scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com end the fraud of ......£1 • issue 460 • 19th june – 30th...

£1 • issue 460 • 19th June – 30th July 2015scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com

A new Scotland is necessary: Sillars, Bissettand Kane on why an effective left wing forceis needed inside and outside of Holyrood

• see pages 3, 4 & 5

END THE FRAUDOF AUSTERITY Make another

Scotland possible

/ScottishSocialistVoiceScottishSocialistVoice.wordpress.com @ssv_voiceACTION: we need to resist Tory plans to butcher benefits, wipe out workers’ wages and rights, and slaughter services and jobs PHOTO: Craig Maclean

EDITORIAL

2 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • issue 460

by Ken Ferguson

THE HOPES raised byMay’s stunning election resultare set to come underincreasing pressure as theTories scent the blood ofmajority power and movedecisively to act in the classinterests of the wealthy andpowerful they represent. The shape of the coming

assault is ever more clear withmassive spending cuts set tobe reinforced in the Julybudget, an ever more shrillcampaign to demoniseclaimants and further shacklesfor trade unions restrictingfurther their ability to defendworkers rights. For the all-conquering SNP,

swept to power to a largeextent by the progressive

energy generated by a massYes movement and its visionof a socially just Scotland—currently soaring even higherin the polls—the collision withTory arrogance cannot long bedelayed. The SNP claim to the

mantle of the anti-austerityparty—already dented by theirrecord of council cuts—willhave to meet the challenge ofthe Osborne budget axe which,outside Holyrood andWestminster means sackings,pegged pay and more benefitmisery. Despite the oceans of

printer’s ink spilt in cuddlyprofiles of the new MPs andthe parliamentary joustingwith Mr Speaker, the SNPslogan of Standing up ForScotland must soon answer the

hard question—whichScotland? Its was Labour legend Nye

Bevan who said that the Toriesdidn’t preach class war as theywere too busy practising it andthis is the reality facing theprogressive opponents ofausterity—cuts for the majority,megabucks for the rich.

Scotland’s majorityFaced with this prospect, the

impressive STUC ScotlandUnited Against Austerity eventmust be taken both as apointer to the need tocampaign across society for achanged direction and for theevent to be the first step insuch a campaign. For the SNP, the pitch of

being ‘Scotland’s party’ mustconfront the reality that, if it isto be translated into reality,that needs to mean siding withScotland’s working classmajority against the cuts andnot accepting Tory diktats andimplementing them. For the pro-independence

left, this means building theanti-austerity movement,working for socialist ideas inand out of the Holyroodparliament and keeping thereality that independenceremains a key and necessaryaim before the public. The energy generated by the

progressive left and a range of

mass organisation whichproduced the progressivevision of an independentScotland was the underpinningmood that produced May’sresult and it must be built on. That’s why anti-austerity

words need to be translatedinto anti-austerity deeds, andthe link made between thedefence of existing jobs, wagesand benefits and the need totransform Scotland withconcrete demands for change.

Scrap Council TaxIn this Voice, we outline the

case, for example, forscrapping the Council Tax andreplacing it with an incomebased Scottish Service Taxwhich makes the wealthy paymost, cuts bills and generatesextra cash for services. It’s workable, redistributive

and within Holyrood’s currentpowers—and stands up forScotland’s majority. The key need is for the

austerity fight to go beyonddefence and to paint a visionof how demands for decentaffordable rented homes, fairpay and public ownership ofScotland’s natural resourcesand key services can be won. That way opens the road to

a socially just, sustainablepeople before profit societywhich certainly would bestanding up for Scotland.

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Standing up forScotland needsmore thanparliamentarysoundbites DEEDS NOT WORDS:

the SSP stands upfor workers’ rightsPHOTO: Craig Maclean

DEEDS NOT WORDS:the SSP stands upfor workers’ rightsPHOTO: Craig Maclean

ALAN BISSETT

issue 460 • scottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com • 3

by Alan Bissett

I WRITE this the morning afterthe Scotland Bill was debated inthe House of Commons and amstill shocked at how nakedly theUnionist parties showed theircontempt for us. Westminster voted down the

SNP’s Full Fiscal Autonomyproposals, despite there being aclear mandate for it from Scot-tish voters during the GeneralElection. This wasn’t a surprisein itself, but still an indicationthat both parties are determinedto keep Scotland within thetight financial straitjacket im-posed from London. It’s also clear that Home Rule

is, as far as the Unionists are con-cerned, a ship that has sailed. It was obvious to many of us

before the referendum why theTories were sending GordonBrown out as an emissary withthe words ‘Home Rule’ on hislips: plausible deniability. Being a mere backbench MP, it

was not within Brown’s gift toguarantee more power—Yescampaigners and the Tories bothknew this—which is why DavidMundell, Secretary of State forScotland, can now say that‘Home Rule’ was never promisedin the first place.

Vow was immaterialNot only that, but Mundell

claims the infamous Vow wasimmaterial anyway, referencinga poll conducted by YouGov inMarch which found that only3.4 per cent of No voters cited‘more powers’ as the main fac-tor in their decision. This is misleading. People base

their vote on a combination ofreasons, not just a single ‘main’one. The Vow formed part of theNo campaign’s crucial last fewdays, as they knew it might bejust enough to reassure waverers. Those of us on the Yes side

could see from a mile away thatthe Vow was both vague and farfrom legally-binding, so that, nomatter what they did afterwards,they could claim they had ful-

filled it or that, if cornered, it did-n’t really matter because, after all,what exactly had been promised? This game of smoke and mir-

rors was evident in the Tories’reaction to the SNP’s amend-ment to the Scotland Bill, re-questing that our parliamentcould only be dissolved by con-sent of the Scottish people. Thiswas the Vow’s very first andheadline promise: ‘The ScottishParliament is permanent.’ The Tories voted down the

amendment—knowing full-wellthat it broke commitmentsCameron had made—simply as aveiled threat, a flexing of muscles,a reminder of who is in charge. Add to this the proposed repeal

of the Human Rights Act andtrades unions’ rights, the vetoeswhich the Tories have workedinto the Scotland Bill, including acrucial one over welfare, and ofcourse the income tax trap. Thisnew ‘power’ means the SNP willbe forced into raising taxes onworking people (as opposed to,say, corporations) or cutting pub-lic services, to offset budgetaryconstraints from Westminster.

