Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1117/31881
From The Socialist newspaper, 20 January 2021
Millionaire tendency regains control of Scottish Labour
Build a new mass workers' party
Philip Stott, Socialist Party Scotland
The resignation of the nominally left Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard will, in all likelihood, result in the Blairites winning back the leadership of the party in Scotland.
Anas Sarwar, the right-wing MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) and millionaire, who Leonard defeated in 2017, is likely to announce he is to stand.
Sarwar transferred his £4.8 million stake in the family cash and carry business to his children during the 2017 leadership contest. The Sarwar family firm did not pay the living wage or recognise trade unions. He also supported the coup in 2016 against Jeremy Corbyn by Owen Smith.
The announcement of Leonard's resignation came the day after a meeting between multi-millionaire businessman and former Labour donor Lord Haughey, as well as Robert Latham, the lawyer who gave £100,000 to Keir Starmer's leadership campaign. Haughey, it was reported, had demanded Leonard be removed before he would donate to Labour again.
Significantly, at that meeting leading Scottish Blairites Jackie Baillie MSP and Ian Murray MP were also present. Starmer was told about the meeting and then asked Leonard to stand down.
Richard Leonard claimed he had been considering resigning over Christmas anyway, which is probably the case.
Either way, these events underline, yet again, alongside the defeat of Corbynism in the UK Labour Party, that the pro-capitalist wing of Labour is now in the ascendency.
The opportunity to create a genuine anti-austerity workers' party was squandered by the leadership of the Corbyn movement, who sought compromise with the Blairites at every turn.
Instead, as Socialist Party Scotland and the Socialist Party called for, the right wing should have been driven out of the Labour Party by allowing the right of Labour members to democratically deselect Blairite MPs, MSPs and councillors.
Under Leonard's leadership, Labour councils still carried out cuts. The policy of opposing the right to a second referendum on Scottish independence was maintained, further undermining Labour's already dwindling support in Scotland among the working class. At the December 2019 general election, Labour in Scotland was yet again reduced to a single MP.
As we warned in November 2017 after Leonard's victory: "The right wingers in the Labour Party are ruthless. They will do everything in their power to defeat the left and remove Corbyn and, for that matter, Leonard over time. In this they have the full backing of the capitalist establishment."
With the millionaire tendency back in the driving seat of Scottish Labour, the trade union movement, with more than 500,000 members in Scotland, should call a conference to discuss building real working-class political representation through a new workers' party.
As a step toward this, the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing candidates in the May Scottish parliament elections. Our candidates will be standing on a fighting socialist manifesto committed to public ownership, trade union rights, an emergency programme for job creation, a mass campaign for 'indyref2' and a new party for the working class in Scotland.
- Article in full can be read on socialistpartyscotland.org.uk
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In The Socialist 20 January 2021:
News
Make the super-rich pay, not the poorest
Bosses profit out of 'starvation' food parcels
Teachers: On the front line, in their own words
Peace and Justice Project - no way forward for socialism
Millionaire tendency regains control of Scottish Labour
Covid-19
The Tory blame game: scapegoating the working class - 100% pay for all now
Covid: Bosses chase profit and put workers in danger
Vaccine confidence - a worker's response
Life in lockdown - being home from school when you're poor is hard
NHS
Black Lives Matter
Police use Covid laws to intimidate BLM protesters
New Cross Gate fire 40 years ago
International News
USA in crisis - the need for a socialist alternative
Trump Twitter ban: only independent workers' voice can defeat right
Workplace
PCS Broad Left Network conference
Rolls-Royce Barnoldswick factory future secured following strike action
Morrisons - £10/hr headline hides divisive pay offer
A day in the life of an agency worker
Students
Plymouth rent strike continues
Scrap fees, refund rents and pay a living grant
Campaigns
London's May elections: Tories and Labour's Khan both vying to slash public services
Socialist Party national women's meeting
Why I joined the Socialist Party
Christmas Crossword Competition
Readers' Opinion
Books that inspired me: The Road to Wigan Pier
Obituary
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