Not Again (sigh)

SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has called for a new Scottish independence referendum in the second half of 2020. Speaking in Dublin Sturgeon said the "latter half" of next year would be the "right time" for a new poll. She predicted victory in a second vote, with Scotland becoming "an independent country just like Ireland". Legislation setting out the rules for another independence referendum will be published.

In the event of a second referendum for a separate sovereign Scotland state, the position of the Socialist Party will remain unchanged from the one took in 2014. Scottish workers may well be offered a choice between an independent Scotland and the status quo of the Union but it is Hobson's choice – either way the result remains one thing – capitalism. Rule from Edinburgh is no better than rule from London or Brussels - it’s all capitalist rule.

But the fact that Scottish nationalism is a blind alley will not stop people going down it. The idea of the division of humanity into nations is etched into people’s consciousness under capitalism. If one national state fails them, the easiest thing is to turn to the idea of creating a different national state. Independence seems to offer a quick way for people to break from the hold of either a Tory or Labour government.

The only independence The Socialist Party advocates is the independence of the working class. Supporting the nation-building of a new capitalist state, results in the subordination of the workers' interests to the ‘national interest’. 

We should reject nationalism in all its forms, whether the it i the separatism of the SNP or the insularism of Brexiteers. The Socialist Party commits itself to the unity of the working class across national borders.

Nationalism is a short-cut up a dead-end.