SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY

Colin Fox on abolishing the council tax.

2011-04-25T05:07:00.000-07:00

Time To Abolish The Council Tax - Not Freeze It

The opinion polls suggest Labour and the SNP are neck and neck in the race for Holyrood 2011. Interestingly both parties now support a freeze in Council Tax bills for the next year. They arrived at this 'freeze' via different routes however.

Like the Scottish Socialist Party the SNP are opposed to the Council Tax in principle, believing, as the majority of Scots do, that it is unfair and hits the less well off disproportionately hard. The Council Tax is indeed a regressive tax that bears no relation to a person's income. Consequently the least well off are hit hardest as the wealthy pay coppers. Since they have not been able to replace it with an income based alternative, the SNP have settled for second be stand 'freezing' the current charges.

Labour on the other hand has no principled objection to the Council Tax. They argue for a freeze on the grounds that they purportedly want to 'help hard working families in this time of austerity'. Most people believe that it has more to do with avoiding being politically outmanoeuvred by the SNP. Either way freezing the Council Tax does nothing to address it's fundamental unfairness. Indeed it may be argued a freeze helps the rich most of all.

As things stand the wealthy in Scotland pay a tiny tiny percentage of their income on this bill. For example,Stephen Hestor (the CEO of RBS) was just awarded a £7.7 million pay package for the coming year. Living in Edinburgh his Council Tax bill will again be frozen at £2,338 or 0.03% of his salary whilst some pensioners are paying 25% of their income on theirs.

The Scottish Socialist Part believes this is utterly unacceptable and this week we will highlight our fully costed proposals for a local income tax to replace the Council Tax. Our plans would mean the burden would be lifted from the shoulders of of pensioners, low paid workers and the poor and at the same time force the wealthy to pay their fair share for a change.

Here's how it works. Each individual in Scotland will pay towards the funding of local services but the more you earn the more you pay. So, for example, if your income is less than £10,000 you are exempt. That's too low to force people to contribute. Thereafter, on incomes over £10,000 and up to £30,000 you pay 4.5%. So if you are on £200,000 your bill is £450 [4.5% of the earnings over £10,000] If you earn more than £30,000 you pay nothing on the first £10,000, 4.5% on the next £20,000 and 10% on the earnings over £30,000. The next incremental step is to 15% on earnings over £50,000 and 20% on earnings over £100,000. This graduated rate (which the SNP opposes) is fairer and ensures that as your income goes up so does your tax obligation.

Economists at Paisley University who scrutinised these figures found that 77% of Scots will be better off compared to now. Furthermore, using the latest Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs figures, they are able to demonstrate that these proposals would bring another £1.5 billion into Holyrood's Treasury.

So, not only would this tax be fairer and redistributive, it would also halt the need for any cuts to public services in Scotland. And that's a freeze we DO need.

Taken from Colin Fox's blog @ http://sspcolinfox.blogspot.com

SSP MANIFESTO LAUNCHED

2011-04-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

Colin Fox on SSP manifesto launch.

The Scottish Socialist Party launched our manifesto for the 2011 Holyrood elections yesterday at a press conference in Glasgow. With me at the launch were the other top of the list candidates from across Scotland. Frances Curran (Glasgow), SSP Councillor Jim Bollan (West of Scotland), and myself briefly outlined the main points in our magnificent manifesto [which can be downloaded from the SSP website] for the assembled press pack.
We gave the people of Scotland a cast iron guarantee that if they elect SSP MSPs on May 5th we will not vote for cuts to public services, to jobs, wages or conditions. This is a very important commitment because this will be the first Parliament faced with a reduced budget so MSPs will either vote for cuts or fight them.
The SSP has never, in twelve years, voted to cut public services or the standard of living of working people and we have no intention of starting now.
Second we stressed that we are committed to scrapping the hated and unfair Council Tax. We intend to replace it with an income based alternative which sees the wealthy pay more and the poor exempted.
And last, but by no means least, is our support for an independent socialist Scotland, a modern democratic republic. Whilst other parties dilute their commitment to independence we remain passionate about it. And as we will endure the sycophants cooing over a Royal wedding in the last week of this election campaign we felt it important to restate our commitment to a modern democratic republic for Scotland.
The press conference was well attended as the picture shows. As well as the BBC and STV film crews, several other photographers and journalists were present and their questions reflected their growing recognition that support for the SSP is increasing noticeably.
The coverage of our manifesto launch has, as usual, been patchy; some good, some bad, some non-existent. STV news carried a full interview and the greatest column inches were found in the Aberdeen Press and Journal. So, hats off to them for fair coverage and Dunces Caps to the BBC, The Daily Record and the other tabloids for ignoring us once again.

Taken from Colin Fox's blog. original article

Letter sent to local media on prescription charges.

2011-04-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

Scottish Socialist Party national spokesman Colin Fox today
welcomed the abolition of Prescription Charges in Scotland after 50
years and insisted it would not have happened without the SSP.

After his election to Holyrood in 2003, SSP MSP Colin Fox launched a
Private Members Bill to to scrap prescription charges.
He told us
'The SSP's Bill won the backing of hundreds of health groups, unions,
and patients groups across the country and even the Scottish Parliament's
own Health Committee. But it was voted down by an unholy
alliance of Labour, Lib Dem and Tory MSPs. Otherwise this double tax
on the sick would have become law 6 years ago.

'I am delighted nonetheless that at last our visionary idea has been realised
and that a great injustice has been eradicated. The NHS promised back in
1947, rightly, to provide healthcare free at the point of need and paid out
of general taxation. But prescription charges broke that promise to patients.
Without our Bill, and the SNP Governments decision to pick it up,
prescription charges would be £7.40 per item today as they are in England.

Ally Hendry (List candidate for the Lothian region) added

Colinf Fox and Ally Hendry.

'This achievement shows the people of Scotland what a difference SSP MSPs
at Holyrood makes to their lives and in particular to those of the low paid, sick
and vulnerable. I urge people to remember this on May 5th.

SSP STANDING CANDIDATES IN ALL REGIONAL LISTs THROUGHOUT SCOTLAND

2011-04-05T04:10:00.000-07:00

VOTE SCOTTISH SOCIALIST PARTY ON

MAY 5TH!

Vote SSP for an MSP on a workers wage

Vote for Scotland's serious and principled socialist party

The SSP was founded over a decade ago on the principle of challenging greed and inequality.
All elected SSP politicians are obliged to take home no more than the average wage of a skilled worker.
In Holyrood, six Scottish Socialist MSPs took only half their salary - and donated the rest to the cause of socialism and equality.
SSP MSPs elected in 2011 will do exactly the same.
Jim Bollan, SSP councillor and Regional List candidate in the West of Scotland region says;
“MSPs are in the top three per cent of UK earners. How can they represent low paid workers, pensioners and people living on the breadline? How can they possibly understand what life is like for millions of Scots?”

Scottish Socialist Party List Candidates

Central Scotland
1) Kevin McVey
Kevin McVey is 45 and has been actively involved in politics since 1984. Expelled from the Labour Party in 1989/90 for his involvement in local and national anti-poll tax campaigning, Kevin was a founding member of the SSP.
Kevin worked in the Tax Office for 20 years and PCS branch secretary for 3 years. Kevin is currently SSP National Secretary.
Also standing: 2) Cathy Pedersen 3) Lynsey MacGregor 4) Wullie O’Neill 5) Fraser Coats 6) Joan Duguid

Glasgow
1) Frances Curran
Frances, 49, was SSP MSP for the West of Scotland from 2003-2007, introducing a bill to provide free school meals which was ultimately voted down by the Parliament. Frances got involved in socialist politics when she joined the Labour Party Young Socialists in the early years of the Thatcher government, eventually being elected onto the Labour Party National Executive at 23 years old. Frances is currently co-spokesperson for the SSP.
Also standing: 2) James Nesbitt 3) Daniel O'Donnell 4) Anthea Irwin 5) Carol Hainey 6) Andy Harvie 7) Wullie McGartland

Highlands and Islands 1)Pam Currie
Pam is 35 years old and lives in Glasgow with her cat, Banjo. She teaches in a Further Education college and is an activist in the EIS teachers’ union.
A Gaelic learner, Pam sings in a choir, enjoying her first trip to the National Mod in October 2010.
Pam is a Quaker, a feminist and an LGBT activist who has been involved in campaigns ranging from the peace movement to the Vigil for a Scottish Parliament. A graduate of the University of Paisley, she has also studied with the Open University and at Ruskin College and believes ‘lifelong education’ should be available and affordable to all.
Also standing: 2) Willie Hamilton 3) Ian Hogg 4)Linda Howie 5)Roz Paterson 6) Andi Rossetter

Lothians
1) Colin Fox
Colin joined Motherwell Labour Party Young Socialists in 1980, beginning a life of campaigning for socialism that continues 30 years on. Colin was SSP MSP for the Lothians from 2003-2007 and is co-spokesperson for the SSP. As an MSP Colin pioneered the campaign to abolish Prescription Charges which has resulted in free Prescriptions in Scotland. Colin co-organises the Edinburgh Mayday Festival and re-founded the Edinburgh People's Festival in 2002. Aged 51, Colin lives in the Inch area of Edinburgh with his wife and two children.
Also standing: 2) Catriona Grant 3) Laura Benniston 4) Ally Hendry 5) Andy McPake 6) Barbara Scott

