"wetre bocht and sold for English gold,
Sic' a parcel o' rogues in a Nation sh
BURNS. The result of the Hamilton By-election, should cause concern, but not dismay for Socialist. The election of a Scottish National Party M.P. and the defeat of a good, Trade Unionist, Labour candidate is a blow to the labour movement, but a much more positive event than the mass abstentions which beat Labour at Yalthamstow. In a large part the vote at Hamilton was a protest, a letting off stea, at the betrayal of the. hopes with which workers put the Labovr Government into power. But it camnot be denyed or ignored tuat it also represents a growth of support for Scottish independence, The idea of independence has been knocking around Scotland for some years, but it is only since the Labour Governmemt's inability to solve the greivances of unemployjent, bad housing etc. that the S.N.P. hes made spectacular edvances, and it has made them by gaining the support of workers. The result at Hamilton was foreshadowed by the Municipal by-election in Glasgow's famous Gorbals, where the Nationalist slices heavily into Labours majority. It is vital that the Left takes a clear stand on the issue of Scottish independence. I believe it should be one of sympathy, if not outright support. The principle, that the Scottish, Welsh and Irish peoples should have the right to separat on from Britain has a long tradition in the Labour movement, stretching from the Chartists, through James Connolly and John iicLean, to the early period of the I.L.P. We should re-assert this tradition, in fact, had it not been buried and forgotten, the initiative would not have gone to the S.N.P. However, since it does have the initiative we should examine its nature. Formed out of a number of the small Nationalist groups which developed during the fifties, it is essentially a political rag-bag, Its hodge-podge programme, and emotional campaigning reflect the jumble of opinions, and basic political naivity of its members. But it does contain a growing number of workers and youn;; people and its energetic activities reflect their desire for a radical solution to the problems of the Scottish people. Little of this radicalism finds its way into the Party's policies, but as the members develope political experience and maturity they will question the opportunist line of their middleclass leaders of late the party has soft pedalled on the demand for independence. The main plank in the Party's platform is for an independent Scotland, within: the Commonwealth and loyal to the Crown, But in the Folk Clubs the young Nationalists sing: "We'll mak! our land Republican! In a Scottish breakaway." Whether this radicalism can be developed in a constructive way depends on the attitude Socialists take towards and the relationships they develope with t ese sections of the Nationalists. For this reason a discussion in The Week would be valuable. ihatever h@ppens politics in Scotland promise to be a lively affair for some time to come.
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