Scotland on the Dole

Lawrence Daly

Scotland draw your swordfor youve drawn the dole long

enough! This cry of the thirties echoes again throughout Scotland
today. The Scottish people feel that they are getting the rawest of
raw deals and that this is due to the incompetence and indifference of
Whitehall and Westminster. This explains the large Nationalist vote
at West Lothian where the Scottish Nationalist Party candidate came
second and caused both the Tories and the Liberals to lose their
deposits.
It is no use telling the Scots that their economic problems are
similar to those of Lancashire or Durham. They will agree, but will
add that if the English cant run their own affairs properly that is no
reason why they should continue to mismanage those of Scotland.
They believe that the answer lies, ultimately, in the restoration of a
Scottish Parliament. When young Scots are politically enthusiastic
today they are to be seen sporting Ban-the-Bomb badges or Free
Scotland badges, or both at the same time.
Random interviews by Scottish Television have indicated almost
unanimous support for the Scottish Plebiscite Committee which is
very actively raising cash for an all-Scottish plebiscite on the selfgovernment question.
Socialists should not dismiss this feeling as an amusing piece of
quaint, Celtic revivalism. Its economic and psychological roots are
deep and its relevance to the problem of democratic government and
social planning is immediate and significant.
Since the first World War Scotland has had to bear a disporportionate share of Britains unemployment. With 10 per cent of
Britains population, she usually has 20 per cent of its unemployed
workers. This is mainly due to the fact that her traditional industries
coal, steel, shipbuilding and heavy engineeringwhich once gave
her a relative advantage, have been in decline for over 40 years. The
planned introduction of new industries and the rationalization,
integration, and modernization of existing ones, which could have
cured her chronic economic condition, either never took place or if it
did was started too late. Even before 1914, the writing was on the
wall, for her economy centred more and more on the coal-producing

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Forth-Clyde Valley and drew her skilled agricultural workers and

craftsmen away from the countryside, depopulating the Highlands
and Islands in the process, and devitalizing her folk culture. She had
her industrial coffin before England and is now suffocating from
the stench of economic obsolescence. While the Midlands and SouthEast of England attracted the modern industriesmotor-cars, cycles,
radios, television, plastics, packaging, tinned foods, etc.Scotland
remained perilously dependent on the older industries, which are now
facing acute crisis.
This years Report on Industry and Employment in Scotland
describes the outlook for shipbuilding and marine engineering as
far from promising. Partly because of this, the Scottish steel
industry is operating at only 60 per cent of its capacity. Beechings
rail closure plans threaten to leave practically the whole of Scotland
north of Perth dependent on an inadequate network of roads. The
N.C.B.s recent review indicates that only 46 of Scotlands 106
remaining pits will be left by 1966, if Lord Robens has his way.
One hundred and seventy of them have been closed down since 1945.
In September, 1962, unemployment reached nearly 83,000. The
Scottish Council for Development and Industry has warned that the
figure will reach 100,000 by January, 1963. The Council, which contains representatives of Scottish industry, the banks, the local
authorities, and the Scottish T.U.C., completed at the end of 1961
its own enquiry into the Scottish economynow known as the
Toothill Report. Dominated as it is by Scottish capitalists, the Council
rejected any proposals that involved extended public ownership or
Scottish self-government. Nevertheless, their criticisms of Scottish
industry and of the failure of the Westminster Government to give
adequate inducements and assistance to it, strengthen the case for
social control of the economy and for a degree of self-government
sufficient to overcome the evils of bureaucratic centralization.
The Council was stung to anger by the Governments refusal to
accept its modest proposals and has embarked on a campaign to
enforce their acceptance and implementation. The Scottish T.U.C. is
also campaigningfor the more robust policy of direction of industry.
Full support is being given by the affiliated unions, especially the
Scottish N.U.R. and N.U.M., who are righting against rail closures
that would affect essential services and against pit closures in cases
where coal reserves could be worked until alternative industry is
established.
Meantime, growing redundancy, short-time working, and the general insecurity, sends Scots out of their native land in ever-increasing
numbers. In the last 10 years the average net annual migration from
Scotland was 25,000. But by 1961 it reached over 34,000, 15 per cent
of them going abroad and the rest moving down into the already
overcrowded and congested areas of England. It is the young and the
skilled, in the main, who are moving; so that the economic loss to
Scotland is a very heavy one; and so is the economic burden (carrying
a bigger proportion of old people) that remains. Yet these social and
economic consequences are blandly ignored by the Government, and

