A People's History of Scotland (42 page)

Huge differences remain between the death rates of the richest and poorest people living in Scotland. Scottish Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO) figures revealed that in 2011 there were 424 deaths per 100,000 people from the most affluent 10 percent of the population. But this rate more than doubled to 1,014 per 100,000 in the least-well-off group.
¹⁸

In Glasgow, male life expectancy in Dalmarnock, Calton, Kinning Park and Townhead is below sixty: Britain, as a country, passed this mark during World War II. While poverty is concentrated in the East End of Glasgow, inequality exists across Scotland. The difference in life expectancy between the best and worst postcode areas is twenty-two years in Edinburgh, seventeen years in Paisley, fifteen years in Perthshire and nine years in the Highlands.
¹⁹

A child born in Calton, in the East End of Glasgow, is three times as likely to suffer heart disease, four times as likely to be hospitalised and ten times more likely to grow up in a workless household than a child in the city's prosperous western suburbs.

In contrast, Scotland's top neighbourhoods (in the west of Scotland, Bearsden, Milngavie, Lenzie, Clarkston and Kilmacolm) offer an outstanding quality of life, with high salaries, reasonable house prices and a life expectancy longer than the average for any country in the developed world. This is the reality of life in one of the world's richest countries, a country with enormous resources of oil, renewable energy and water. If those resources were used for the benefit of the many, all of these ills could be reversed. But that cannot happen within the United Kingdom. We saw how successive Westminster governments frittered away the revenues from North Sea oil, and lied about the possible benefits they could bring a Scotland in charge of its own finances. Today we do not even control the sea bed around our land, and cannot ensure that the benefits of wind and tidal farms are not spent on war, nuclear missiles and tax breaks for the rich. It is not revolutionary to demand, for example, a programme of job creation, aimed at creating real skills.

The message from the Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats at Westminster is that we have to accept austerity for the foreseeable future. But we are not ‘all in it together' as David Cameron claims. We are picking up the bill while those at the top party on.

An independent Scotland should refuse to foot the bill for bailing out the global financial system – in solidarity with the people of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland whose lives have been dealt a body blow by even harsher austerity programmes imposed on them undemocratically by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. As for two of the biggest recipients of bail-out largesse, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HBoS – the largest elements of Scottish big business – they could and should be taken entirely into public hands and run democratically in the public interest.

The objection to independence is that this is far from the vision of Scotland being offered by the SNP government. The First Minister, Alex Salmond, was quite willing to condemn the ‘casino capitalism'
of the City of London but would not say a word against his former employers at RBS, undoubtedly among the most foul and disreputable elements of British capitalism.
²⁰
The SNP government's vision for Scotland is one complete with the Queen, NATO, the pound and neo-liberalism – which makes it imperative that there has to be a radical vision of what Scotland could be.

The forecast for what's on offer from Westminster is more austerity, more war and more free-market measures. Westminster is addicted to war and in love with the City of London. Over three decades that's beggared the lives of millions of us. It's time for change, surely? Further, it trails behind the USA in any war or human rights violation in a desperate effort to maintain the supposed ‘special relationship'.

If the vote in September 2014 is about the creation of a new state then it should be one that benefits the people of Scotland. One that is more democratic than the UK state, more equal and committed to the needs and welfare of its people.

Surely the road to that better Scotland would be less rocky in an independent country, and possibly make it that bit easier to deal with our supposed rulers. Scotland is a class-divided country no better or worse than any other but we have a chance to take control of our destiny. There's nothing guaranteed, but surely we can deal with our own rapacious ruling class and move on to a better society than this.

The United Kingdom is an obstacle to radical change for all its inhabitants, in thrall to its own past – witness the endless royal and state occasions growing as the economic situation worsens for the vast bulk of us.

The Scottish people have a chance to escape. Some of our sisters and brothers in Liverpool, Newcastle and Doncaster say ‘Don't leave us in Tory hands!' But if you were offered the chance for your prison wing to escape you would not insist on staying to suffer alongside the rest. You'd hope your example would inspire them, and organise to help them from the outside.

If we can create a more just and equal Scotland it could help refute the idea popularised by Thatcher that ‘there is no alternative' to the free market. Some of us are thinking further, to Maclean's idea of a
Workers' Republic, a dream we hold in our hearts and minds. Many more look back to the legacy of ‘Old Labour' and the creation in 1945 of the welfare state. The best way of ensuring that it survives is to break with the policies of successive Westminster governments, which have eroded it relentlessly.

