Scottish Communists

John Millington writes.

Morning Star sellers and supporters were "abused and spat at" by nazi-saluting thugs in Glasgow on Saturday.

Eyewitnesses said eight men rounded on the stall in Buchanan Street in the centre of the city with one filming the encounter while the others attempted to intimidate the sellers.

Communist Party of Britain Scottish secretary Tam Morrison said he tried to talk to some of the group but was ignored by the shaven-headed thugs.

"They were swearing, calling us child murderers and Islam lovers, doing nazi salutes in front of the stall," he said.

"I was talking to a couple of them but the others were just wound up, spitting at the stall and at the comrades.

"They stayed for 15 minutes and then another four came."

Mr Morrison, one of four people on the stall selling the paper, said one of the group was wearing a "white power" badge and he thought they were members or supporters of the far-right Scottish Defence League (SDL), but this could not be confirmed.

This is not the first time a progressive stall has been targeted by fascists in the area.

Last month the Palestine Solidarity Campaign suffered a similar attack.

But an unintimidated Mr Morrison said: "We just faced them down - we weren't moving.

"We are calling on the labour movement to show solidarity and to help reclaim our streets from the fascists."

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/114737

Suddenly we are in the middle of a constitutional crisis.

On Monday (9 Jan) David Cameron demanded that Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond hold a snap referendum on Scottish independence.

The following day Con-Dem Scottish Secretary Michael Moore announced that the referendum would be under UK jurisdiction, legally binding and solely for and against independence.

At first sight these challenges to the SNP government may appear both strange and provocative. They are certainly fateful.

But there is an explanation. It can be found in a little-noticed event which occurred in a committee room of the Scottish Parliament just 10 days before Christmas.

Professor John Foster writes.

When it comes to the limited additional powers enshrined in the Scotland Bill and the alternative SNP proposal that would grant full fiscal powers to the country, the bigger picture is important.

Financial overexpansion is being resolved across the world by the concentration of capital on an unprecedented scale and a political drive to shift the balance of power decisively against labour.

The biggest potential loser in this struggle is democracy - in its proper sense of rule by the people - and the ability to exercise some form of collective control over the power of capital and its market forces.

This attack on democracy can be seen today across the EU and in Britain, and this is the context within which to judge current pressure for constitutional change in Scotland.

It is important to recall that the modern movement for a Scottish parliament was initiated to assert precisely such a class understanding of democracy.

If David Cameron is sincere in his protestations of not wanting to see Scotland leave the UK, he should abandon efforts to meddle in a question proper to Scottish voters.

Alex Salmond has previously noted that interference in the consultation process by Westminster would prove a boon for those seeking independence, which seems self-evident.

Tories are deservedly an endangered species in Scotland, so the suggestion that Scottish voters may need protecting from themselves by Cameron stretches credibility.

The demand for a referendum on independence is a Scottish National Party policy. None of the unionist parties at Westminster or Holyrood projected such an initiative.

So proposals from them to order a vote earlier than planned by the Scottish government or to impose the terms of the question(s) to be put before the electorate would be seen clearly for what they are - an attempt to scupper the democratic process.

When Cameron offers a "fair, legal and decisive" solution to this or any other political issue, hackles rise.

Far from fairness, what the Tory leader is about is attempting to take control of a process in order to deliver an outcome acceptable to his party or to its corporate backers.

Cameron's spokesman blew the gaff in saying that "business" was worried about whether Scotland would remain in the UK, affecting its readiness to invest.

"That uncertainty can have a detrimental impact on the economy and that is why he is saying that he thinks we need to get on with this sooner rather than later," he added.

The Westminster-based parties have to accept that they lost the Scottish parliamentary elections. The SNP has an overall majority and democracy dictates that it should decide when its proposal should be put before the Scottish electorate.

If and when that time comes and there is one question facing voters - a straight Yes or No to Scotland leaving the UK - the Morning Star will advocate a No vote.

This is based on our paper's traditional position of backing devolution within Britain rather than secession, supporting socialism and the essential role of working-class unity throughout Britain to achieve this.

England, Wales and Scotland do not have separate ruling classes. The British ruling class is united and powerful. Combating it requires similar unity and strength on the part of working people.

The SNP parliamentary majority at Holyrood confers on the nationalist party the right to govern, but its leadership knows that not every vote it received can be translated into a firm declaration for national independence.

Many of its votes, especially from working people, were cast in response to a feeling of having been let down by the pro-banker policies of new Labour at Westminster, echoed by its Scottish franchise.

This process was enhanced by the confident and accomplished nature of its leadership, which contrasted with the shambles that was Scottish Labour.

However, Salmond's advocacy of a northern European "arc of prosperity" looks far less attractive now, as does his intention of slashing corporation tax and offering other sweeteners to lure overseas "investors."

The Morning Star believes that Scotland's working people have more to gain from standing alongside their Welsh and English brothers and sisters to defeat the Con-Dem coalition and fight for socialist change rather than from embracing the SNP strategy of a Scottish tax haven at the service of capitalist speculators.

Editorial Comment 10 Jan http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/113956

Never before has the Morning Star launched a more urgent appeal. Never before has the response been so overwhelming.

It was at a sombre November 15 meeting of the paper's business committee that editor Bill Benfield distributed a document that would become crucial to our survival.

Weeks of alarm about a worsening cash flow crunch had finally come to a head. Something drastic had to be done.

