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The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America send greetings to the Scottish Republican Socialist Party, and all those gathered today in Arbroath.
We recognise that the limited autonomy won last year at the polls was but a first step towards the true twinned tasks of bringing about Scotland's separation from Britain as an independent republic and winning the struggle of the Scottish working class for socialism. We salute you for your enduring commitment to those joint struggles and wish you swift victory. The Scottish workers have a long and proud tradition of revolutionary struggle, without rival on either isle of Ireland or Britain, and it is clear that--as John MacLean made clear so long ago--an independent Scotland will surely be won to socialism more easily than if the Scottish workers remain tied to their more conservative class sisters and brothers to the south. The long struggle against English imperialism is surely drawing to a close. The limited autonomy offerred to Scotland and Wales, along with the talks presently underway with Sinn Fein are the desparate scramblings of the English ruling class to stem the tide of revolution, hoping to forestall the complete break that must come if freedom is to be known in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. When the enemy begins to offer these small "gifts", we see the fear in their eyes. When they offer such tidbits, it is not the time for compromise. Compromise in such times is nothing but defeat with a sugar-coating. When the enemy begins to retreat, it is time for revolutionaries to press forward--to turn that retreat into a rout. To claim what is ours! The Scottish-born revolutionary James Connolly once scoffed at those who said to revolutionaries, "Be reasonable." There is nothing at all unreasonable in the demands for national liberation and socialism. The working class has created the wealth of the nation. They are the vast majority of the nation's people. They ask only for what is rightfully theirs to claim: the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and the political machinery to administer the same. Friends know that we continue in the fight to claim our class's just due as well, and that we recognise in every fighter for socialism and against imperialism a comrade. Each of us that wins their struggle brings all of us closer to victory, and so we say to you this day:
Long Live the Scottish Workers' Republic! Scotland: Free or a Desert! Peter Urban North American Coordinator, Irish Republican Socialist Committees |