Music to end the condem chaos coalition...

On this weeks podcast, Colin Fox on the launch of the SSP manifesto this week, Don Mackeen on the upcoming American presidential election, podcaster Michael Greenwell in the first of a series of interviews he is doing for the SSP, Katie Bonnar on the dreadful kidnapping of young women by Boko Haram in Nigeria, Stephanie Rolls on the Scottish service tax and  Calum Martin on the rebellion of 1820.

Music from:

The Hurriers

The Just Joans

Roy Moller

Thee Faction

Steve White and the Protest family

Thee Concerned Citizens

David Rovics

Get in touch with us via the website www.scottishsocialistparty.org or email me directneilwscott@hotmail.com we want to know your views on our policies, the podcast and I am wanting to hear from unsigned and independent bands who would like to have their music played on Scotlands most popular socialist podcast.  

Opinion: Angus Clark

Jo lies down with Coalition Tory Bedfellows- Yet again!

(Published in this weeks Bearsden /Milngavie Herald)

Only weeks ago in their autumn party conference in Glasgow the Lib Dems condemned the’ bedroom tax’ for discriminating against the most vulnerable in our society. I was therefore disappointed but not surprised to discover that local MP and Cabinet Member Jo Swinson gave her backing to the bedroom tax at a recent crucial Parliamentary vote. It confirmed my view that when it comes to the crunch, Jo will lay down to her Tory coalition masters – yet again! She has consistently supported Cameron and Clegg and voted for repressive measures that the Coalition has put in place. However this must rank as her greatest betrayal yet as this was a genuine chance to finish off this dreadful measure once and for all. Her path as a career politician is now secure in that she seems to place more loyalty to this neo- conservative led government than she does to the views of her constituents, many of whom are already affected by this attempt to make the most vulnerable make more sacrifice for the bankers’ crisis. Recent modifications to exclude certain categories of recipients do not address the fundamental regressive nature of the measures and Discretionary Housing Benefit will only assist a few for a very limited period of time.  

The imposition of the bedroom tax is just the latest regressive measure to be given her support in her meteoric rise up the greasy political pole to Cabinet level, and she will no doubt be well rewarded. She also supported hiking University tuition fees up to £9000, a part privatised NHS, the dreadful Welfare Bill, War with Syria the lowering of taxes for billionaires and millionaires and Nuclear Weapons. Does she consider that this record fairly reflects the views of her constituents or the general populace-I think not. Some of her Lib Dem colleagues did indeed keep true to their principles and voted to scrap the bedroom tax and their action should be welcomed. Other MPs including Labour, decided that they had better things to do than turn up for this important vote which is very disappointing as this was a vote which could have been won, although I do not doubt that it would have been close.

Let’s be under no illusion, the bedroom tax is not a ‘single issue’ although it may appear so if directly affected. Governments don’t think that way! It is just one part of a concerted ideological plan to radically scale back the Welfare State [which has no democratic mandate].  Unlike the Poll Tax of the late 80’s which was aimed at the whole populace, the bedroom tax is targeted solely at social tenants drawing benefits both unemployed and in work, and by implication, already on or near the ‘breadline’ who are deemed to have an ‘extra room’. It therefore hits the unemployed and those in poverty wages ‘disproportionately’ leaving them hardly anything left over to live on. So much for the ‘Mansion Tax’ which Jo Swinson and the Lib Dems used to push for! Now it’s OK to penalise those at the foot of society, and join in with the Tories and the ‘Cabinet of Millionaires’ in giving the most vulnerable a ‘good kicking’. Who will be next in line?

                                                             

 We all know there is a better and more equitable way to tackle the nation’s housing shortage and overcrowding problems. The bedroom tax will never be a solution but it will and is leading to misery for thousands of adults and children, including ill health and suicide.

At the next Westminster election I am sure that the constituents of East Dunbartonshire are no mugs and will not be taken in by the Governments ‘fostered illusions’ over this and other matters. They should also cast an eye over Jo Swinson’s voting record before casting their vote.

Swinson's swan song...

It comes as no surprise that Jo Swinson is going to lose her East Dunbartonsire constituency seat.

According to her, she has worked hard as a constituency MP. And, yes, she does whizz from photo op to photo op around East Dunbartonshire. She also claims local campaign after campaign "hers" and if won, "her victory," from the locally hard fought campaign for a youth cafe in Milngavie BEFORE she was an MP to the recent climb down by Tescos over a new superstore in the village. 

