hope that there is a future for workers and welfare in Scotland. If we

stick with Westminster, all we can expect is more cuts, more

unemployment, more privatisation, more inequality, more anti-trade

union laws. But, some of you may ask, what if we vote a Labour

government into Westminster in 2015? Johann Lamont, Scottish Labour

leader, made it quite clear in a recent speech that principles of universal

welfare like free education, free bus passes for the elderly and free

prescription charges are no more - devolution has only created a

'something for nothing' culture in Lamont's world.

Is this really the best we can hope for? It is unless you are willing to look

beyond the stale cuts consensus in Britain and start asking some more

fundamental questions about society: why can't we tax the rich more

and close down tax loopholes and offshore tax avoidance? Why can't the

state invest in green industrialisation to create jobs and save the

environment? Why can't we scrap trident and wars abroad and retrain

workers in jobs that are useful for everyone?

All of this is possible - but only through independence. And not just any

independence - a radical break with Britain must be based on the sort of

values we want represented in a new Scotland - welfare, peace,

education, equality, environment, and more.

The Radical Independence Conference on November 24th in the

Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow will bring together all of the progressive

movement – Greens, Trade Unionists, journalists, authors, students,

anti-racist campaigners – who support independence to discuss how we

can achieve independence on a radical basis.

What’s wrong is that the British State has been

captured almost entirely by one social class. Let’s

call that class ‘Big Money’.

It has a simple goal – to make sure that power

and wealth flows from us to it forever. It is the

war business, which talks about security but is

really about transferring public money to the

arms industry and using our army to protect

commercial interests abroad. It is the finance

business, still twisting national policy to make

sure that its scheme for siphoning cash from

people to it is protected at all costs. It is the

deregulation business, using its ideology of ‘free

markets’ to make sure the interests of big

tobacco, big pharmaceuticals, big oil, big

supermarkets and all the rest are always put

ahead of our interests and that they are free to

use their power to exploit us. It is the privilege

business, where a tiny network of institutions like

private schools reserved for the children of the

wealthy are given almost total control of all the

top levels of decision-making. It is the

privatisation business, working every day to

undermine the public realm and dismantle the

welfare state for the profit and ideological

pleasure of the few. It is the crooked media

business, using wealth to own and manipulate the

way the public is supposed to learn about what is

happening to them. It is the anti-democracy

business, the web of lobbyists, private

consultants, quangos, think tanks and senior civil

servants which work to make sure that as many

decisions as possible take place behind closed

doors where democracy can’t get in the way of

wealth.

We know what's wrong. The question is what do

we do about it?

In 1995, when I was still a wee boy (well, 22), I

went to work as the press officer of the Leader

of the Scottish Labour Party. I packed my cases

for London in the excited belief that what I would

find there was a mass of people who wanted to

change Britain, to make it a fairer and better

place. That's not what I found. Instead I found the

London Elite, an interchangeable queue of upper-

middle class people who believed that what

Britain needed was, well, them. And what they

needed was power. Sometimes they talked about

reform, but mostly they talked about not rocking

the boat.

The question was put in my mind there and then

– will Britain ever really change? And if it is to

change, can it come from inside this rotten core?

I saw nothing to make me believe it. I watched as

the Labour Movement's best chance of reforming

Britain for a generation was not only squandered

but actually subverted.

Then I thought our best chance was devolution. It

was; it protected us from the worst of the

dismantling of the Welfare State and from the

worst of the neoliberal policies of Westminster.

But now the problem is deeper. The very nature

of Britain is under attack and devolution isn't

enough to protect us anymore. And much as I

wish it was different, I can see no democratic way

to reverse this long, slow death of the British

Welfare State.

Well, there is one way. I believe that it is possible

for Scotland to save Britain, but I no longer

believe we can do it inside Britain. What we can

do is leave amicably and show the working people

of England, Wales and Northern Ireland that it

can be different, that the way of the London Elite

is not the only way. I have come to believe that

independence is not the only option for a better

Scotland, it is the only option for a better Britain.

Lots of us feel the same way. You must have

noticed that the real independence movement is

now almost indistinguishable from the movement

for social justice in Scotland. These are the only

people willing to talk about a Scotland different

from the one we are being given by London. This

is the only vision of a better Scotland anyone is

talking about, or that anyone believes any more.

So come and hear people who feel like you talk

about that vision, about that chance to change

Scotland, and to help the rest of Britain to believe

that it can change itself.

If you believe the British State is close to being

ready to reform itself, to remove the power of

Big Money from its corridors, then you have no

need to be at the Radical Independence

Conference on November 24th at the Radisson

Blu Hotel in Glasgow. For everyone else, join us:

PHOTO: JOHN LANIGAN

Editor of the Scottish Left Review Robin McAlpine lays out why breaking with the worst vestiges of the

‘Big Money’-dominated British state is a chance that must be seized by those fighting for a fairer Scotland

Cat Boyd, an activist in the PCS union

in Glasgow, argues that a new Scottish

state could break with the Thatcherite

anti-union laws

The Anti-Trade Union laws of 1979-1995 have served as a leash,

choking the trade union movement in the UK. Thatcher’s anti-

union legislation has gagged workers’ power to strike – the one

weapon we have against ruthless employers. However, as a

young trade unionist, my first encounter with the anti-union laws

was from a Labour leader. Tony Blair once celebrated the anti-

trade union legislation as “the most restrictive on trade unions in

the Western world”. No Labour leader has shown an appetite to

reverse this, and the Tories have made it clear that further

attacks on trade union rights are coming.

