With planet SSP breaking out in yet another acute plague of recrimination, allegation and suppurating boils I thought I would see if RISE were managing to avoid the pitfalls of most left wing parties, that of going to bits faster than a chocolate hand grenade. After all RISE keeps on telling us they are not going to make the same mistakes as the SSP, they are the new party of the left, working to give Scotland a new brand of socialism they claim the mass Scottish electorate wants but are too scared to ask for.
It happens a friend is involved in RISE and was among its founding brothers and sisters, so I can get the drift of what is happening from his posts on my time line. A sense of the fraternal warmth flowing through RISE's veins. Today the fraternal warmth-o-meter is on the definitely chilly end. The mistake he made was suggesting in some areas the second vote would be better going to the SNP as they would have a better chance of keeping Tories off the list seats. This sensible suggestion brought down a cart load of opprobrium down around his head and lead to him being called a 'neo-conservative', by a couple of posters, for his proposed support for the SNP in a tactical vote situation. This infuriated my friend so in an attempt to give him some support I posted this on his time line to see if any of his attackers understood they were just another minority party on the very edge of the Scottish electorates' consciousness:
"Change happens too slowly for some and too fast for others, social democracy is as it says on the tin, left of centre but driven by democratic support while seeking to balance the needs of wealth generation with wealth distribution. As such a social democratic party makes changes at a slower pace while trying to bring the maximum democratic support with it. Rise has to understand it is a minority party with no MSPs and no electoral history. Comparisons with the SSP do it little favour given the melt down on planet Sheridan. Here's what most of the general Scottish electorate "know" about left wing parties in Scotland, they are the political equivalent of a chocolate teaspoon. This discussion does little to alter this perception and sounds more like a sketch from the Life of Brian ...... splitters!
I still have no clue what Rise actually stands for except some dated and demonstrably fallible 1960 political 'Citizen Smith' type stance on the redistribution of wealth and property."
I was advised to go to the RISE web site and get my facts sorted before commenting to which I answered:
"I have, it is just 'Citizen Smith' mumbo jumbo, a scatter gun of left wing policies I have been hearing since my days as a student in the 1970s. Nothing different, just the same regurgitation of Marxist ideas which are talking to themselves, as if saying them over and over some how makes them relevant today. The lack of relevance is papered over with SNP 'bad' press releases. Student politics of a bygone age. My critique is simple, if Rise wants to make a break through it is going to have to be a damned sight more relevant and brave while talking to people other than itself."
My friend pointed out that RISE needs to ask the question of itself:
"What is a socialist party? Is it just an electoral front that wants tax rises?"
To which he got this rather gnomic answer:
"I think the concept of party is in transition. But its ultimate aim would be to transform society."
An answer which could have been straight from the script of an episode of "Citizen Smith".
So there you have it, folks. RISE is a party in transition. From 'what' to 'what', no one in the party apparently knows; it is going to transform society but it is not exactly clear what this transformation is going to look like; it will have its roots in the Marxist left of politics as its policy statements make clear; yet we should vote RISE, second vote, anyway, because ...... well .... just because ....
I am now reassured my second vote is safe with the radically (maybe), conservative (possibly), Marxist (definitely), socialist (we'll come back to you on that one) RISE; aren't you?
It happens a friend is involved in RISE and was among its founding brothers and sisters, so I can get the drift of what is happening from his posts on my time line. A sense of the fraternal warmth flowing through RISE's veins. Today the fraternal warmth-o-meter is on the definitely chilly end. The mistake he made was suggesting in some areas the second vote would be better going to the SNP as they would have a better chance of keeping Tories off the list seats. This sensible suggestion brought down a cart load of opprobrium down around his head and lead to him being called a 'neo-conservative', by a couple of posters, for his proposed support for the SNP in a tactical vote situation. This infuriated my friend so in an attempt to give him some support I posted this on his time line to see if any of his attackers understood they were just another minority party on the very edge of the Scottish electorates' consciousness:
"Change happens too slowly for some and too fast for others, social democracy is as it says on the tin, left of centre but driven by democratic support while seeking to balance the needs of wealth generation with wealth distribution. As such a social democratic party makes changes at a slower pace while trying to bring the maximum democratic support with it. Rise has to understand it is a minority party with no MSPs and no electoral history. Comparisons with the SSP do it little favour given the melt down on planet Sheridan. Here's what most of the general Scottish electorate "know" about left wing parties in Scotland, they are the political equivalent of a chocolate teaspoon. This discussion does little to alter this perception and sounds more like a sketch from the Life of Brian ...... splitters!
I still have no clue what Rise actually stands for except some dated and demonstrably fallible 1960 political 'Citizen Smith' type stance on the redistribution of wealth and property."
I was advised to go to the RISE web site and get my facts sorted before commenting to which I answered:
"I have, it is just 'Citizen Smith' mumbo jumbo, a scatter gun of left wing policies I have been hearing since my days as a student in the 1970s. Nothing different, just the same regurgitation of Marxist ideas which are talking to themselves, as if saying them over and over some how makes them relevant today. The lack of relevance is papered over with SNP 'bad' press releases. Student politics of a bygone age. My critique is simple, if Rise wants to make a break through it is going to have to be a damned sight more relevant and brave while talking to people other than itself."
My friend pointed out that RISE needs to ask the question of itself:
"What is a socialist party? Is it just an electoral front that wants tax rises?"
To which he got this rather gnomic answer:
"I think the concept of party is in transition. But its ultimate aim would be to transform society."
An answer which could have been straight from the script of an episode of "Citizen Smith".
So there you have it, folks. RISE is a party in transition. From 'what' to 'what', no one in the party apparently knows; it is going to transform society but it is not exactly clear what this transformation is going to look like; it will have its roots in the Marxist left of politics as its policy statements make clear; yet we should vote RISE, second vote, anyway, because ...... well .... just because ....
I am now reassured my second vote is safe with the radically (maybe), conservative (possibly), Marxist (definitely), socialist (we'll come back to you on that one) RISE; aren't you?
My second vote will be safe too, with the SNP.
ReplyDeleteWell said and bang on the money-vote RISE errrr... just because!
ReplyDeleteSums it up perfectly,but I think Cat will still pull a few votes-just because.lol.
Err... you're wrong about this shower being Marxists.
ReplyDeleteThey are infantilist Trotskyite opportunists attempting to batten on to a genuine mass movement.
Chancers along with their former SSP pseudo-comrades.
SNP - imperfect albeit - is the genuine vanguard voice of the citizens of Scotland at this critical democratic and constitutional historical juncture.
Thus, they are not even on the radar and will be ignored by the electorate who will be primarily concerned with giving the mainstream Unionist parties another electoral doing.
Just to be clear, I am not SNP but am a Workers Party of Scotland member. However, I back the SNP X 2 at the Holyrood national elections + a EU remain vote as the truly progressive way forward.
A word of warning: Beware of these Brits in Scottish re-independence clothing for they'd sell their Granny down the river if it suited their agenda (Alastair Darling immediately springs to mind as an exemplar of a Trotskyite infiltrator although he was of the IMG breed of their genus).
SNP all the way until we get our constitutional arrangements sorted when, thereafter, we can address other critical issues.