Even local Liberal Democrats are saying she is over stepping her own ego. 

After she sent out leaflets  congratulating herself over the Youth Cafe, a local youth worker I know who had worked on the project with local people for years, vowed never to vote Lib Dem again.

At the recent "victory rally" of the local anti Tescos group, she managed to alienate more local people- including a number of lifelong members of her own local party committee who left the celebrations in disgust- and obvious distress- after her now typical "praise me" speech to a disbelieving audience.

Add to this the various clubs hitherto having had no interest from her into which she parachutes for a photo, and hops in the car to meet the next deadline of a local paper's photographer and you have a huge population of people in East Dunbartonshire who know what her "hard work" adds up to- publicity and self congratulation.

Swinson is a "big hitter" in the cabinet not because she is a big ideas person, or even someone who has built anything of notable value in her constituency, but as someone who has entered the right wing world of Nick Clegg without question for careerist opportunity.  The people of her constituency did not vote for any of the Tory policies she has supported,like University fees, a privatised NHS and Royal Mail (in fact her election materials made big of the "fact" she would protect RM- we knew better when she publically condemned posties striking to save their jobs and conditions of work a few years ago), the dreadful welfare bill that impoverishes the vulnerable further (including the vicious bedroom tax) and her recent support for war and nuclear weapons. 

As well as "banking" lots of political dissatisfaction through her obvious self publicity, she has lost the support of the mainstay centre left East Dunbartonshire voter.

She is "a big hitter" in the dreadful double talk of the LibDem- "Everyone knows the Conservatives can't win in East Dunbartonshire," she says. Well yes, we do know that. ED has never come near to voting Tory- but she knows she has lost the Labour voters who had turned to her as a protest against their support for Iraq and Afghanistan invasions and dissatisfaction with what had happened to the economy post 2008 - so its time for her to court the nasty right wing tory anti-working class /anti-public sector worker/anti NHS poor baiting Westminster Etonian old boy network supporters and cap doffers.

Thank the stars East Dunbartonshire has few of those.

Regarding her support for war in Syria, we have sent her this FOI Request.

"In her blogpiece on the liberal democrat website, titled Syria Debate, Posted on August 30, 2013 Jo Swinson states "Parliament was recalled todebate and vote on the UK’s response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, a serious and sombre issue that I know from my email inbox many of my constituents have been taking a keen interest in.  Here I set outhow I approached the issue and why I decided to support the motion." 

I would like the Minister and her office to send to me the total number of emails from constituents she had recieved prior to the debate on 29 August in Westminster on the topic of the Syria conflict. 

I would like this figure broken down into the total number of constituents emails that expressed the view that they were againstmilitary action in Syria / or asked her to vote against motion and the total number of constituent emails that expressed the view that theywere for military action in Syria/or asked her to vote for the motion."

Free School Meals: Universality when it suits them

by Campsie SSP member Neil Scott

Nice to see the Tories taking on a SSP policy we faught for for years. Free School meals, albeit only for infant children, is a decent start in making life better for our kids.  Its  pity they want to take other universal benefits away. Universality, as they seem to be admitting here, is the fairest, most effective way to deliver equality.

On the announcement, opportunist Nick Clegg was ironically shown on TV eating fruit with Glaswegian children.  What the news isn't saying is that coalition cuts led to free school meals & free fruit ending in Glasgow two years ago.  A few years ago, the LibDems  after taking control of free school meal pioneering Hull City Council, took away this benefit from families during "boom times". 

So why the change of heart?

Easy- the Tories and yellow Tories want to ensure their privatisation of the NHS and further destruction of workers rights and working class community, education and solidarity continues.

The Labour Party are reneging on a committment to universality- and it seems in doing so they have fallen in to a trap. A Labour Party casting off principle for power is empty, meaningless, useless. The coalition partners know this.

The Labour Party by accepting neo-liberalist/Thatcherite vicious economics have been wrong footed. This policy was off their national radar (even though some Labour councils have already enacted it). Their fear of the tory propaganda machine calling them looney lefties at any hint of support for universalism has paralized them. The right wing of the one time party of the working class have dragged them down a blind alley. 
The Labour Party should be replaced by the class they have let down.  The Scottish working class can do that with a Yes in next years independence referendum and then by voting for the SSP in 2016.