The Glaswegian novelist Alasdair Gray has written of how, postwar, he benefitted from a decent, low-cost council home and from free education. He states simply: ‘We do not want an independent Scotland because we dislike the English, but because we want separation from that union of military, financial and monarchic establishments calling itself the United Kingdom.'
²¹

Throughout this book we have heard the voices of ordinary Scots who have stood up and put themselves on the line in pursuit of justice, equality and the greater good. Come referendum day we know what some of them – John Maclean, James Connolly, Harry McShane and Jimmy Reid, for instance – would have said, which is to say yes to independence. They supported that because they were internationalists and democrats.

I think it's a safe bet to say that the bulk of those voices heard in this book would say, ‘It's time to go.' If we can take control of our destiny and the wealth of this country in our own hands the Scottish people can go forward to make a far better chapter in their history.

I have been lucky to know some of the people I have written about and quoted in this book. As a young student I had to pick up Harry McShane to bring him to a student meeting in Edinburgh and could not believe I was in the same car as someone who had been John Maclean's right-hand man. I was in Hamish Henderson's company at Sandy Bells and Morris and Marion Blythman's daughter Joanna took me to meet them over dinner and good malt afterwards.

Mike Davis and Tariq Ali suggested I write this book and for that I am grateful but also owe them a debt for the inspiration they have given me over the years.

My engagement with Scotland's national question began some four decades ago. The late Neil Williamson wrote on independence as part of a debate among members of the International Marxist Group to which I belonged in both Edinburgh and Glasgow in the 1970s. In the following decade my own clumsy attempts to write on it were superseded by those of Neil Davidson who's
Discovering the Scottish Revolution, 1692–1746
I would urge everyone to read.

James Foley and Pete Ramand were writing their own book on the Scottish question at the same time as me, and far from being rivals I learned much from them, and I hope they too learned a wee bit from
me. Marion Blythman and Jenny Donaldson also commented on what I wrote about the Women's Liberation Movement in Scotland.

I owe thanks to Jonathon Shafi, key organiser of the Radical Independence Campaign, as well as thanks to all the comrades of the International Socialist Group in Scotland.

My editor at Verso, Leo Hollis, was my best critic and a tower of strength. Thanks to him and all the team at Verso.

Lastly, apologies to my partner, Carmela, and to our two sons, Malcolm and Leonardo, for the time this project took away from them and for keeping the boys off the computer; double apologies to them for lumping them in with supporting Hibs – as well as Arsenal and Roma. No apologies that they can choose to be Italian or Scots or both – a great choice.

Any mistakes or faults are my responsibility. Whether the analysis is right, we can debate.

1. Scotland Emerges

1
‘10,000 Years Old: World's Oldest Calendar Found in Scottish Field',
Herald
, 15 July 2013

2
Friedrich Engels,
The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State
, Resistance Books, 2004, p. 67

3
Gordon Menzies (ed.),
Who Are the Scots and the Scottish Nation?
, Edinburgh University Press, 2002, p. 9

4
A. P. Fitzpatrick, ‘The Submission of the Orkney Islands to Claudius: New Evidence?'
Scottish Archaeological Review
8, 1989, pp. 123–29

5
Neil Oliver,
History of Scotland
, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2009, pp. 36–37

6
Chris Wickham,
The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000
, Allen Lane, 2009, p. 154

7
Ibid.

8
Ian Johnston, ‘The Truth About the Picts',
The Independent
, 6 August 2008

9
N. J. Higham,
The Convert Kings: Power and Religious Affiliation in Early Anglo-Saxon England
, Manchester University Press, 1997, pp. 255–60; William Douglas Simpson,
The Historical Saint Columba
, Oliver & Boyd, 1963, p. 46

10
James Earle Fraser,
From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795
, Edinburgh University Press, 2009, p. 215

11
Neil Oliver,
History of Scotland
, pp. 56–57

12
G. W. S. Barrow, ‘Anglo-French Influences', in Gordon Menzies (ed.),
Who Are the Scots and the Scottish Nation?
, pp. 89–90

13
Robert Bartlett,
The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950–1350
, Penguin, 1994, pp. 54–55

14
T. C. Smout,
A History of the Scottish People: 1560–1830
, Fontana Press, 1987, pp. 27–28

15
Thomas Johnston,
The History of the Working Classes in Scotland
, Forward Publishing (no date), pp. 21–22

16
Ibid., p. 73

2. The Wars of Independence

1
The Society of Ancient Scots,
Lives of Scottish Poets
, Volume 1, T. Boys, 1821–22, made available by David Hill Radcliffe (ed.), Centre for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Tech, pp. 51–52,
http://scotspoets.cath.vt.edu/select.php?select=Wyntoun._Andrew
, accessed 17 September 2012