Mid Scotland and Fife
1) Morag BalfourMorag is a Quaker, vice-chair of Scottish CND and a member of the Iona Community. A firm believer in nonviolence, Morag regularly participates in peaceful direct action at Faslane. Morag has been a tireless campaigner for nuclear disarmament and to prevent the building of a massive landfill site in the West of Fife.
She has recently been involved in a pioneering befriending scheme supporting ex-young offenders released from Polmont YOI and is a former national co-chair of the SSP.
Also standing: 2) Felicity Garvie 3) Thomas Macaveney 4) James Morris

North East Scotland
1) Angela Gorrie
Angela Gorrie, 23, first came to Dundee in 2005 to study at Dundee University where she was active in the campaign to remove Special Branch from campus and the fight for young workers' rights. Now working in customer services and a member of USDAW, she has recently been involved in campaigns ranging from the retention of local services and calling to end unfair hospital parking charges to highlighting the inequality of the current Council Tax.
In her spare time Angela enjoys walking, football, cricket and music.
Also standing: 2) Euan Benzie 3) Alan Graham 4) Soraya Kasim 5) Helen Fortune

South Scotland
1) Colin Turbett
An SSP member since 2001, Colin was a candidate for the Party in the 2005 and 2007 elections. He has been a qualified social worker since the late 1970s, working with the victims of a system that breeds inequality, racism and poverty. Very interested in rural affairs, he is author of the SSP pamphlet ‘Rural Socialism and Scotland in the 21st Century’ and is an ardent campaigner for the rights of Scottish Gypsy Travellers.
Colin is a longstanding trade union activist, he is currently Chairperson of North Ayrshire UNISON branch.
Also standing: 2) Gillian Tyrer 3) Yvonne Dalziel 4) Aidan Simpson

West of Scotland
1) Jim Bollan
Jim is SSP councillor for Leven Ward on West Dunbartonshire council. 63 years old, Jim first got involved in socialist politics 40 years ago when shop steward at Babcocks. Jim was at the forefront in the campaign to save Leven Cottage care home and the campaigns to save two primary schools, Christie Park and Renton Primary.
When he has any spare time Jim can be found walking his dog.
Also standing: 2) Ann Lynch 3) Pauline Bradley 4) Neil Scott 5) Davy Landels 6) Mary Rocks 7) Roisin Kelly 8) Gerry McCartney

Won’t Get Fooled Again or Imagine

2011-02-08T02:30:00.000-08:00

Letter from a comrade

George Mackin

Is it just me - or have you felt angry this week? Enraged. Just under third of a million deprived of all benefits this year and worse to come, much worse. What planet are these people on? Tories: lower than vermin; add to the pile the unctuous and venal Liberals. Back to the workhouse, back to the soup kitchen. Targets to be met, after all it is only common sense. George Bush on the perils and joys of water-boarding; a royal wedding; red poppies; student tuition fees; and a certain criminal and less than civil case which shines a whole new light onto the phrase the personal is political.

Never mind I’m not in the Scottish Socialist Party any more. I have done my bit. Thirty years of that political stuff. What thanks do you get? Anyway some of the Left are just bonkers.: one party states and would be little Napoleons handing out truth on high in condescending three hour rants. Gerry Healey and… make your own list of snake oil salesman … Want to know the truth? Read this book. Look no further. The stories I could tell of people on the Left treating other people like feudal underlings.

Never has political quietism been so appealing. Rock Guitar anyone? Hurry up Harry come on, were going down the pub. Dah Dah Dah.

So why do I feel enraged? A soon to be fifty year old whose best days are over. Winter’s breath upon me, not much time left, best to enjoy every sandwich.

There is a big neo-liberal train that has been a rolling all my adult life, like the Terminator it never stops. It is inexorable and loathsome. Vote Labour? Nah! Just a slower train but the same direction and let’s not forget Jim Murphy. Set Scotland Free vote by voting tweedle dee SNP. Nah just a different flag ( mind you I do detest the Butcher’s Apron).

The Labour Party; The SNP; The SSP, I have been in all three. In fact let’s not forget Militant Tendency I was a supporter/ reader of that party/ tendency/paper many years ago.. Another story, comrade. World Prospectus 1981 anyone ? SWP: the non-thinking man’s millenarian cult. That’s the problem with Capitalism : too much choice.

Which party are you in now? Not a question but a sneer riddled with guilt None. None?

Yet out off all the groups left standing which party to I most identify with ? Easy: The SSP. I’m Pleased that the Greens won a seat in England, though. Political parties, not the battle but the echo of the battle as James Connolly used to say.

How do you feel about that? Not being in a political party? Great. Shite. Relieved, Bereft. Depressed. Happy. Bitter. Angry. Enraged. Sad, so sad, what a waste. numb so numb.

Mind you if you think some of the Left are bonkers you should see the SNP.? Another story, comrade.

Imagine or Won’t Get Fooled Again? Which sentiment suits me best?

A credible Left, a Republican Left, a non-patriarchal Left, a smash up the hated British State Left, a radical Left; not content to live within the confines of capitalist Left, a non-neo-Stalinist Left, a Green left, a non-sectarian Left, an anti-nuclear Left, a non-primate dominance in any form Left. A humanist and sceptical Left..

A big rock fell upon us. Devil and the deep blue sea or A rock and a hard place, call it what you like. Hard choices were made. Ken what I mean? No textbook for those difficult paths. Nobody comes out squeaky clean. There is no one to cast the first stones. But let us not to be too hard on ourselves or on others.: we all could have done things better. We forgive as best we can; we learn our lessons as best we can - we move on. We make history but not to our own making.

The struggle continues; we rebuild. Life is green but the truth is grey as they say and life goes on until the end. No consolation for us materialists. One life and one life only. Do we accept? Or do we act? Do we let people exercise power over us or do we challenge their authority?

A Time to rage; a time to grieve; a time for sadness; a time for hope; a time to regroup.;a time for praxical reflection; a time for optimism and pessimism; a time to talk.

LETTER TO PAPERS ON BANKERS BONUSES

2011-02-04T05:22:00.000-08:00

Whilst the Coalition Government with its ill-judged ‘recovery’ policies must share responsibility for the existing financial mess the country is in, the public should not lose sight of the fact that the previous Labour Government is at least equally if not more culpable.

We only have to think of Fred Goodwin who under that Labour Government received a knighthood for services to the banking industry. Even though he drove the Royal Bank of Scotland to within twenty minutes of bankruptcy his parting gift from the government-rescued bank was an enormous ‘golden goodbye’ and gargantuan pension.

Also let’s not forget that Tony Blair headed the Labour Government during the time bankers were being given free rein to act recklessly in pursuit of super profits. He is currently amassing millions of pounds from the lecture circuit and for working as an advisor to a number of the companies who are slashing thousands of British workers’ jobs.

Consequently, it is quite rich for the Labour Party, which once upon a time in a far-off land professed to be “Socialist”, to be calling for a ‘progressive front’ to oppose the ‘cuts’.

As for the Coalition Government, the hypocritical phrase “we are all in this together” which David Cameron and Nick Clegg are peddling has to be placed in its true context. Despite hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs currently being sacrificed or downgraded in a desperate effort to resolve the current financial crisis, the top bankers largely responsible for precipitating the economic downturn are still being awarded obscene bonuses and inflated salaries.

The working man and women are “together” in the mire and the bankers and politicians are “together” in the gravy. How long will this cycle of exploitation and abuse continue to be tolerated by the British public?

Ally Hendry

West lothian branch

Letter sent to West Lothian courier on Saturday's anti-cuts demo in Edinburgh

2010-10-25T04:33:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday’s demonstration in Edinburgh against the welfare cuts announced by the coalition Government was a damning indictment against both Labour and SNP. Neither party had a meaningful presence at the demonstration since they both agree with the principle of the cuts differing only with their severity and speed of implementation.

However the Scottish Socialist Party had a significant presence with party members from all over the country in attendance. We organised a street stall with thousands of people signing our petition, taking party literature and talking to party members. The majority of people welcomed our alternative approach to the impending cuts.

As witnessed on Saturday the people of Scotland are opposed to these draconian cuts and the Scottish Socialist Party will be at the forefront of the campaign promoting our Socialist alternative for the people of Scotland.

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE DEMO.

Letter sent by west lothian branch to local newspapers on upcoming cuts.

2010-10-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

This week the full extent of the proposed Tory-Lib Dems cuts deemed necessary to deal with ‘the economic mess inherited from the previous Labour Government’ have been revealed for ordinary working class and middle income families to ponder.

Prior to the announced cuts, thousands of jobs, both in the public and private sectors, have already been lost as a result of the economic crisis provoked by the perceived need for the Government to bail out several banks on the brink of bankruptcy to the tune of £350 billion.

However, this latest “crisis of capitalism” can and should be dealt with in a different manner from the Labour, Tory, Lib Dem and SNP politicians who all agree that cuts have to be made to reduce the budget deficit and level of national indebtedness but only disagree on the timetable for said cuts which will result in further job losses, more repossessed houses and reduced living standards.

The truth is there are plenty of alternatives for dealing with the debt crisis that avoid the need to curtail essential services and jobs in the public sector. These include shutting off tax avoidance and evasion schemes used by wealthy companies that cost this country over £100bn annually; taxing the huge profits amassed by the banks and the obscene bonuses given to their top employees; scrapping Public Private Partnership schemes to build our schools, hospitals, prisons and roads at a greatly inflated cost to the tax payer; withdrawing our troops from the senseless war in Afghanistan; and cancelling plans for the multi-billion replacement for the ageing Trident submarines which would not only be beneficial to national finances but also serve to promote the cause of nuclear disarmament and reduce the threat of global annihilation.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has given notice that the pain and suffering via cuts in services and job losses already endured by many working people in the wake of the current economic crisis are to be amplified and extended much more widely. He claims that his proposed course of action to deal with the budget deficit and national debt is in the ‘national interest’. Not so when there are perfectly viable alternatives that avoid hardship for the vast majority of citizens.