So we can see that the No votehas placed Scotland exactlywhere the Tories want us: squirm-ing and powerless to resist theirausterity onslaught. There are even theories circu-

lating that the Tories are trying togoad the Scots into a quick, sec-ond referendum, in the hope thatanother defeat really would killoff the dream. We should be waryof this, and call a referendum onour terms at a time of our choos-ing. Another five years of Torypain—with a potential EU exitthrown in—is hardly likely to ce-ment love for the Union amongScots already disenchanted withthe aftermath of the No vote. It’s one thing to identify the

problems, however, and anotherto act on them. We could pray that the left-

wing Jeremy Corbyn is elected asleader of the Labour party, al-though this seems far-fetchedgiven the other three candidatesare Blairites, charging towardsPlanet Tory. We could hope that Scottish

Labour divorces itself from theUK party and reconnects with

its soul, north of the border.Again, unlikely. Or we could take matters into

our own hands by realigning theleft in Scotland, a process whichbegan during the long referen-dum campaign, when we alllearned the value of working to-gether to take on an incrediblypowerful foe. The result was the largest

mass political awakeningamong the Scottish people ofmodern times. This is potentialwhich has only begun to betapped. The Unionists are find-ing it harder and harder to foolthe Scots—as Labour’s GeneralElection wipeout shows—andthe appetite for socialist policyin Scotland is rising. I’m aware that not everyone

in the SSP is in favour of an al-liance with the Scottish LeftProject for the Holyrood elec-tions next year—and I respecttheir reasons—but we really dohave far more in common thannot, and we are going to needall hands to the pump.

New left oppositionThere has to be an opposition

in Holyrood, and I’m sure eventhe SNP would prefer it camefrom the pro-Yes left rather thanthe Unionist parties. We ally with the SNP when it

comes to the Westminster game,but the SNP having Holyroodall to themselves is not good forScottish democracy or the so-cialist struggle. Make no mistake: we are in

dark times. The nightmare whichmany of us feared—a No votefollowed by a Tory majority—has come to pass. It’s importantto understand the past, lest we bedoomed to repeat it, but the realfight is in the future. The battlefor a socialist Scotland continues.

BATTLE FOR A SOCIALISTSCOTLAND NEEDS UNITY

INDYREF: workingtogether to takeon an incredibly

powerful foePHOTO: Craig Maclean

INDYREF: workingtogether to takeon an incredibly

powerful foePHOTO: Craig Maclean

JIM SILLARS


Jim Sillars on whyindependence and a leftHolyrood challenge isessential

AUSTERITY IS a socioeco-nomic envelope which, for thosein it, means low wages, zerohours contracts, constant anxi-ety about meeting energy bills,being skint early in the month,sanctioned and made destitutewhen jobless, and recourse tofood banks to feed the children.For all bar the rich, it means cutsin the public services. These are the most obvious

effects and consequences, butthere is another factor of aus-terity with long term implica-tions for the kind of society wehave known—a severe andpermanent reduction in therole of the state in the econ-omy and, above all, in the wel-fare system that protects thecitizen from the full conse-quences of the wounds thatlife can inflict. There are two kinds of

wounds that people can sufferfrom. One, the state can donothing to prevent: a familyhurled into grief by an unex-pected early death, death orinjury by accidents, the loss bya child of a parent.

Unnecessary tearsBut there are wounds that

the state can deal and helpwith: unemployment, a motherin tears because she cannotfeed her children, a humanbeing humiliated by an agencyof government, a person dis-abled, someone sick andneeding medical attention. On India’s independence,

Nehru said he had a great am-bition, to wipe every unneces-sary tear off every cheek. Thatis not possible. In those cir-cumstances I have described,of life imposing pain that nostate can prevent, tears on

cheeks are unavoidable andvery often needed. But on those other life expe-

riences of unemployment, im-posed poverty, it is possible towipe every tear off everycheek. That is what the wel-fare state is for, to help peoplein time of need who can behelped. And it is that welfarestate that austerity is meant todismantle. That is what the Tories

mean to achieve when theytalk of a “smaller state.” Outside the small realm of

the very rich, all people arevulnerable because they havenothing on which to build agood life than to sell theirlabour. The destruction of peo-ple and communities in the for-mer coal mining areas is aclassic example of that vulner-ability laid bare. Moving from an industrial

society to a technological onedoes not alter that fundamen-tal fact. If there is no state ableto provide a framework of lawand practice, to hold essentialservices in public hands, andso prevent that vulnerabilitybeing exploited, then therecan be no security and stabilityfor those who sell their labour.

Working class Scots haveknown that truth through expe-rience. Middle class Scotslearnt it when the financial cri-sis broke over their heads. Thefounding principle of the mod-ern state is the same as thatupon which the trade unionswas built, that together we arestrong, divided we are weak. A smaller state means a

weaker people, but that doesnot mean that the smallerstate apparatus cannot be em-ployed for economic and so-cial purposes that will renderthe people even weaker. Thatsmaller state still has power, inthe hands of the Tories, a ma-lign power.