The Libdems and Tories, it is obvious, have a pact to help each other gain another term as a coalition. The Libdem media briefing paper to MPs during their conference blatently said 'talk down Labour, talk up the positivity of a Tory party that has been tamed by us...'  Tories and Libdems can cast aside 'principles' if those principles are sacrificeable for their selfish class interests. A wee concession to make people feel they have gained something, even though we have been robbed blind since 2010. Universality in this can be justified by Tories in order to hide their most vicious attacks on working class people. The cuddly LibDems can announce policies such as this to hide their support for selling off the NHS; charging students £9000 per year for an education Danny Alexander and Jo Swinson had free of charge and the impoverishing Welfare Bill, including the Bedroom Tax.

These free school meals are to be welcomed, but the robbery of the working poor and those without work to give tax breaks and bonuses to the well off, that drives them to despair, food banks, hunger and suicide need to be resisted. The disgusting bedroom tax and attacks on disability allowances, for example, will add worry beyond the benefit of a meal for their child.

Take up of free school meals in primary schools I have worked in has been as much as 100% when tried out in Glasgow schools. The benefits to learning were immediately tangible and the negative effects felt almost immediately when they were taken away again. Free School meals, free fruit and water fountains were casualties of the LibDem and Tory Westminster Government and  Glasgow Labour Council whose Scottish leaders are saying universality must be "rethought."

Free meals needs to be rolled out across all schools and ages.

Free school meals for all children is and always has been, the aim of the SSP- but as part of a raft of policies supporting universal health care, pensions, child benefts and other policies that will ensure no-one is driven from their homes or to starvation, Wonga or exploitative zero hour contracts.

Tory Policy...

I recently received a recording of a speech made by a recently adopted Conservative candidate to his constituency association and I thought a transcript might be of interest to whose who do not necessarily share his views:

 Friends,

First of all, let me say how grateful I am to have been adopted as your candidate.  I know, having talked to many of you, that we share common aims in achieving a truly Conservative nation.  I also know I can speak frankly to you, and if what I say is not yet publicly stated Conservative policy, let me assure you that my views are shared by our leaders and many MPs, even if they cannot be expressed as openly as yet. Our general aim, of course, is to dismantle the welfare state. 

We are well on the way to ridding ourselves of the so-called National Health Service, itself a socialist product of the post-War Labour Government.  The privatisation of key elements of the Health Service is proceeding well, but we have much further to go.  Let me be clear.  There should be no reliance on the state to provide medical services.  It is up to individuals to look after their own health needs, for which private insurance is readily available.  Doctors and hospitals should be normal businesses, making profit to provide health care.  This would improve efficiency.  It has already been suggested that doctors should charge for appointments and I see no reason why hospitals should not also charge for the services which they provide. As I'm sure you know, the health service was not the only section of the economy nationalised by the post-War Socialist Government as part of a conspiracy to turn the United Kingdom into a Socialist Republic. 

We have already returned most of the commanding heights of the economy into private hands and the privatisation of the Post Office will continue our efforts.  As far as education is concerned, we are making progress in dismantling State and local authority control by encouraging private ownership of schools and this will continue with appropriate incentives given for companies, churches and charities to take over school education.  Nor should we dictate what is taught in schools beyond basic literacy and numeracy.  Speaking personally, I see no reason why the State should insist on education beyond the age of 15 or even 14.  Those who leave school and do not find work should be made to work on some of the country's expanding infrastructural projects.  Our transport system, for example, still needs cheap manual labour.  And before socialists bleat that this is morally wrong, let me point out that even in Communist Albania, school children had the responsibility for laying the track for the country's railways.  Hard physical labour will develop fitness and encourage the work ethic.As you will know, we are reducing the enormous, ridiculous burden of welfare benefits and I confidently expect much further progress in  shrinking the role of the State in welfare as a whole.  Indeed, no-one should expect State hand-outs with nothing in return.  Everyone should make provision for ill-health, periods of unemployment and old age.  I know some may feel this harsh, but for those who have made little or no personal provision for the future, then I am very much in favour of a Victorian solution; namely,the workhouse.  I would remind you that no-one was forced into a workhouse, but those who felt they had no alternative could apply to be accommodated. 

Naturally, for those who are able , directed work would be a pre-requisite for entry.  I would hope that charities would help to finance and run these institutions, but a minimum of state aid would, I accept, have to be provided. I have been asked whether the above policies should be enforced on Scotland and I would argue that, assuming a positive vote for the Union in the forthcoming referendum, the Scotch should abide by the same regulations applicable to England.  A vote for the Union should imply the abolition of an independent judiciary, no separate education system or separate health service, and so on.  The Scotch could surely make do with Holyrood merely having an administrative function. 