FIGHT THE CUTS

2010-10-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

Fight the Cuts ! Demonstrate in Edinburgh, Saturday October 23rd!!

Called by the Scottish Trades

Union Congress

11.00 am: Assemble East Market

Street Edinburgh

11.30am: March off

12.30 pm: Rally Ross Bandstand

Colin Fox's letter to The hearld on The war in Afghanistan

2010-09-22T08:09:00.000-07:00

Afghans do not want British and American forces to continue occupying their country!!

By party co-spokeperson

Colin Fox

David Pratt is correct when he writes: “We are losing the war in Afghanistan … the mission is lost” (“Now civil war looms for the lost cause that is Afghanistan”, The Herald, September 17).

The reasons for this defeat have been obvious for some time. Uppermost among them is the fact that the US and Britain are occupying a country which doesn’t want us to be there. The majority of Afghanistan’s 33 million citizens now see British and American soldiers as armies of occupation. The origins of this lie in Tony Blair’s decision to invade Afghanistan in 2001, claiming it was responsible for the 9/11 twin towers attacks. He knew then that Afghans were not involved. So Britain invaded a country guilty of no crime, has occupied it for the best part of a decade and some 50,000 innocent Afghan civilians have been killed.

The insurgency is winning in Afghanistan because Britain and the US alienated the population by installing a corrupt, illegitimate and despised puppet regime with Hamid Karzai at its head.

All the polls here highlight the lack of confidence the UK population has in the political leaders as 75% want to see the troops brought home. Our soldiers will continue to die until the discredited Afghan army and police can take over. Yet there is, in reality, no such thing as a national army or police force in Afghanistan – only militias and paramilitaries loyal to warlords who pay their wages.

David Pratt is right to suggest that Britain’s legacy to Afghanistan will be the same civil war which followed the Soviet withdrawal of the 1980s.

If Afghanistan is to prosper as a democratic and stable country, the future rests with people like the remarkable Afghan MP Malalai Joya, one of the few actually elected. She campaigns for a democratic, multi-ethnic Afghanistan and she asks of people who share her vision that we first of all withdraw foreign forces.

Colin Fox,

CAPITALISM IN CRISIS

2010-09-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

Capitalism in Crisis

It is clear as we enter an indefinite period of ‘austerity’ (i.e. cuts in social services, redundancies, wage cuts, and rising taxes) that capitalism has failed as a system, even on its own terms. For a while the true nature of the system is exposed more clearly for all to see: the so-called wealth generators, the capitalist class, are actually exploitative opportunists, who in collusion with the state are making the working class pay the costs of the crisis which was not of their making. The working class, the overwhelming majority in society, is made up of not just those in paid employment, but all who do not own or control the means of production. That includes the unemployed, pensioners and students.

The current crisis of capitalism is not down to a handful of irresponsible ‘bankers’ making dodgy decisions; it is a crisis of the system as a whole. Capitalism operates according to a trade cycle that involves periods of full production alternating with recessions i.e. ‘boom and bust’ are inherent and unavoidable features of capitalism. In a recession under capitalism, economic logic dictates that much of productive capacity is left idle and workers are made redundant. Nevertheless, the perverse logic of capitalism not withstanding, it is technically within society’s power to provide constantly enough for all and that unemployment and poverty are unnecessary evils because the means are available to overcome them. Yet the lives of millions under the prevailing capitalist system are at the whim of abstract market forces, which take on a life of their own and cause hardship and misery all over the world.

There is, however, an alternative to capitalism. It involves appropriating the means of production into the hands of the majority of society in order to meet human needs rather than to satisfy a tiny wealth owning class’s desire for profit. The alternative is called socialism.

Discussion point from a friend of the west lothian branch of the SSP

2010-08-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

Comrades, I saw a great interview with Professor David Harvey BBC Hardtalk in the wee small hours. I have written something below for discussion arising from the TV broadcast. (See also his books on Amazon.co.uk )

Just because Stalinism was a monstrous beastie does not mean that capitalism is wonderful...

History is not immutable. There is no Bus Station at the end our journey. Nothing endures but the land. And even then..

Despite our hurt , our anger. our bitter disappointments we owe it to our own humanity to come together and discuss what needs to be done. It is our very essence. It is a cry deep within our heart.

We seek clarity. From clarity flows ineluctably hope and from hope we can begin engaging with the world, giving shape to our dreams.

To make a pot we need to work with clay. To change things we need to work with others. Human beings are the raw materials of all political movements. We should seek to nourish and cherish all who are seek a world which is based on people's need not individual greed.

We seek transformation. We give our time freely. The fate of all humanity falls on all our backs, not just the chosen few. We need to live our life with purpose and joy.

We reject all who claim to be gurus. The monopoly of truth resides in us all. We listen. We learn. We question. We do not believe something just because others do. Not even Professor Harvey.

We dare to imagine but at the same time we won't get fooled again. We do not worship states nor political parties. They are but the echo of the battle. All authority is to be questioned.

We seek change always from below. We reject the reducers and the traducers, the vulgarians and the charlattans. Language by its very nature is imprecise. We think carefully about meaning and the purpose of language.

Leaders follow they do no lead.

We break things down. We seek simplicity and elegance in thought.
From Africa we emerged and humanity's journey has not yet ended. From whence we have come from and from whence we go we do not ken. We are all Jock Tamson Bains. We all humans inextricably to the land and all that lives on this blue planet of ours.

Harvey's work for me is a clarion call for a new humanity

Slange

George Mackin

Jimmy Reid's "Rat Race" speech

2010-08-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Reid’s Glasgow University rectorial address delivered on 28th April 1972 (aka as his ‘Rat Race’ speech)

Jimmy Reid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Jimmy Reid (9 July 1932 – 10 August 2010) was a Scottish trade union activist and journalist born in Govan, Glasgow. His leadership of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Work-in attracted international recognition. He served as Rector of the University of Glasgow and subsequently became a journalist and broadcaster."

‘Alienation is the precise and correctly applied word for describing the major social problem in Britain today. People feel alienated by society. In some intellectual circles it is treated almost as a new phenomenon. It has, however, been with us for years. What I believe is true is that today it is more widespread, more pervasive than ever before. Let me right at the outset define what I mean by alienation. It is the cry of men who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control. It’s the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the processes of decision making. The feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies.

Many may not have rationalised it. May not even understand, may not be able to articulate it. But they feel it. It therefore conditions and colours their social attitudes. Alienation expresses itself in different ways by different people. It is to be found in what our courts often describe as the criminal anti-social behaviour of a section of the community. It is expressed by those young people who want to opt out of society, by drop outs, the so-called maladjusted, those who seek to escape permanently from the reality of society through intoxicants and narcotics. Of course it would be wrong to say it was the sole reason for these things. But it is a much greater factor in all of them than is generally recognised.

Society and its prevailing sense of values leads to another form of alienation. It alienates some from humanity. It partially dehumanises some people, makes them insensitive, ruthless in their handling of fellow human beings, self-centred and grasping. The irony is, they are often considered normal and well adjusted. It is my sincere contention that anyone who can be totally adjusted to our society is in greater need of psychiatric analysis and treatment than anyone else.

They remind me of the character in the novel, Catch 22, the father of Major Major. He was a farmer in the American Mid West. He hated suggestions for things like medi-care, social services, unemployment benefits or civil rights. He was, however, an enthusiast for the agricultural policies that paid farmers for not bringing their fields under cultivation. From the money he got for not growing alfalfa he bought more land in order not to grow alfalfa. He became rich. Pilgrims came from all over the state to sit at his feet and learn how to be a successful non-grower of alfalfa. His philosophy was simple. The poor didn’t work hard enough and so they were poor. He believed that the good Lord gave him two strong hands to grab as much as he could for himself. He is a comic figure. But think, have you not met his like here in Britain? Here in Scotland? I have.

It is easy and tempting to hate such people. However it is wrong. They are as much products of society and a consequence of that society, human alienation, as the poor drop out. They are losers. They have lost essential elements of our common humanity. Man is a social being. Real fulfilment for any person lies in service to his fellow men and women.

The big challenge to our civilisation is not OZ, a magazine I haven’t even seen let alone read. Nor is it permissiveness, although I agree our society is too permissive. Any society which, for example, permits over one million people to be unemployed is far too permissive for my liking. Nor is it moral laxity in the narrow sense that this word is generally employed – although in a sense here we come nearer to the problem. It does involve morality, ethics, and our concept of human values. The challenge we face is that of rooting out anything and everything that distorts and devalues human relations. Let me give two examples from contemporary experience to illustrate the point.

Recently on television I saw an advert. The scene is a banquet. A gentleman is on his feet proposing a toast. His speech is full of phrases like “this full-bodied specimen”. Sitting beside him is a young, buxom woman. The image she projects is not pompous but foolish. She is visibly preening herself, believing that she is the object of this bloke’s eulogy. Then he concludes – “and now I give ...” then a brand name of what used to be described as Empire sherry. The woman is shattered, hurt and embarrassed. Then the laughter. Derisive and cruel laughter. The real point, of course, is this. In this charade, the viewers were obviously expected to identify not with the victim but with her tormentors.

The other illustration is the widespread, implicit acceptance of the concept and term, the rat race. The picture it conjures up is one where we are scurrying around scrambling for position, trampling on others, back-stabbing, all in pursuit of personal success. Even genuinely intended friendly advice can sometimes take the form of someone saying to you, “Listen, you look after number one”. Or as they say in London, “Bang the bell, Jack, I’m on the bus”.