Deliberate divisionThey speak of “one nation”

but engage in deliberate divi-sion, with the aim of furtherweakening the people throughusing the law to diminish therole and effectiveness of thetrade unions. It is quite natural for us, in

our first approach to the auster-ity programme, to find it repul-sive on moral grounds, and anoutrageous attack upon thepoorest who, like the serfs ofold, can do nothing to prevent

the blows landing on theirheads, as the Daily Mail con-ducts a modern pogromagainst them. Yes the poorhave to be defended as bestwe can, but we must lookdeeper and understand thatwhat austerity really means isthe re-structuring of our society,meant to make our fundamen-tal vulnerability a permanence. The answer to that growing

vulnerability today is the sameas it was at the beginning ofthe twentieth century: politicalorganisation that aims atpower in government, builtupon a trade union base, andpolitical campaigning and ed-ucation among the people. Without power, we are left

with protest. Protest is notenough now against a Torygovernment that will not listenand cannot be replaced as longas Scotland remain within theUK. When the boundaries arechanged, as they will be, theTories in England will have atwenty seat advantage on topof those held at present. Facedwith austerity, and then moreausterity, there is only one wayto escape and that is throughindependence and a new leftseeking power at Holyrood.

Without power we are left with protest

FOOD BANKS:the Tories mean tomake our fundamentalvulnerabilitypermanent

PAT KANE


by Pat Kane

AS THEY used to say aboutFrank Sinatra: it’s a SNPworld—we just live in it. Or atleast it sometimes seems thatway, in terms of the Scottish Na-tional Party’s recent history. A leading voice in the multi-and-no-party Yes movementwhich lead up to a 45 per cent en-dorsement for independence, theSNP has benefitted from thatmobilisation (and a broken elec-toral system) to the tune of 56MPs at the last General Election.A week ago, a poll put the SNPon 60 per cent of the con-stituency votes for the next Holy-rood Elections in May 2016. But as we know in Scotland,our “list” vote—the second can-didate we vote for in our nationalelections, who gets in on theirparty’s proportion of that region’svotes—allows the opportunity toexpress our political complexity. For years myself, I haveflipped between voting SNP,Green and SSP, in various com-binations of constituency and list,in Scottish elections. It feels likeI’m being allowed to be a sophis-ticated citizen—and it feels likeparties are being allowed to beexactly who they want to be.

Collapse of LabourThat moment is coming again.But post-18 September 2014,and 7 May 2015, means not justthe ascendancy of the SNP butthe sheer collapse of the ScottishLabour Party. So now I feel thatmy flexible voting patterns(thought not that flexible—I’llonly vote for independence-sup-porting parties in Scotland) needsome new degrees of movement. Should the SNP be as domi-nant in the Holyrood Parliamentas their Westminster representa-tion makes them in Scotland?Let’s be honest: it just doesn’tfeel right. Is it the SNP’s faultthat they are a brilliantly disci-plined left-of-centre campaignmachine and governing strategy?And that their primary opponents(Scottish Labour) are paying for

decades of complacency, patron-isation and misunderstanding ofthe popular desire among Scotsfor self-rule? No to both. But I always wonder whatkind of White Paper would havebeen offered if it was an “inde-pendence majority” that had trig-gered the process, rather than anSNP majority in Holyrood. Would we have had a more di-verse front-foot political leader-ship of the movement? Wouldour currency options have beenmulti-option from the start? Would we have avoiding try-ing to square removing Tridentwith joining the NATO nuclearumbrella? Would have had muchstronger and more redistributivewage and fiscal policies? Indeed it’s the flaws in theSNP’s “indy life” offer presentedto the Scottish people the lasttime which makes me, onceagain, desire a multi-party “indymajority” at the next Holyroodelection. We have to be ready forany of a number of factors trip-ping the next indyref process—both pull (eg, a majority mandatefor that in a Scottish Parliament)and push (eg, the rise of a Englishnational resistance to continuedlinks with Scotland). But we haveto go with a “prospectus” that is

a lot more straight and wise aboutthe short-and-medium term out-looks for independence. TheSyriza situation doesn’t alwaystravel well to the Scottish context. Pre-any indy run up, we willnot be (and we were not) fightingfor our economic lives, with onlythe weapons of persuasion orwithdrawal at our disposal. Butwe surely do recognise the degreeof attack and intimidation by fi-nancial and political elites on thelegitimacy and strategy of Syriza. No matter their actions at amacro-level, they have built up areserve of collective social trust inGreek society which makes thepeople ready for the next stage ofstruggle for their country. We haveto build that same level of trust inScotland—or perhaps test thisnew state of political awarenessthat’s so often proclaimed. And that will be generated bybeing honest with Scottish voters,about how Scots may have to taxmore, and live with less, in order toshift the fundamental structures ofan independent Scotland towards amore social-democratic, maybeeven democratic-socialist norm. In my mind, that honesty willonly come about if a much biggerbloc of left-green parties, maintain-ing their commitment to independ-

ence—is playing a decisive role atHolyrood in May 2016. Ideallythey’d hold the balance of power,but at the very least bite into theLabour seats—providing a hugerepresentative symbol that inde-pendence was the eventual aim ofthe Scottish people. How does thiswork at the level of electoral tacticsbetween, say, the Scottish Greens,and whatever collection of parties(including the SSP) the Left Proj-ect eventually unite under theirbanner? I don’t know—I’m not anexpert. But even as a ScottishGreen party member, I am contin-ually disappointed in my ownparty’s tribalism. In my online and offline conver-sations, too many are unwilling toeven begin to work out whatwould be needed to maximise thisleft-green vote, in terms of merg-ing candidates in appropriate areas,pooling activist resources, etc.

Radical frontDoes it look like the ScottishGreens and Left Project/SSP willbe duking it out for the share of thenon-SNP Yes voter, or the utterlydisillusioned left-wing Labour vot-ers? Sadly it does. Do I think thatparties only seem to respond to theinevitable after punching them-selves repeatedly in the nose? YesI do. So perhaps we need anotherSNP landslide, and the bloody-nosed failure of the Scots left andgreen parties, to forge the radicalfront that we should be able tobuild right now. Sigh. But if wewant a radical democracy in Scot-land, and we don’t think the SNPare the only instrument to achiev-ing it, some high-horses need to beunmounted. Sooner or later.