After all, Scotch MPs are present in Westminster to make their views known. Some have mentioned that the Labour Party leader, Ed Millipede, and his colleagues have endorsed some of our radical policies to roll back socialism and eliminate the residual power of trade unions.  This may seem to be so, and it does reflect the desire of the electorate for our policies.  But I would remind you that Ed and David's father, Ralph Millipede,was a Communist and there is no evidence that his sinister beliefs have ever been disavowed by his sons. The population wants a reduced tax burden, more choice in education and health and a continued attack on sloth and fecklessness.  We should make sure we represent and lead these attitudes, and I believe the press will be behind us.  Some of you may know the tract issued by the author of Gulliver's Travels, Jonathon Swift, in 1729.  This was a time of great famine in Ireland and the tract, A Modest Proposal,suggested that the solution to the famine was to eat the surplus Irish children of that benighted nation. 

Now, naturally, I would not recommend such a radical solution to the problems of poverty,but Swift's tract does illustrate the blue-sky thinking in which we should indulge to eliminate the curse of socialism which has benighted us for so long. 

Finally, thank you for allowing me to express my views to you.  When I become your MP, rest assured that I will make every effort to effect the policies which I have laid before you. 

At which the candidate, Winston Algernon Norris Ker, sat down to enthusiastic and prolonged applause.

The Politics of Envy...

The Etonian millionaires tell us when we talk about the gap between the rich and poor, that these are the politics of envy. Yet their press- the press they, the rich, own and control, every day talks about "scroungers" " skivers" etc living off the state.

They have used this manipulation of public opinion through their media outlets to lower compassion and in turn justify the stripping of meagre funds that people rely on to feed families through unemployment thrust upon them by the monetarist policies of Governments from Thatcher through to Cameron and Clegg's.

Tell a lie often enough and it becomes truth, the Nazi propagandists taught them.

These policies have ensured those who own medical "providers" profit hugely. Some of these companies were formed before the English NHS was tore apart by the Tories and LibDems but who waited patiently until the legislation was thrust into law and now who are buying up the profitable parts of the NHS and are profiting by charging the tax payer exhorbitant amounts of money. Some were American Companies that in anticipation, many of those who you vote for, bought stock in. Insider dealing?

Your politicians have nothing on the Nick Leeson's of this world.

This Government has pushed millions of children below the poverty line while giving tax breaks - and actual tax money to billionaires.

Their politics of envy have led to despair and desperation - suicides and stress related deaths through their ATOS and bedroom tax programmes.

Research has shown that even during the so called boom years of Blair and Thatcher, there have never been enough jobs for everyone. Yet Cameron and his ministers talk about people languishing on benefit as if it were the fault of the unskilled, poor worker.

As if it were the fault of the poor immigrant asking for asylum from Governments who want them dead.

Or the poor immigrant who comes here to find safe, unionised, reasonably paid work away from the Primark, Walmart etc sweatshops in which they could die, chained to their sewing machine making cheap clothes that gives us the impression we have wealth?

Slave workers who die to clothe our poor or "throw away fashionable?"

So- the politics of envy... by stealing money from the poor- chipping away at the small funds needed to keep people above the breadline; impoverishing people and making this narrative of skivers and scroungers and thieving immigrants a prerequisite of political discourse, could someone explain to me what envy is?

Is it political voices saying the gap between the rich and poor is immoral?

Is it the voices who say no child should live in poverty regardless of how difficult their mother or father are finding it to get work?

Or is it the political voices saying that poor people have it too good? 

Bedroom tax... From Twitter...

From SNP MP Angus Robertson via twitter last night:

RT @MorayMP:

Only four out of 59 Scottish MPs voted for bedroom tax:

@DavidMundellMP TORY
@MichaelMooreMP LIBDEM
@acarmichaelmp LIBDEM

**@joswinson** OUR MP, A LIBDEM. 

It's time for Jo to go.

The only way to stop the London based Tories from wreckng Scotland again is a YES vote next year.

Jo Swinson in Lib Dem cover-up..?

Jo Swinson implicated in Liberal Democrat cover-up of sexual impropriety..? More HERE from Channel 4 News...

Jo welcomes five more years of Tories at Westminster...

Why the EU referendum means Five more years for the Tories... by Neil Scott, SSP Campsie member.

Cameron has just created his NEXT coalition partners for 2015, UKIP. 

