THIS is my favourite period in the labour movement calendar, albeit it kicks off with a sombre event, International Workers’ Memorial Day, when we remember those killed for corporate profit while trying to make a living, and rededicate ourselves to improve health and safety at work.

The recent local elections demonstrate that these ‘socially conservative and economically leftist’ factions prioritise only the former, and legitimise the far-right instead of beating them.

​Scotland is facing a political, democratic and economic crisis likely to deepen as the far-right gains momentum. On the 50th anniversary of Gordon Brown’s Red Paper on Scotland, a new book seeks to address this crisis. Visit the Red Paper stall at the May Day Rally in Glasgow University Union, 32 University Avenue, Glasgow.

This year marks half a century since Brown, then a PHD student at Edinburgh University edited a series of essays by politicians, commentators academics, artists and trade unionists which, in his words sought “to transcend that false and sterile antithesis which has been manufactured between the nationalism of the SNP and the anti-nationalism of the Unionist parties” and in doing so would address the social and economic woes facing the country. The book included contributions from amongst others, Robin Cook, Jim Sillars, Tom Nairn, Vince Cable and playwright John McGrath.
 
To coincide with this anniversary a new book: “Keep Left, Red Paper on Scotland 2025” has been launched  at the STUC congress.
 
In a marked contrast to the original book which did not carry a single contribution by a woman, this edition is edited by Baroness Pauline Bryan and contains contributions from a wide range of figures on the left of Scottish politics including trade unionists, academics, activists and performing artists. 

The book addresses a number of current and recurring themes including; Scotland’s democratic crisis, over-centralisation, outsourcing, the loss of democratic control, the crises in our public services such as housing and social care, the damage caused to the education system, Scotland’s colonisation by big business, poverty and inequality, environmental degradation, cultural commodification and an increasingly fragmented society and wider world.
 
Speaking at the launch Pauline Bryan said: “In 1975 the authors of the original Red Paper argued that ‘Scotland’s problems arise from the uneven and uncontrolled development of British capitalism and that the way forward lies in pursuing vigorous socialist policies’ tragically many of those problems that were written about then remain today - a lack of genuine democracy, the excessive power and influence of multinational corporations and the dominance of overseas capital all of which contribute to a society and economy that is failing the people.
 
We are being let down by the UK state and the Scottish state. This book looks to set out a radical alternative to redress the balance so that power, wealth and opportunity are redistributed, unshackling workers and communities to build a society for the many not the privileged few.”

This Congress doesn’t just mark another year in our proud history. It marks a moment of transformation. The opportunity for real change is now, but it will only be realised if we fight for it, together, as a united and growing labour movement, rooted in every workplace and every community.