Socialist Alternative

Queen’s speech exposes Tories’ anti-working class agenda

May 12, 2021

Connor Rosoman
Election results point to turbulent times ahead

Paul Gerrard
Scottish elections raise prospect of mass independence struggle

May 11, 2021

Socialist Alternative members in Scotland
If we organise we can win: the story of the fight to reinstate Louise Lewis

May 10, 2021

Mike Forster, Socialist Alternative Political Committee
Socialist Alternative National Assembly shows organisation growing in size and strength

May 8, 2021

Daisy Bradford
Starmer’s New Blairism delivers electoral catastrophe

May 7, 2021

Claire Laker-Mansfield

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Queen’s speech exposes Tories’ anti-working class agenda

Following big gains in the recent local elections for the Tories, the Queen’s speech has signalled the return of parliament. In her speech, she outlined the upcoming priorities of Boris Johnson’s government, including the much-touted “levelling up” of the country’s struggling towns. However, for working class people, any such levelling up will have been hard to find in the proposals actually put forward. Indeed, the £4.8 billion that has been put aside for the purpose is wholly inadequate when you consider the many parts of the country that have suffered decades of neglect.

Over the last year, we have seen unprecedented state spending to combat the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, piling up a mountain of debt equal to £2,076 billion. The government has promised to put forward proposals to “create and support jobs and improve regulation”. However, the details of these proposals are noticeably vague.

At the same time, the government has announced plans for infrastructure projects in public transport and 5G technology, and for a Subsidy Control Bill laying out new rules for state support for companies. This represents a continuation of the more hands-on approach toward the economy adopted by the Tories in response to the current crisis.

However the speech also emphasised the Tories’ intention to bring public spending back toward a more “sustainable path” as we emerge from the ongoing economic crisis. Workers’ should have no faith in the Tories to continue the measures which have helped working class people to survive the last year any longer than they feel is necessary to protect the capitalist system. Already, the government has looked to roll back measures such as the ban on evictions, as well as the temporary boost to Universal Credit and the furlough scheme. So far, such cuts have been continually pushed back by the threat of economic and political turmoil, including the resumption of mass layoffs and evictions, but also the mass anger that would be provoked by such a ‘cliff edge’ in the middle of a deep crisis of capitalism. However, the incoming end of the evictions ban later this month, and the looming rollback of furlough and Universal Credit in September, belie the Tories’ real priorities. For all the talk of “enhancing the rights of those who rent”, tenants in Britain will not be feeling any less insecure following today’s speech. Neither will workers stuck working for “zombie companies” staying afloat only due to government support.

Empty promises

The government has promised high quality education for all and the ability for every child to fulfil their potential. But as it stands, the disparity between schools that teach students from more deprived backgrounds and those that cater to the more well-off has increased dramatically since the pandemic. At the same time, funding for the arts is set to be callously slashed in Higher Education. Even with the increased funding for schools put forward last year, real terms funding for education will continue to lag behind even the inadequate levels of funding available a decade ago.

Future proposals on social care “reform” are also striking in their lack of substance. Last year, social care was at the epicentre of the covid catastrophe, with sky-high death rates following years of severe cuts to services. What is almost certain, however, is that the government has no intention of taking the necessary steps that have become even clearer following the outbreak of Covid-19 – of bringing social care back into full public ownership, with decent funding and an immediate pay rise for care workers.

In the NHS, the proposed Health and Care Bill aims to introduce an Integrated Care Service in the NHS. According to Keep Our NHS Public, such a system would “strengthen the role of private companies, including US health insurance corporations, in the NHS”, undoubtedly to the detriment of patients.

Much of the speech was dedicated to attempts to reinforce Britain’s position on the world stage. We have seen such posturing already over Britain’s role as host of the G7 summit this year and crucially as hosts of the COP26 climate summit in November as the Tories continue to peddle the idea of ‘global Britain’.

Under the pressure of the looming climate talks, the government has restated its commitment to hitting net zero emissions by 2050 and to pass an updated Environment Bill setting binding environmental goals. This bill has been subject to numerous delays already and the government’s targets are woefully inadequate to seriously address the climate emergency.

The government also reaffirmed its position in the emerging conflict between the US and China through its pledge to remain committed to NATO, and has promised to introduce legislation to “counter hostile activity by foreign states”.

