It was Labour leader Corbyn that first coined the phrase (at least in public) that while a Tory type Brexit might mean some threats to Scottish living standards, independence would 'turbo charge' austerity. Corbyn initially accepted that Scotland should have a referendum whenever its Parliament, Holyrood, called for it, but went on to oppose the real thing. Another example of the 'new politics'? North Sea oil is going down the financial plug. (If it was not, then its sudden apparent delegation to the Scots would not have been so beneficent.) Labour's leader began his contribution to the debate by joining what was generally called the 'fear campaign' which played such a powerful, last minute role promoting 'no' in the 2014 referendum. Corbyn did not therefore choose the potential breakup of the British working class as his starting point. And if the idea does emerge anytime soon it will be tied exclusively to the requirement for the rebirth of the currently comatose Scottish Labour Party, so that Scots can play their real role in shoving the Tories out - of Westminster.
But the British Labour Party cannot and will not be able in the foreseeable future to deliver. On that Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader and first minister in Holyrood, is absolutely right. The only way the Scots can achieve their and Corbyn's goal, at least in part, is the very possible removal of Tory power - at least from Scotland. And should Corbyn finally remember the argument about the unity of the British working class (and mean more than the need for the Scots to recognise and support the authority of London based union headquarters and their officers) he might consider the impact in England and Wales of a government that already (albeit quietly) states its opposition to austerity, nukes and racist immigration policies, but with a gathering movement mobilised through the referendum and energised to genuinely carry out those goals. Unity of a class is not a flaccid, administrative, bureaucratic endeavour. It is the rising of a people who see a genuine light through the darkness and join together to get through the obstacles, including the weaknesses and limits of the SNP, to get there. This is a job that Scottish Labour in its current condition will never achieve let alone lead. Corbyn on the other hand, should he shake off his belief that working class unity has anything to do with flattering right wing Labour MPs, might play a key role uniting all those parts of society that really did want to end austerity, finish with the nukes and work for open immigration - starting with Scotland.
We will experience a mountain of chatter (about the unpopular Euro, about nobody being able to guess where Brexit is going until the last minute, about Scotland's GCSE results etc., etc.,) part of the great wave of drivel and dross that will pump across Britain in the absence of fundamentals. The lengthy period for discussion that the SNP have now been forced to open up among the Scottish people before any vote will at least be a counter to some of that.
In substance a new Scottish referendum in the current context challenges the British political crisis, not with versions of Trump, Boris, Farage or Le Pen - but from the left. Even were Scottish independence not tied to an anti-austerity perspective etc, breaking up the centralised British state, turning 'Great Britain' into a series of small to medium sized countries, removing the UK from its throne in the Security Council at the UN, its Commonwealth fantasies, its global status for banks and financial crooks, would be an immense blessing not just for British people but for the world. When that trajectory is mixed with progressive ambitions, with the active political participation seen so far only in the building of a new right across the West, then it is possible to glimpse the immense potential in Scotland's referendum mark 2.
Of course there are dangers. If the SNP leadership try to tie the new Scottish referendum to the wails and moans of those who now present the EU as some sort of Nirvana, following the deep melancholy of the English middle classes and their media, then they will fail. If Sturgeon believes she can now win Scottish middle class 'EU remainers' to vote for independence without losing the third of Scots who voted for Brexit she is wrong. If the debate in Scotland simply re-runs the half baked EU referendum, the great possibilities now unleashed will be blocked. The same multi-nationals and global financiers are alive and well and just as powerful across the globe - and on both sides of Brexit. There has to be a new framework offered that damns the Tories, their self-serving politics, the Bankers and the Global corporations. The argument is the looming, danger of a political eternity of a Tory Britain, just having entered a vicious, right wing turn; more racist, more bellicose, more hostile to working class organisation, from unions to legal rights at work, more unequal, more driven to sell services - to anyone in the world who offers a 'deal'.
The paradox is that with a progressive perspective for a small country on the edge of England, that aims at a more equal society, a more social economy, more supportive services and which bases itself on the democracy of daily life and its people, then the greatest possible unity across the countries and working class people of Britain would quickly emerge. It is about seeing and hearing a concrete alternative and a definitely new and different political centre. Simply relying on the rerun of an argument about which dead duck is is more alive, either the failing EU or the coming British Brexit tax haven, will never achieve such a goal, most of all in Scotland.
In substance a new Scottish referendum in the current context challenges the British political crisis, not with versions of Trump, Boris, Farage or Le Pen - but from the left. Even were Scottish independence not tied to an anti-austerity perspective etc, breaking up the centralised British state, turning 'Great Britain' into a series of small to medium sized countries, removing the UK from its throne in the Security Council at the UN, its Commonwealth fantasies, its global status for banks and financial crooks, would be an immense blessing not just for British people but for the world. When that trajectory is mixed with progressive ambitions, with the active political participation seen so far only in the building of a new right across the West, then it is possible to glimpse the immense potential in Scotland's referendum mark 2.
Of course there are dangers. If the SNP leadership try to tie the new Scottish referendum to the wails and moans of those who now present the EU as some sort of Nirvana, following the deep melancholy of the English middle classes and their media, then they will fail. If Sturgeon believes she can now win Scottish middle class 'EU remainers' to vote for independence without losing the third of Scots who voted for Brexit she is wrong. If the debate in Scotland simply re-runs the half baked EU referendum, the great possibilities now unleashed will be blocked. The same multi-nationals and global financiers are alive and well and just as powerful across the globe - and on both sides of Brexit. There has to be a new framework offered that damns the Tories, their self-serving politics, the Bankers and the Global corporations. The argument is the looming, danger of a political eternity of a Tory Britain, just having entered a vicious, right wing turn; more racist, more bellicose, more hostile to working class organisation, from unions to legal rights at work, more unequal, more driven to sell services - to anyone in the world who offers a 'deal'.
The paradox is that with a progressive perspective for a small country on the edge of England, that aims at a more equal society, a more social economy, more supportive services and which bases itself on the democracy of daily life and its people, then the greatest possible unity across the countries and working class people of Britain would quickly emerge. It is about seeing and hearing a concrete alternative and a definitely new and different political centre. Simply relying on the rerun of an argument about which dead duck is is more alive, either the failing EU or the coming British Brexit tax haven, will never achieve such a goal, most of all in Scotland.
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