‘To the students I address this appeal. Reject these attitudes. Reject the values and false morality that underlie these attitudes. A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings. Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement. This is how it starts and before you know where you are, you’re a fully paid-up member of the rat-pack. The price is too high. It entails the loss of your dignity and human spirit. Or as Christ put it, “What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?”

Profit is the sole criterion used by the establishment to evaluate economic activity. From the rat race to lame ducks. The vocabulary in vogue is a giveaway. It’s more reminiscent of a human menagerie than human society. The power structures that have inevitably emerged from this approach threaten and undermine our hard-won democratic rights. The whole process is towards the centralisation and concentration of power in fewer and fewer hands. The facts are there for all who want to see. Giant monopoly companies and consortia dominate almost every branch of our economy. The men who wield effective control within these giants exercise a power over their fellow men which is frightening and is a negation of democracy.

Government by the people for the people becomes meaningless unless it includes major economic decision making by the people for the people. This is not simply an economic matter. In essence it is an ethical and moral question for whoever takes the important economic decisions in society ipso facto determines the social priorities of that society.

From the Olympian heights of an executive suite, in an atmosphere where your success is judged by the extent to which you can maximise profits, the overwhelming tendency must be to see people as units of production, as indices in your accountants’ books.

To appreciate fully the inhumanity of this situation, you have to see the hurt and despair in the eyes of a man suddenly told he is redundant without provision made for suitable alternative employment, with the prospect in the west of Scotland, if he is in his late forties or fifties, of spending the rest of his life in the Labour Exchange. Someone, somewhere has decided he is unwanted, unneeded, and is to be thrown on the industrial scrap heap. From the very depth of my being, I challenge the right of any man or any group of men, in business or in government, to tell a fellow human being that he or she is expendable.

The concentration of power in the economic field is matched by the centralisation of decision making in the political institutions of society. The power of Parliament has undoubtedly been eroded over past decades with more and more authority being invested in the Executive. The power of local authorities has been and is being systematically undermined. The only justification I can see for local government is as a counterbalance to the centralised character of national government.

Local government is to be restructured. What an opportunity, one would think, for decentralising as much power as possible back to local communities. Instead the proposals are for centralising local government. It’s once again a blueprint for bureaucracy, not democracy. If these proposals are implemented, in a few years when asked “Where do you come from?”, I can reply: “The Western Region”. It even sounds like a hospital board.

‘It stretches from Oban to Girvan and eastwards to include most of Glasgow conurbation. As in other matters, I must ask the politicians who favour these proposals – where and how in your calculations did you quantify the value of a community? Or a community life? Of a sense of belonging? Of the feeling of identification? These are rhetorical questions. I know the answer. Such human considerations do not feature in their thought processes.

Everything that is proposed from the establishment seems almost calculated to minimise the role of the people, to miniaturise man. I can understand how attractive this prospect must be to those at the top. Those of us who refuse to be pawns in their power game can be picked up by their bureaucratic tweezers and dropped in a filing cabinet under “M” for malcontent or maladjusted. When you think of some of the high flats around us, it can hardly be an accident that they are as near as one could get to an architectural representation of a filing cabinet.

If modern technology requires greater and larger productive units, let’s make our wealth producing resources and potential subject to public control and to social accountability. Let’s gear our society to social need, not personal greed. Given such creative re-orientation of society, there is no doubt in my mind that in a few years we could eradicate in our country the scourge of poverty, the underprivileged, slums, and insecurity.

Even this is not enough. To measure social progress purely by material advance is not enough. Our aim must be the enrichment of the whole quality of life. It requires a social and cultural, or if you wish, a spiritual transformation of our country. A necessary part of this must be the restructuring of the institutions of government and where necessary, the evolution of additional structures so as to involve the people in the decision making processes of our society. The so-called experts will tell you that this would be cumbersome or marginally inefficient. I am prepared to sacrifice a margin of efficiency for the value of the people’s participation. Anyway, in the longer term, I reject this argument.

To unleash the latent potential of our people requires that we give them responsibility. The untapped resources of the North Sea are as nothing compared to the untapped resources of our people. I am convinced that the great mass of our people go through life without even a glimmer of what they could have contributed to their fellow human beings. This is a personal tragedy. It’s a social crime. The flowering of each individual’s personality and talents is the pre-condition for everyone’s development.

In this context education has a vital role to play. If automation and technology is accompanied as it must be with full employment, then the leisure time available to man will be enormously increased. If that is so, then our whole concept of education must change. The whole object must be to equip and educate people for life, not solely for work or a profession. The creative use of leisure, in communion with, and in service to our fellow human beings can and must become an important element in self-fulfilment.

‘Universities must be in the forefront of development, must meet social needs and not lag behind them. It is my earnest desire that this great University of Glasgow should be in the vanguard initiating changes and setting the example for others to follow. Part of our educational process must be the involvement of all sections of the university on the governing bodies. The case for student representation is unanswerable. It is inevitable.

My conclusion is to reaffirm what I hope and certainly intend to be the spirit permeating this address. It’s an affirmation of faith in humanity. All that is good in man’s heritage involves recognition of our common humanity, an unashamed acknowledgement that man is good by nature. Burns expressed it in a poem that technically was not his best, yet captured the spirit.

In “Why should we idly waste our prime,” he writes:

“The golden age, we’ll then revive, each man shall be a brother,

In harmony we all shall live and till the earth together,

In virtue trained, enlightened youth shall move each fellow creature,

And time shall surely prove the truth that man is good by nature”.

It’s my belief that all the factors to make a practical reality of such a world are maturing now. I would like to think that our generation took mankind some way along the road towards this goal. It’s a goal worth fighting for.

HUGO CHAVEZ

2010-06-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

HUGO CHAVEZ ON THE BBC's HARDtalk!!!!!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH CHAVEZ INTERVIEW ON BBC IPLAYER

FREE GAZA MARCH 05/06/2010

2010-06-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

Last Monday the 31st of May saw Israeli force attack a flotilla carrying aid to Palestine. At least 19 people were killed and dozens injured when troops intercepted the convoy of ships dubbed the Freedom Flotilla early on Monday, Israeli radio reported. The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the coast of Gaza.

Following these attacks the Scottish PSC and other Free Palestine organisations organised a whole range of protests and demonstrations to bring this story to the attention of the masses.

The West Lothian branch of the SSP and other branches throughout scotland along with various other groups and organisations took part in a mass demo and march in Edinburgh on the 5th of May. 3000 individuals turned up to let the goverment know that israeli attacks will no longer be tolerated.

click here to read the SSP's statement on the attacks SSP statement on aid flottila massacre

SSP co-Spokesperson Colin Fox speaks to the gathered public on the murder of the flotilla activists

POLLING DAY IS HERE!!!!

2010-05-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

Time To Really Vote For Change.
Vote Scottish Socialist Party!!!

Today the 6th of May 2010, sees the British public take to the polls to decided on who runs our next government. We at the Scottish Socialist Party have 10 candidates in various seats around Scotland.
Whilst the media talks about the 3 main parties and the 3 main parties all talk of change. But a vote for these parties is not real change it's still the same. If one thing the prime ministerial debates showed us was that there is very little difference or variety of choice by voting for the any of the big 3 or even SNP who will quite happily jump into bed with any of the potential prime ministers.

We at the Scottish Socialist Party represent Real Change.
We represent the real alternative option to the mainstream capitialist parties. We are a party that promotes a real fairer future. We are the only party commited to bringing a Free Scottish Socialist Republic.

11 point plan from the Scottish Socialist Party

We want Scotland's wealth shared out equally
The rich will pay higher taxes
Our public services, including oil, fuel and transport, will be publicly owned
Our minimum wage right now would be £8 an hour
Wages, benefits and pensions will rise by £50 a week, across the board
All school children will receive free school meals
Women will get equal pay for equal work
Young people will get the same national minimum wage as everyone else.
The abolition of nuclear arms in Scotland and the continued campaign for the worldwide abolition of nuclear arms.
The council tax will be scrapped in favour of a local tax where the rich pay their fair share
Free public transport will be brought in to ease congestion, pollution and global warming
Our troops will be brought home from the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

We are the only party to have constantly campaigned against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We
are the party that will NOT only abolish the £100 billion Trident nuclear system but we would continue to campaign against Weapons of Mass Destruction on an international level. We are the only party that opposes all publice sector cuts. We are a party that will support a fairer and cleaner political system based on real proportional representation in which politicians will take a workers salary and we will continue to campaign on these issues. To be the real voice of change in Scotland, on this day the 6th of May we ask you, when it comes time to vote. Vote for a party that will give us a true champion voice for Scotland in Westminster. A party that is on the street listening to the needs of the Scottish people.
This 6th of May vote SSP. Check Out All SSP candidates here

Letter from Ally Hendry Printed in West Lothian courier 29/04/2010

2010-04-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

As a socialist, I want the current capitalist economic system to be replaced by a socialist system based on equality and social need rather than private greed. This would involve taking control of the banks, insurance companies and the major industries and placing them in the hands of ordinary working men and women. The creation of a socialist society would help bring an end to poverty, injustice and war.
Socialists wish to see everyone being given the opportunity to fulfil their true potential and not having to spend their lives as ‘wage slaves’ in the capitalist system. How many great musicians, skilled doctors, great scientists and engineers etc have there been amongst children of working class families who were never able to realise their goals because economic constraints forced them to take lesser paid jobs to augment the family income?
If elected to Westminster, I would oppose cuts in Government spending which, it has been reported, in West Lothian would result in a minimum of one thousand compulsory Council job losses and drastic reductions in our vital public services.
To encourage small and medium sized companies to locate in West Lothian (and other areas), I would propose a policy of offering a rates moratorium for a period of 1-3 years and a financial contribution to the wages and training costs of long-term unemployed people given jobs by the incoming companies.
Although a devolved issue, another of my priorities would be to highlight the campaign for the full reinstatement of all services to St Johns Hospital. The reduction in services was part of the policy of the previous Labour-led government in its insidious drive to privatise the National Health Service.

