schadenfreude 2

A former MSP who gave evidence on behalf of Tommy Sheridan during his defamation case against the News of the World has been charged with perjury. Lothian and Borders Police confirmed that Rosemary Byrne, 59, was arrested, charged and released on Tuesday. Ms Byrne is co-convenor of Solidarity, the socialist party formed by Tommy Sheridan after he left the SSP.

Neither London Nor Edinburgh - But World Socialism

We have previously dismissed Scottish Nationalism in an earlier post and now with the imminent elections for the Scottish Parliament , those who seek an independent Scotland are once again at their confusing best . So in response :-

From May's Socialist Standard .

...The SNP argues that the problems facing workers in Scotland are due to"Westminster rule". If only there was an independent Scotland, they say, separate from the rest of Britain, then there would be full employment, higher wages, job security, better state benefits, a healthy health service and all the other things politicians promise at election times. This view is echoed by the so-called Scottish "Socialist" Party and Tommy Sheridan's Solidarity (-with Sheridan) party. But it is patently absurd .

This would be a purely political, not to say mere constitutional , change which would leave the basic economic structure of society unchanged. There would still be a privileged class owning and controlling the means of production with the rest having to work for them for a living. Just as now.

Maybe the pillar boxes would be painted tartan but that would be about all.

An independent Scottish government would still have to operate within the constraints of the world capitalist system. It would still have to ensure that goods produced in Scotland were competitive on world markets and that capitalists investing in Scotland were allowed tomake the same level of profits as they could in other countries.

In other words, it would still be subject to the same economic pressures as the existing London-based government to promote profits and restrict wages and benefits. And as the government of Ireland,which broke away from the United Kingdom in 1922 and where things have never been any different. Not even the national state capitalism proposed by the SSP and Sheridan would make any difference. As in Cuba, exports would still have to be competitive and popular consumption restricted to achieve this.

Since it is this class-divided, profit-motivated society that is the cause of the problems workers face in Scotland, as in England and in the rest of the world, so these problems will continue, regardless of whether Scotland separates from or remains part of the United Kingdom...

Full article here

The Tartan Reds

BBC Radio Scotland interview between Carolyn Leckie for the Scottish Socialist Party, and Sheridan's Solidarity's Rosemary Byrne.

Oh dear , when "comrades" fall out , don't the feathers and fur fly .

HEE HAW !! HEE HAW !!

It's my party ...and i'll cry if i want to

If we didn't already know that Solidarity was indeed Tommy Sheridan's personal fiefdom , we have this report in the Herald .

"The party had decided that Tommy the brand was key to success in May. Its best known figure will feature on every ballot paper for the regional vote across the country...Solidarity believes it is crucial to use Mr Sheridan's name on the ballot papers. "

And as the article reminds us , this was indeed the same electoral tactic that the Scottish Socialist Party previously used when Sheridan was its leader so they need not criticise .

What we , the working class , require to learn is that it is not the personalities but the principles and policies of a political party that truly count .

It is the case , not the face .