edinburgh. Interestingly enough the Socialist Party Wales believes that the Welsh assembly in Cardiff is going to be the real ‘red base’ which sparks off world revolution. As last week’s The Socialist put it:

“A Welsh parliament could begin the socialist change of society in Wales. The Welsh parliament with a socialist majority could give the lead to workers in England, Scotland and the rest of Europe” (September 12).

Sounds a bit like a race to see who will get to ‘socialism’ first - Scotland or Wales? Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Hang on though, what about the workers in England - don’t they get entered in this Olympian race? Oh well, we will have to wait to see what Socialist Party ‘England’ says about all this.

The Socialist has been a bit curious recently. A little ad on the back page of last week’s issue announced, “Analysis of Scottish referendum - The Socialist will be printed one day late next week to bring readers reports from the Socialist Party national conference” (September 12). This sounded rather exciting, yet, despite its late appearance, all the latest issue contains on Scotland is ye olde editorial and a dull cut-and-paste job from comrade Allan McCombes which you could read any day in Scottish Socialist Voice.

As for the so-called report on the SP’s national conference, it is a completely dull and useless affair - full of the usual uncritical ‘feel-good’ optimism we expect from this organisation. Like president Jiang Zemin at the 15th Communist Party congress in Beijing last week, comrade Peter Taaffe informed the delegates that the “best days for the Socialist Party are still to come” (September 19). Everything is rosy in the garden, and a good dose of mutual self-admiration. Did anybody actually say anything at this conference?

Anyway, back to the Scottish referendum. The editorial states, with the conviction of a mental hospital inmate who knows he is Alexander the Great: “There is no doubt that some senior Labour politicians would probably have preferred a narrow majority on a low turnout - reflecting lukewarm support for a limited parliament.” Which “senior Labour politicians” are these, comrades? Come on, don’t be shy now ...

Naturally, we also get the British road to socialism revisited yet again. The SP wants “a parliament that can lead the way in the struggle for democratic socialism throughout Scotland, Britain and Europe”. Just like the CPGB when it was dominated by opportunism, for instance. For some reason quite a few Trotskyists - remember the article by the SLP’s Brian Heron in Capital and Class? - have rediscovered the supposed virtues of the BRS and ‘official communist’ senility.

Comrade McCombes, on the other hand, takes some delight in informing us that the Scottish parliament “is in essence a feeble piece of tokenism”. This must explain why SML was such an enthusiastic campaigner for Blair’s sop. Shortly afterwards, the comrade tells us what his real objective is: “Only a radical socialist government in Edinburgh could deliver the new Scotland that millions of Scots now demand.” He also reminds us that the ‘yes’ vote was a “crushing defeat for Tory unionism”.

This is national socialism pure and simple. There is absolutely no UK-wide perspective, let alone an internationalist vision.

Socialist Worker is also happy about the ‘yes’ vote. As it tells us, “The scenes of celebration in Scotland last week recaptured some of the joy on May 1 when the Tories were annihilated at the polls” (September 20). Yes, that is quite right. The “celebrations” of a slave class. If your only reason for getting up in the morning is to make “the Tories” feel uncomfortable, then recent weeks must have been blissful.

Naturally, the SWP loyally supported a ‘yes, yes’ vote in the referendum - what was the alternative? For the SWP the idea of promoting an independent working class perspective is, naturally, ‘ultra-leftist’. Of course, as Socialist Worker mentions in a casual aside, “We need to go much further than simply devolution if people’s desire for real change in society is to be satisfied.” The SWP, as always, is tail-ending spontaneous movements in society, not attempting to lead them or give them a communist political content. Wait a minute. What on earth am I talking about? I remember now - communism “collapsed” in the Soviet Union in 1991, as Socialist Worker could not wait to tell us at the time.

For an ‘uncomplicated’ approach to the devolution/referendum question, Socialist Outlook takes some beating this month. Incidentally, it contains an appalling article on the Scottish Socialist Alliance. Amongst other things, it states that the SSA “held its first conference in June” (my emphasis) and, quite inexplicably, argues, “The CPGB in Dundee has an ultra-left position of calling for a government referendum on a Scottish parliament” (September). Clues, anybody?

A main article entitled ‘Yes, yes, we want more democracy in Scotland!’ reveals that comrade Gordon Morgan of the SSA holds no reservations at all about Blair’s sop Scottish parliament. “The creation of this parliament will go a long way to ending the democratic deficit in Scotland,” says the comrade.

“If the left and the SNP can continue to demand justice for the poor and mobilise against government attacks - perhaps Dewar will become more ‘Braveheartish’ and lead Scottish Labour to the left” (September).

In other words, comrade Morgan thinks that Donald Dewar is the unconscious agent of Scottish ‘socialism’ - just by virtue of being born in Scotland, we have to assume. Here, in pure form, we can see the virus of unreconstructed national socialism, which dovetails seamlessly with Labourism and a nakedly ‘reformist’ agenda.

Don Preston