• Pat Kane is a writer andmusician, and board memberof Common Weal

A RED/GREEN BLOC ISNEEDED AT HOLYROOD

PAT KANE:wants to see a largered-green pro-indy

presence at HolyroodPHOTO: Craig Maclean

WORKPLACE


by Richie Venton, SSP national workplaceorganiser

THE THOUSANDS joiningthe 20 June Scotland UnitedAgainst Austerity rally areunited in sending a simple,stark message to the Tories:you have no mandate to ruleand ruin Scotland, and we’renot going to lie down andaccept your butchery! Only 10 per cent of

Scotland’s voters backed theTories. Yet Cameron,Osborne and their Old-Etonian bootboys plan anassault on our lives thatsurpasses even the DarkAges of Maggie Thatcher. They plan a 100-day

blitzkrieg on benefits, publicspending and workers’ rights.Virtually every day theydeclare another attack on yetanother section of theworking class, including thepoorest and most vulnerable. Tory plans include

£30billion cuts to publicspending, £12billion of it fromwelfare.

Merciless cutsAn estimated £5billion

slashed off in-work TaxCredits, hammering thelowest-paid, part-timeworkers, whilst makingstomach-churning claims tobeing “one-nation Tories, partyof the blue-collar worker”. Abolition of young people’s

housing benefit. A 40 per centreduction of those gettingCarers’ Allowance. Cuts tochild benefits. The listmarches on, mercilessly. The same government that

only gained a derisory 24 percent of all UK voters ishellbent on wiping outworkers’ rights, imposingnear-impossible thresholds ofa 50 per cent turnout, plus atleast 40 per cent of all actualunion members voting forindustrial action, before it’slegal.

Plus they plan to rip upfacility time for elected unionreps and to remove the banon conscripting Agencyworkers to scab on strikes. They want to impose

workplace dictatorship, inpursuit of even bigger profits,lower wages and fewer jobs. With such brutality coming

down the track at us, theSTUC and the unions thattogether organise 630,000Scottish workers have apivotal part to play in resistingthe Tory onslaught. The 20 June rally must not

be a mere token gesture, butthe launchpad for aconcerted, determinedcourse of further action,building an alliance of tradeunionists, people on benefits,communities, and socialistsprepared to defy and defeatthe Tories. No time should bewasted over the summermonths; as the Tory blitzkriegunfolds, the unions shouldprepare the grounds forunited, militant action to haltCameron’s juggernaut. On Tory Emergency Budget

day—8 July—the SSP plansprotests to highlightopposition to the butcherythat Osborne will announce.How much more significant it

would be if the STUCcoordinated events acrossScotland that day to givenotice of the resistance thatwill be built over the next fewweeks and months. Potentially the STUC has

unique power to spearhead amovement to stop austerity,raising concrete alternativepolicies at the same time ascoordinating militant action.

Passing on cutsEmbracing 630,000

worker-members, it also hasthe advantage of not beingofficially tied to either thesinking ship of Labour, northe SNP—which won alandslide by claiming to beanti-austerity, but has a real-life track record of passing onWestminster cuts at bothHolyrood and council levelsover the past four years. The STUC and its affiliated

unions need to call furthermass events to bombard theScottish government withdemands to implement themandate the SNP won forbeing anti-austerity, by refusingto implement a single penny ofthe budget cuts Scotland facesfrom Westminster. They should demand the

Scottish government set out

spending plans this Autumnthat, as a bare minimum,save all jobs and publicservices, and boost workers’pay—and build a mass Scotsrebellion demanding thefunds off Westminster forthese plans, rather thandevolve Tory cuts to councils,FE colleges, schools andother vital services. This is critical given the

eye-watering scale of cutsforecast in new Scottishgovernment spendingprojections. They expect afurther cut of £2billion toScotland’s budget over thenext three years; maybe even£3billion. At least half of thatwill hit councils. As Professor John

McLaren of Fiscal AffairsScotland wrote, “Scotland,like the UK, is only about halfway through the cuts topublic services initiated bythe UK government. Unlikeearlier years it’s expected tobe day-to-day budgets, ratherthan capital budgets, thattake the hit. At over 5 percent in each of the next twoyears, the cuts could be morethan double the averageseen in the past four years.” Others have calculated the

councils’ share will mean the

BUILD MASSDEFIANCE OFTORY CUTS

WORKPLACE


equivalent of losing 9,700secondary teachers, plus8,900 senior social workers,plus 16,000 cleansingdepartment workers. So not only Holyrood, but

local councillors, face a starkchoice: stand up and defy theTory cuts, building a massmovement of workers andcommunities to win back thestolen £billions offWestminster—or be forevercondemned for carrying outthe Tories’ dirty work.The STUC needs to launch

a plan of action to pushpoliticians into resistance, tomake it politically unviable forthe Tories to impose theirplans. A whole nation inrebellion couldn’t be ignored. At the first sign of any

group of workers beingblocked by anti-union laws,the STUC should buildsupport for defiance of theselaws. It’s better to break badlaws that allow the Tories tobreak workers’ backs!

Several sections of workersare courageously takingaction already: Dundeehospital porters; Glasgowhomeless caseworkers;CalMac ferry crews againstattacks on pensions,conditions and the threat ofprivatisation. How much lesspainful would these workers’struggles be if the laws werescrapped that ban solidarityaction by fellow-workers?

SNP and privatisationAnd neither Labour nor the

SNP can lay claim to beingon these workers’ sides. Glasgow City Council is

Labour, but has kept strikersout on picket lines for 12weeks, as well as refusing toreinstate sacked UNISON repRobert O’Donnell at theSECC, which the Labourcouncil owns 91 per cent of!The SNP government is

heading towards privatisationof the Clyde and Hebridesferries, as they did the

Northern Isles ferries back in2012. The unions need tospearhead an independentpolitical alternative thatdefends workers’ rights andincomes. They should stopfunding Labour’s anti-workingclass lost cause; they shouldinstead stand on the socialistprinciples of labourmovement pioneers. The SSP has pioneered

proposals that the STUCshould take up andpopularise; a fully-costedalternative way of fundingcouncils, scrapping the unfairCouncil Tax, replacing it withan income-based ScottishService Tax that would make77 per cent of Scots betteroff, and literally double thefunds for local jobs, wagesand services. This proposalhas the potential to helpshield Scotland fromausterity, especially ascouncils employ 247,000workers and provide vitalservices.