Scottish Socialist Party election broadcast

2010-04-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

PARTY ELECTION BROADCAST FOR 2010 GENERAL ELECTION

The Scottish Socialist Party's Westminster election party political broadcast was shown on the 23rd of April on BBC1 and BBC2. To watch the video please click on the link

Scottish Socialist Party 2010 general election broadcast

Ally Hendry on televised leaders debate.

2010-04-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

Reflections on the Party Leaders’ Debate on domestic policy

The most striking impression I got from the Party Leaders’ Debate was how similar the so-called ‘major parties’ are when it comes to economic policy. They all agree that there will have to be deep cuts in government spending as a result of the economic recession which will severely affect public services. However, during the debate all three leaders sought to disguise what is in store for families the length and breadth of Britain by putting forward schemes that will supposedly shield the public from hardships.

We in the SSP, unlike the ‘major parties’, maintain that the general public do not have to bear the brunt for an economic recession which was none of their making. There are alternatives to the cuts that would in fact mean an increase in public spending to improve public services and create jobs. These include:

Taking control of the UK banks assets and capital, estimated to be in the region of £5 trillion and £560 billion respectively.
Taxing the rich by for example imposing a 90% tax rate on income over £100,000.
Raising corporation tax which has been cut by successive governments from 45% to 28%. A doubling of corporation tax would yield about £45 billion annually
Reducing defence spending by withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and scrapping nuclear weapons would save over £30 billion every year.

Scottish Socialist Party launches 2010 election manifesto.

2010-04-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

from left to right; Ally Hendry, James Nesbitt, Frances Curran, John McAllion and Colin Fox

Last Tuesday the 13th of April saw the launch of the Scottish Socialist Party's 2010 election manifesto. The manifesto focuses on 5 main points

Public sector cuts
Employment (focusing on youth employment.)
The continued occupation of Afghanistan
The reform and clean up of the process' of government
The formation of an independent Socialist republic in Scotland.

Colin Fox party co-spokesperson and John McAllion

Party co-spokesperson Colin Fox said: "After 13 years of New Labour, the thought of a Tory government still sends a shiver up the spine.

"But it's clear to anyone who's watching this election that politics in Scotland is about to be turned upside down.
"Let's be clear from the outset, that if the Tories do return to power at Westminster, the blame for that lies with New Labour and the failure of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown these last 13 years, who have quite frankly exploited working people, with the poorest and most vulnerable being hit hardest."

To read the 2010 election manifesto please follow the link below
2010 General Election manifesto

2010 Election campaign begins.

2010-04-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

The West Lothian branch of the Scottish Socialist Party have started their 2010 election campaign. We have been out on the streets of West Lothian posting leaflets in various areas of the county, West Calder, Polbeth, Addiewell, East Calder and Stoneyburn and we had a very successful stall at Livingston centre on Friday the 9th of April.

We will be throughtout the county over the next few weeks and will be holding stalls throughtout the Livingston constituency. All our members are willing to answer any questions anyone will have so please feel free to approach us.

ELECTION CALLED FOR 6TH OF MAY

2010-04-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today Gordon Brown asked the Queen to dissolve parliament. This signals the start of the election campaign in which at it's penultimate end the country will go to the polls to decide who will next run the country. This is a short statement from Ally Hendry the candidate for the Scottish Socialist Party in Livingston.

This election presents a massive opportunity for the Scottish Socialist Party to present a viable alternative to the current mainstream parties who will once again attempt to solve the problems of capitalism at the expense of the ordinary working men and women. They will once again churn the same old ingredients of tax rises, cuts in public services, increased privatisation and anti-union polices and present it to the people as the only solution that will get the country out of recession.

This election gives the party publicity both nationally and locally to present a vision of a fairer and just society with peoples at the heart of our policies. We will be campaigning on a number of issues from the illegal wars which has placed our troops and civilians in the firing line and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Afghanis.

Ally Hendry and party Co-spokeperson Colin Fox

The country is currently experiencing the deepest recession in 80 years as a result of the reckless greed of high earning bankers and of neoliberal economic policies designed to benefit the rich pursued by successive Labour and Tory governments.

The response of the mainstream parties to this crisis has been to plan savage cuts in jobs, wages and essential services but the SSP vehemently opposes such action and believes that working people like nurses, postal and council workers did not cause the recession and should not have to suffer the consequences.

Instead, the SSP believes those who have accumulated great wealth as a result of neoliberal policies, including those bankers who bear great personal responsibility, should pay for the economic crisis by means of higher taxes. To cancel the new Trident missile system which has a reported cost of £100million and to collect the lost revenue of tax avoidance and evasion this costs our country a reported £100million annually.

Our vision is for a fair and just society structured to provide for the needs of the many not the greed of the few. This can only be achieved when working people unite and demand change. We would ask you to vote for the Scottish Socialist Party at this election.

2010-03-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

Conference 2010

The national conference of the Scottish Socialist Party was held on Sunday the 28th of March in Dunblane. The West Lothian branch of the SSP sent delegates to the conference. The conference was a huge success and showed that all the branches in the SSP are on the same wavelength. We understand that the road may be long and hard. We understand that we need to grow. It was discussed that there has been a recent increase in the number of new members and it is obvious that we are a party on the rise. A party that has the working class majority in mind. A party that stands for a Scottish socialist republic. A party opposed to all public sector cuts imperialist wars.

2010-03-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Once again Anti-fascists find themselves on the wrong side of English police.

Once again Anti-fascist groups come under attack from English police. Around 1,500 UAF members had descended on Bolton to oppose an EDL rally in the city's Victoria Square. But they found themselves the main target of police - and even UAF organiser Weyman Bennett was held, on charges of conspiracy to commit violent disorder. Mr Bennett said: "Officers came up to me as soon as I arrived and said they would arrest me. "I have been to more than 200 demos and never been arrested.".
This raises the question about English police forces and their attitude towards peaceful protest. As both Edinburgh and Glasgow marches went off without much trouble and a minimum number of arrests. Why can the same groups of people have such a different reaction? Why do our police forces respect political and social protest yet police forces as large as greater Manchester are constantly creating violent and tense situations? What is it our police have that they don't?
Read more here http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/88242

2010-03-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

As we near the 2010 general election the three main political parties in the United Kingdom all agree that major cuts in public spending are needed to clear the reported £178 billion deficit. These cuts will hit the poorest people hardest and will see institutions like St John's hospital have to cut already failing services. Whilst at the same time willing to spend, a reported £100 million on the upgrade of the Trident nuclear system, based in Scotland.

Recessions

In recessions, government borrowing will tend to increase. This is because:
Higher unemployment means less people will be paying income tax.
Lower consumption levels mean lower VAT and excise duties.
Lower company profits mean lower corporation tax.
Higher unemployment increases cost of social security payments - unemployment benefit, income support, housing benefit etc.
Falling house and asset prices reduce stamp duties.
Furthermore, in a recession, governments often try to stimulate the economy using expansionary fiscal policy This could involve:
Cutting taxes so people (hopefully) spend more
Increasing public sector spending to stimulate aggregate demand

As the government have failed to institgate any kind of stimulus package for the UK -A move that has been condemned by many economists. The Scottish Socialist Party vow to fight all public spending cuts. We vow to stand up for the ordainary working class majority living in Scotland. We vow to change Scotland into a free Socialist republic, that has the majority's needs in mind not the needs to multi-national capitalist companies.

Why Cuts and What Cuts?

2010-03-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

Why Cuts and What Cuts?

Introduction

'Cuts' have become the mainstay of political debate currently. The leaders of both main Opposition parties, David Cameron for the Tories and Nick Clegg for the Liberal Democrats, made the reduction of Britain's national debt the centrepiece of their party conference speeches in the autumn of 2009.

Even Gordon Brown, who for most of his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister made the distinction between 'Labour investment' and 'Conservative cuts' the defining choice in British politics, has conceded that reductions in public expenditure are now required. So much for ‘No more Boom and Bust’.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it will attempt to explain by reference to economic theory rather than by recourse to specific details concerning ‘the recession’ why cuts in public spending are currently deemed to be necessary. Then it will try to identify those areas of public spending likely to be cut the most in the aftermath of the recession.

The Business Cycle

Capitalist economies like ours go through continuous cycles of upturns (i.e. periods of rapid growth of production to meet demand) and downturns (i.e. periods of sharp decrease of production as demand falls). A prolonged period of growth for a country’s economy is called a ‘boom’ but when the opposite occurs (i.e. economic output for a country experiences negative growth for at least two consecutive quarters or six months) it is called a ‘recession’.

Recessions tend to be short lived and if any recession lasts more than two years then it is termed an economic ‘depression’.

In a boom period, some industries, encouraged by the prospect of high profits, supply more than can be profitably sold. A crisis then occurs and if the combined effect is large enough, it is followed by a recession as other dependent industries get sucked into the downward spiral of unsold commodities (due to a combination of over-supply and falling demand), diminishing profits, losses, layoffs, redundancies and business failures.