He has just shafted the Libdems bigtime. Kicking a referendum into the medium grass (after 2015) means the Tories will get 5 more years and UKIP, winning some seats, will go into coalition creating the most right wing Government the UK has ever known. 

The unquestioning faithfulness of the Liberal Democrats to the Tory programme, and the realisation that they, in the words of Martin Luther King, prefer a "negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice," has destroyed Clegg and Swinson's party.  An increasingly hammered, impoverished working class will see the yellow albatross's off.  A middle class who this week will see their wages reduced on average by £30 a month after capitulation by the LD's on pensions are leaving them in droves.

Cameron does not want to leave the EU, nor does he really care about re-negotiation.  He does care about power in order to impose a dystopian future on the "UK", and this announcement of a referendum will more or less ensure a weaker opposition and a stronger right-wing coalition.

I don't feel sorry for quisling Libdems, but I did warn Jo Swinson she was a patsy (this article has my twitter conversation with her after the Coalition agreement was signed - HERE). 

The patsies have just overseen the death of their party & the re-election of the greedy, lying, vicious Tories. 

Long may the Libdems be in the wilderness for damning England to Tories part two. 

Martin Luther King's words from the same letter written from a Birmingham, Alabama jail, "Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."  The working class of Scotland understand these words.

I am so glad we can vote to never have a Tory Government come 2014, and kick Jo Swinson and her Liberal Democrats right out of a job near to power.

John Morrison

We are shocked to hear of the tragic death of John Morrison who led East Dunbartonshire Council from 2003 to 2007. He was a gentleman and a man of great humour.

Report here

Coalition in crisis: kick them out!

By Richie Venton, SSP national workplace organiser

photo:  John Lanigan

 
As the council election caravan moves on, working class people continue to face appalling cuts to their living standards; they are left with no option but to 'struggle or starve'.

The chief architects of the cuts to pensions, wages, benefits and community facilities were hammered in the council elections. The Tories lost over 400 councillors, in a tidal wave of revulsion at their cuts and their sleaze.
Their junior partners in crime fared even worse at the hands of a furious population, many of whom feel cheated and betrayed by the LibDems. The carnage included the loss of 80 out of 151 LibDem councillors in Scotland.

Despite the SSP vote suffering from the crushing squeeze between the two tribes of Labour and SNP going to war, enhanced by the brutal, self-fulfilling media lie that this was a two-horse race, we beat the LibDem party of government in many of the seats we contested! Mind you, so did an Edinburgh 'penguin'!

No mandate to rule and ruin
The millionaires' Coalition has even less of a mandate for their eye-watering butchery to jobs, services and incomes than they had before May 3rd. That applies with special force in Scotland, where they have plummeted to the status of fringe parties, mostly isolated to a few rural pockets in the Borders and South Ayrshire in the case of the Tories. 

The Westminster butchers are in deep disarray, drowning in a sea of sleaze around the Murdoch scandal and the descent of the economy into a 'double-dip' recession for the first time since 1975 - and the longest economic depression in decades.

With that background, Cameron, Clegg & Co are all the more ruthless in their desire to make working class people pay for the crisis, whilst those who perpetrated some of the worst cuts are wallowing in wealth. 
But they are weak, vulnerable and divided, with right-wing Tories decrying the presence of the LibDems, and even a Tory MP publicly sneering at Cameron and Clegg as "two posh boys who don't know the price of milk" - an assessment that finds massive resonance amongst those at the receiving end of their upper-class callousness.

Slasher Hutton on £100,000 a day!
Millions of public sector workers have had their first taste of increased chunks of their wages being deducted as pension contributions last month - with a lot worse to come next year and the year after unless the government is defeated by united action.

Meantime, Labour Lord John Hutton - 'Slasher' Hutton to those suffering the assault on six million public sector workers' pensions that he was chief author of under the previous Labour government - has landed a £100,000 a day job as chair of the part-privatised civil service outfit, MyCSP.

68 is too late!
Opinion polls confirm massive opposition to the later retirement age being pushed through, which means every female worker under 36 faces an extra 8 years in work before she can get a state pension, and every male worker in that age-group an extra 3 years. 

Whilst over one third (36 per cent) of families currently rely on grandparents for child-minding, and councils jack up the cost of council nursery places as part of the cuts agenda, the government wants to force millions to work longer, denying them a healthy retirement and robbing them of time with their grandchildren. 

A child born today will have to work well into their late 70s if Coalition plans are not derailed by strikes, protests and civil disobedience.