Councillors—Labour, SNPor Green—face the starkchoice of helping to buildcentres of resistance to theTory austerity plans, buildingalliances of workers andcommunities to win thenecessary funding, or theywill be cursed for beingcentral to the savagery of joblosses and servicedecimation. But the issue of austerity

cuts goes far beyond theboundaries of councils. The SSP appeals to trade

unionists, community activistsand their organisations—including the STUC—to joinour campaign for powers toprotect the Scottish workingclass to be devolved to theScottish Parliament.

Defy pay cutsIn facing the cataclysmic

Tory attacks on jobs, wages,benefits and workers’ rights,we demand devolution of thepowers to reverse all welfareand benefits cuts; to defy paycuts by implementing aScottish £10-an-hourminimum wage for all aged16 and over; to repeal all theanti-union laws and establishfull workplace rights; to takeall services, banks, energyand big industries intodemocratic public ownership,so as to create well-paid,secure jobs and begin tobuild a society that matchesthe needs of the millions,instead of the millionaires. Join the SSP; help commit

your trade union, yourcommunity group and yourfamily to defiance of theTories, and to the pursuit ofsocialist measures that coulderadicate any and all excusesfor cuts. We live in an immensely

rich nation: demand use ofthat wealth for the working-class majority population, notfor the profits, perks andprivileges of the stinking richand their Tory henchmen.

TAKE ACTION NOW: we demand devolution of thepowers to reverse all welfare and benefits cutsPHOTO: Craig Maclean

by Connor Beaton

LIVING IN Dundee can some-times feel like living ten yearsinto the future. Not only wasour city a decade ahead of therest of the country in terms ofthe independence vote, but itmay yet be the first part of thecountry to come to grips withthe true political character ofthe Scottish National Party.

The SNP’s purported left-wing credentials came underthreat as it stood by andwatched 117 porters atNinewells and Royal VictoriaHospitals launch strike action inApril, demanding compensationafter being underpaid for over adecade.

An administrative error placedthe essential staff in the wrongpay bracket and saw themcheated out of a total of £6 mil-lion, according to Unite officials.

The crux of the dispute wasthe discovery that porters atNinewells, the biggest teachinghospital in Scotland, were on alower pay band than porters atother hospitals across Scotland.

ArroganceDespite the unfolding crisis at

two hospitals in her own city,the Scottish Government healthsecretary Shona Robison MSP,who represents Dundee CityEast, was silent—refusing toeven comment on the dispute.

It wasn’t until SSP members,RIC activists and anti-sanctionscampaigners came together topicket her constituency office inMay as the Dundee HospitalPorters Support Group that thehealth secretary hastilyarranged a meeting with thestriking porters.

Even now, her primary contri-bution has been to urge a “com-promise” between the workerson one hand, and on the other: amanagement that has acted witharrogance and treated both itsemployees and the people ofDundee with contempt.

NHS Tayside, rather than pro-pose constructive talks with

workers, spent as much as£100,000 of public money try-ing to persuade the Court of Ses-sion to rule that the strike wasillegal back in March, while theaction was in its infancy.

It then tried to persuade nurs-ing staff at Ninewells to fulfilporters’ roles in collecting andtransporting clean linen be-tween wards.

There were complaints fromthe start of the dispute that man-agement was making errors indocking workers’ pay, leadingsome striking workers to bewrongly left out of pocket.

On the release of the ScottishTerms and Conditions Commit-tee (STAC) report into the dis-pute, in the eleventh week fromthe start of the strike, the direc-tor of HR at NHS Tayside hadthe audacity to claim the em-ployer’s immediate prioritywould be to “work with ourportering staff over the next fewdays on their return to work”.

Management had to make anembarrassing come-down from

that position after it becameclear that porters would not bereturning to work without con-cessions. A statement publishedon Facebook on behalf of theporters read: “We are as strongand committed now today as wehave been since day one.”

So too is the remarkable andobvious public support for theporters, who work at one of thecity’s most essential institu-tions.

There is an instinctive posi-tion of sympathy from peoplethroughout city, many of whomhave offered donations and de-clared their support.

In stark contrast, Shona Robi-son’s reluctance to offer solidar-ity and support to Dundeehospital workers lays bare thecontradiction between theSNP’s words and actions. Theparty brags of its Trade UnionGroup alone exceeding ScottishLabour in terms of membership,but has again failed to showhow this translates into positiveresults for workers.

It has also exacerbated agrowing discontent in commu-nities like Menzieshill, fiveminutes’ drive from NinewellsHospital, where the SNP coun-cil administration are pushingforward deeply unpopular plansto close a secondary school.

A spirit of solidarity has evenarisen between the porters andthe parents, with striking portersjoining Save Menzieshill Highcampaigners at a press photo-call in May, before inviting bothparents and pupils to return thefavour at a subsequent picket ofShona Robison’s office.

It is a promising developmentin a city whose radical tradi-tions were reflected in its record57 per cent vote for independ-ence at last year’s referendum.

A road forwardAt time of writing, it remains

to be seen whether NHS Tay-side will abandon its bullishrhetoric in favour of a concilia-tory approach to the vital work-ers whose industrial action hasleft Ninewells and Royal Victo-ria Hospital in disarray.

This has been a spirited, defi-ant action which has resonatedwith people across the city andwill be remembered.

