Mr
Woodis's pamphlet is of the greatest importance to all Scots
since
it represents the most detailed Communist Party statement on
the
National Question for many years.
Like
"Scottish Marxist" the
factors
behind its publication are primarily the success of the
U.C.S.
work-in and the need to respond in a positive way to the
challenge
of Scottish and Welsh Nationalism. Like "Scottish Marxist"
however,
it reveals a contradictory and often schizophrenic attitude
to
the question under consideration.
This
confusion is underlined
by
the ambiguous use throughout of the terras Britain,country,nation,etc.
In
the section entitled "Communists and Patriotism" Mr Woodis
assures
us that
"Communists,in
fact,do not pose their internationalism,their
solidarity
with other peoples struggling for their freedom,
against
their patriotic duty to assist their own people to
defend
their national freedom and secure their own social
emancipation."
He
also informs us that
"In
Britian,one of the greatest dangers for
the
working class movement has been bourgeois nationalism
and
racialism,expressed often in racial prejudice and the
toleration
of blatant discrimination's well as in the
defence
of imperialism. Not only right-wing labour leaders but
but
many rank and file workers are prone to defend the
imperialist
actions of "our troops" even when they have
been
engaged in repressive actions whether it be Ireland,
Cyprus
or Aden".
All
good, hard hitting comment - and sentiments with which every
radical
or liberal-minded Scot will wholeheartedly agree.
Having
thus
isolated the dangerous jingoistic and pro-facist elements in
our
midst| Mr Woodis turns to examine the reactions of the working
class
movement to such elements,and finds much to criticise.
"In
understandable if incorrect,reaction to this jingoist
nationalism,these
has often been expressed in Left-wing
circles,especially
among the extreme Left,notions of
contempt
for any form of national feeling. For this reason
such
people scorn the just struggles of the peoples of
Scotland
and Wales to secure satisfaction for their national
aspirations."
Least
any dastardly Scottish Nationalist has the temerity to impute
such
attitudes to the Communist Party Mr.Woodis continues by declaring
roundly
that
"Indifference
to one's own nation,its historic achievements
and
its future,has nothing in common with socialist principles."
Since
Mr Woodis is an Englishman it would be consistent with a logical
train
of thought to assume that in the above quote, he is reffering
primarily
though not exclusively to England.
It
is therefore singularly
disconcerting
to discover in the next paragraph that Mr Woodis has
apparently
a totally different nation in mind i.e. 'The British Nation !
We
are informed that
"The
British Nation is not Heath,Home,Carr and the
rest
of the Tory pack. Neither is it the gang of industrial magnates,bankers and
landlords who rob and betray the people.
Source
United Scotsman 1973
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