2
Thomas Johnston,
The History of the Working Classes in Scotland
, p. 32

3
Patrick Fraser Tytler,
History of Scotland
, William Tait, 1828, p. 122

4
Andy King and David Simkin,
England and Scotland at War, c.1296–c.1513
, Brill, 2012, p. 43

5
A. D. M. Barrell,
Medieval Scotland
, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 127–28

6
Neil Oliver,
A History of Scotland
, pp. 89–90

7
Hector MacMillan,
Handful of rogues: Thomas Muir's enemies of the people
, Argyll, 2005, p. 248

8
G. W. S. Barrow,
Robert the Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland
, Edinburgh University Press, 2005, pp. 113–16

9
Andy King and David Simkin,
England and Scotland at War, c.1296–c.1513
, pp. 49–50

10
G. W. S. Barrow,
Robert the Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland
, pp. 132–35

11
Thomas Johnston,
The History of the Working Classes in Scotland
, p. 23

12
G. W. S. Barrow,
Robert the Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland
, pp. 177–79

13
Ibid., p. 179

14
A. D. M. Barrell,
Medieval Scotland
, p. 113

15
Ibid., p. 117

16
Christopher Harvie,
Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics, 1707–1977
, George Allen and Unwin, 1977, p. 23

17
A. D. M. Barrell,
Medieval Scotland
, p. 135

18
Katie Stevenson,
Chivalry and Knighthood in Scotland: 1424–1513
, Boydell Press, 2006, p. 152

19
Neil Davidson. ‘Marx and Engels on the Scottish Highlands',
Science & Society
65 (2001), no. 3, p. 314

20
T. C. Smout,
A History of the Scottish People 1560–1830
, p. 38

21
Neil Davidson, ‘Marx and Engels on the Scottish Highlands', p. 317

22
Neil Oliver,
A History of Scotland
, p. 132

3. Reformation and the War of the Three Kingdoms

1
Neil Davidson,
Discovering the Scottish Revolutions: 1692–1746
, Pluto Press, 2003, p. 24

2
Thomas Johnston,
The History of the Working Classes in Scotland
, p. 44

3
Gordon Donaldson,
Scotland: James V to James VII
, Oliver and Boyd, 1971, pp. 215–28, 284–90

4
Ross Cowan, ‘Lairds of the Battle',
Military History Monthly
, 32 (2013), May

5
Victor Kiernan, ‘Banner with a Strange Device: The Later Covenanters', in Terry Brotherstone (ed.),
Covenant, Charter and Party: Traditions of Revolt and Protest in Modern Scottish History
, Aberdeen University Press, 1989, p. 25

6
Thomas Johnston,
The History of the Working Classes in Scotland
, p. 146

7
Edward J. Cameron, ‘Andrew Fletcher and the Scottish Radical Political Tradition', in P. H. Scott (ed.),
The Saltoun Papers: Reflections on Andrew Fletcher
, Saltire Society, 2003, p. 161

8
John Coffey,
Politics, Religion and the British Revolution: The Mind of Samuel Rutherford
, Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 35

9
I. J. Gentiles,
The English Revolution and the Wars in the Three Kingdoms, 1638–1652
, Pearson, 2007, p. 6

10
Rev. W. P. Breed,
Jenny Geddes or Presbyterianism and Its Great Conflict with Despotism
, Philadelphia Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1869, pp. 18–19

11
Ralph Lownie,
Auld Reekie: An Edinburgh Anthology
, Random House, 2011, p. 137

12
Professor John Stuart Blackie, ‘The Ballad of Jenny Geddes', 1842,
http://grantian.blogspot.co.uk/2005/04/ballad-of-jennie-geddes.html
, accessed 26 April 2013

13
Victor Kiernan, ‘Banner with a Strange Device: The Later Covenanters', p. 31

14
I. J. Gentiles,
The English Revolution and the Wars in the Three Kingdoms, 1638–1652
, p. 3

15
T. C. Smout,
A History of the Scottish People: 1560–1830
, p. 153

16
Christopher Hill,
Reformation to Industrial Revolution
, Penguin, 1971, pp. 165–66

17
Neal Ascherson,
Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland
, Granta Books, 2003, pp. 278–79

18
Richard L. Greaves,
Enemies Under His Feet: Radicals and Nonconformists in Britain, 1664–1677
, Stanford University Press, 1990, pp. 66–74

