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IRSN Solidarity Statement re Glencoe

12/02/2013 19:20

Solidarity Statement from the IRSN to the SRSM's Annual Glencoe Commemoration

The comrades of the International Republican Socialist Network take this opportunity to convey our greetings of solidarity to the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement and the Scottish working class in its struggle for national liberation and socialism.

With the opportunity for the people of Scotland expressing their desire for independence and and end to the archaic political entity of "Great Britain" standing only a year off, we recognise that the perspective advanced by the great Scottish Marxist John MacLean remains as valid today as when he first advanced it in the 1920s; that the class conciousness of Scottish workers stands in advance of those in neighboring England and the Scottish nation will continue to be held back from its potential to create a society capable of addressing the needs and aspirations of working people so long as they are lashed to England politically. The impact of the present Tory regime on the Scottish people, who were not responsible for electing a Tory majority, only serves to illustrate this principle.

However, we would also remind the working people of Scotland that Scottish independence, without the creation of a Scottish workers' republic, cannot provide for the liberation of the Scottish nation, which is inseparable from its people, the vast majority of whom are members of the working class. Thus Scottish workers must seize the opportunity now, before the Scottish national bourgeoisie become entrenched as a new ruling class, to organise for and begin the struggle to obtain a workers' republic.

In this era of globalised capitalism, no national bourgeoisie can maintain policies distinct from the interests of international imperialism. Only by the working class seizing control of their own destiny, through the expropriation of capitalist property and taking on the responsibility for the direct administration of society through its governance will Scottish workers obtain an end to capitalist exploitation and liberty worthy of bearing that name.

Vote Yes for Scottish independence in 2014, but organise for the creation of a Scottish workers' republic now, not as an after-thought to the struggle for national independence. The class struggle and the fight for national independence cannot be separated; one cannot be had without the other.