Even Tory voters are rebelling against this abomination of a plan! A recent YouGov poll found 53 per cent of Tory voters against raising the retirement age, with 35 per cent of them criticising the fact it will lead to even fewer job opportunities for young people. 

Across the board, 62 per cent of people oppose making workers work longer for less on retirement - despite an incredible 38 per cent of those polled not even being aware of the planned delay in retirement!

This country is poised to have the latest state retirement age in Europe, as well as some of the lowest wages, longest working week and poorest holiday entitlements.

The moneyed class and their governments try to drag us out of recession by preaching the gospel "shop 'til you drop" - whilst slashing workers' spending power! 

Now they want us to literally "work 'til you drop" - to ensure the CEOs of big private businesses can continue to wallow in their current average pensions of £175,000 a year.

M10 strike rekindles the fires of resistance
The strike of up to half a million public sector workers on 10 May - including PCS, UNITE, UCU and RMT members in the civil service, health, MoD and education - should be the flame to re-ignite the fires of resistance that too many trade union leaders have tried to dampen since the magnificent strike of two million on 30 November. 

These unions plan further coordinated action in late June. PCS is also taking industrial action in specific departments and sectors, alongside a generalised overtime ban from now until late June. And they have raised the call for a united demo against the cuts this side of the summer.

Demand an immediate mass demo
One of the trade union 'leaders' who did most to stall the momentum after N30 is UNISON's Dave Prentis. Now, in an attempt to save face amongst members increasingly angry at being 'sold a pup' by Prentis, he has called for a mass trade union-led demo in the autumn. 

Why wait that long? Active members of every union should argue for a huge Saturday demo over the next couple of months, demanding that either the STUC call it in Scotland or a 'coalition of the willing trade unions' do so. 

Not instead of a broader, bigger strike in June, but in addition to it, as a means of reaching out to workers in local government, education and the private sector who are not part of the M10 strike. Not just on pensions, but on other cuts and attacks on rights, jobs and benefits.

Coalition can be beaten
The recent council elections saw hundreds of thousands voting either SNP or Labour as a means of punishing the Westminster cuts Coalition. They won votes primarily because they are not the Coalition! 

The electoral decimation of the chief architects of cuts should be the green light for the trade unions to unite with community groups and socialists in decisive, early action to drive the crisis-ridden Coalition back further. They can be beaten. They can be driven out of office.

The response on the streets to the SSP's central message 'no cuts, tax the rich' was infinitely larger than the votes cast for our uncompromising socialist case, partly because people were browbeaten with the media message of a 'two-horse race', partly because Labour and the SNP lied through their teeth with talk of creating jobs, and people often gave one of the 'big two' their first two votes, giving the SSP third or fourth preference. 

Pound new councils with demands to reverse the cuts
In several councils, the biggest party has changed from one to the other, so the trade union movement and community organisations should join with socialists in pounding these councillors with demands to reverse the cuts of their predecessors - or stand exposed as fakers gaining votes under false pretences, engaged in a cynical exercise of shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic. Now is the time to besiege them with such demands, fresh on the heels of them taking office.

Capitalism doesn't work
The battle against cuts, both at local council level and nationally on the pensions issue, is critical in the broader resistance to the systematic dismantling of workers' rights, benefits and frontline services gained by past generations through struggle. 

Plans to usher in regional pay; slash the right to challenge unfair dismissal from work; curtail the right to have functioning union shop stewards to stand up for members; and the core aim of rampant privatisation of what remains of public property - all these and more are the inevitable product of a capitalist system that is based on exploitation for profit, that simply doesn't work, that condemns a whole generation to permanent mass unemployment, and that seeks to slaughter working class conditions in defence of profit margins and privileges for the obscenely rich minority.

Capitalism means cuts, mass unemployment and mounting poverty from the cradle to the grave. 
Socialism - based on taxation of the rich, wealth redistribution and democratic public ownership - is the only means of escaping 'eternal austerity'. 

Those who strike back in May have an important part to play in building a future worthy of the name - a socialist future based on people, not profit.

From Coalition of Resistance:

Vote tomorrow

Reject coalition austerity policies (for East Dunbartonshire Socialist Candidates, see post below)

Bullingdon Boys: They are all in it together 

People will go to the polls across Britain today. It is vital that these elections show the strongest possible rejection of the coalition government's brutal and unfair austerity policies.

The savage cuts that are being inflicted on us are neither necessary nor effective to meet the economic crisis facing Britain, Europe and much of the world.