A reactionary, undemocratic government

The government’s repeated promise of the aim to ban conversion therapy comes on the back of 3 years of feet-dragging on the issue, after the government initially made such promises in 2018! Despite this brief lip-service to LGBTQ+ rights, the goals outlined in the Queen’s speech highlight a thoroughly reactionary agenda from the Tories. It has since emerged that the government plans to hold a public consultation on the issue before passing it as the Tories attempt, in practice, to push any ban back.

This includes an aim to “ensure the integrity of elections” in Britain… by introducing the notoriously undemocratic measure of mandatory voter ID. This would block anyone without ID such as a passport or driving license – both of which cost money – from being able to vote. Such a law would disproportionately affect those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds in society such as the unemployed, young people and people of colour, effectively barring big chunks of these groups from voting. For the Tories, this is a cynical attempt to secure their grip on power by putting any future opposition at an electoral disadvantage.

Furthermore, it completely exposes the falseness of the government’s pledge to “address racial and ethnic disparities” in our society. This is the same government that only a few weeks ago published a report attempting to deny such disparities.

At the same time, the Tories have pandered to the reactionary elements of their base with the promise of new migration controls to strengthen the UK borders, and to defend “freedom of speech” on university campuses – playing into overblown hysteria around racist, sexist and misogynistic figures not being able to speak at universities.

In addition, the mention of the Tories’ draconian Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill will not have gone unnoticed by the many thousands of activists around the country who have mobilised on the streets in recent weeks against this rotten piece of legislation. Alongside these other aims, the authoritarian direction of travel from the Tory government is clear, characterised by attacks on democratic rights and an increase in attacks on oppressed groups in society.

We need a real opposition

The Tories might appear to be going into the summer in a stronger position than ever, with an utterly feeble opposition from Keir Starmer’s Blairite Labour Party. This is certainly the impression they are looking to give off. But behind this facade, the government is on shaky foundations. They are still a party being torn apart by infighting, and who have been forced into a series of dramatic U-turns over numerous issues since the start of the pandemic as a result of the threat of turmoil and working-class unrest.

These victories point toward the kind of opposition we need. This should be one built by working class people, bringing together socialists, climate activists, trade unionists, feminists and all those looking to fight back against this government. Socialist Alternative argues for conferences of resistance to be formed to bring these struggles together, to coordinate action and discuss a strategy. Organising a real struggle on the streets, in our local communities and in the workplace would lay the basis for a real party of the working class to challenge the Tories and the capitalist system they represent.

As we come out of lockdown, the lasting effects of the past year, including the economic turmoil, increased disparities in society and attacks on our democratic rights will make themselves clear. But this will also be an important opportunity to organise a mass movement against this crisis-ridden government and to fight for a real alternative for working class people. If you want to help get involved in building such a movement, we encourage you to get involved!
Election results point to turbulent times ahead

Despite the 150 000 Covid deaths, a bungled and costly Brexit, the 21 – and counting – u-turns etc, the Conservatives achieved a resounding victory in the Hartlepool by-election, and took control of thirteen councils, including the former Labour fiefdom of Durham.

Over the last year this government of crisis has seen huge demonstrations by Black Lives Matter protesters, towns and cities have been shaken by rallies in the name of End Gender Violence and Kill the Bill, and there has been widespread opposition to the government’s derisory offer of 1% pay rise for nurses. Yet this was not reflected in the elections. Labour under Starmer have completely failed to give shape, or even the most muted expression, to the mood of opposition to the Tories.

Brexit has been ‘done’ but the scars remain. Labour undertook to respect the vote to leave the EU in 2016 but Jeremy Corbyn retreated on the issue in the run-up to the December 2019 General Election and left the running to none other than Keir Starmer, who openly espoused a second referendum. This cost Labour dearly in Northern Leave-voting seats, creating numerous breaches in the so-called Labour ‘red wall’. Having won the Labour leadership, Starmer then doubled down on his arrogance towards Leave voters by imposing a Remain supporter as Labour candidate in Hartlepool which had registered a 70% vote for Leave.

Starmer offers nothing

Moreover, in his attempt to shed Corbyn’s overwhelmingly popular policies – rail nationalisation, abolition of student fees, integration of social care into the NHS – Starmer left Labour with no policies at all, other than pathological caution and fawning support for big business, along with empty ‘patriotic’ flag waving. Starmer even warned Tory Chancellor Rishi Sunak against raising Britain’s pathetically low corporation tax, which would have been one of the first acts of an incoming Corbyn government.

