WHEN THE DOCKERS MARCHED down to the House of Commons in time, how much a year is that? It's less| it, safely insulated by the ecology of the Powellite marches was that when Mp after the by-election at Hamilton. have traditionally been the party's In the municipal elections in May the most loyal supporters. SNP captured 100 out of the 500-odd seats contested. In Glasgow 13 SNE Some right-wingers in the Party have even taken up and supported a fatuous members now hold the balance of power, he Party which lasted, breaking a monopoly with one reactionary by the piece of witch hunting by the ultra- Glasgow Herala which short break, for more than 30 years. sought to prove the existence of sinisTinks between certain Nationalists In the recent election for the new town ter and the tiny Maoist Workers Party council at Cumbernauld the SNP 100k 18 oul of 21 seats. The figures shown of Scotland happies hoth tere below for votes cast in municipal elec- volved in the John MacLean Society.
1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 Labour 128,213 (50%) 102,567 88,916 81.020 68,538 (26%)
Prostessive Conservative 106,525 112,056 107,180 108.875 93,513 4,127 (2%) 9.719 18,253 60,034 96.505 (36%) Others 15,617 14.601 12,359 10,490 10.075 tions in Glasgow over the last five a body set up to perpetuate the mem Tory and works of that great Scottish demonstrate the phenomenal tise of the party-they are duplicated revolutionary. all over Scotland. Others in the Labour Party have sug Electorally the can ie a thrent nri. tralisation in order to try and cash in gested adopting some form of decen matily to the Labour Party. A General Election held now would finish Labour on the SNP's success. John Mackintosh, been prominent in this attempt. election. After 13 years of Tory rule Others suggest that the SP has taken the Scottish working class hoped fot on the character of a crusading cam- new deal under Labour. Instead paign which many Scots have readily identi- 303LISE the government with cuts they got the in social services, wages policy, rising rents, increases in fied. It is suggested that the National. the cost of living and in unemploy. ists have fallen heir to the need for ment. identification with an ideal. There is Thus we are confronted with a phe. some truth in this! The party appeals poll negative features. The rise of a move. particularly to young amongst my students indicated 57 per ment of protest against aspects Cent Nationalists can be labelled as one of favour. one sense the government policy which is involving numbers of working class youth in the most successful manifestations of politics is a positive aspect. The nature the tradition of protest politics.
All of these explanations nave a partial is often entirely negative. validity." They all help to explain how rowly based, chauvinistic, petty bour SND to the struggle of the conditions became ripe for the emer geois in composition; in many cases gence of the SP but none of them show why it has expanded With tendency towards anti-Trade Union. such force nt this precise point ism. The attempts of some sPers 10 effectively time. To find this out we have to do draft Mad Mitch. commander what none of the Labour Party lead- the Argylls, butcher of the Adeni ers are willing to and go back to the arard Al their own onvernment. The parliamentary candi. rise SP has taken place pre- dacy illustrates the depths to which cisely in the period from 1964 on their opportunism takes them.
understands death is a prerequimen of Che's vision are beyond cita: corruption Indeed!
And belief in Che is to sustain the Faith of the new generation of socialis revolutionaries against the massive historical evidence of betrayal So that presumably, they will the more readily aside the checks and balances CAST generations poinet nhile ol bower 103 ough-minded liberals have labor Mously raised? If Mr Coates' article for faith, for nothing it 35 90 30DeE 56 Confroated with this phenomenon blind trust. Of course the revolution la flexible approach. It should be char- socialists in Scotland must maintain unprecedently, be ruptible leaders; but how can we know. must have leaders. blessed with incor- and it may even.
acterised by : now can we be sure?
1. Unremitting attack on government policies which cut the living standards But your newspaper is addressed not awe ey history or dispraged 5 Young people of the Scottish working class and consistent support for principled alterna the failure of nrecedine. generations tives, the struggle for these to be Young idealists are sometimes nomenon which has both positive and tied on continuously with the Labour Bet even to a knoland acknowledge continuity never the strugmovement. of 2. A non-sectarian approach towards gles of their parents' generation. ne Scottish Nationalists, volve the vouth especially in front activity in eg VSC, RSSF, etc. seeking to united are exultantly their elders lack: by compromise; conscious they they are are-above all- of a strength unsullied of the movement they are brought into 3. The production of propaganda de independent, not yet bound by ties to families freed from parental consigned to link the issues raised by the TrO:
of their on and to the And that is why despite the assertions of your leading their conflict and to show that these can only be when implies that conflict MI organs of a strong socialist movement. prosecuted through the ta l country arises from the socialism distorting in- in this people and hero of the Scottish Daily for the rise of the SNP where it actually 4. Continually placing responsibility when the generalised idealism luence market. The rot begins lies-at the door of the Labour lead independent becomes focused ers. TONY SOUTHALL and parenthood. particularised by For the extension of the great majority, a and For the altruistic few, it is an mere ineluc. able claim on time, effort and thought. closed down anarchist) stuff It would onl mean that thou but it all depends what VOIl more would unemploved by politics see politics of closing more pil in this die ralling efore Christmas structures tha affect MF The place Tcon nave where I live and where there miners. were many protests Marsh then Minister trOm politics Fuel were and Power montons 01 said on TV that there coal then cond ass where personalised hope What happens most difficuli bad sold in the expect there will be much country which clic not Vietnam is outrageous but in product of structures which more now only get fapth into here There is also the rubbish we are told on ghout. the balance of pavments real situation, country or a group of countries were emotionally loaded terms which to agree to send all our imporis free of dividuals have built personal myth charge we would mucl worse logies around only than we are. In tact under Capitalism harrier to communication I feel will would pay our Government to put a number of anarchists, there is mor all the present work preoccupation spreadin producing roods thev somethine make the North dump the acceDlance they can get of a label than with someone Everybody was much better off when say that they are anarchist, then the war was and they were making die rent happy. This seems slights munitions and blowine them Can from actually imagine what would happen something: like a syndicalist organis invented to tion in a factory, without a lahel, Blace better off or worse? Work it out. everybody even a Tarian structures commune The failure with internal libe of H NORMAN WILSON electorate to unio is partly a diste of all polities Equalness The revolution carries within | I THINK THE STUDENT RIOTS of all kinds vomb the seeds of the old regin are a good thing, after all, the stu(r come such exnression dents, the young people will be 117ning this country so they should be Burnt Oak. listened to and not smashed on East Bergholt, head for what they believe in. So let's have free love, a hippy Government, Suffolk. ne war, no bombs, freedom of speech, notes: Red Paper No. and above all things, equal rights for is available from the above addres Man and Man, Woman and Woman and then we cal all live in a good world of equalness. Mr A has a Rolls Royce, am very pleased to see the Bla a £10,000 a vear income a a Chair.• Dwart give attention the burd man who works two hours a day at of iliness and injury which capitalis
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Last rear Mrs Winifred Ewing be-/in Scotland. This is all the more seri- MP for Berwick and East Lothian has wards, and particularly since the 196 ous because the Scottish working class camo the first Scottish National Party
rely othee treth sittin