An exhibition at the National Museum called Cold War Scotland gives a patchwork impression of Scotland’s movement against nuclear arms and NATO. There are badges from motley social groups (‘Nurses for Nuclear Disarmament’, ‘Snooker Players Against the Bomb’), a ‘Stop Trident’ rattle made out of a fabric softener container and dried peas, and an interview with an activist who trundled bundles of anti-Polaris pamphlets round town in a pram. All in all, it presents the peace movement as a semi-spontaneous expression of moral outrage by indignant individuals. What is missing is the story of the communist, socialist and other radical organisations within Scotland that built and supported the movement to end the Cold War. It passes over the organised left that underpinned the anti-imperialist struggle.
As the West emits poisonous propaganda, and exports ever-more arms to create the conditions for war, it is time to remember that a peace movement is more than a protest movement. The struggle against war and empire has always been the work of parties and political organisations. The story of the Rolls Royce workers who sabotaged Pinochet’s planes celebrates the courage of individuals but often fails to focus on the anti-war activists and communist cadres who created a culture of workplace resistance. Mobilisation against the Vietnam War in the US is remembered as a hue and cry of hippies and reds, but the steady graft of groups like Students for a Democratic Society is fading from view. From Ding Dong Dollar to Ban the Bomb, Scotland’s anti-nuke campaign had strategy and structure.
What are the preconditions for the Scottish Left to generate well-organised resistance to the rising clamour for war? In our latest episode of Redgauntlet, Amy Westwell and Jonathan Shafi discussed the formidable scaffolding that Scottish internationalists need to rebuild. To combat the forces of war requires a new army of peace. The phrase of course has religious resonance, and there is no doubt that alongside secular socialism, religious radicals have as much as ever to contribute to deescalation and disarmament. Many of the rallies, events and fundraising efforts for Palestine that take place week in, week out are the result of organising by Muslim groups. Last time I visited the Faslane Peace camp, an activist told me that the two groups still holding weekly vigils against Trident are the Catholics and the Quakers. For some, escalatory trends spark eschatological fears, while others join pickets moved by equal and universal love for every person everywhere. Everyone has their reason for resistance.
Organisations like Stop the War, Scotland Against the Arms Trade, and the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament continue to monitor and mobilise against the arms-makers. But these groups are ultimately sustaining the work of an older, stronger left. The life of Alex Salmond (whose legacy we will return to in the new year) reflects the Scottish independence movement’s journey from being allies of the anti-war movement to aligning with NATO. Debates within the STUC about whether Scottish workers should boycott Israel hardly reverberate across unionised workplaces, let alone across the country. Meanwhile, arms made in Govan rain terror in Gaza. As the cover of this issue reminds us, Scotland is a major exporter of the means of war. The UK Government is reviewing exports of F-35 stealth fighter jets which serve Israel, in light of the ICC’s warrants for the arrest of Israeli leaders Netanyahu and Gallant. Parts of these jets are manufactured in Scotland. Our contribution to the war economy is net positive: we facilitate more death than deliverance.
This edition begins to consider the conditions for generating well-organised resistance in the face of an increasingly war-ready West. A union representative from one of Scotland’s arms factories explains the challenge of building unity between workers and Palestine solidarity activists. In the next article, Gordon Morgan and Bill Ramsay makes the case why the UK government should scrap plans to invest in small nuclear reactors, not least because sooner or later they will contribute to nuclear arms proliferation. Later, Donny Gluckstein responds to the sidelining by the West of the ICC and other international organisations that are not playing by NATO rules. Policleto Ramires urges the left to remember and embrace the power of rebellion and resistance. Phil Chetwynd’s review of The Racket and Bill Bonnar’s report on events in Sudan remind us of the fronts that are not reported in the news.
The specialisation of Scotland’s aerospace sector, and the Western war supply chain, keep money flowing into arms manufacture. But Petroineos’ impending closures at Grangemouth highlight the hazard of an economy at the mercy of the rich. In his piece, Derek Thomson, Scottish Secretary of Unite, sets out an alternative to its premature closure. Unions and environmental rights activists mobilising around Grangemouth have consistently made the case for a proper transition. More than that, Benji Brown argues, Scotland’s Government and wider society need a broader set of rights to be the basis of future political economy. This vital agenda has been set back by the Scottish Government’s decision to scrap the Human Rights bill. In the face of defeats – political, economic, environmental – Quan Nguyen asks what hope we should harbour in a world where pessimism seems increasingly rational.
The next section of the magazine takes stock of the struggle for equality, and in particular that universalism that underpinned the better kind of Labour governments of the previous century. Sara Cowan looks at Labour’s budget and its implications for women in Scotland, and Lara Henderson considers how women’s legal equalities and personal freedoms should be protected against the backdrop of misogynistic trends developing from Afghanistan to America. Next, we publish two reviews of a play about the firebrand Fifer Jennie Lee, who founded the Open University and established a principle of universal education that even Thatcher feared to challenge. And on the theme of universal access, Paul Brown finds the National Galleries falling short of their noble promise of accessible arts for everyone.Shortly before going to press, we heard that the People’s Story Museum in Edinburgh has reopened after a campaign that demonstrated a fierce readiness to defend the past we inherit. Our next section starts with a feature on the history of the most enduring and elastic revolutionary symbol – the red flag. Henry Bell calls it a flag of the present and of the future too, in his book which James Barrowman finds to be a lens through which to see coherence in the chaos of history and life. Scotland’s left sustains a proud tradition of practical and useful history. Jim Whiston’s report on the recent launch in Govan of What History is For: Essays in Honour of John Foster proves the endurance of Marxist history, while Ahmed al-Tahrawi finds The Solidarity Economy to be a handy guide to traditions of mutual aid and grassroots organising. The whole issue is like an advent calendar of principles, philosophies, and people of this Left of ours, who share, for all our differences, a dream of peace, equality, and a nation that helps produce a far, far better world.
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