Decades of neglect in Labour-run towns came to light in these elections. Largely unchallenged and content to passively administer Tory government cuts in the name of austerity, many now face questions from traditional Labour voters: ‘what have you done for our town?’ Tory government decisions like the closure of A&E at the local hospital or the disappearance of a Job Centre merely add to the overall picture of dilapidation blamed on Labour councillors.

Many former Labour voters have simply given up on voting, concluding that nothing makes a difference to their lives. The Hartlepool result, devastating as it was, reflects shifts in opinion among a minority of the electorate; turnout was only 42%. There are low expectations of politicians of all parties and at all levels, and often there is a suspicion of corruption or at the very least of ‘jobs for the boys’ or for family members. As one striking bus driver in Manchester put it: ‘that cat is the only honest thing to come out of No. 10.’ In Liverpool the elections took place under just such a cloud after the resignation of City Mayor Joe Anderson. Nevertheless the voters elected Britain’s first black female mayor. The Regional Mayor Steve Rotheram was re-elected with what the BBC called a ‘landslide’. In other words, there was no Tory triumphalism on Merseyside.

Labour in some areas retained and even extended their vote share. Much has been made of Hartlepool’s local Mayor for Tees Valley Ben Houchen who was re-elected on a 70% vote share. Houchen is a direct beneficiary of the government’s freeport scheme and was allowed to take Teesside Airport into public ownership – something the government would have firmly resisted if a Labour council had demanded it. But in Greater Manchester Andy Burnham was re-elected as Mayor an increased 67% vote, largely on the basis of standing up to Johnson last October over the Tier system and the lower rate of pay for furloughed workers in the region. He has also steered through a bus franchising scheme which will put public transport in the region on the same footing as London. Burnham is no radical, and his refusal to join striking bus drivers on their picket lines for weeks has intensely angered many, but ‘parity with London’ was a demand which resonated with voters.

Labour exceptions

In Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett has developed plans for building 500 council houses and has negotiated with trade unions to pay the Living Wage to social care workers. He was re-elected on a 59% share of first preference votes and Labour has extended its support into former Tory strongholds.

What Burnham and Dennett have achieved pales in comparison to the impact of Liverpool City Council of 1983-87 when 5000 council houses were built, alongside nurseries, schools, sport centres etc. Yet they have been rewarded with electoral success. How much more could have been achieved by outright and serious opposition to the government, a campaign in every town and city, and mobilisation of the local trade union movement, as a genuine socialist party would have initiated? We could have been looking at the downfall of the government by now.

Wales

The ongoing tensions around the national question in the UK was also reflected in the elections. In Scotland, the election results have added pressure on Westminster to grant a second Independence referendum (more in this article). In Wales, things have developed differently, but the growing support of Welsh independence, particularly amongst young people, was an important backdrop to the election. There was a certain amount of pressure on Labour, which has been the biggest party in the Welsh Senedd for the last 22 years since its formation, from Plaid Cymru who were growing in the opinion polls in the run up to the vote. However, the bigger factor in Labour’s success in this election in Wales – increasing its vote and winning 30 out of the 60 seats in the Senedd – was the role of First Minister and Labour leader Mark Drakeford during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a similar way to Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland, Drakeford was able to position himself as a more competent and compassionate tackler of covid in Wales in comparison to Boris Johnson, increasingly seen as the ‘Prime Minister of England’. As well as lockdowns which started sooner and ended later than in England, Drakeford benefitted from the ‘vaccine bounce’ in Wales and was able to distance himself from Keir Starmer, presenting Welsh Labour as different and more radical, and as the best option for navigating the post-covid situation. Plaid Cymru gained one seat but ultimately came third, and one the most well known leading activists in the party, former leader Leanne Wood, lost her seat to the Labour Party. This doesn’t mean that support for independence isn’t still a factor and also doesn’t necessarily equate to growing support for Labour as a party that will represent the working class. Like elsewhere in the UK, growing radicalisation of workers and young people has not been fully reflected in the elections in Wales. For example, despite this being the first election that 16 and 17 year olds could vote in, only 46% were registered to vote (compared to 76% of all ages and it’s not clear how many actually turned out to vote), with young people in surveys stating that none of the political parties represented what they think.