Within hours the full scale of the immediate financial crisis had been made public in the next day's edition. Bill's appeal article set out in stark terms the list of challenges that our £1.4 million-a-year operation faces. Financially crippling distribution problems created by our reliance on road, a Fighting Fund shortfall running into the thousands, and an effective advertising boycott.

The cash flow problem was so serious this time that Bill set a six-week expiry date for the paper after 82 years ploughing an often lonely furrow as a daily dose of political sanity. Our aim was to raise £50,000 on top of the £25,000 remaining Fund shortfall to year's end - a whopping £75,000 in all.

In truth in those first hours few believed that we could meet this massive Lifeline Appeal target in time for such a cruel deadline.

On that evening William Rust House fell silent as the last of the workers headed out into the darkness full of fear about the paper's future.

Little did they know that the scene had been set for one of the most triumphant chapters in our daily miracle's history.

In a new year message, CP general secretary Robert Griffiths has written to members and supporters calling for 2012 to be turned into a year of sustained struggle to block job loss and the destruction of industry, the shedding and privatisation of public services and broad opposition to EU austerity and attacks on the sovereignty of Britain. Griffiths asserts that the key is for the Labour Movement to illuminate the many struggles now breaking out with an alternative economic and political strategy based around the People's Charter.

"Please accept my New Year greetings on behalf of the Communist Party, and my thanks for your efforts to build the labour movement and our party in the fightback against Britain's unelected government of the bankers.

We have seen mass action in England, Scotland and Wales. First came March 26 followed by June 30. There was the commemorative march in Cable Street on October 4. Then came the mighty display of working class and popular anger on November 30, which the government found impossible to shrug off. The active participation of millions in every village, town and city of Britain did the government damage. Everywhere workers are asking 'What now, where next?'

Such a level of political consciousness does not come easily or readily. It results from the struggle of ideas, through street campaigning and through propaganda by word and deed. We have launched the new edition of our party's programme, Britain's Road to Socialism (buy it click here), and at our recent successful Festival for 21st Century Marxism, we set out the ideas that make workers better organised and stronger. In 2012 we have even bolder plans, with new publications, events and initiatives. We will be launching new commissions and advisories to create arenas for debate and action within and by the party. We will be inviting you to take an active part in them.

Together with our national women's organiser Liz Payne, I have recently returned from representing our party at the 13th international meeting of communist and workers parties, held this year in Athens. The Greek people have been a courageous example to us all. We met the Russian communists who recently gained 13 million votes and who are battling to rescue their society  from oligarchs and thieves. Other parties present in Athens - for example Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, South Africa, Brazil - are in government while others struggle against bans and imprisonment. The Communist Party of Britain proudly takes its place in a movement that fights all the time and everywhere for a better world for working people.

Are public sector pensions "gold plated"? No! Do the general public support the strike? Yes!

Hans Heinz Holz, life long Communist, anti-fascist and Marxist thinker has died  today (11/12/11). He became a communist while in jail during  the National Socialist epoch after being locked up for his anti-fascist activism as a youth where he came in to contact with a young communist worker. 
He was best known for his work as a Marxist philosopher, have his work published in various publications and languages and his work as a University lecturer at Marburg and the University of Groningen.  

One of his most important books was  “The downfall and future of Socialism”

Download pdf here
DFofS

He spoke at the Communist University of Britain.

Revolution in the 21st Century - Hans Heinz Holz

Reformism and Revolution - Hans Heinz Holz

Unite leader Len McCluskey launched a stinging attack today against the rich and powerful who spent the weekend attacking public-sector workers ahead of Wednesday's mass walkout.

In a matter of hours millions will join a one-day strike over government plans for big wage cuts to fund lower pension payouts.

And Mr McCluskey accused ministers of making the strikers scapegoats for an economic crisis of "epic proportions."

"Fear stalks the global markets, and yet our political leaders seem incapable of steering a course out of the despair," he writes in the Morning Star.

"At home, our government offers no hope to the millions on the dole.

"Calls from the sensible majority to rein in economic sadism and instead grow the economy go unheeded, while inhuman ideas like slashing benefits and access to employment tribunals take hold."

The Unite general secretary said of Wednesday's strike: "It may be about protecting the pensions of our members against the Osborne onslaught, but just as importantly it is about standing up for an alternative policy, an alternative society."

And he leapt to the defence of the trade unionists subjected to increasingly hysterical propaganda that echoed the tactics of past governments.

McCluskey said: "In the 1970s such crises were blamed wrongly on overpowerful trade unions.

"Today no-one can deny that it is unregulated, untamed capitalism to blame."

The Unite leader hit out as the government tried desperately to maintain the impression that it remained in control.

Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander claimed that striking unions were turning their backs on a "pretty good deal."

He issued veiled threats that a supposed compromise offer would be withdrawn.

It attempted to split older workers from their younger colleagues by offering them exemption from some of the changes, but it did not address the concerns of those facing doubled contributions, cut-price pensions and a higher retirement age.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude again threatened to clamp down on workers' rights if the walkout goes ahead.

But PCS union general secretary Mark Serwotka retorted: "The latest threats about further curbs on strike laws and offers being withdrawn follow ridiculous claims earlier this week that the strike could cost £500 million and put jobs at risk.

"The Cabinet Office Minister talks about a perverse incentive to strike, but what is perverse is that ministers are planning to raid public-sector pensions to pay for a deficit caused by the greed and recklessness of wealthy bankers.

"Such erratic behaviour and wild allegations are becoming increasingly frequent from ministers who claim negotiations are ongoing even though they say they've made their final offer."

Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls also entered the fray today, telling a newspaper: "I have huge sympathy with them."

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/112473