Campaigning for republic, neutrality or the euro
Yes Scotland and the SNP both try to appeal to the majority of Scottish voters. This makes sense — if you adopt a minority position (for instance with regard to the monarchy, NATO or the currency of Scotland), you’re likely to scare away more potential Yes voters than you gain.
On the other hand, it’s often the people who want to change the status quo that have the most to gain by voting Yes. As some people have been saying recently, if the SNP don’t want to change anything after independence, why vote Yes?
The likelihood of Westminster abolishing the monarchy, leaving NATO or joining the euro must be very slim indeed. On the other hand, all of these policies are favoured by a large minority of Scots, so if you’re an activist who strongly favours one of them, the chances of achieving your goal is much greater in an independent Scotland.
In other words, we can’t expect neither Yes Scotland nor the SNP to be campaigning in favour of changing these policies from day one after independence, which is of course why the SNP leadership is trying to get rid of the party’s traditional anti-NATO stance.
What we need are plenty of smaller single-purpose campaign organisations to advocate a Yes as a major stepping stone towards their goal. For instance, an organisation such as Republic Scotland would do well to realise that its goal is much more achievable by promoting independence, and it should campaign vigorously for a Yes.
The consequence of this is that many SNP activists would do well to spend less time in the SNP over the next couple of years and instead concentrate their efforts on various grassroots movements, to make sure as many as possible join the wider Yes campaign.
This is a fundamental flaw in this article.
By voting ‘Yes’ you aren’t paving the way for a new Scottish constituent assembly which can decide upon what international relationships Scotland should enter upon; nor for a two year hiatus between 2014 and a 2016 Scottish general election, when the Left could finally make their impact felt on Scottish politics.
You are voting for the SNP’s ‘Independence-Lite’ proposals, as well as giving the current (rapidly Right moving) SNP government the power to enter negotiations into what sort of Scotland they want to see.
As well facing the likelihood of another two years’ SNP government retreat over what is understood genuine self-determination up to 2014, those very much diluted proposals would be further diluted as a result of the negotiations with the UK state.
There are already voices in the SNP proposing that the Trident base could be kept, leased out at a suitable charge to UK/NATO – a Guatanamac base ‘solution’.
We need to take a lesson from those wannabe Scottish ruling class members who have shifted their support to the SNP. Through their pressure, they have already managed, to get the SNP government to come out as a pro-monarchy party (accepting the UK state’s draconian Crown Powers), a pro-City of London party (and hence a continued commitment to impose austerity measures at the banksters’ command), and now, they hope, an openly pro-NATO power. In practice, they have already shown their support for US/British imperialism in Afghanistan and Libya.
These wannabe Scottish ruling class members know that ‘possession is nine parts of the law’ and they are determined that in 2014 they will be in possession of all the powers they need in their future Scotland to make an accommodation with the global corporations, and the US and UK states.
Furthermore, they will ensure that everything possible is done to marginalise any radical challenges to their aims.
Life will be very much easier for them, and a lot harder for us, if we give up fighting over the next two years for the type of Scotland we want to see. For some of us, of course, such a self-denying ordnance will not be an option, as SNP led or supported local councils transmit the City of London’s, and hence Westminster’s austerity measures on to local authority workers and service users.
The issue of class hasn’t gone away in Scotland, it is just that it appears that some accept that it is only the Scottish wannabe ruling class that should be allowed to persistently and aggressively pursue its interests, whilst the rest of us, just accept this for the next two years.