In ten years’ time, the portersand their supporters in Dundeemay well look back and reflecton how they were right to chal-lenge the SNP to stand along-side workers and deliver fairpay at home amid their shoutingfrom Westminster’s greenbenches.

More pressingly, at nextyear’s Holyrood elections, Dun-donians should recall the crythat went up in the city beforeand after the party’s landslidevictory: “SNP—pay the portersnow!”

WORKPLACE

Ninewells porters’ actionchallenges ‘left wing’ SNP


NINEWELLS PORTERS: action has been spirited and defiant

SANDRA WEBSTER


by Sandra Webster, SSPnational co-spokesperson

RECENTLY, I WAS chattingto a neighbour in Glenburn.They asked me a question:“Sandra, what is austerity?” I had to think what to say

to a working class man wholives in my community. Itbrought home to me thatthose who protest againstausterity have to bringcommunities affected alongwith them. Rather than speeches, we

need to have conversationswith ordinary people andwake them up to the fact thatausterity is an ideology. Poverty is not anyone’s

fault except the policies ofthe Tory government whoare enforcing it. This government have the

majority of the press in theirhands. We have beensoftened up by the manystories of benefit scroungerswhile tax evaders receiveknighthoods.

More Tory cutsOsborne has called an

“emergency” budget in July.There have been severalleaks to the press aboutpossible cuts includingChild Benefit and Carer’sAllowance. Under 25s may no longer

receive housing benefit.Osborne is putting his elbowinto the political bath togauge the temperature.What is certain however isthat it is those with thegreatest need will beimpacted on. It is important to

remember that austerityaffects the majority of us.Those who work in publicservices and voluntaryorganisations may be seenas some as living off thestate. With cuts to localauthority block grants, manypeople will lose their jobs.Many people will lose vital

services. Many people willbe pushed over the edge.The government will ofcourse blame people’sinability to cope as their‘fault’. The term the ‘fecklesspoor’ has been with us forgenerations. My friend remembers her

dad telling her the story ofhim having to get shoesfrom the parish. As part ofthe shaming process, nailswere punched into the solesof the boots so people couldknow this was a charitycase. This is just twogenerations ago, before thewelfare state. Being poor now is a

stigma, a character flaw.However those in povertyshould be applauded formanaging to live on a limitedbudget, sometimes less thanan MP’s breakfast.

Challenge stigmaIt is our role to challenge

the stigma and enablepeople living on the edge tobe heard and to be at theforefront of all campaigns. However, professionals

have an obligation to fightausterity too. In 1939, whenevacuation to the

countryside was at itsheight, children turned up tothe country and their parentswere blamed for being dirtyand malnourished. A committee of eight

women was set up by theWomen’s Group on PublicWelfare who came up withthe conclusion that poverty,not parenting, was the issue.You may think that attitudeshave changed but recentlyresidents of an Oxfordshirevillage complained thatHackney Council’s plan tohave a holiday homesituated there was notsuitable as the familieswould be detrimental to theircommunity. How many ofthem I wonder intellectualise

about poverty as long as it isnot in their backyard? Thanks to all who are

attending the STUC rally onthe 20 June. Let’s not forgetthough, that as well astackling austerity we need toprotest about poverty. More than just a demo but

having conversations,building campaigns in ourcommunities. Let’s give dignity back to

people living in poverty andrespect their day to daystruggles. We need to tacklepoverty, which has a globalimpact. This is more than a

struggle—it needs to be awar—and I hope you will befighting in the frontline.

A journey through austerity

Join the SSPFill in this form and send it to: Scottish Socialist Party, Suite 370, 4th Floor, Central Chambers, 93 Hope St, Glasgow G2 6LD. Or phone:07810205747. Or join the SSP online: scottishsocialistparty.org/join-usg I would like to join the Scottish Socialist Partyg I would like more info on the Scottish Socialist PartyName........................................................................................Address...........................................................................................................................................................................................Phone.........................................................................................Email...........................................................................................

GEORGE OSBORNE:ordinary people sufferas he dips his elbowin the political bath togauge the temperature

COLIN FOX


by Colin Fox, SSPnational co-spokesperson

I MET THE eminent econo-mists Jim and Margaret Cuthbertof Stirling University this week todiscuss the details of the Toriesplans for so called ‘Full Fiscal Au-tonomy’ and the new ScotlandBill. We both heralded the earlierthan usual arrival of the ‘silly sea-son’ at Westminster. The columnist David Torrance

writing in The Scotsman thisweek probably put the issuesbest when comparing Full FiscalAutonomy [FFA] to the famouslyinscrutable Schleswig-HolsteinQuestion that vexed 19th centuryGermany and Denmark. FFA hesaid sees the “SNP ask for thingsthey don’t really want, the UKGovernment make sure theydon’t get it by insisting ‘it’s bad forScotland’, before the SNP finallyclaims they have been deprivedof something vitally important.”

Devil in the detailWhen asked during the Gen-

eral Election whether the SSPsupported FFA or not, I tended toreply it really depends on what itmeans. For the devil is as theysay ‘in the detail’. Extendingpowers to Holyrood is by andlarge something the independ-ence movement favours as an-other stepping-stone to completeself-determination. But in prac-tice it clearly depends on whatspecific powers are proposedand what conditions are at-tached to the offer. The ‘full autonomy’ proposed

by the Tories is in fact nothing ofthe kind. Incidentally, the deeplyflawed Scotland Bill does notoffer the FFA the Tories hypothet-ically pose. Rather it is a rehashof the non-event that was theSmith Commission. And in fact,as the Cuthberts have pointedout in the excellent paper they

produced for the Jimmy ReidFoundation, it represents a trapfor the independence movement. Why is FFA a trap? Because it

proposes very limited extra taxraising powers and devolves de-cisions to Holyrood which passeson unpopular spending cutsrather than leave them withWestminster. Whilst it proposesthat income tax rates are set inScotland, and extra moniesraised here remain in Scotlandunder the Barnet Formula’s ‘nodetriment’ rule, all additional rev-enues are deducted from theWestminster block grant so thatneither side is adversely affectedfinancially by the changes. More-over, FFA does not propose thedevolution of any other taxessuch as oil and gas, VAT, the dutyon alcohol, fuel and tobacco,Capital Gains Tax, CorporationTax, etc. The FFA the Tories wantmerely proposes to devolve AirPassenger Duty, the Aggregates

