Scottish Labour’s crisis and the building of a socialist challenge to austerity

Opinion polls are a potent reflection of the collapse of Labour’s support in Scotland. The latest in a long line, this one for the Labour supporting paper the Daily Record last week, shows Labour at 24%, with the SNP at 46%.

Indeed this poll rating would devastate Labour’s representation. Reducing it from 41 to 5 MPs at the 2015 Westminster elections. Even if these polls narrow a bit in the run-up to May 2015, as the desire to remove the Tories from power looms large, it’s clear on this evidence that Labour are going to lose a majority of its seats in Scotland.

The party is “leaderless” in Scotland and might as well be in the UK. Ed Miliband is disastrous, not least here where he is distrusted by 59% of those polled. His positive trust levels barely register at a derisory 8.6%. A phenomenally negative rating of –50%.

David Cameron, his main rival in the 2015 election, is at – 48% in Scotland. For a Labour leader to be polling lower than a hated Tory prime minister is quite an achievement. But neither do the leadership of the SNP manage to make it into positive territory either. Alex Salmond, who has just stood down from the leadership, is at –15%. The new first minister Nicola Sturgeon is the best of the bunch at –5%.

Labour’s disintegration has been dramatically accelerated by its poisonous role as the shock troops for Project Fear during the referendum campaign.

Yet, this is an erosion of support of a working class base that goes back to the 1980’s and the sharp turn to the right by Labour under Neil Kinnock. Accompanied by the expulsion of the socialist left – principally Militant (the forerunner of the Socialist Party). The completion of the counter-revolution was the act by Tony Blair and, lest we forget, Gordon Brown when they created New Labour.

Today Labour, as the Socialist Party has continually explained, is a capitalist party empty of working class activists. Its collapse following the referendum should be no surprise. Labour had already been defeated in 2007, spectacularly so in 2011, by an SNP who stand to the left, in relative terms, of Labour and who have temporarily and partially filled the space for a new workers party.

The Socialist Party calls for the creation of a genuine left party in Scotland; a new mass workers party based on the trade unions and the post September 18 generation of radicalised and energised young people.

Leadership contest

And yet things could get worse for Labour. As it stands the ultra Blairite and supporter of the Iraq war Jim Murphy is favourite to win the Scottish Labour leadership contest. Were that to be the case it would very likely lead to the shattering of Scottish Labour and the possible rapid separation of a number of trade unions from the party. Murphy is well ahead among the 80 plus MPs, MSPs and MEPs who, undemocratically, weigh in with a third of the total vote.

Among the trade union affiliates however, a left candidate, Neil Findlay, has widespread support. Findlay has called for Scottish Labour to move to the left and supports some radical policies including for a building programme of social housing, a living wage, scrapping of Trident and the renationalisation of the railways. He also has a long and principled record of supporting workers in struggle and on trade union rights. However, he has not been at all explicit on policies in support of widespread public ownership, has avoided any direct criticism of the Labour leadership and has not called for the Scottish government or Labour-led councils in Scotland to refuse to implement the Tory cuts.

The result of the election is likely to come down to the votes among individual Labour Party members. At present Murphy seems to be ahead, although the outcome may be close.

However, even if Neil Findlay won the election he would be under colossal pressure to rapidly abandon his limited policy platform by Miliband and the majority of the pro-capitalist Labour right wing in Scotland.

A Findlay victory would therefore lead to increasing tensions between sections of Scottish Labour, especially the trade union affiliates, and the dominant pro capitalist leadership.

This could also accelerate the possibility of a split in Scottish Labour whose very survival, as Neil Findlay has pointed out, depends on attacking the SNP from the left.

A new poll among SNP supporters by Survation has found that if Labour adopted radical left policies like a compulsory living wage, free nursery education from 12 months, renationalisation of rail, permanent opposition to tuition fees and the scrapping of Trident a large number – up to 37% of SNP voters – would be more likely to support Labour.

Socialist Party Scotland does not believe that the Labour Party in Scotland can be moved decisively to the left. The experience of Falkirk and the treatment by Miliband and the Scottish Labour leadership of Unite – whose strategy of trying to shift Labour to the left led to a witch hunt of Stevie Deans and other prominent activists in the constituency – underlines this.

Instead we would appeal to trade unionists and socialists to work with us and the RMT trade union and others in helping to build the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in Scotland as a step to a new mass workers party.

Our policy in unions like Unison, Unite and others who are affiliated to Labour is for disaffiliation and for those unions to initiate a conference to launch a new workers party. Until this happens we also support trade union members in refusing to pay the affiliated political fund which goes to the Labour Party – for example in Unison. As minimum trade unions should be able to back candidates who defend trade union principles, who would refuse to make cuts and who support the policies of public ownership, a living wage and the scrapping of anti-union laws.

Nevertheless, if trade union members who are still paying the affiliated fund do receive a ballot paper for the election we would support a vote for Neil Findlay and for Katy Clark as deputy leader

Stand anti-cuts candidates

The SNP are riding a wave of public enthusiasm, while at the same time preparing to undermine this support by implementing Tory cuts. Just weeks after the huge anti-austerity Yes vote the SNP leaders moved a budget in Holyrood that included half a billion in cuts for 2015/16, rather than set a No Cuts budget and demand a return of the over £3 billion stolen by the ConDems since 2010.

As we pointed out following the referendum the wave of new members who have joined the SNP will not find a party prepared to confront austerity head-on. Indeed the new SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has raised the prospect of SNP MPs supporting a Labour government after the next election without clearly insisting as a pre-requisite for this support an end to austerity policies by Labour.

In contrast Socialist Party Scotland and TUSC is calling for a defiance strategy by councils and the Scottish government. This means refusing to implement the cuts and setting No Cuts and needs budgets instead.

The inability of the SNP leadership to do so will weaken their support base. It will open further space for anti-cuts, socialist and trade union candidates in Scotland over the next months and in the run-up to both the 2016 Scottish elections and the 2017 council elections.

Nor is it likely that the SNP will move decisively to the left. Which means abandoning their tax cuts for the rich and big business policies and coming out in favour of public ownership of the privatised energy companies, oil and transport etc.

For these reasons Socialist Party Scotland is opposed to the proposal coming from groups like the SSP and others on the left who call for a vote for the SNP or an electoral bloc with the SNP in an “independence alliance”.

The SNP is a pro-capitalist party that is implementing austerity and therefore cannot be given support by principled socialists. While continuing to stand for an independent socialist Scotland, and the immediate transfer of the powers of maximum devolution, we need to support the standing of genuine anti-cuts and socialist candidates. The best way of achieving this is to get involved in TUSC. We would appeal to all those forces committed to the idea of opposing all cuts in deeds and in action to do just that.