These laws do not just hamper workers’ right to strike – they

crush democratic and economic expressions of political dissent.

Bosses constantly threaten ‘capital flight’: taking their businesses

elsewhere if workers don’t do as they say. But when we threaten

our own forms of solidarity action; it is illegal. They are anti-

democratic laws, specifically targeted to hurt the working class

and weaken collective struggle.

Independence will create a massive opportunity to challenge these anti-democracy laws. We cannot go on, as a trade union

movement, inside a system which saps energy and force from our

democratic right to strike, and to show solidarity across our

class. Scottish independence could reinvigorate the workers’

movement. Workers have the chance to make specific demands

about what they would want from a new Scottish state: an end

to anti-labour laws should be a priority. The rights of workers to

organise, agitate and take action are more likely to be achieved in

a new Scotland than an old Britain.

In order to challenge capitalism in a global world, a national labour movement must coordinate across borders: there is no

reason why workers in an independent Scotland and workers in

the rest of the UK could not be a spectacular example of

international solidarity. Workers should not be divided by

nations or borders wherever they are drawn. A Scotland free

from the shackles of British anti-trade union laws can provide an

example to those in the rest of the UK of what is possible, and

will be a spark that lights the bonfire, burning forever the

legislation that has dampened our struggle.

PETER MCCOLL Rector, Edinburgh University

“I’m delighted that so many committed people are coming together to create the

Radical Independence Conference. We have to seize the chance to have the

independent Scotland we want. That means resisting the corporate interests that

have totally seized the British state. There is a better future for Scotland, where

we have a chance to free ourselves from the control of entrenched capitalist

interests. But that requires us to make the argument that we can keep the NHS

public in Scotland, free ourselves of weapons of mass destruction, leave

belligerent organisations like NATO and create a better country. Scotland could

be a world leader in promoting peace, the most socially just country in Europe

and power itself renewably.”

On November 24th, hundreds of people will come together

from across Scotland for the Radical Independence

Conference. Here, some of the figures backing the

conference explain its importance, and the radical

potential of independence.

PATRICK HARVIE MSP Scottish Greens

“Independence is an inherently radical step to take; we should not be ashamed

to say so. If we can turn the independence debate into an opportunity to

advance a radical policy platform, we can offer Scotland a real choice and the

opportunity to build a better society. We risk failing an entire generation if we

allow independence to be portrayed as just another form of the status quo or,

worse still, simply as an end in itself.”

“As a trade union activist I see independence as an opportunity – to maximise

the voice of workers throughout the debate and to build a Scotland that rejects

austerity. Breaking the unity of the British state does not mean breaking the

unity of workers. Let’s repeal the anti-trade union laws, and make issues

affecting workers a central theme of the discussion over the coming years.”

SUKI SANGHA STUC Youth Committee (pc)

JOHN MCALLION former Labour MP & SSP

“Scottish independence is a means to an end, never an end in itself. Changing

the colour of the national flag that flies over neo-liberalism would be an

exercise in futility. The point is to use independence and the break-up of Britain

as the opportunity for real change and for a radical socialist and green overhaul

of the political, social and economic structure of Scottish society.”

“For us anti-nuclear campaigners, nuclear weapons are the defining feature of

our potential to achieve real change and international influence through

independence. We want to discuss and inform people about the case for

independence concerning the full and speed removal of the Trident nuclear

weapons system from Scotland.”

LEONNA O’NEILL Faslane Peace Camp

The Radical Independence Conference will take place on Saturday 24

November at the Radisson Blu Hotel on Argyle Street in Glasgow city

centre. The first conference session will take place in the mid-morning,

followed by a break for lunch, and it should be wrapped by late afternoon.

The conference will hear from a range of speakers over the course of the

day, alongside workshops covering a broad range of topics – from refugees

and immigration to the fight against austerity, republicanism, the environment

and more. The full line-up will be announced ahead of the conference. A

number of international speakers, from the Quebec & Basque pro-

independence lefts, Front de Gauche (France) and Syriza (Greece) will be

appearing at the conference.

Tickets are easily available at radicalindependence.org, or by emailing

radicalindependence@gmail.com. We are looking into transport

arrangements from across Scotland. Sign up to our mailing list for details.

The conference was launched earlier this year in a statement signed by

figures from across the progressive movement in Scotland, committed to

organising a conference to found a grassroots campaign for independence

which puts forward a vision for Scotland that is:

Green and environmentally sustainable

Internationalist and opposed to trident and war

For a social alternative to austerity and privatisation

A modern republic for real democracy

Committed to equality and opposed to discrimination on grounds of

gender, race or sexuality

We want the conference and subsequent campaign to be as open and

inclusive as possible. Organising meetings are publicised through our social

networking pages and our mailing list, which you can sign up for on

radicalindependence.org

A number of local RIC groups are being established in different areas – get in

touch for details or check out the ‘Local Groups’ section of our website. If

you want to help build the conference – by selling tickets, organising a local

meeting or distributing promo materials, we can help you out. Email

radicalindependence@gmail.com or call Jonathan on 07983 537187

CRAIG MACLEAN PHOTOS (FRONT & BACK PAGES):