Tax and some welfare powers. The Cuthberts point out that

Scotland stands to gain very littleand risks a great deal from thisarrangement. We continue tohave very little control over oureconomy of its financial levers. Income tax is a very limited

dividend offering little room formanoeuvre and, it could be ar-gued, could even be politicallydetrimental. If for example the To-ries at Westminster cut incometax South of the Border and bal-anced the books by reducingspending on reserved matterslike defence or overseas aid,Holyrood would be forced tomatch the new rate and yet couldonly cut devolved expenditureslike health, education or localgovernment. That would bewholly unpopular politically, andthe Tories realise that. As well as falling short on the

income side the FFA the Toriesand their Labour allies envisage,

it also sees Scotland obliged topay a proportionate contributiontowards the UK’s historic debt(one we played no part in decid-ing), a share of Britain’s EU con-tributions (without any say at thetop table), as well as billions to-wards defence and foreign affairsexpenditures (again with little po-litical input on its objective). FFA was historically deemed

to mean Scotland would keep allits own revenues and pay for allits ‘domestic’ public spending.For foreign affairs and defence itwas suggested it would pay anannual contribution to the UKTreasury for these shared serv-ices. The Scotland Bill proposesno such thing however. It is arather rehash of the limp pro-posal drafted in the immediate af-termath of the referendum. TheGreen and SNP negotiators ac-cepted ‘surrender terms’ drawnup by the Tories. But that was along time ago and the politicalterrain in Scotland has ‘changedutterly’ since then. Nonetheless,the Tory Government andLabour’s sole representativeNorth of the Border insist Smithis implemented in full.

SNP splitThe SNP on the other hand is

split on the Scotland Bill. It obvi-ously signed up to and supportedit at the ‘Smith stage’ but now thatit has 95 per cent of Scotland’sMPs, it is desperately trying to getout of it. The trouble is they willnow appear to reject extra pow-ers for Holyrood and since theyare in a 10:1 minority at Westmin-ster, the Bill will be forced through. They will therefore find them-

selves voting against morepowers for the Scottish Parlia-ment. But they must because itis a ‘Trojan horse’, one theCuthberts suggest could eat ahuge hole in Scotland’s eco-nomic and political coffers.

Westminster’s Trojan horse sent northFull Fiscal Autonomy and the Scotland Bill

SNP SPLIT ONSCOTLAND BILL: it obviously signed upto and supported it atthe Smith stage, butnow that it has 95 percent of Scotland’sMPs, it is desperatelytrying to get out of itPHOTO: Craig Maclean

INTERNATIONAL


by Bill Bonnar

THE FAILURE of Turkish President,Recep Yayyip Erdugan to win an overallmajority in elections to the Grand NationalAssembly on 8 June will be counted as avictory for democratic and progressiveforces in that country.

His Justice and Development Party,which has governed Turkey since 2002gained 41 per cent of the vote; not enoughto push through contentious constitutionalchanges which would have taken the coun-try in a more authoritarian direction.

The social democratic Republican Peo-ples Party gained 25 per cent of the votewith the People’s Democratic Party gainingaround 13 per cent.

The PDP draws its support primarily fromthe Kurdish minority although has extendedits support to many non-Kurds attracted bytheir defence of secularism, support forwomen’s rights and a markedly left of centresocial and economic programme.

More worrying was the performance ofthe overtly fascist National MovementParty which came third with 16 per cent ofthe vote. Sometimes called the NationalistAction Party it is a synthesis of ethnic na-tionalism and Islamic fundamentalism witha highly violent track record.

This includes a paramilitary wing calledthe Grey Wolves which carried out numerouspolitical assignations in the 1970s and ’80sand which has been blamed for much of theviolence that accompanied this election.

State-sponsored violenceThe failure to achieve an overall majority

was fuelled by growing economic problemsand a widening division between rich andpoor, major corruption scandals involvinggovernment officials and concerns overmedia censorship.

Apart from the activities of groups like theGrey Wolves there has a been a rise in whatmany see as state-sponsored violence withsecurity forces often acting with impunity.

The election was marked by violence andtension with four members of the Republi-can Peoples Party killed in bomb explo-sions just days before the vote. In 2013 thegovernment used massive force to driveprotesters from Gezi Park in Instanbul in ageneralised crackdown on all dissent.

There has also been an erosion of thecountry’s strong tradition of secularism asErdugan has increasingly leaned towardsconservative Islamic forces for support. Thisis particularly true of women’s rights which

have been steadily eroded in recent years.The election was also dominated by inter-national issues including Turkey’s role in theconflict in Syria and the ongoing issue of theKurds. Turkey shared a major border withSyria and has actively intervened in favourof anti-Assad rebel groups; some of whichare headquartered in Instanbul.

This support has included the creation ofsafe zones inside the Turkish border, mili-tary supplies and direct military interven-tion. Turkey is part of an internationalalliance against the regime in Damascusalong with Saudi Arabia.

Many in Turkey have questioned the gov-ernment’s role blaming it for helping to de-stabilise the country when it should bepromoting peace. The Kurdish issue re-mains one of the central issues of modernTurkey. Kurds make up an estimated 15-20per cent of the population mostly in the eastand south around what most call Kurdistan.

Throughout modern history the Kurdshave faced violence and discrimination by astate which has consistently refused to recog-nise their separate identity. In 1937 -38 aprocess of Turkification took place in which70,000 Kurds were killed by security forcesand hundreds of thousands forced into exile.