Eventually, however, the equilibrium between supply and demand is re-established and the conditions for profitable production are restored, at least for those firms that have survived the recession. In this way a new business cycle of boom, crisis and recession is created.

Recessions

In recessions, government borrowing will tend to increase. This is because:

Higher unemployment means less people will be paying income tax.
Lower consumption levels mean lower VAT and excise duties.
Lower company profits mean lower corporation tax.
Higher unemployment increases cost of social security payments - unemployment benefit, income support, housing benefit etc.
Falling house and asset prices reduce stamp duties.
Furthermore, in a recession, governments often try to stimulate the economy using expansionary fiscal policy. This could involve:
Cutting taxes so people (hopefully) spend more
Increasing public sector spending to stimulate aggregate demand

In a recession, not only will national debt increase, but as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), national debt will become higher. This is because the government is borrowing more, at a time when GDP is decreasing. For example, during times when economic growth is at 3%, the government can borrow 1% of GDP, and national debt as a percentage of GDP falls.

Apart from the most hard-line monetarist economists who have apparently not learned the lessons of History, most economists nowadays would agree that an increase in government borrowing in a recession is essential since to try to maintain a balanced budget would cause a much deeper recession. Past experience has shown that if the government during a recession tries to balance the budget through higher taxes and cuts in public spending it causes a bigger fall in GDP, a deeper recession and leads to even lower tax receipts.

For example, the National Government, led by Ramsay MacDonald in 1931, cut unemployment benefits and raised taxes on the advice of 'Treasury economists' in order to achieve a balanced budget thus helping to exacerbate the Great Depression. Also the Tories, under Margaret Thatcher, made the 1981 recession much deeper than it would otherwise have been by keeping to a balanced budget according to monetarist principles.

By borrowing more during a recession, the government is trying to increase aggregate demand and promote economic growth. The hope is by preventing a deep recession any budget deficit incurred should prove relatively small and short-lived and that government finances will soon be restored to health once the economy moves out of recession and resumes growth.

The Aftermath of a Recession

If the government has tried to stimulate the economy using expansionary fiscal policy during a recession by cutting taxes and increasing public sector spending, then, all things remaining equal, it needs to restore taxes to previous levels and cutback on public sector spending when the economy recovers and starts to grow again in order to keep national debt in check.

However, the government needs to be very careful about cutting spending when the economy moves out of recession. If consumer confidence is still low and if banks are still unwilling to lend then cuts in government spending could push the economy back into recession. This return to negative growth would force the government to increase borrowing again and cause the national debt to be increased further.

Cuts in Public Spending

The UK national debt has soared as a result of borrowing during the recession and the need to bail out the banks to prevent a collapse of the financial sector. Government forecasts suggest it will rise to an unprecedented level of £1.1 trillion by 2011.

To put that in perspective, when the then Labour Government had to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund to avoid a financial meltdown in 1976, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey, was running a budget deficit of 6% of GDP. Under the present Labour Government the deficit is double that level.

There are various measures that can be taken by the Government to reduce its budget deficit. These include overall rises in tax and national insurance, pay freezes for public sector employees, increased deductions from public sector workers’ wages to put into their pensions, a cut in the public sector's overall workforce and most controversially cut backs on welfare benefits and public services.

Whatever options the Government decides to take as it tries to get to grips with the national debt it can be safely predicted that the public sector as a whole will have considerably less money in real terms to spend for several years to come. However, this does not necessarily mean that all areas of public spending will suffer uniformly.

At the UK level, both Labour and the Conservatives are pledging to safeguard spending on frontline health and education services. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that Labour’s pledge to protect not only health and education but also early years and overseas aid budgets in 2011/12 and 2012/13 would leave the rest of the public sector facing budget cuts of £25.5bn or in percentage terms real cuts of 6.7% year.

Be that as it may, none of the major parties are prepared in the run up to the General Election to be precise about where they believe the axe on public sector spending should fall. To do otherwise could harm their electoral prospects and, therefore, presently mainstream politicians are restricting themselves to vague pronouncements about cutting inefficiencies, cutting unnecessary programmes and cutting lower priority budgets which they maintain can be done without jeopardising vital front line services on which the public depends.

The first unequivocally clear sign of the cuts in the public sector will come from the Government in their comprehensive spending review. This sets three-year budgets for government departments but the Chancellor, Alistair Darling has said that will not happen until after the General Election by which time he and his party may not be the ones issuing the comprehensive spending review.

Notwithstanding the above, a clearer picture is beginning to emerge in Scotland as to what cuts are going to be made. Local councils have been setting their budgets for the next financial year and it would appear education has been targeted. Proposed education cuts range from 2% to 10% in some areas, with average savings of around 6%.

In total, Scottish councils will have to find savings of £270 million in the next financial year as they face their toughest cuts since devolution. A wide range of services will be adversely affected (e.g. sheltered housing wardens and support for drug addicts), while the majority of councils also plan to increase charges. Unions estimate around 3000 jobs, out of a total local council workforce of 275,000, will be cut in 2010/11 through natural turnover and non-replacement of posts.

Conclusion

Production of commodities in capitalist economies is subject to a business cycle of upturns and downturns and is never steady. Severe downturns are known as recessions and during a recessionary period, government revenues fall as many workers are laid off and no longer pay income tax. Also lower sales during a recession means less VAT and falling business profits leads to less corporation tax being paid.

Faced with a decline in revenues and budget deficits, governments, during a recession, borrow extensively to maintain public services and promote recovery by means of an ‘expansionary fiscal policy’. To do otherwise is to invite the wrath of the voting public and to preside over a worsening economy. The expectation is that public finances can be restored to health and national debt reduced once the economy picks and starts growing again.

However, following a recession, the Government has to act cautiously for fear of inducing a double dip recession. Only once the economy is fully into an upturn phase can the Government start taking measures to reduce national debt by cutting back on public sector expenditure and repaying what has been previously borrowed during the recession.

Cuts in public sector spending are always unpopular, at least with those members of the public most affected. In the run up to a General Election, political parties, vying for votes, are always going to be reluctant to be divulge where exactly they believe cuts in public expenditure should fall. This explains why currently the mainstream parties are vague about their policies to deal with the national debt.

Eddy Cornock
West Lothian SSP (Chair)

No to trident march Edinburgh 13/03/2010

2010-03-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday The West Lothian branch of the Scottish Socialist Party joined with othe party brances, SNP and various other anti-trident groups for a march to call for the worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons. The march left from the Parliament building at 11AM and headed up the royal mile towards The Grassmarket for a rally where various members of different political and non-political groups were going to speak. SNP first minister Alex Salmond spoke first. Expressing his concerns over the nuclear weapons based on the Clyde and the amount of funding put into the Trident programme. Once again Mr Salmond showed his true beliefs by not calling for a worldwide abolition of nucelar weapons but just calling for them to be removed from within Scottish borders. The job of calling for a worldwide abolition of nuclear arms came yet again from Kate Hudson Scotlands CND representative. Mrs Hudson called for all nations to disarm nuclear weapons projects.

Alex Salmond speaks at anti trident march

Ally Hendry 2010 election candidate for West Lothian discusses the evils of nuclear arms with student journalist.

West Lothian SSP No nukes banner @ Edinburgh no to Trident march 13/03/2010

West Lothian Branch manifesto

2010-03-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

West Lothian Branch of the

Why we are Socialists

We are socialists because we want to change the current capitalist system based on exploitation of the people to a socialist system based on equality that satisfies social need rather than private greed. In power we would set about taking control of the banks insurance companies and the major industries and putting them in the hands of the ordinary man and women in the street via the socialist party. We would strive to remove poverty injustice and war. Lofty ideals they maybe but achievable goals they are given the support and mass participation of the working class.

No2nato anti war demo, Edinburgh

As socialists we wish to see everyone being give the opportunity to fulfil there true potential as human beings and not having to spend their lives as wage slaves in the capitalist system. We wonder how many great musicians’ skilled doctors’ great scientists and engineers there may have been amongst children of the working class families who for economic reasons were forced to take low paid jobs to augment family income.

We socialists believe that every human being has the right to fulfil their true potential and we will strive with every breath in our body to create a society that will give them this opportunity.

Your vote for the Socialist party will put us firmly on the long road to achieving this goal and we are reminded of a famous Chinese saying “even the longest journey starts with the first step”.

What we stand for

The current first past the post method of election used in the current Westminster election is not democratic in that hundred of thousands of people cast their vote but have no representation in parliament. We would favour a full proportional representation that gives maximum representation to the votes cast.

The aim of the Socialist party is to achieve full employment of the working population of the country in order to achieve this we would establish an economic system that was tailored to suit the needs of the population and was not subjected to the whims of the market economy.

To achieve major improvements in our health and education system we would divert the massive sums of money currently being spent on wars and weapons of mass destruction this would enable us to increase the numbers of teaching staff improve the quality of the teaching staff build new schools and refurbish existing schools without them being saddled with the current PFI system. We would build more and better hospitals higher more nursing staff, doctors, surgeons, consultants and ancillary staff.

By providing full employment we would ensure that each household has a decent living wage and also benefits from a social wage e.g. free public transport, free school meals. Its establish fact that household poverty leads to domestic violence and in many cases child abuse.

We would remove all American bases from this country and we would begin a policy of removing and destroying our nuclear arsenal,

We believe that Britain has the potential give the proper investment and commitment to satisfy our energy need from renewable resources within a relatively short period of time a short period of time. There would be no further construction of nuclear and fossil fuelled power stations.

We would embark on a well invested sports policy involving school children of all ages that would result in an increase in professional and amateur sportsman and woman which would also directlybenefit our nation’s health. In order to promote our culture and arts at both home and abroad we would invest in opportunity and facilities to cater for our needs.