Scotland on the Dole

the profit yardstickrather than that of social needis ruthlessly

applied, even to the publicly-owned industries. The disastrous drift
of population is in fact being actively encouraged. The N.C.B. is
widely advertising its transfer scheme and trying with all its might to
get Scottish miners into the Midlands. The local newspapers also
carry large adverts offering attractive inducements to get the more
skilled miners out to Ghana, Uganda, etc., as well as the older
Commonwealth countries.
Most of those who yield to these heavy pressures and temptations
do so reluctantly and, indeed, with heavy hearts. Substantial though
their numbers are, what is really surprising and impressive is the
way in which the vast majority of the people refuse to be uprooted.
They take the view that if the Israelis can develop the desert and the
Brazilians the jungle, the Scots if given half a chance can develop
new enterprises in Scotland. They are highly conscious of the
Governments responsibility (and irresponsibility) in this respect and
are determined that it, or a succeeding Government, must be compelled to face up to the problem.
They are particularly incensed by the frustration that confronts
the teen-ager. In September, 1962, 7,289 people under 18 years of
age were in the dole queues, 4,589 of them boys, 2,700 girls. Of these
2,714 were school-leavers. The teaching profession is up in arms
against this ridiculous waste of its talents. At conferences and
demonstrations, even while professing no interest in politics, they
have scathingly denounced the Government for not ensuring that
the skill and energy of their ex-pupils is utilized. Youngsters kick
their heels all day at the street corners and yet some people wonder
why vandalism is increasing! They leave school at the age of 15 but
find that they cannot get paid Unemployment Benefit until they
have 26 stamps on their card; and they cannot get 26 stamps on
their card until theyve been six months in employment. They turn,
hopefully, to the National Assistance Board who then inform them
that they cannot receive an assistance allowance until they have
reached 16 years of age! The parents are advised that they must
accept full responsibility for the young unemployed persons
maintenance. Resentment is added to frustration. The boy or girl
wants the same clothes and pocket money as those young friends
who are fortunate enough to have a job. The parent worries about
the effect on a family income already depleted by the reduction in
earnings opportunities.
Some of the young people have got organised to insist that constructive use will be made of their talents. For example, in West Fife,
helped by the Youth Employment Officer at Cowdenbeath, they
have formed an Economic Development Council to agitate for the
clearing of derelict areas, special training of young people for new
industries, and other measures. They live in a region that is being
hit harder than any other by pit closures and they are determined to
avert its harsh consequences. But they know that they have a hard
battle ahead. For every pit in Central West Fife is under threat of
closure by 1966. The programme of closures is already under way.

