An appeal to members of Your Party Scotland from Scottish TUSC
Join the socialist challenge for Holyrood
Like many Your Party Scotland members, we are disappointed at the news that Your Party Scotland is likely to be unable to contest the Holyrood elections in May.
This is despite the decisions taken at the founding conference in Dundee that voted overwhelmingly in favour of putting up candidates. The undemocratic actions of the leadership at a UK level seem to have been designed to make it impossible for Your Party Scotland to stand.
Many Scottish TUSC supporters have participated in Your Party since its launch. We saw it as an opportunity to extend the base of support for the urgent task of building a mass working class and socialist political alternative.
The failures of Your Party to achieve that, despite the enormous enthusiasm engendered in it early weeks, is the responsibility of the leaders of the party, who have largely driven the potential over a cliff.
However, the need for a socialist election alternative is urgent. Scottish TUSC is appealing to Your Party Scotland to join us in that challenge for Holyrood.
We will be standing candidates in a number of parliamentary constituencies in Scotland, and we would like to urgently discuss with Your Party Scotland members about standing with us to offer as wide a socialist challenge as possible.
As you may be aware, we have been preparing for the Holyrood elections for many months. We were key organisers of an open and democratic conference on October 4 in Glasgow that was attended by over 80 socialists and trade unionists.
That conference voted overwhelmingly in favour of as wide a socialist election challenge as possible, and a set of core policies that we would fight the election on (see below).
We would ask Your Party members, if they are prepared to support such a list of policies, to stand with us for the Holyrood election in May.
A number of descriptions are available to use by candidates. These include Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, Independent Socialist and Trade Union Candidate, and Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts, among others.
Time is naturally of the essence. If you are interested in standing with Scottish TUSC for Holyrood, we’d ask you to drop us an email to [email protected]
Core policies agreed at the October 4 conference (Candidates and organisations standing in elections will of course add to these policies and nor are they an exhaustive list of our views on all of the issues facing the working class in Scotland and internationally.)
All candidates will stand on the pledge, if elected, of only taking the average wage of a skilled worker as an MSP
- End all cuts and austerity – elected politicians in councils, Holyrood and Westminster must refuse to make cuts and fight for fully funded public services
- No coalitions or electoral agreements with parties or independents who have a record of implementing cuts and who refuse to sign up to a no cuts platform
- For a massive programme of council house building to tackle the housing crisis
- Scrap the council tax and for its replacement with a tax on income that make the rich pay
- Increase the minimum wage to an immediate £15 an hour with no age exemptions – wages must rise automatically with inflation
- Abolish all anti-trade union laws
- Stop benefit cuts – benefits must match the cost of living
- Take the wealth off the billionaires – Tax the rich and big business – For public ownership and democratic control of the multinationals that dominate the economy
- End the genocide – End the occupation of Gaza – Build mass struggle for Palestinian rights and an independent Palestinian state
- Oppose all forms of racism – Fight for jobs, homes and public services for all – Defend the right to asylum and fight against the onslaught against refugees
- Defend and extend LGBTQ+ and women’s rights
- For socialist change, public ownership and democratic planning to tackle the environmental crisis
- For the right of self-determination for Scotland, including the right of the Scottish parliament to organise a second independence referendum.
- Fight for an independent socialist Scotland
Scottish TUSC supporters include leaders of the Glasgow and Dundee City UNISON branches, NEC members of UNISON and PCS trade unions, Socialist Party Scotland, anti-racist activists and socialist fighters from across Scotland.
