by Richie Venton, SSP national workplace organiser
The announcement by the Scottish government of an independent review of policing in Scotland during the year-long 1984/5 miners’ strike is immensely welcome to all who wish to stand up for the working class.
It’s a long overdue breakthrough for the victimised miners, their families, communities and political allies.
It’s testimony to the value of sustained campaigning, even when at first we don’t succeed!
The Scottish Socialist Party is a significant part of the Yes movement and has been for twenty years now.
That is because we advocate an independent socialist Scotland, a modern democratic republic, and we campaign for that prospect in those constituencies others cannot reach.
We worked as hard as anyone to win a Yes majority in 2014 and continue to do so.
To win that elusive majority however it is vital Scotland’s voters are shown the benefits independence represents rather than offered another version of the UK state governed from Edinburgh.
by Colin Fox
Andrew Wilson’s Sustainable Growth Commission report reminded me why I left the Labour Party and founded the Scottish Socialist Party – because it’s straight out of Tony Blair’s playbook.
Don’t believe me? Blair advocated “flexible working practices” as a cover for undermining the employment rights of working people in the 1990s. Wilson’s advocacy now, as part of “a competitive location for international investment”, is classic Blairite code for cutting corporate taxes, ignoring the nefarious affairs of Russian oligarchs and delivering turbo-charged austerity for the masses. All this while keeping the hated Council Tax and other regressive levies like VAT and fuel duty, where the burden falls heaviest on those least able to pay.
by Ken Ferguson
The so-called Growth Commission report is a dismal document which confirms the reality that the SNP is firmly wedded to neoliberal, pro market economics which are failing on a daily basis both here and across the world.
Throughout the document this point is reinforced – none more so when they talk of “fiscal responsibility”; code for keeping the city of London and the markets happy.
What this means in reality for Scotland’s working class – who make up the majority of society – is that the squeeze on spending, services, jobs and wages will continue for at least a decade while the financial elites decide that we are well behaved enough to borrow their money.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was launched in summer 2005 by a coalition of Palestinian civil society organisations in order to bring international pressure against Israel to end its persistent violations of Palestinian human and national rights.
Modelled on the successful campaign to isolate apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, it has gone on to become a key means by which those internationally who stand in solidarity with the Palestine liberation struggle can weaken Israeli colonialism and Israel’s system of apartheid.
Motions of support for the BDS movement have been passed by an increasing number of trade unions, local authorities, political parties and student unions across the world, including in Scotland and Britain.
by Richie Venton, SSP trade union organiser
Here’s a tip: pay a minimum £10-an-hour to all your staff from your profits – not by dipping into the tips left by generous customers!
That’s the message the SSP will be sending the bosses of TGI Friday’s, this Friday, as we stage street protests in support of striking staff.
“Thank God It’s Friday!”
The world has watched in horror at the criminal actions of the Israeli army in killing hundreds and injuring thousands more as they protested the illegal occupation of their land and the blockade that aims at strangling the life from the 1.8 million residents of Gaza.
In the six weeks of protests, planned to culminate on Nakba day, marking the expulsion of thousands of Palestinians to found Israel, over 100 demonstrators have been killed by IDF snipers and hundreds wounded. They are protesting for their right to return to their home land. They are being slaughtered for doing that.
The Scottish Socialist Party unreservedly condemns the action of the Israeli government and the provocative decision of the US Government to move it’s embassy to Jerusalem in a move that is designed to give the green light to Netanyahu’s right wing government to continue its programme of illegal settlement building and brutal repression in Palestine.
The Scottish Socialist Party is proud to publish a newly restored and reconstructed edition of James Maxton’s seminal biography of Vladimir Lenin for free download – complete with clarified language, extensive footnotes and key historical details.
Our national secretary, Connor Beaton, spearheaded the project and provides the foreword – which briefly outlines the history and importance of accessible, readable biographies of key socialist historical figures.
This download is available in three formats – PDF (for printing and reading on computer screens), Mobi for side-loading on Kindle readers, and ePub for iPad and other compatible devices.
On the key date of the socialist calendar –