Scottish Communists

History is not neutral, nor should it be seen as in the past. A lot can be learnt about how to fight today's challenges by examining how previous generations went about fighting similar attacks from the ruling class. Many of these were struggles conducted in even worse conditions than we face today.

Most histories of the Communist Party (CP) in Britain have been written from a hostile right-wing or far-left stance. During the cold war that hostility turned into downright lies and distortion.

However this new, concise history seeks to redress the balance.

Attachments:

File	Description	File size
What We Stand For	The aim of the Communist Party is to achieve a socialist Britain	631 Kb

INTRODUCTION

Communism did not start with Karl Marx, or with the Russian Revolution of 1917. In Britain, a rich historical seam of communist ideas dates back to the Middle Ages and beyond. The desire for a future based on peace, cooperation, community and common, wealth has long inspired the peoples of England, Scotland and Wales.

At times of great crisis, such as the Peasants' Revolt (1381), the English Revolution (1640), and the Chartist uprisings of the 1830s and 1840s, communist ideas have come to the fore, voicing the hopes of working people.

The Communist Party continues that living, revolutionary tradition. It is a product, first and foremost, of the British labour movement. Its roots lie deep in Britain's trade unions, socialist societies and in other working class organisations.

Since its formation in 1920, Britain's Communist Party has insisted that working people can build a new type of society and a better world......

The starting point is the need to unite in our labour movement and progressive organisations to fight for the interests of working people against capitalist exploitation, crisis, fascism and war. The struggle for a left-wing programme of progressive and democratic demands can take working people onto the offensive. Inroads can be made into the wealth and power of the big business monopolies and the state apparatus which defends their system.

A democratic, anti-monopoly alliance can be built through action and solidarity, led by the organised working class. But to change society fundamentally, such a movement would have to take political power and use it replace exploitation by social ownership and economic planning. A massive extension of accountability and participation throughout society would begin to create a real democracy.

A left government in Britain based on mass activity and a Labour, socialist and Communist majority could pursue a genuinely independent foreign and defence policy.- Our principles of solidarity, justice, democracy and environmental security would become the new 'common sense'.

The Communist Party of Britain carries forward the programme and objectives of the Communist Party as founded in 1920.

Its aim is a "socialist Britain in which the means of production, distribution and exchange will be socially owned and used in a planned way for the benefit of all".

Scottish Communists is the website for the Communist Party Scottish Committee. You can also visit our national Communist Party of Britain website.

The Scottish Committee is responsible for developing policy specific to Scotland. It campaigns in Scotland for the wider objectives of the party as set out in its programme Britain’s Road to Socialism. Our party calls for greater powers of economic and industrial intervention for the Scottish parliament as a way of strengthening the hand of working people across Britain. A current statement of this position can be found in Breaking the British State: the way forward to a Socialist Scotland.