The Communist Party of Scotland (CPS), also known as Pàrtaidh Co-Mhaoineach na h-Alba, was established in 1991 when the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was disbanded and re-formed as the Democratic Left think-tank. Many Communists in Scotland disagreed with this decision and instead set up the CPS, with its headquarters in Partick, Glasgow. Some 280 former members of the CPGB in Scotland joined the new party including Mick McGahey, who had been a leading member of the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1970s and 1980s. Former CPGB General Secretary Gordon McLennan was also associated with the party.
The current national secretary of the CPS is Eric Canning. The CPS has fought no parliamentary elections, but has been supporting the Scottish Socialist Party in recent times. The CPS does not feature much on the Scottish political landscape, but they do continue to sponsor a councillor, William Clarke, in Fife. Annual membership is £10 waged and £5 unwaged.
They support Scottish independence and Eric Canning is honorary convenor of the Independence First (IF) movement which is campaigning for a referendum on Scottish independence.
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“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“This will not be disloyalty but will show that as members of a party they are loyal first to the fine things for which the party stands and when it rejects those things or forgets the legitimate objects for which parties exist, then as a party it cannot command the honest loyalty of its members.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“The “second sight” possessed by the Highlanders in Scotland is actually a foreknowledge of future events. I believe they possess this gift because they don’t wear trousers.”
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