Vaccine bounce

The media portray Johnson as a Prime Minister vindicated by these results and firmly in control. But in the bosses’ mouthpiece, the Financial Times, they tell the truth: ‘The fact that Johnson has come through the pandemic relatively unscathed is overwhelmingly down to the vaccine rollout. In December and January the Conservatives were down at 37% in YouGov polls and even behind the Labour opposition. But voters credit the Prime Minister for the vaccine success and have discounted earlier errors during the crisis.’ Of course, the truth is the relatively successful vaccine rollout is in large part down to the existence of the NHS and the hard work of its staff, not anything done by Johnson.

For now. The Prime Minister’s problems continue to accumulate. Not the least of them is Scotland (see separate article). Apart from NHS pay there are huge backlogs in treatment for non-Covid conditions, and unemployment will mushroom as state support dwindles. Johnson’s new – but temporary – electoral base will expect him to deliver on public services and promises of jobs across the regions. At the same time the trade union movement is beginning to emerge from Covid hibernation, as the Manchester bus strike and other examples of industrial action show.

Turmoil

Labour’s reaction to the election defeat has been to despair and seek a scapegoat. Starmer’s bungled attempt to sack Angela Rayner ended with him ‘promoting’ her. The frothy protestations of the Labour ‘soft left’ (actually the slightly less right-wing) kept her in the cabinet. But the appointments of Lucy Powell (Housing) and arch right-winger Wes Streeting (Child Poverty) indicate clearly the direction of travel. There may be a challenge to Starmer soon but if the much-touted Rayner or Burnham were to be the next Labour leader or the next leader-but-one it will still not be the vehicle of struggle which workers and youth desperately need.

Conferences of resistance could bring together radicalised youth of social movements, whose views were not reflected in the elections that many young people do not engage with, alongside trade unionists fighting the Police and Crime Bill, and community campaigns over the NHS and in support of a nurses’ pay rise. These are among the forces from which a new party can be built, not simply through standing in elections, but through struggle. It won’t emerge overnight and it won’t emerge fully formed. But Socialist Alternative is committed to building support for the socialist ideas that are needed to transform society, and to organise all those prepared to fight for them.
Scottish elections raise prospect of mass independence struggle

On the surface, the local election results in England suggest that the Tories have escaped a reckoning for their Covid catastrophe: a death toll of over 150,000, the biggest economic contraction in three centuries and the lives of countless workers upended. But in Scotland, the landslide victory for the SNP and the pro-independence majority that was returned to the Scottish parliament reflect the brewing crisis that is undermining the very foundations of the UK. There is an undoubtable mandate for indyref2, posing a real threat to Boris Johnson, the Tories and British capitalism.

Throughout the last year, polls have consistently shown a majority in Scotland who favour leaving the UK, climbing to over 70% amongst young people. Boris Johnson’s criminal mismanagement of the pandemic – its devastating impact on the lives of workers and young people – has only increased the discontent that fuels the desire for independence and a break with Tory rule.

The unprecedented 63% turnout – up 10% from 2016 – shows the importance of these elections. For many indy supporters, the next phase of the struggle was seen to hinge on returning a majority of MSPs committed, on paper at least, to securing independence. Although the SNP has fallen one seat short of an outright majority, the Greens winning 8 seats means 72 of 129 MSPs are pro-independence. Establishment commentators’ hollow narrative that ‘unionist’ parties secured a narrow majority of the popular vote is belied by the fact that polls consistently show that 30-40% of Labour voters (and even a significant minority of Labour Party members) support independence.

While these results mark a turning point, adding momentum to the demand for indyref2, the path ahead is littered with obstacles that only a mass movement of the working class can overcome.

Scottish Tories Ramp up Unionism

The Scottish Tories will remain Holyrood’s second largest party after a campaign that portrayed them as the most capable fighters against independence. “Let’s Stop the SNP and indyref2 together” was one of many slogans that reflected a hardened polarisation on the national question. Outside of their traditional base, they also targeted pro-Union Labour and Lib-Dem voters. Notwithstanding new leader Douglas Ross’s low popularity ratings, this approach seems to have paid off. As one poll revealed, half of those planning on voting Tory were doing so for ‘tactical’ reasons – to keep Scotland in the Union.

