RIC Statement on the Westminster General Election

The Radical Independence Campaign has members in the SNP, Greens, socialist organisations, and a majority in no party at all. Therefore, as in the 2015 and 2017 Westminster and the 2016 Holyrood elections we will not be making specific party voting recommendations for the December 12th general election.

Nevertheless, we call on RIC supporters to recognise the Tories’ attempt to turn this election into a plebiscite to centralise UK state power. This will be wielded on behalf of corporate business and open up Scotland and the UK to a US Trump deal which threatens the NHS, workers’ rights, environmental and consumer safeguards, promotes more wars, and introduces even more draconian racist immigration laws. The Tories intend to remove large sections of the working class from the electoral register to further their plans.

Two prime Tory targets are the democratic right of the Scottish people to exercise our right to self-determination, and the limited post 1997 devolution-all-round settlement.  A Tory Brexit will be used to reinforce all the most reactionary features of Britishness. Instead of a Tory Brexit fiasco we need an Ex-Brit (or break-up the UK) strategy to help us break free. In RIC’s spirit of internationalism from below, this also involves the people of Ireland, Wales and England too. Therefore, we call for the rejection of all Unionist candidates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and recommend our Labour and Green supporters in England to ask their candidates if they support the right of the Scottish parliaments to hold an early independence referendum.

We will continue to work in and with trade unions, community organisations and international solidarity campaigns to prepare a defence against their planned attacks and to create our new society based on RIC’s 5 Principles:-

1)         For a social alternative to austerity and privatisation 

2)         Green and environmentally sustainable 

3)         A modern republic for real democracy 

4)         Committed to equality and opposition to discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, sexuality or age 

5)         Internationalist and opposed to war, NATO and Trident

 

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Comments (7)

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  1. sandy McBurney says:

    So RIC oppose a vote for any labour candidates in Scotland. The reactionary dead-end of Scottish nationalism is exposed for any thinking socialist to see. RIC prefer a capitalist Scotland to a socialist Britain. I am all for resisting the capitalist state since it is a state that defends the rule of capital. However, an independent capitalist Scotland would be no better than a capitalist Britain- probably worse since it would be built on the bones of the defeat and fragmentation of the working movement in Britain. I want a socialist government which means a government that fights against Capital and for the working class. Why would you support an independent capitalist Scotland rather than a socialist Britain? If the government in London was implementing pro-working class reforms why would you support Scottish independence under a neo-liberal pro-imperialist SNP?

    1. Dave Coull says:

      I was at the RIC National Forum in Perth on Saturday, and I supported this statement.
      Sandy McBurney claims “you oppose a vote for any labour candidates in Scotland”
      I didn’t vote in the 2015 general election, and I didn’t vote in the 2017 general election, and, so far as December 2019 is concerned, my inclination is to continue my practice of not voting in Westminster elections.
      But I’ve received no fewer than SIX communications from Kirstene Hair, plus one personal letter from Ruth Davidson, and all of them saying the only way to stop IndyRef2 is to vote Tory. On one frantic leaflet, Kirstene Hair says “It’s going to be REALLY CLOSE here in Angus”. She provides a chart urging Labour and LibDem voters to “lend” her their vote to stop IndyRef2. She is really worried.
      Well, I’m in favour of a new referendum on independence. The result of all these frantic messages from Kirstene Hair is, I might have to vote after all. Because I’m in favour of a new referendum on independence.
      Most of the election messages I’ve received are in the bin. Including the one from the SNP. I’m not impressed with their candidate. But the one from Monique Miller is still on my desk. I quite like some of the things she says. If Monique gave a commitment to support an early referendum on independence, then, I might be tempted to vote for her.
      But the reality, here in Angus, is that Jeremy Corbyn’s best chance of getting to 10 Downing Street is folk voting for whatsisname.
      “You prefer a capitalist Scotland to a socialist Britain”
      Socialist Britain?
      How many times has the Labour Party promised that?
      How many times has the Labour Party been in Government?
      NEITHER the Labour Party nor the SNP are “socialist”.
      Neither of them are to be trusted.
      But if we’re ruled from Edinburgh, then it’s a lot easier to go to protests against the Government than if it’s in London.

  2. sandy McBurney says:

    The main deadly enemy of the SNP and its independence project is the working-class movement in Britain. At present, the working-class movement in Britain is fighting for a pro-working-class government under Corbyn. If that project is defeated the Scottish independence project will gain a big boost since workers will lose their hope in a British wide advance for the movement. Scottish Nationalism can only succeed if the British labour movement is defeated. Scottish independence is a project build on despair at the prospects of working-class political advance on a British wide basis. The defeat of the Corbyn project will provoke a rise in nationalism on both sides of the border and a big set back for the socialist movement

    1. David McGill says:

      Sandy, the SSP regard independence as a simply a means to an end. There is no real hope of the Labour Party winning a UK General Election and Labour MP’s are almost extinct in Scotland. Only through independence can they be revived north of the Border.

    2. James Mills says:

      If working people shared your vision of a socialist Britain surely it would have come to fruition before now ? And if it does not – wouldn’t it be easier to reach this socialist utopia in a small , independent nation where , despite the dominance of the SNP , a Labour Party could offer such a prospect for the people ?
      Many people , myself included , were former Labour voters but through various betrayals by those leading the Labour Party ( UK and Scotland ) have turned to the SNP as a way of divorcing ourselves from a system ( UK ) which is more and more alien to what many ( majority ? ) in Scotland believe in .
      Come independence , I would hope to see a resurgent Labour Party ( and others ) fighting to produce a country that serves ” the many not the few ” – which , sadly , is not about to happen in the UK .
      So , for now , vote SNP and when independence comes vote with your social conscience .

      1. Robbie says:

        James mills my sentiments exactly, that’s the Only way the people of Scotland can get a Fair crack of the whip

    3. David Allan says:

      Hi Sandy

      In light of GE verdict where droves of English working class , lent their vote to the Tories surely you have now grasped that Scotland is travelling on a trajectory where people like yourself have at least a realistic opportunity to further their aims.

      I hope like many before you, the penny has finally dropped!

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