19
Ibid., p. 78

20
Neal Ascherson,
Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland
, p. 280

21
Peter Hume Brown,
A History of Scotland to the Present Time
, Oliver and Boyd, 1908, pp. 323–25

22
Edward J. Cameron, ‘Andrew Fletcher and the Scottish Radical Political Tradition', p. 162

23
Neil Oliver,
A History of Scotland
, p. 238

24
Lewis Grassic Gibbon,
A Scots Quair
, Penguin, 1986, p. 464

25
T. C. Smout,
A History of the Scottish People: 1560–1830
, pp. 165–66

4. Union, Jacobites and Popular Unrest

1
Winnie Ewing,
Stop the World: The Autobiography of Winnie Ewing
, Birlinn, 2004, p. 291

2
Neil Davidson,
Discovering the Scottish Revolution, 1692–1746
, Pluto, 2003, p. 109

3
http://www.robertburns.org/works/344.shtml
, accessed 26 April 2012

4
T. M. Devine,
The Scottish Nation 1700–2000
, Allen Lane, 1999, p. 32

5
John Leonard Roberts,
Clan, King, and Covenant: A History of the Highland Clans from the Civil War to the Glencoe Massacre
, Edinburgh University Press, 2000, pp. 187–94

6
Ibid., pp. 233–35

7
T. C. Smout,
A History of the Scottish People 1560–1830
, pp. 184–85

8
Karen J. Cullen,
Famine in Scotland: The ‘Ill Years' of the 1690s
, Edinburgh University Press, 2010, pp. 50–51

9
T. C. Smout,
A History of the Scottish People 1560–1830
, p. 201

10
Neil Davidson,
Discovering the Scottish Revolution, 1692–1746
, p. 99

11
Christopher A. Whatley and Derek J. Patrick,
The Scots and the Union
, Edinburgh University Press, 2006, p. 11

12
‘How Was This Kingdom United?'
Socialist Worker
, 2 October 2004, accessed 27 April 2013

13
Christopher Harvie,
Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics 1707–1977
, George Allen and Unwin, 1977, p. 64

14
Christopher A. Whatley and Derek J. Patrick,
The Scots and the Union
, pp. 11–12

15
Ibid.

16
Neil Davidson,
The Origins of Scottish Nationhood
, Pluto Press, 2000, p. 54

17
T. M. Devine,
The Scottish Nation 1700–2000
, p. 14

18
Rosalind Mitchison,
Lordships to Patronage: Scotland 1603–1745
, Edinburgh University Press, 1983, pp. 154–55

19
Neil Davidson,
Discovering the Scottish Revolution
, p. 216

20
Alistair Livingston, ‘The Galloway Levellers: A Study of the Origins, Events and Consequences of their Actions', a dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow, for the degree of M. Phil. (Research) in History, May 2009, p. 7,
http://theses.gla.ac.uk/874/01/2009livingstonmphil.pdf
, accessed 16 October 2012

21
Ibid., p. 55

22
Chris Bambery, ‘The “Nineteen” – The Forgotten Jacobite Rebellion of 1719',
Military History Monthly
, June 2012

23
Alistair Livingston, ‘The Galloway Levellers', p. 7

24
Neil Davidson,
Discovering the Scottish Revolution
, p. 257

25
Alistair Livingston, ‘The Galloway Levellers', p. 65

26
Ibid., p. 86

27
Peter Aitchison and Andrew Cassell,
The Lowland Clearances, Scotland's Silent Revolution
, Tuckwell, 2003 p. 49

28
Christopher A. Whatley,
Scottish Society 1707–1830: Beyond Jacobitism, Towards Industrialisation
, Manchester University Press, 2000, pp. 154–56

29
Ibid., pp. 189–92

30
Ibid., p. 192

31
Ibid., pp. 167–68

32
Ibid., p. 197

33
Ibid., pp. 197–98

34
Ibid., p. 198

35
Ibid.

36
Murray Pittock,
The Myth of the Jacobite Clans
, Edinburgh University Press, 1995, p. 60

37
Stephen Brumwell,
Paths of Glory: The Life and Death of General James Wolfe
, Continuum, 2006, pp. 53–54

38
Ibid.

39
Ibid.

40
John Prebble,
Culloden
, Penguin, 1996, p. 301

41
Ian Gilmour,
Riot, Rising and Revolution: Governance and Violence in 18th Century England
, Hutchinson, 1992, pp. 105

42
Neil Davidson,
Discovering the Scottish Revolution
, pp. 244–47

5. Enlightenment and Capitalism

1
Sir Walter Scott,
Waverley
, Claire Lamont (ed.), Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 34

2
Fernand Braudel,
The Perspective of the World: Civilisation and Capitalism, 15th–18th Century
, vol. 3, Phoenix Press, 2002, p. 372

3
Ibid.

4
Austin Cramb,
Fragile Land: The State of the Scottish Environment
, Edinburgh University Press, 1998, p. 194

5
Neil Davidson,
The Origins of Scottish Nationhood
, p. 110