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Six thousand men will be affected. All that has appeared, to provide
alternative, are two small factorieswhich will employ women almost
exclusively; and this will only partly compensate for loss of female
jobs due to factory closures in the outlying towns of Kirkcaldy and
Dunfermline.
Many of the local authorities are doing their best to cope with a
very difficult situation. Midlothian County Council is building advance factories. Two days after the West Lothian result the Government announced that it would provide six advance factories for the
whole of Scotland but these, if and when completed, will only
scratch the surface of the problem.
The Fife County Council in particular has reacted swiftly and
angrily. 17 million of social capital they have invested since the
end of the war, in new housing schemes, clinics, libraries, and schools,
is in danger of being left to decay in an economic desert. So they
have demanded positive action by the Government. And they
havent pulled their punches. They organised an all-Fife conference
to discuss the problem and demanded direction of industry. Fife
County Council, like many others, is expanding its publicity
services in the hope of attracting industrialists and is embarking on
a series of face-lifts to clean up derelict villages and old colliery
spoil-heaps, in addition to preparing sites for factories. But the
tolls that the Government still insists shall be paid on the Forth
Road Bridge are a formidable obstacle to the attraction of new
industries. No final decision has yet been taken but charges of 5s. to
8s. per vehicle for a single crossing are being considered. Fife County
Council has won wide support for its campaign against this economic
lunacy.
At the end of August when F. J. Errol opened the Industrial
Estate at Donibristle in Fifeon which there is as yet no industry,
nor even applications to buildthe County Convener said to him,
We as a local authority cannot give an enquiring industrialist the
slightest guide as to the financial assistance to which he might be
entitled should he decide to set up a factory. Is there any reason why
we cannot be allowed to do so? If an industrialist goes to Northern
Ireland he can be told in five minutes precisely what he can obtain.
Have we got to send 71 Nationalist MPs to Westminster before it
happens here?
The Conservative Dunfermline Presss editorial commentunder
the heading Jam To-morrow?accused Errol of uttering every
clich in the book. It described the ceremony as a mere perfunctory
goodwill gesture in the game of kidology which the Government
is playing to give the impression that it is doing something for
Scotland, and concluded, We have had enough platitudes to last
us for a life-time. Now what we look for is actionnot words.
Jobsnot promises!
This hard-hitting attack is typical of almost the whole of the
Scottish presseven Roy Thomsons The Scotsman has participated in the campaign. Speaking of the railwaymens strike on
October 3rd, its editorialist said The Government must also come

Scotland on the Dole

under censure for their handling of affairs. It would not seem that
when the Government issued their financial directive to the
nationalised industries requiring them to balance their accounts they
gave much thought to the economic problems that would arise, or
to the need to create alternative employment for the workers who
would lose their jobs.
These reactions reflect the fears of Tory MPs and business-men
who see their Party facing a political catastrophe in Scotland. They
shudder at the word Socialism but some of them will tolerate
even demandsome Socialistic measures if it will save them from
electoral disaster. The Scottish Board for Industry, for example, has
demanded that one of the two big power stations planned for
South-East England should be sited in Scotland. Private industry has
shown that it will only come in if its pockets are well-lined. All the
big new projects in Scotland under private enterpriselike
Colvilles strip-mill at Ravenscraig, BMCs factory at Bathgate,
and Rootes at Linwoodare receiving lavish financial assistance
from the Government, much of it in interest-free loans or direct
grants. British Oxygen Ltd. were offered million but still refused
to come in. Bigger bribes are being demanded.
The situation has led to the resurrection of Samuel Smiles. In
Cowdenbeath the so-called Ratepayers Association (usually a
euphemism for local Tory municipal candidates) has started a doorto-door canvass to get people to buy 5/ shares to bring a new
factory into the town. Across the Forth, in West Lothian, new
Labour MP Tam Dalyell offers a 5,000 loan of his own cash for a
similar project and gets a mammoth meeting in Boness to discuss,
and accept, his proposals for local share-buying. But the money
available, even if readily subscribed, can only bring in a tiny fraction
of the jobs required. The Tories repeatedly give the assurance that,
under the Local Employment Act, plenty of jobs are in the pipeline.
But they never say how long the pipeline is or how far from the
delivery end the jobs are. Nor do they say how many jobs are
disappearing down the out-going pipelines. In the last 12 months
Scotland got 20,000 new jobs. But 25,000 other jobs disappeared!
A group even more tragically placed are the disabled workers, who
find themselves on light jobs which, because of the surplus manpower available, can only command wages that are so low that they
are often below the minimum subsistence level laid down by the
National Assistance Board regulations. Those who cannot find
suitable light work have their weekly allowance from the Board
cut to below subsistence level to bring them in line with the level of
average light work earnings in their own particular district. This
most seriously affects the chronically sick.
The low rates paid to day-wage workers in the mining industry
were often supplemented by overtime earnings. But since 1958 the
NCB have rigorously restricted overtime and many families have to
live on incomes of less than 9 and 10 per week. The men concerned
feel betrayed, both by the NCB, and by their own trade union for
failing to enforce a reasonable minimum wage when its bargaining