12 point plan from the Scottish Socialist Party ,We want Scotland's wealth shared out equally

The rich will pay higher taxes

Our public services, including oil, fuel and transport, will be publicly owned

Our minimum wage right now would be £8 an hour

Wages, benefits and pensions will rise by £50 a week, across the board

All school children will receive free school meals

Supermarket prices will be frozen

Women will get equal pay for equal work

Young people will get the same national minimum wage as everyone else

Nuclear weapons will be banned from Scottish territory

The council tax will be scrapped in favour of a local tax where the rich pay their fair share

Free public transport will be brought in to ease congestion, pollution and global warming

Our troops will be brought home from the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan
West Lothian branch members

The West Lothian Branch

The West Lothian branch of the Scottish Socialist Party was formed in 2001. We have been active locally and nationally fighting such campaigns as;

Against the five pounds increase on council rent
The gradual privatisation of our postal service
Current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
The downgrading of St Johns hospital Livingston

We have fought vigorously in West Lothian supporting the following bills that we put to the Scottish Parliament

Replacing the Council Tax with the Scottish Service Tax
Introducing free school meals for all pupils
Scrapping Prescription charges.

We have championed free public transport during the last Holyrood election as a means of alleviating poverty and reducing Scotland’s carbon emissions.

Over the past nine years the branches local activities have amongst other thing covered the following
Weekly stalls throughout West Lothian campaigning on the above issues and many others.
Having letters printed in the local press
Written to people who have signed our various petitions updating them on the respective issues
We held numerous public meeting throughout West Lothian covering a variety of issues.
Delivered our quarterly newsletter throughout West Lothian which generated interest in the party resulting in an increase of party membership.

This is a short manifesto created by the West Lothian branch of the Scottish Socialist party to provide an insight into what the party stands for.

By voting SSP you will add strength to the current groundswell of opposition to the main capitalist parties. This struggle will only be successful when people like you become involved making change possible. The SSP can only provide guidance and leadership but we require mass support from the Scottish / British working class.

The best way for you to determine whether we are worth supporting is to meet people from the party or come along to a branch meeting to meet party members with similar views and discuss the various issues you have. Alternatively if you would like further information on the party details on how to contact the branch are detailed below.

To find out more about the West Lothian Scottish Socialist Party
E-mail us at:

westlothianssp@hotmail.co.uk

West Lothian SSP confirm election '10 candidate

2010-02-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

West Lothian Scottish Socialist Party

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate use – Date 31st January 2010

Ally Hendry Selected To Contest The Livingston Constituency At The 2010 Westminster Election

Following a branch selection meeting held in Whitburn Community Centre on Monday 25-1-2010 Ally was selected as the West Lothian Scottish Socialist Party candidate. Having previously stood in the 2005 Westminster election Ally said he felt proud and honoured that the branch nominated him.

Ally is a local lad from a socialist background who has lived in West Lothian all his life and has campaigned in the constituency on many issues since joining the party in 2003. He looks forward to raising pertinent issues in the forthcoming election campaign with members of the public who are being ignored and betrayed by the incumbent New Labour government.

Our country has been led into immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and like everybody else “I listen to daily reports of our troops being killed in a war opposed by 70% of the British population”.

Domestically the banking crisis has brought about the near collapse of the capitalist system and it has only survived due to the government pumping in billion of pounds of tax payer’s money. This at a time when hundred of thousands of people are losing their jobs, homes, savings and pensions and yet the banks still see fit to payout unwarranted and obscene bonuses. Ally says the task of the Scottish Socialist Party is to bring these bankers to account and to reverse the damaging effects their actions have had on the British working people.

He would also remind people that the scandal of the MP’s expenses is still ongoing despite the politician’s efforts to play the matter down and have it removed from the front page of the daily press.

Over the past few years we have witnessed the services at Saint Johns hospital being cut and slashed to the point where lives are being put at risk. Ally was personally involved in the campaign to save S.t Johns at all levels from street demonstrations public meetings, letters to the local press, raising petitions and was a member of the initial steering group. He says “I was totally disgusted at the way the whole issue was handled because the consultation process was a sham and the Labour government via the mouthpiece of the Lothian health board had already taken the irreversible decision to downgrade the hospital and were only paying lip service to public opinion”.

The above issues are only a sample of the problems facing the ordinary British man and women. The Scottish Socialist Party along with Ally Hendry will be on the streets of West Lothian from now until the general election putting forward the Socialist alternative to the capitalist policies of the current government. As part of the campaign a public meeting will be held on the 23rd of February in the St James Young high school at 7pm with Ally Hendry and Colin Fox speaking on a wide range of issues.

Colin fox msp to Face off in election contest with chancellor Alistair Darling MP

2010-02-02T07:25:00.001-08:00

SSP joint national spokesman Colin Fox will challenge Chancellor Alistair Darling in the General Election and the party will look to target 10 key seats across Scotland in the poll.

Colin Fox said :
"The SSP will fight the General Election on two key battlegrounds, the economy and Afghanistan.
"We will take the fight to Alastair Darling in his own constituency on his stewardship of the economy, the fact that he took this country into the deepest and worst recession in 80 years and because he now intends to slaughter the jobs and services of working people to pay for his incompetence and his banker’s greed.
"Equally, we will be the only party in this election opposed to the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan and calling for an immediete withdrawal of British troops.

“Despite the undemocratic voting system and exorbitant cost of standing candidates the Scottish Socialist Party will offer a bright alternative to the 4 neo-liberal, warmongering parties in Scotland—Labour, Lib Dem, Tories and SNP—who are shamefully trying to outdo one another to see who can make the most savage cuts in jobs and essential services.

“Our message is clear therefore—those who caused the banking crisis should pay for it. That means higher taxes and sacrifices by those enjoying their luxury lifestyles. Working people like nurses, teachers, firefighters and postalworkers didn’t cause the crisis and they shouldn’t be expected to pick up the bill for it with pay cuts and sackings. That's the social justice we believe millions of Scots expect to see.

“In what will be an unsavoury 'doom and gloom' election contest about which party can best satisfy the City of London's demands for slashed public services and cuts jobs the SSP will stand out as a bright alternative, a welcome light of optimism, with our message that there is no way we will accept cuts and hardship for working people. There is an alternative, the SSP say another way is possible.”

“I particularly relish the prospect of challenging Alastair Darling the former revolutionary socialist and now arch conservative neo-liberal Chancellor justifying his plans for feather bedding the rich and assaulting the pay and conditions of those who used to be Labour’s key supporters in Edinburgh South West.”

To see original atricle please visit;

http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/new_stories/election2010/fox-takes-on-darling.html

letter sent by party co-spokeman Colin Fox regarding article in The Scotsman on "new" left movement in Scotland

2010-01-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

This is a link to the actual article

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/poli...

Dear Sir
I read Mark Smith's piece in today's Scotsman [ New socialist party to fight
general election, 14/1/10] with some interest as you may imagine. My
interest quickly turned to indignation however as I realised that neither
Bob Crow nor anyone else has been in touch with the Scottish Socialist Party
about this London based initiative to unite socialist groups in Scotland. No
letter, no email, no text message, no phone call let alone the courtesy of
an invitation to meetings held 'last week in London' or 'in Glasgow on 30th
January'.

Such an attitude hardly bodes well for the comradely and mutually respectful
relationship required here. Readers will be forced to question the
seriousness of such a proposal when the biggest socialist party in Scotland
and the fastest growing in the country is excluded in this way.

I'm surely not the only person who thinks we need another socialist party
like we need a hole in the head. We have too many as it is.

Mark Smith, who never made any attempt to speak to the SSP before writing
his piece, is also wrong to suggest we are 'warring' with anyone on the
left. We are entirely focused on offering working people in Scotland that
desperately needed alternative to the four neo-liberal, warmongering parties
who misrepresent us at Westminster.

Over the past six months I have been campaigning up and down the country, from
Aberdeen to East Lothian on behalf of those 70% of Scots opposed to
Britain's ongoing military occupation of Afghanistan. Equally our party is
working with others to make the case that it is the rich, the bankers and
their political classes who got us into the worst recession in eighty years that
should pay for it, not tens of millions of working families as all four of our
opponents believe.

The SSP has enjoyed, as a consequence of our efforts in recent months, our
second strongest period of growth in ten years. We remain committed to left
unity, indeed our record shows we have achieved more on that score than
anyone else, and we continue to strive to unite every democratic socialist
in Scotland under one effective banner worthy of working people's respect
and support.

Colin Fox
National spokesman
Scottish Socialist Party

Mario?! A communist?

2010-01-30T08:04:00.001-08:00

During my dregding through the net i found this little piece. It's rather amusing. Check it out
http://nedmartin.org/amused/communis...

12 point plan for a Scottish Socialist Republic

2010-01-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

12 point plan for a Scottish Socialist Republic
We want Scotland's wealth shared out more equally

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rich will pay higher taxes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our public services, including oil, fuel and transport, will be publicly owned

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our minimum wage right now would be £8 an hour

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wages, benefits and pensions will rise by £50 a week, across the board

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All our school children will get nutritious free school meals

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supermarket prices will be frozen

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Women will get equal pay for equal work

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Young people will get the same national minimum wage as everyone else

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nuclear weapons will be banned from Scottish territory

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The council tax will be scrapped in favour of a local tax where the rich pay their fair share

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Free public transport will be brought in to ease congestion, pollution and global warming

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our young troops will be brought home from the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan

response to letter in West Lothian courier

2010-01-30T08:00:00.001-08:00

Dear Sir

Re: Postal dispute

According to your vox pop survey result published last week, it would appear that an overwhelming majority of local residents (i.e. 66%) are against the postal workers’ strike.