They are cuts inflicted in the interests of the ruling class - the tiny minority whose interests are represented by the government. Their policies mean the rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer: jobs are lost, people lose their homes and livelihoods.

Use your vote today to show your rejection of these criminal policies - and the racist and far-right attitudes that they breed - whether in local or mayoral elections. Let's have the biggest swing possible against candidates representing government policies.

Elect a socialist in East Dunbartonshire...

place a number 1 beside the socialist candidate!

(click on leaflet for larger version)

Kirkintilloch East and Twechar  Willie Telfer:

The “mainstream” political parties are draining Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and the UK in general of taxes that should be going towards helping people.  In England, the Tories and Liberal Democrats have overseen the selloff of the NHS to the likes of SERCO, a company who are involved in military and nuclear weapons contracts, detention centres and prisons. This hardly fits with the Doctor mantra, "Do no harm..."  Our local council – ran by an unholy alliance of Tories and New Labour, (and still suffering from the neglect of the previous Liberal Democrat led administration) have overseen the paying off of vital council staff from classroom assistants through to librarians, yet pour millions of our Council Tax into paying interest to corporations who are profiteering from schools and hospital builds.  The council is the first line of defence from the profiteers who are trying to turn our services into “for profit organisations,” rather than “care, education and fairness.”  An SSP councillor will fight to ensure your taxes are spent on vital services rather than servicing profits.

Scottish Socialist Party councillors will always put first the interests of local people and; communities; Scottish Socialist Party councillors will demand and will present balanced ‘No Cuts’ budgets and unlike other parties, SSP councillors are prepared to do whatever it takes to deliver a better deal for local people through protected and enhanced services and public sector jobs.

Bishopbriggs South   Mark Callaghan:

I am 46, involved in both the Healthy Living Program and my local Town Hall

As a socialist, I believe in a system that help people not one that is about a minority of people making extortionate profits by keeping people poor.  If elected, I will always put first the interests of local people and communities and will present a balanced ‘No Cuts’ budget – budgets for the people, not the bankers.

Unlike other parties, all SSP councillors are prepared to campaign to deliver a better deal for local people through protected and enhanced services and public sector jobs.

SSP Councillors will stand beside communities being attacked and will defend them in a practical way both inside the council Chamber and outside.

Neil Scott, Bearsden North.

A local teacher, Neil Scott, is standing in the May elections against what he sees as the mismanagement of Council money and unnecessary cuts.  He said in a statement, “East Dunbartonshire has, in recent years, had the misfortune of having had a Liberal Democrat Council followed by a coalition of Labour and Tories.  The mishandling of the council by these three versions of the same thing has seen an attempt to close schools in the past two years; terrible deals with corporations that have meant millions of pounds of our Council Tax money being given over to massive PPP/PFI “Guaranteed returns on investment” for minimum outlay; a decimation of our local services from Libraries through to schools, and more.  If any of these parties gain the council in May, there will be more of the same, and in fact the deferred closure of East Dunbartonshire Schools will go ahead.

As a father and a teacher I have a different vision for East Dunbartonshire services.  Our area is a well off council area, one in which money could be invested in our services rather than further job-losses and cuts.  I see a clear need to renegotiate PPP/PFI deals.  Some of these venture capitalists are making millions of pounds of our tax money with investments of a few hundred pounds.  I see East Dunbartonshire being a place of opportunity for all; a place where our money is invested in real jobs and services which will help stimulate the Scottish economy.  The real drivers of any economy are people.  The profits creamed off by corporations from our Council tax should be reclaimed and invested in real jobs and in our people.”

SSP Election Leaflet - Bearsden North

The Easter Activist

by SSP Campsie member Neil Scott

Christ of Abu Ghraib by Trill Zapatero

The men sat on the hill, looking out over the darkened city.

 “Look. Only you can know this. Tell no-one else. When it is done, you must flee.” He didn’t look at his friend, his face was drawn. His friend was not used to seeing him as he had been in the past few days. Serious, stressed even. Gone were the smiles and the serenity of the campaign. From the day they had arrived in the city, all had changed. The campaign had taken a new turn. Was this the end-game?

 He stood up and faced his friend. If this was the end-game, then it should be on their terms. “The only way we can rid our lands of this dreadful, exploitative system is to make allies and together we can rise up!” 