22

strength was at its greatest, in the 194757 period. The rewards they
got from the industry have never been commensurate with their
labours and they have no desire, therefore, to see the pits stay open,
provided they are given alternative means of earning a secure
livelihood. The growth of unemployment and the reduction in
earnings has been a big blow to the small shopkeepers, multiple firms
and the Co-ops. The latter have been particularly responsive to the
campaign of the unions for the direction of new industries into the
affected areas. They have supported the protest demonstrations and
meetings wholeheartedly. But, so far, the Scottish Co-operative
Wholesale Society has not considered it possible to help by expanding
its productive operations into such areas. There is still a very strong
tendency in the Co-operative movement to take an extremely narrow,
commercial view of its functions. To what extent is this true of
England? How far have our brothers in the south succumbed to the
deadly attraction of the coffin? Cannot something be done through
the National Council of Labour and the Co-operative Union to
secure some re-distribution of Co-op finance and investment, even
in the form of low-interest loans? If such were possible it could lead,
incidentally, to an extension of one form of public ownership that is
more amenable to democratic control. An expansion of public works
by local authorities could also provide some temporary alleviation.
For political reasons, St. Andrews House is likely to be readier to
sanction these in 1963. But how many local authorities, including
Labour-controlled ones, will make the best of the opportunity?
In housing alone a big expansion in building is necessary. The
Scottish housing construction programme was seriously cut by the
Tories, from 34,000 in 1955 to 27,000 in 1961; and in the first half
of 1962 it was running substantially below that rate. Of these the
number built by local authorities dropped from 24,000 in 1955 to
16,800 in 1961. Yet the waiting lists in many places are longer than
ever and slum clearance proceeds at a snails pace.
The Toothill Committee estimated that Scotland required a net
gain of 20,000 jobs for each 1 per cent reduction in unemployment.
It has become increasingly recognised that their provision will
involve the adoption of an overall economic plan for Scotland. The
Scottish Trade Union Congress has now demanded this. In a speech
at Aberdeen on 7th October its General Secretary, Mr. George
Middleton, said, We have a separate education system, a separate
agricultural department, separate jurisprudence. Why shouldnt we
have something economic? This is a step on the road to the policy
adopted in 1960 by the Annual Conference of Scottish NUMthat
of demanding a Scottish Parliament with control of Scottish affairs.
Many Socialists consider that this demand runs counter to their
internationalism. Yet they enthusiastically support every movement
for national independence overseas. Scotsmen watch the emergent
nations, on the morrow of their freedom, taking their place in the
world parliament, while Scotland, with a record of many centuries
as an independent nation, becomes an economic and political

Scotland on the Dole

backwater. They are aware of ludicrously small attendances in the

House of Commons when Scottish affairs are being debated; of the
extremely limited powers of the Scottish Departments in St. Andrews
House, Edinburgh; of the time-wasting coming and going by armies
of bureaucrats between there and London. They see small nations
like Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand match
political independence with economic viability. Their own experience
has made them deeply conscious of the dangers inherent in the
centralisation of political or economic power, and of the need to
counter-balance these by the maximum practicable self-government.
Many of them remember that the Party that once recognised all this
was the Labour Party; that one of the greatest advocates of Scottish
Home Rule was Keir Hardie; and that after 1945 the Labour Party
ditched its own policy. It is for this reasonand this reason alone
that they are tending to voice their protest by voting for the Scottish
National Party. They know that in many other respects it is unworthy
of their support. It is against any extension of public ownership,
it is for Polaris and Nato, and it is in favour of entry to the Common
Market. Its adherents are referred to as The Tartan Tories.
If the Labour Party were to once again give expression to the
demand for self-government, the vast majority of the Scottish people
would sweep aside Tartan and non-Tartan Tories alike in a powerful
surge of support for Labour. A Scottish Parliament would certainly
contain a majority of Labour and radical members. There is every
chance that it could not only revitalise Scotlands economic and
cultural life but that it might well set the pace for the progressive
social transformation of the rest of Britain.