Starmer Wins! – Join Socialist Party Scotland and fight for a new workers’ party
Socialist Party Scotland
The decisive victory for Keir Stamer as UK leader of the Labour party, in the words of the Guardian newspaper, “marks the end of the Corbyn era”. Taken alongside Jackie Ballie’s election as Scottish deputy leader and Angela Raynor as the new UK deputy, this is a victory for the Blairite right of the party and the interests of the capitalist class they represent.
The opportunity to create a genuine left and anti-austerity party by driving out the Blairites and adopting a fighting socialist programme was squandered. The policy of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, who we supported against the right, was to seek co-existence with and make concessions to the brutal neoliberal wing of the party.
As we warned since 2015, this was a policy that could only disappoint and disorientate the many hundreds of thousands who joined Labour to back Corbyn and support anti-austerity policies.
In Scotland it was already clear that Labour had lost a decisive majority of its former working class base of support. The mistakes of opposing independence and being seen to oppose the right to self determination has shattered the confidence of many workers and young people. Decades of right wing Labour control in Scotland, which Richard Leonard’s leadership has not altered, has seen Labour councillors voting for cuts and austerity adding to the crisis for the party.
This victory for the Labour right comes at a time when the capitalist class are being forced to tear up the neoliberal play book in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the deepening crisis of their system.
Ideas like public ownership of the economy, massive investment in public services and socialist planning have never been more relevant. Yet it is clear that Labour cannot be the vehicle for these essential policies.
We appeal to workers and young people to join us and help fight the madness of capitalism and for socialist change across the world.
The building of a new party for the working class based on the trade unions is now essential in Scotland and indeed across Britain. We appeal to Corbyn supporters and socialists in the Labour party in Scotland to discuss with us about our ideas and how this can be achieved.
This article, written before the Labour leadership election outcome, makes the case for a new workers’ party in Scotland. Please read and share and let us know what you think.