 His friend shook his head and looked at him. He signalled for him to sit, to calm. “Believe me, what I have planned will mean the power of money will be diminished forever. We have shown through our actions and our activism that the only way for mankind to survive is for us to work together. To be as one. To share.” He clasped his hands and pointed them towards the other man. “ To make sure the weakest and most vulnerable have opportunity and the essentials in life. The Imperialist Occupier's system only brings poverty, greed, envy and betrayal.”

His friend was not for calming. His voice rose to almost a shout, “No! We must take up arms!

read on HERE

The Rich are not being fair

Letter:

Jo Swinson started off to the left of Labour but since going to Westminster has moved steadily to
the right. Charles Gray, a long time Labour supporter, doesn't seem to recognise Labour too has
been corrupted by the same Westminster virus and has ,likewise, moved to the right so now it would
be appropriate to describe New Labour as pink Tories.

At the end of WW2 old Labour, which no longer exists, brought in the welfare state, a glowing
example of social development. Unfortunately most of the millionaires,the rich people and their
party, the Tories, have always been antagonistic to the welfare state and have steadily moved to
undermine and destroy it. Welfare – health, education and the many public services we all need
have to be paid for and this is done by taxat ion It is generally agreed that progressive income tax
is the fairest way to do this.

For many it is now clear that tax dodging is out of control. In the UK alone we have a £120
billion tax gap-- comprising tax avoided through obscure accounting and the use of tax havens,
illegal tax evasion and even uncollected tax. The 3 main parties Tory, Lib Dem and Labour all bear
responsibility for failure to tackle this as the people of Bradford seem to have realised. The rich
don't pay a fair share of tax.

Ron Mackay,
Milton of Campsie.

State monitoring of YOUR emails...

Jo Swinson was on TV last night defending the Governments want to monitor your emails, Facebook, Twitter, web history etc.  This is a complete flip from her stance back in 2009 when she hadn't tasted power.

Please email Jo Swinson and David Cameron and let them know you feel this is an infringement of your civil liberties.

David Cameron's private email - privateoffice@no10.x.gsi.gov.uk


Contact Jo Swinson - http://www.writetothem.com/

When is an e-consultation not an e-consultation?

...when Jo Swinson holds one on Independence!

From News Net Scotland - HERE

Titanic 2 "The ConDemNation"

by Campsie SSP member, Neil Scott

On April 12 1912, the Titanic sank. The "unsinkable sinking" and God's wrath on men getting above their station are held as reasons for the lingering fascination behind this event, but I feel the exposure of the values and the class system that prevented social mobility of Victorian/Edwardian Britain a much more important factor. If there was a message from any God, it must have been the disgust of the vilification and condemnation of a "subspecies" of the poor. The disgusting statistics of Third Class dead and stories of people being kept away from the lifeboats exposed the truth of "our betters." I feel what happened in 1912 serves as a warning as massive inequality seems to be the order of Tory Britain in 2012.

Read the rest of this article on the Huffington Post HERE

Slactivism, Bono, Tax and Kony

Huffington Post article by SSP Campsie member, Neil Scott

Pictures by Gwen Penner

Until recently I didn't fully understand the danger suggested by the term "slactivism."

What is slactivism?

Slactivism is someone who jumps from cause to cause - each cause being, to the slactivist, as worthy as the next. The term could, at its least dangerous, be given to those who loosely link causes together and change focus regularly. Each cause is, on the surface, one that can be supported by activists, each cause bringing with it a new meme or a new trendy logo and visuals. It brings with it a kind of "altruistic street-cred." A selfish altruism.

But its seeming legitimacy is its inherent danger as imperialist governments and oil companies take advantage of the slactivist's lack of focus and in depth critical thinking.

White teeshirts and tax evasion

Back in 2005, we were told that clicking our fingers would "Make Poverty History." Bob Geldof, aproven tax dodger, made us feel guilty. Of course his altruism does not extend to the poor in his own adopted home - welfare projects and education and health benefit lightly from his taxes as he has found out how to hide money in properties purchased abroad. Bono and his pompous band are the same - Ireland is in huge crises - poverty in his own country is increasing hugely, but to him, his tax millions are better in his own offshore accounts.

Slactivists clicked fingers, pounded the streets of Edinburgh, listened to Annie Lennox and wore white shirts.

Geldof labelled anti-poverty demonstrators "good and bad," to refer to the rubber wrist band wearing MTV slactivist as opposed to the anti-poverty groups that had been lobbying the capitalist governments of the world for years. Good = concert goer, bad = poverty groups demonstrating near the G8 summit.

REST OF THEARTICLE HERE