I assume no preamble outlining the context of the postal dispute was given by your vox pop team prior to the survey question being asked – the context being the Royal Mail management’s policy of preparing for privatisation by unilaterally imposing stringent work practices on the postal workers contrary to consultation procedures agreed by both sides in 2007.

If indeed it was the case that respondents were asked to venture an opinion without the context of the dispute being given, I suggest the survey result reflects not so much public antipathy towards the postal workers’ cause but more a measure of the respondents’ understandable frustration of being inconvenienced

letter sent to West Lothian courier regarding postal workers strike

2010-01-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

24th October, 2009

Dear Sir

Re: Postal dispute

Postal workers and management by their own admission both accept that Royal Mail needs to be ‘modernised’. Why then are they currently locked in a dispute which has resulted in nationwide industrial action that is inconveniencing businesses and the public in general?

The reason is each side in the dispute has a very different interpretation of what constitutes ‘modernisation’. On the one hand, management view modernisation as a process of continuing development towards greater efficiency to be measured in terms of profitability. On the other hand, postal workers look upon modernisation as a series of changes necessary to provide postal services that meet the needs of the public more effectively.

Royal Mail is a labour-intensive organisation and consequently for the management’s view of modernisation to prevail it has been necessary to lay off thousands of workers, change work practices, raise postage charges, cancel second deliveries and do away with Sunday collections in order to cut costs, improve profitability and prepare the way for eventual privatisation. Inevitably these on-going actions have led to conflict with the postal workers who believe the Royal Mail’s universal service obligation can only be achieved if it remains in the public sector and that fragmenting the business to allow private investors opportunities to make profits is not in the public interest.

Unfortunately for the postal workers they are not only at variance with management but are up against the political establishment as well. The Labour Government remain determined to part-privatise the Royal Mail and are supported in this by both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, the latter wanting to go still further and sell off Royal Mail lock, stock and barrel.

Royal Mail privatisation has become a non-negotiable issue in the current political climate in which public services are considered to be more effectively run by private companies rather than public sector organisations even though there is little or no evidence to support such a contention. On the contrary, there is ample evidence, not least from the case of postal services both in Britain and abroad, to show that when the private sector takes over from the public sector the level of service tends to deteriorate at the same time as charges rise.

Although the odds are stacked against them, postal workers can take heart that by and large the public share their misgivings of a privatised postal service that would put profits before people.

Last years summers newsletter.

2010-01-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

West Lothian
Scottish Socialist Party
Summer Newsletter 2009

Unite for Change

Massive bank crashes both at home and abroad have created a global financial crisis on a scale not seen since the 1930s. As a result, unemployment and poverty have escalated worldwide with the prospect that matters, bad as they are at the moment, will only become worse.

What can we do?

We must strive together to create an inclusive society where:

all class divisions are eradicated;

everybody can actively participate in decisions that affect their daily lives;

all wealth is distributed according to needs;

the supreme aim is to improve people’s lives - not increase profits for the benefit of a select few.

The objectives outlined above can only be achieved when we, the people, unite to bring about change.
Time to Rebuild Communities

Our local communities have been dealt hammer blows in recent years as result of factories closing, shops shutting, and cutbacks in recreation and leisure facilities. Local councils have been left powerless to stop our communities being run down.

We must create communities where:

people work together and look out for one another;

there are facilities to cater for the needs of all age groups;

people have a direct influence in the planning and running of local services;

local potential is nurtured and developed to the full;

there is cooperation with other communities, local councils and national government to improve services.

In order to stop the rundown of our communities, a new way of doing things has to be found that places people’s needs above everything else.

People not Profit

In recent years, there have been fundamental changes in our economic environment as employers have sought to cut costs and increase profits either by relocating work abroad where wages are low or forcing employees to accept a deterioration of their working practices and conditions. The balance in the workplace has shifted decisively in the employers’ favour and what workers need to do now is to fight for improved rights.

To improve workers’ rights:

Flexible working hours to suit family life.

Equality in the workplace regardless of race, disability, gender and nationality.

Equal pay for equal work.

Equal treatment for all in the workplace.

Equal rights for agency staff.

Final salary pensions index-linked to the rate of inflation.

Retiral age at 60 (but with the choice to work beyond 60).

Ultimately, to achieve secure employment and guarantee decent living standards for everybody, workers in our country and throughout the world will have to take control of production and distribution of all goods and services.
Inclusive Politics

The aim of this newsletter is to promote a vision of inclusive politics for all sections of society that is in stark contrast to the current parliamentary “democracy” which excludes the majority of us from having an effective and direct voice in decision-making that affect our lives. Justifiably, the public has become disillusioned with politicians and the political system, proof of which is the marked decline in turnout at recent elections.

Not content with huge salaries (i.e. up to three times average earnings), many of our elected representatives have been enriching themselves at the taxpayers’ expense by claiming exorbitant amounts to meet the costs of setting up second homes. What we need now are elected representatives who want to improve society and help people - not improve their bank balances and help themselves.

Synopsis of branch meeting on 09/01/2010

2010-01-19T04:01:00.000-08:00

Synopsis of branch meeting of the West Lothian SSP held on Monday 9/1/10.
We started the meeting with apologies from members unable to attend due to weather conditions and gave a warm welcome to a returning member.
A party representative then gave a report on an informal meeting held in Edinburgh Colin Fox. It was agreed at this meeting that Colin would be coming to West Lothian to do stalls at Bathgate market and Almondvale centre on the 29/01/2010 in preparation for our forthcoming public meeting arfor the 2nd February.
Regretably we have had to postpone the public meeting due to the adverse weather conditions.Because we require three weeks to prepare for the meeting and canvass areas in Livingston, we also delayed printing of the leaflet advertising the meeting until an alternative date has been decided.It is hoped that we will still be able to use James Young high school for the meeting.
It was decided that the best way forward to advertise the branch’s activity was online and the merits of establishing a branch web site was discussed .The meeting decided that three members would be responsible for online blogs, social networking profiles and these members will be solely responsible for online content.
There will be three fortnightly blog entries one for local news, one for national/international news and one for a synopsis of party meetings. All members are urged to contribute in the writing of these articles.
The date of the next meeting will be 25/01/10 in Whiburn community centre at 7pm

Letter sent to West Lothian courier on Copenhagen clitmate change conference. 10/01/2010

2010-01-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

Copenhagen fiddles while the world burns!

The world’s most powerful leaders attended the recent climate change conference in Copenhagen with the declared purpose of reaching an agreement to reverse the threat of global warming. Tragically the summit ended in complete failure because national vested interests took precedence over global needs.

Access to relatively cheap fossil fuels has continued to prove a bridge to far in reaching an agreement between the worlds largest industrial economies. These major international corporations who seriously influence global politics are doing everything in their power to prevent a major shift to a low carbon economy, because this would seriously impact on their investments in the fossil fuel industry.

Climate change is an impending global catastrophe and if action is not taken immediately the consequences for the world are unthinkable. Technology does exists today to produce energy in a pollutant free non nuclear manner however in many cases the patents have been bought and not implemented by the giant corporations to protect their investments. The world at large demands a halt to this insane behaviour and to start sharing the world’s technology and resources for the benefit of all because there will be no second chance.

Letter sent to Scotsman by party co-spokesperson Colin Fox 14/01/10

2010-01-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

This is a copy of a letter sent to the Scotsman newspaper. It refers to a article by journalist Mark Smith printed in todays edition.

This is a link to the actual article

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/poli...

Dear Sir
I read Mark Smith's piece in today's Scotsman [ New socialist party to fight
general election, 14/1/10] with some interest as you may imagine. My
interest quickly turned to indignation however as I realised that neither
Bob Crow nor anyone else has been in touch with the Scottish Socialist Party
about this London based initiative to unite socialist groups in Scotland. No
letter, no email, no text message, no phone call let alone the courtesy of
an invitation to meetings held 'last week in London' or 'in Glasgow on 30th
January'.

Such an attitude hardly bodes well for the comradely and mutually respectful
relationship required here. Readers will be forced to question the
seriousness of such a proposal when the biggest socialist party in Scotland
and the fastest growing in the country is excluded in this way.

I'm surely not the only person who thinks we need another socialist party
like we need a hole in the head. We have too many as it is.

Mark Smith, who never made any attempt to speak to the SSP before writing
his piece, is also wrong to suggest we are 'warring' with anyone on the
left. We are entirely focused on offering working people in Scotland that
desperately needed alternative to the four neo-liberal, warmongering parties
who misrepresent us at Westminster.

Over the past six months I have been campaigning up and down the country, from
Aberdeen to East Lothian on behalf of those 70% of Scots opposed to
Britain's ongoing military occupation of Afghanistan. Equally our party is
working with others to make the case that it is the rich, the bankers and
their political classes who got us into the worst recession in eighty years that
should pay for it, not tens of millions of working families as all four of our
opponents believe.

The SSP has enjoyed, as a consequence of our efforts in recent months, our
second strongest period of growth in ten years. We remain committed to left
unity, indeed our record shows we have achieved more on that score than
anyone else, and we continue to strive to unite every democratic socialist
in Scotland under one effective banner worthy of working people's respect
and support.

Colin Fox
National spokesman
Scottish Socialist Party

New west lothian SSP blog

2009-11-19T04:34:00.000-08:00

West Lothian Scottish Socialist Party's new blog will be up and running from mid-
December/new year. For any queries contact the branch @ westlothianssp@hotmail.co.uk