While the Conservative and Unionist Party were forced to distance themselves from their English counterparts (Johnson cancelled a pre-election visit to Scotland), there can be no doubt that they are cut from the same reactionary cloth. In one of last month’s televised debates Ross came under fire for his despicable attitude towards Travellers. That this provoked such outrage points to the shift to the left amongst many workers and young people, a sharpened understanding that the Tories are an utterly rotten, racist outfit, and that the growing support for independence is not based on a narrow chauvinistic nationalism.

Labour

Tory opposition to a second referendum was mimicked by Scottish Labour which continued its shift to the right. Following the resignation of soft-left Corbyn sympathiser Richard Leonard, Anas Sarwar (a millionaire businessman, whose family firm refuses to recognise trade unions) was elected leader, putting the Blairites back in the driver’s seat. But any hope that Sarwar might reboot Scottish Labour have been dashed. Seemingly in terminal decline, they have lost a further 2 MSPs and recorded their worst ever vote since the establishment of the Scottish parliament.

In the final days of the campaign former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown lashed out at the SNP with words betraying Labour’s mindset:

“That’s the difference: We want to end child poverty, the SNP want to end the United Kingdom. They wake up in the morning thinking about a referendum, we wake up in the morning wanting a recovery. They go to bed dreaming of separation, we go to bed dreaming of social justice.”

Although the SNP should indeed be taken up for their dismal record on tackling inequality, Brown, who himself inflicted brutal austerity on working-class communities across Britain, is the last person in a position to point the finger.

What’s more, this logic fails to grasp that support for independence has grown precisely because Scottish workers and youth see it as necessary to break with crushing poverty and precarity, something Labour have neither the programme nor the will to achieve. Socialist Alternative explains that for Scottish independence to really transform the lives of workers and the poor, a socialist vision, which moves far beyond the pro-capitalist leadership of the SNP, is required.

SNP & Alba

Despite the SNP’s own complicity in the making of the current crisis, they have increased their vote from 2016 and gained an MSP. Throughout the pandemic, Sturgeon has enjoyed a surge in approval ratings as her more PR savvy communiques and “cautious” demeanour meant that she stood in stark contrast to a pompous Johnson, a personification of capitalism’s reckless pursuit of profit at all costs.

Indeed, the electoral triumph of the SNP does not reflect widespread illusions in a party that has moved further to the right and whose Covid response subordinated the health and lives of working class people to the interests of capital. In the absence of a mass left alternative a vote for the SNP was seen as the only viable route to a second referendum.

Indeed Sturgeon barely survived a political crisis that racked the SNP in the months prior to the election. Although manifesting itself as a personal dispute between herself and former First Minster Alex Salmond, the rupture in the SNP and subsequent formation of the Alba party reflected the growing class contradictions within the movement. Salmond attempted to exploit the discontent towards the Sturgeon leadership, in particular its/her conciliatory approach towards winning a second referendum. A number of figures within the SNP and the broader indy movement joined Alba, including former socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan.

Standing only on regional lists and calling for a tactical second vote, Alba’s campaign was based on gaming the peculiarities of the Scottish electoral system to win a “supermajority” of pro-indy MSPs. Nevertheless, they failed to win a single seat.

Any illusion that Alba represented a left alternative to the SNP should now be utterly smashed. It became clear during the course of the election that Salmond is surrounded by a rag-bag of reactionaries, including out and out racists. Central Scotland candidate Margaret Lynch made the false and vile claim that LGBT campaign groups were advocating for reducing the age of consent to 10-years-old. Nor did Salmond’s own allegedly predatory and misogynistic behaviour do him any favours amongst radicalised women and young people who reject sexism in all its forms more than ever before.

Greens: Left Alternative?

The Green Party Scotland managed to increase its vote and pick up an additional two MSP seats. Responding to pressure from below, their campaign tacked left with commitments for green jobs, funding for housing and social services as well as a millionaire tax. With the Labour Party back in the grip of the Blairites and hopelessly out of touch on the national question some look towards the Greens as a pro-indy left-wing force.

Yet the Greens remain a party unable or unwilling to break with capitalism. At Holyrood, this has meant that, at best, their ‘opposition’ is limited to tinkering around the edges of Sturgeon’s approach – that of ‘reluctantly’ implementing Westminster austerity. Most importantly, they have failed to organise a fightback in the workplace or communities.

