Here is what should define a Yes ‘movement’

Prime among these is not only the relationship between political parties and movements but also what is a movement. Indeed, if the forces for independence are to survive, prosper and succeed, then separating party and movement seems like one obvious option.

But in order to contemplate such an option, some clarity is needed about what a movement is.

There was clearly an independence movement in the couple of years leading up to the September 18, 2014, referendum. And, it is also evident that it atrophied and dissipated in the years following this.

Defeat in the referendum, many independence activists moving into the ranks of a political party – the SNP – and the absence of a date for another referendum around which to organise are the most obvious reasons for this.

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Already there are some applying their energies to the issue of reviving or recreating a movement for independence. The most obvious is the recent rebranding of the long-standing cross-party, non-partisan Scottish Independence Convention (SIC) as the Movement for Scottish Independence.

This is a well-intentioned attempt to reset the situation in Scotland. It is all the more to be welcomed because political parties will not have representation within its structures, most especially including the SNP.

But a movement cannot just be declared by planting its flag in the ground. Campaigns can be initiated and moved forward but whether they become movements is another matter entirely.

Let’s just recall some recent examples

In April 2019, SIC established Voices for Scotland as its campaigning arm to raise support for independence above 60%. By August 2021, Voices for Scotland was essentially defunct.

In 2020 and coming out of All Under One Banner’s many monster marches for independence, Now Scotland was launched. But within not much more than a year, it was stillborn.

These examples indicate not just that the terrain can be inhospitable but that understanding the conditions under which movements emerge is vital.

So, what are social or political movements?

These are semi-permanent and not ephemeral mass collective enterprises or endeavours which take organisational forms but have no membership, rules or structures as such. Instead, they have values and norms.

They comprise different groups and tendencies so that they are heterogeneous alliances held together by a common and coherent overall mission. They frame issues around this. They campaign for a goal but are not campaigns.

They must have a common grievance, being against something as well as for something. They have life cycles of birth, life and death based upon anger, hope and action. They have informal leaders and followers.

They do not stand in elections for public office but seek to influence political parties, governments, states and other actors.

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What does this mean for creating an independence movement in Scotland and, although Scotland is not an oppressed country or nation, what lessons, positive and negative, can we learn from independence movements in the likes of the Basque country, Catalonia, Corsica, Ireland and Quebec?

In order to come into existence and gain mass traction, the social forces wishing to create an independence movement must first identify, and then seek to reflect and develop, an existing widespread but unrepresented economic or political grievance.

This must be one which is not being catered for by other forces, whether rivalrous or not.

These social forces cannot create this grievance but they can help to frame it. This inevitably involves questions of class and material interests, where working and middle-classes are not likely to support independence for the same reasons.

Indeed, trying to have such a cross-class alliance may bring unnecessary complications. This also entails a movement having a centre of political gravity, meaning it cannot equally straddle the left and right of the political divide.

While a movement campaigns, it is not a campaign because it is much more. It pervades, and even constitutes, a wider social space.

It becomes part of the architecture and furniture of a significant section of society, hosted by many organisations and groups with mass followings.

One could imagine that the cost of living crisis could present such an opportunity. But unions and political parties queer this pitch and are potentially able to take more immediate action on this issue.

This suggests the longer-term goal of eradicating poverty and economic inequality may be more appropriate. But there have to also be staging posts along the way based upon tangible and effective actions.

Examples might be direct actions requisitioning empty homes for the homeless and sequestrating energy from energy suppliers. Lessons could be learnt from Palestine Action.

These actions would challenge existing interests rather than trying to build communes as an alternative society outside of the present one.

Professor Gregor Gall is editor of A New Scotland: Building an Equal, Fair and Sustainable Society