Throughout the 1990’s a similar drive sawthe destruction of 3000 Kurdish villages andan estimated 400,000 Kurds relocated ‘fortheir own protection’. Today Kurds face dis-crimination, lack basic civil rights and are

subjected to regular repression at the handsof the security forces. Not surprisingly thishas created a backlash with the emergenceof an armed struggle, led by the PKK,against Turkish rule and for the establish-ment of a Kurdish state extending well be-yond the borders of present day Turkey.

Founded in 1978 by the KurdistanWorker’s Party the PKK launched a majoruprising in 1984; an armed struggle whichhas continued to this day although with pe-riodic ceasefires to allow negotiations.

Ethnic nationalismThe PKK claim to have around 8000 full

time guerrillas and up to 20,000 part timefighters spread throughout the region but par-ticularly in Turkey and Iraq. For the Kurdishpeople the overall demand is either for inde-pendence or substantial home rule possiblyleading to independence. Since the uprisingof 1984 it is estimated that around 40,000people have been killed; mostly Kurds at thehands of Turkish security forces.

For the left in Turkey, the issues in the elec-tion were clear. To defend the country’s sec-ular constitution and resist the twin threats ofislamification and ethnic nationalism. Toargue for a social and economic programmewhich would tackle poverty; inequality andcorruption; to create a just settlement for thecountry’s Kurdish minority and for Turkey toplay a constructive role as peacemaker in thewider conflicts in the region.

Turkish election: a victory fordemocrats and progressives

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY: thePDP, which draws its support primarily

from the Kurdish minority, saw big gains

Issue 46019th June – 30th July 2015

email: voice.editorial@googlemail.comscottishsocialistvoice.wordpress.com

for Socialism, Independenceand Internationalism

Promoted by Jim McVicar on behalf of the Scottish Socialist Party, Suite 370, Central Chambers, 93 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 6LD. Printed by Forward Graphics, Elderpark Workspace, 100 Elderpark Street, Glasgow G51 3TR

by Calum Martin

AGAINST THE backdrop ofthe new Scottish GovernmentTax Commission and fast-approaching Holyrood andlocal elections in 2016 and2017, there is the prospect ofa new opportunity to addressone of the worst tax policiesin Scotland: the Council Tax. The Council Tax is an

extremely regressive taxpolicy, a fact which betrays itsorigins as the replacementoffered by John Major’sConservative governmentafter the defeat of MargaretThatcher’s Poll Tax, and everystep of the way the SSP will beadvocating its replacementwith the Scottish Service Tax.

Burden on the poorThe Council Tax places a

burden on the working classand low income families andhouseholds which is,proportionately, muchhigher than the contributionmade by the rich. Whilstover recent years, the wage

gap between the highestearning 10 per cent and thelowest earning 10 per centhas risen to a ratio as highas 15:1 in many parts of theUK, (this is even moreextreme if we take the topearners within that higher 10per cent, and consider toothe gender pay gap), theCouncil Tax fixes the taxdifferential as around 3:1. Even though the richest 10

per cent have on average anincome at least 15 timeshigher then, the law says theywill never pay more thanthree times as much. The percentage of income

paid in Council Tax by therichest, is but a fraction of thepercentage paid by thepoorest. Whilst the CouncilTax claims 5.2 per cent oftotal income for the lowest-earning 20 per cent, the

richest 20 per cent contributeonly 1.7 per cent of theirincome through the CouncilTax. Against the backdrop ofthe cost of living crisis, thiscan be devastating. In 2005the Citizen’s Advice Bureaupublished statistics that 25 percent of all debt related casesthey assisted with involvedCouncil Tax debt, rising tonearly 33 per cent by 2009.

Redistribute wealthThe Council Tax must go,

but there is a model,advocated by the ScottishSocialist Party that is notjust designed to replace it,but one that is specificallydesigned to use theprinciples of progressivetaxation to activelyredistribute wealth in favourof Scotland’s working classmajority. This is the ScottishService Tax (see table). Under the Scottish Service

Tax, around 77 per cent of

households would find theirtax bills fall, by up to £30 amonth in some cases, whilstthe tax revenue for localgovernment would rise from£2billion, plus a subsidy fromHolyrood to match theCouncil Tax Freeze of nearly£0.6billion, to a grand totalthat nears £4billion, cancellingout the justifications used byother parties for their localgovernment cuts. This wouldmean that hard-pressed wagesgo further, whilst essentialpublic services can see greaterprotection. The Scottish Service Tax is

therefore a concrete, costedpolicy, entirely within theremit of Holyrood’s powersthat uses progressive taxationto actively redistribute wealthand fight cuts. It’s time to “Axe the

Council Tax”, and activelytackle inequality in doing so.It’s time for the ScottishService Tax.

Time to Axe the Council Tax!The case for the Scottish Service Tax

Scottish Service Tax explained:THE PROVISIONS of the Scottish Service Tax are both simpleand effective. Unlike the Council Tax, the Scottish Service Taxsets bills that are fundamentally based upon your ability to pay,and taxes income through six bandings as incomes grow higher.These bandings are carefully established to be well spreadacross income bandings at a fair and balanced rate.

The tax bandings proposed are as follows: • The first £0-£10,000 would go tax free• Income between £10,000 and £30,000 would be taxed at 4.5 per cent• Income between £30,000 and £40,000 would be taxed at 15 per cent• Income between £40,000 and £50,000 would be taxed at 18 per cent• Income between £50,000 and £90,000 would be taxed at 21 per cent• Income above £90,000 would be taxed at 23 per cent

For example, on an income of £25,000 a year, the first £10,000would be under Band 1, tax-free. The following £15,000 wouldbe under Band 2, giving a total bill of £675 each year.Alternatively, on an income of £32,000 a year, the first £10,000would again be tax-free. The following £20,000 would be underBand 2, giving £900 of tax, with the final £2,000 coming underBand 3, equating £300 of tax, giving a total annual bill of £1,200.

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