Gregor Gall

Ten years on from the referendum on independence and twenty-five years on from the creation of the Scottish Parliament, we seem to be engaged in another endless cycle of political paralysis. Some may say it is but a case of ‘Tweedledee and Tweedledum’ since neo-liberalism took its hold in the late 1970s. Others may say, going back well before then: ‘Labour/Tories all the same – always play the bosses’ game’.

There’s been much reflection on the result of referendum on occasion of its ten-year anniversary. However, on the pro-independence side, this has not resulted in resolving some of the significant strategic issues. This is because there’s been the all too easy practice of placing blame upon others for the failure as well as way too little time spent upon critical self-examination.

It’s now nearly 25 years since Tony Blair declared the 'class war is over' at the annual conference of the Labour Party in Bournemouth on 28 September 1999.

For many reasons, the SNP is a political party on the slide. Its conference last weekend did little to hide this.

Scotland could be about to have a striking sense of déjà vu as refuse collection workers in most councils are due to begin industrial action next week. Members of the GMB, Unison and Unite unions have rejected the latest pay offer from their employers via the association of local authorities , Cosla.

For a weary travelling public hoping returning ScotRail to public ownership would bring light at the end of the tunnel, it must seem that an April’s Fool has been played on it.

In Scotland, the sense of Britishness has remained relatively constant – albeit only for a quarter of people who chose this identity. Meantime, the sense of Scottishness has increased quite markedly, being the choice of nearly six in ten people.

Poverty, deprivation, inequality and wealth are recognised to still stalk society in Scotland, they are never tied by the SNP or Labour to the divisions of class and class structure of contemporary capitalist Scotland.

Past Labour Party leaders have an unfortunate habit of praising former Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher. Tony Blair said in 2013 that Thatcher was ‘a towering political figure … I always thought my job was to build on some of the things she had done rather than reverse them’. Before him, in 2007, Gordon Brown proffered she was a ‘conviction politician’ who ‘saw the need for change’.

Twenty-five years ago this coming Monday, on May 6, 1999, Tommy Sheridan was elected to the Scottish Parliament as a Scottish Socialist Party member for Glasgow. Can a pro-independence socialist party, whether the SSP or not, rise again?