Gregor Gall: Look to the Left for radical new vision

THE emerging division in the “yes” campaign for independence is over whether the referendum is merely about Scotland’s constitutional future or also about Scotland’s economic and social future.

In a nutshell, the moderate voices say the referendum is just about making Scotland independent and issues about what the economy and society should be like must be left to elections to the parliament after a vote for independence. The underlying theme is “don’t rock the boat” and “don’t scare the horses”.

On the other side, there are those who argue that without laying out a convincing alternative of an economically and socially just Scotland, there is no way that sufficient numbers of citizens can be convinced to vote “yes”. Ergo, there will be no independent Scotland because the scare tactics of the “no” campaign  will win out. Consequently, the talk is of whether “another Scotland is possible”.

It is in this context that the holding tomorrow of the Radical Independence Conference (RIC) in Glasgow is of importance. It is the first significant gathering of the pro-independent Left and is expected to attract around 500 participants.

Its central themes will be economic and social justice, democracy, environmentalism and peace. These will be examined and discussed through plenaries and workshops.

Among those attending will be those from the union, peace, anti-racist, feminist and environmental movements. Speakers will be drawn from the SNP, SSP, Greens and Solidarity. Anti-Nato MSP Jean Urquhart, Scotsman columnist Gerry Hassan and Robin McAlpine, the Jimmy Reid Foundation director, will address the conference, alongside Dennis Canavan and Gail Lythgoe from the “Yes Scotland” campaign.

Not all the focus will be on Scotland, for a strong thread concerns Scotland’s place in the world in terms of ethical foreign policy and solidarity with other progressive movements elsewhere. Thus, speakers from Greece, France, Quebec and the Basque country will address the conference.

For the RIC, the easy thing to do would be to let the individual speakers and participants say their bit before returning to their own separate communities, campaigns and actions, merely to bring them back together in a year’s time for another gathering and another talking shop. But to have the impact it wants, the RIC faces four big challenges.

The first is to develop a coherent, inclusive and positive narrative for all to work around and towards. This means bringing together disparate groups and individuals, where the priority of one may not be the priority of another. Out of these needs to be fused a rounded sense of what this “other Scotland” could be like. Radical without being impossiblist should be the maxim.

The second is to create campaigning networks across and throughout those that attend. Clearly, these networks need to expand and also sink deep roots in order to furnish them with influence. The whole must be greater than the sum of the parts when put together in a singular form. This coherence of organisation should be the yin to the yang of the ideological coherence.

Rising to these two challenges will be necessary but not sufficient to assure success for it is the third challenge which is by far the most difficult to meet. This is because it concerns gaining purchase and traction for policies and ideas.

It is easy to mount campaigns in terms of organising petitions, leafleting, marches and lobbies as well as holding public meetings (and further conferences). But it’s much harder to make a manifest and positive connection between the ideas and policies and the minds and actions of the mass of citizens.

The radical “yes” campaign is patently not a movement and what it does not have at the moment are vibrant mass movements in which it can be active within and argue its case. There are, for example, no mass anti-poll tax movements and no mass anti-war organisations of yesteryear. The consequence is the radical arguments for independence may have little manifest and widespread traction.

Thus, radical “yes” campaigners cannot convincingly argue that under an independent Scotland problem “x” or “y” could be solved because those that would be receptive to such arguments – because of their active involvement in mass struggles against injustice – are neither physically constituted nor reachable.

Therefore, the RIC must endeavour to help create such revolts and movements so that it can swim within them in order to be able to address constituencies of oppositional consciousness. Some potential candidates that come to mind are those against rising gas and electricity prices, closures of factories and cuts in welfare and social provision.

Recall the growth of Scottish Militant Labour in the early 1990s. Through the anti-poll tax revolt (which it mainly organised and led), it was able to not only speak to many thousands of people it had never come across before, but also to convince many to become active in other campaigns like those against the M74 extension and water privatisation.

It should go without saying that to reach the mass of citizens in this way means concentrating upon social and economic questions to gain traction. The issues of republicanism, nuclear weapons and Nato are not capable of mass purchase.

Without gaining such popular traction, the SNP will dominate the “yes” campaign because it can easily outgun the RIC when it comes to media coverage, knocking doors and telephone cold calling.

The final challenge is how to relate to the official “Yes Scotland” campaign. Trying to constitute an alternative campaign has many difficulties, not least those concerning paucity of people and resources. More is to be gained by being active within. And this is possible, because “Yes Scotland” is a broad church.

So, from the inside, the RIC can drag the centre of gravity leftwards in order that the message and materials of the “Yes Scotland” campaign speak to the goals of “another Scotland is possible”. It can then interpret and implement its own version of Alex Salmond’s quest for a fairer, greener and more prosperous Scotland in a way that will be genuinely radical.

• Gregor Gall is professor of industrial relations at the University of Hertfordshire but lives in Edinburgh ([email protected])