19.02.2004

Separatism or building unity?

The CPGB hosted a debate with Leanne Wood at our February 11 Cardiff Communist Forum around the question, 'Is there a Welsh road to socialism?' Cameron Richards reports

The CPGB hosted a debate with Leanne Wood at our February 11 Cardiff Communist Forum around the question, ‘Is there a Welsh road to socialism?’ The exchange of views proved useful, not least because debate within the left in Wales is such a rarity.

Leanne argued that nationalism was an essential component of a socialist perspective, since the dominance of England within the UK makes it impossible to enact socialist policies in Wales. Yet at the same time the comrade conceded that genuine socialism in one country was “impossible” and that what was required “a revolution” - a confused perspective.

Speaking for the CPGB, Mark Fischer countered that there was nothing in the DNA of England that made it less socialist potentially than Wales. He argued that, whilst socialists should undoubtedly seek to abolish the United Kingdom, this did not mean that workers in Wales should separate from their class brothers and sisters in England (or Scotland, for that matter). Instead, socialists must demand a federal republic of England, Scotland and Wales. Leanne expressed some sympathy for a federal republic, but posed it in terms of a federal republic of Europe.