26.06.2002

Red stars and Mexican starfish

The SSP has been debating changing its logo for the past two months. The debate was sparked off when comrade Jeff Fallow submitted an alternative to our current star logo. The comrade's design is still based around the star, but could easily be misconstrued as a bloke in a Mexican hat or a starfish. Various members of the SSP's executive - apparently including Tommy Sheridan - were in favour of the proposed change. The reason given for their endorsement of comrade Fallow's design was that the star is seen by the majority of working class people as a Stalinist symbol, whereas the new version is far more "people-friendly". The star is certainly not the symbol most often linked to communism - whether of the Stalinite or genuinely emancipatory variety. The hammer and sickle is far more evocative in this connection. But if such symbols have negative associations for such large sections of the working class, then why is it that in every high street across Britain people are wearing clothing with 'CCCP' and the hammer and sickle prominently displayed? A certain company attempts to persuade young people to buy its brand of alco-pops using the hammer and sickle. Have they not done their market research? Of course they have. So is it the working class that gets worked up about such symbols or is it just the Trotskyite left, who feel the need to disassociate themselves from the evils of Stalinism? Surely we should fight to reclaim what is rightfully ours, and not allow our legacy to be appropriated by those who falsely claimed to act on behalf of the working class. Much of the left refuses to use the word 'communist', because it is associated with Stalin's USSR. Logically, they should stop using 'socialist' as well. Many within the SSP submitted other logo designs as a result of the debate sparked by comrade Fallow, but the special conference voted overwhelmingly to keep the existing star. Carol Newson * No euro, please - we're Scottish * SSP rules, okay?