Fwd: [a-list] CP of Britain, Scottish Communists on the Referendum

[Charles Brown]

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Date: Tue, Sep 23, 2014 at 10:04 AM
Subject: [a-list] CP of Britain, Scottish Communists on the Referendum
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CP of Britain, Scottish communists on the referendum result [En, Es]
Tuesday, 23 September 2014 10:00 Communist Party of Britain
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Scottish communists on the referendum result [En, Es]



Scottish electors have exercised their right of self-determination. In
doing so, they have decided to remain part of Britain and have reaffirmed
an understanding that unity at this level is critical to the fight for
social and economic justice and against the Tory attacks that affect all
the peoples of Britain.

However, there was very strong backing for a Yes vote in the areas of the
greatest poverty and unemployment. In Glasgow, Dundee, North Lanarkshire
and West Dunbartonshire, areas of traditional Labour support, Yes was in
the majority.

This result is therefore a measure of the level of disenchantment among
those hardest hit by austerity and attacks on the welfare state. It
indicates that a significant minority are losing confidence in the ability
of the Labour and Trade Union Movement to act against the power of big
business and the super rich.

This is a challenge for all on the Left. It demands a new clarity in our
movement about the institutions that sustain this class power of big
business at both British and EU level. These are exactly the same
structures that would have nullified any progress towards real economic
and social self-determination under the mandate offered by the SNP: EU and
NATO membership and the neo-liberal grip of a currency geared to the needs
of finance capital.

The trade union and labour movement now has to demonstrate its will to
develop mass campaigning on these basic issues on the ground. The People’s
Assembly must become a mass movement – as must the demand for an end to
Trident. This will be the only way to defeat the Tories and their allies
in the 2015 election and to minimise the vote for right-wing and extreme
right-wing parties. It will also be the only way to heal the divisions of
the referendum and win renewed unity

This means that in Scotland the new pledges on greater powers for a
Scottish parliament must be honoured – particularly the pledge to a
federal system that maintains some form of tax redistribution across
Britain based on social need. But this federalism must be socially
progressive and be combined with an overall commitment to a redistribution
of wealth and power in favour of working people across the whole of
Britain.