Undoubtedly many Green voters, as well as members of the Green Party, are genuinely searching for a way out of the impasse of capitalism. Many grasp that the ecological crisis facing the planet springs from the profit system. This necessarily places a global struggle to end that system and plan green growth across the world at the head of the agenda, an argument which will attract a growing audience across Scotland in the run-up to the Glasgow COP26 ‘global warming’ summit this autumn. But this is not what the Green Party is offering. They stop short of offering a programme that challenges the capitalist system and points towards a socialist alternative. What’s more, it was precisely in the field of internationalism that Greens’ manifesto revealed the inadequacy of confining their strategy within the bounds of capitalism. Like the SNP, they argued that:

The Scottish Greens believe Scotland’s future is best served as a full member of the European Union…. We will therefore campaign…to re-join the EU as an independent nation as soon as possible

EU membership, however, would lock an independent Scotland into a capitalist trading block dedicated to defending the interests of the very monopolies which destroy the planet for profit. Indeed, the EU could be used by the capitalist class to place obstacles in the road of any moves on the part of a potential left government in Scotland to roll back decades of austerity and take socialist measures.

On independence they similarly also come up short, echoing the same legalistic strategy of Sturgeon and co. Their manifesto outlines that any effort of the UK government to block a referendum would be “subject to legal challenge.” This ignores the fact that the bosses’ courts have always acted as roadblock in the way of the economic, social and democratic struggles of our class.

Ruling Class Oppose Independence

For all these reasons it is by no means clear that the current pro-indy majority will be enough to guarantee indyref2. As the results were still coming in, Johnson was clear in his dismissal of a second referendum calling it “reckless” and “irresponsible.” Likewise, Michael Gove claimed that the SNP’s failure to win an overall majority, undermines the case for indyref2.

Although these results undoubtedly put the Tories under increased pressure, the comments of Johnson and Gove give an insight into the entrenched opposition the indy movement will face. Both understand that the situation is vastly different from 2014, when an arrogant ruling class granted a referendum unaware of the working-class revolt that was about to take shape.

In response to the SNP victory, Johnson has now called a Covid recovery summit of the devolved UK nations on how they can work together to overcome the crisis. Although to date he has been particularly hard-nosed and even clumsy in his opposition to independence, we may see a changed approach from some sections of the ruling class, aiming instead for a settlement or constitutional ‘reset’ to save the UK from demise. However, this would only differ in style rather than substance as it remains the case that a mass movement for Scottish independence would be a nightmare for the British ruling class. They will therefore do all they can to stop it.

Mass Working Class Movement Needed

Although such efforts to ‘reset’ the UK are almost certainly too little too late and will not halt the key processes driving support for independence, it’s not entirely ruled out that they could be used by Sturgeon and others as cover for a retreat.

While Sturgeon has confidently stated that it is “a matter of when not if” indyref2 takes place, the working-class movement should not step back and leave the struggle for democratic rights in the hands of pro-capitalist parties. Neither the SNP, Alba or the Greens can wage the battle required to defeat the Tories. Focusing on parliamentary and legalistic maneuvers only serves to take the movement off the streets and divert the mood for change into safer channels.

We need to build an organised campaign of the working class, young people and all the oppressed for democratic rights. This needs to be one based on militant class-struggle methods of strikes, occupations and demos. A coordinated mobilisation in our workplaces, schools and communities is the only guarantee to win a second referendum. Trade Unions need to take a firm stance on this. Whilst STUC congress has passed a resolution backing Indyref2, it remains largely a policy on paper. Few unions have taken decisive steps to oppose Labour’s truce with the Tories on the national question.

Socialist Alternative supports the building of such a campaign, one that links the struggle for independence to the fight for socialism in Scotland and internationally.

An independent capitalist Scotland will solve none of the myriad social issues facing workers and young people. Although the desire to escape a car crash Tory Brexit has added momentum to the case for independence, working-class and young people should have no illusions in the pro-capitalist, racist EU that the SNP and the Greens are so eager to rejoin. Only a socialist transformation of society in which the commanding heights of the economy are taken into democratic public ownership and production is planned based on need, not profit can lay the basis for a future free of poverty, pandemics, climate disaster and all the other horrors of capitalism. Ultimately, such a movement for socialist change could never be successful if confined to one nation. Crucial to building a socialist Scotland is therefore developing solidarity across borders. This means linking up with workers and young people who are fighting capitalism and austerity across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, building the struggle for a free and voluntary socialist federation of these countries, as part of a socialist confederation of Europe and a socialist world.

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