IN the unlikely event of my being appointed Commander in Chief of a future Scottish army, I would unhesitatingly appoint Michael Fry as commander of the rear-guard. He might have to bone up somewhat on narrowly military matters, but the brilliance he displays in his articles on looking backwards to identify and cut down yesterday’s enemies would make him the ideal candidate for this post.
Not a highwayman or a hostile straggler from a defeated enemy would escape his keen eye. He might need assistance in facing a modern foe, but the skills he has in seeing off yesterday’s men from Lenin to Castro would stand him in good stead.
READ MORE: When will Michael Fry realise today's unfettered capitalism is just dangerous?
Perhaps, however, in looking to the modern or future politics and economy of Scotland, devolved or independent, he might be persuaded to update his critical vision just a little. I remember in my youth attending earnest debates with titles like Reform or Revolution, and of course we scorned the mere reformers, but as age draws on, we moderate our dogmatism. Michael, I guess, was attending seminars on the iniquities of Bolshevism, and has not forgotten anything, but he has learned the wrong lessons, and savages the wrong foes.
The real foes now, and not just of Scotland, are those who have created contemporary capitalism with its injustices including inadequate housing supply, food banks, data spying, and inequality. Today’s “socialists” look to create a more co-operative system of public ownership, a better health system, more social housing, improvement of the distribution of wealth, and to block re-emerging monopoly power. Could I suggest Michael throws away his Marx and reads newer writers like Thomas Piketty or Yani Varoufakis? That would at least give sharper focus to his rear-guard defence of capitalism.
Joe Farrell
Glasgow
IN his article last week Michael Fry said that no socialist country has worked (No country’s done well from socialism – why would we be any different?, September 15). May I suggest that’s because they have never been allowed to succeed by “The West”, primarily the USA and its poodle the UK.
Wherever there has been a whiff of socialism, from Iran to Indonesia, Egypt and practically every American country south of Mexico, the USA has stepped in to quash it. The usual MO has been for the CIA to identify a senior disaffected, greedy or power-hungry army officer, and bribe them to effect a coup d’etat.
READ MORE: No country’s done well from socialism – why would Scotland be any different?
There is one plucky little socialist country that has defied all efforts by the USA to ruin it. For more than 60 years Cuba has been blockaded by the USA, but this little David has outsmarted its Goliath neighbour’s every foul trick. Like any country on the globe Cuba is not perfect but it has a fine education system, with a literacy rate far higher than in the USA. Cuba has excellent if hamstrung free health care, and trains doctors by the hundred who do humanitarian work wherever there is a disaster – but you won’t hear about that from any Western media. The people are inventive and innovative through necessity, and far from being downtrodden are a happy people, which is reflected in their joyful ubiquitous music.
If I had to choose between Mr Fry’s UK capitalism and Cuban socialism (or communism if you must), then I would opt for the latter every time.
Richard Walthew
Duns
PERHAPS the difference between Michael Fry and “socialists” like me is while we agree the many despicable failures of capitalism – he doesn’t attempt to refute any of them – we aspire to something better while he is stuck in the mire of inequality.
Fry tells us that Scotland will be a capitalist state (An independent Scotland will without doubt be a capitalist nation, September 22). Whoopeee Dooo! How is that a surprise? Internationally we’ve been considering a socialist prospectus for more than 150 years and here we are having just Brexited, ending up with an increasingly corrupted hardline capitalist enclave determined to protect the interest of the already ludicrously wealthy at the expense of those whose labour creates that wealth.
READ MORE: Michael Fry: An independent Scotland will without doubt be a capitalist nation
Socialism is a work in progress. While I have no doubt that humankind’s thinking will evolve to encompass it, I do realise it hasn’t happened yet and won’t in my lifetime. For socialism to exist at all would require a completely self-sufficient economic unit; as such that would require a global solution, a huge undertaking.
For me, being part of the EU was a baby step in that direction, a situation where barriers came down and the borders that made national difference and promoted sometimes violent competition were consigned to history, with peoples living together in peace. It was a good start towards common sense.
If life has taught me anything it’s surely that the 20th-century politics of left versus right are no longer relevant. The real issue is who is controlling who.
In the imminent future Scotland can choose a different road, already trodden successfully by many others. Its destination will be a real and relevant democracy that could help to provide the platform to deal with the inadequacies and inequalities of capitalism that those like Fry shamefully accept and seek to promote.
Jim Taylor
Edinburgh
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