Happy New Year, everyone!

To kick start 2011, the Aberdeen branch of the Scottish Socialist Party will be meeting next Wednesday, the 12th of January at 7:30pm, in the bar downstairs at the Belmont Cinema. Like all branch meetings, this is an open meeting, so anyone who is interested in the SSP or socialism/left-wing politics in general is welcome to come. There won’t be a set agenda, so the floor is open for you to discuss anything you wish.

If you’ve been thinking about coming along to meetings, this will be a great opportunity to learn more about socialism in Aberdeen and our plans for the Scottish Election in May of this year. It’ll be really informal, so don’t be shy – we look forward to meeting other socialists!

Hope to see you there.

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On behalf of everyone in the Aberdeen Branch of the Scottish Socialist Party, I would like to thank every one of the 268 people in Aberdeen North who voted for us in the General Election on Thursday. You can see the full list of results for the Scottish Socialist Party here: http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/

The other good news from the election night was Caroline Lucas winning the Brighton Pavillion seat to become Britain’s first Green MP and the utter failure of the British National Party in Barking, where they lost all 12 of their councillors and Nick Griffin completely failed in his bid to take the Westminster seat from Labour.

In this election we have stood on a socialist platform against the planned cuts in public spending, against the occupation of Afghanistan, and against Trident nuclear weapons. Instead, we have stood for taxing the rich, scrapping Trident, and bringing the troops home as an alternative to making ordinary workers, students and pensioners pay for capitalism’s crisis. We have also argued that it is time for a democratic socialist republic in Scotland, with genuine participatory democracy, equally shared wealth, and key sectors of the economy taken into public ownership, to raise living standards for all. For people, not profit, and for environmental protection, not ecological destruction.

At the time of writing it is uncertain who will form the next government, but whichever party it is will embark upon a program of savage cuts to public spending in order to cover Britain’s budget deficit,  created from bailing out the banks. This will be the biggest attack on living standards in a generation as politicians attempt to prop up an ailing capitalist system, and the SSP will be resisting these cuts every inch of the way. However, succesful resistance will require a mass social movement which is also able to offer a socialist alternative to both the economic crisis and spending cuts. This is the task that the SSP will be undertaking across Scotland. If you want to be part of creating this mass socialist movement, then now is the time to join us. Here in the Aberdeen SSP we will be arranging our next meeting soon, and we are always welcoming of newcomers, so if you are interested in our politics and thinking about joining then come along.

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As the polls open tomorrow, we are urging everyone in Aberdeen North and in the other constituencies we are contesting  to vote for the Scottish Socialist Party, and to support us after the general election, if you agree with our key messages.

Most importantly, we say that the main parties contesting this election are all planning to embark on massive spending cuts and attacks on living standards after the general election in order to cover the budget deficit and pay back the money spent to bail out the banks during the’ credit crunch’. We have criticised this approach by all the parties as offering the voters a set of non-choices in this election, as whoever forms the next government will cut spending, continue the war in Afghanistan and renew Trident nuclear missiles. Instead, we have been arguing that if we scrap Trident, bring the troops home from Afghanistan, close tax havens, raise corporation tax, and tax the super-rich, then instead of us being made to pay for capitalism’s crisis, we can protect public spending and redistribute wealth to raise living standards across the board.

Our full policy stance can be viewed in the ‘General Election 2010′ section of this website, however along with the above argument we have stated our position as an anti-war and anti-nuclear socialist party who support a green socialist republic in Scotland, with  equitably shared wealth in society and public services, including free public transport, which serve people’s needs rather than private profit.

It is after the election that the fight against public spending cuts and for a socialist alternative to capitlaism’s crisis will begin. If you want to help us to build the mass movement required to successfully defend our public services and standard of living, and to promote this socialist alternative, then now is the time to support us, vote for us, and join us.

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Members of Aberdeen SSP were flying the flag for socialism at the International Worker’s Day event on Saturday. Members of the Scottish Socialist Party also attended similar May Day events taking place in the other major cities of Scotland.

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The Aberdeen SSP branch begins the final week of campaigning for the general election today for candidate Ewan Robertson in Aberdeen North. Activities include hustings tonight at Aberdeen College and tomorrow (Friday) at the Quaker Meeting House on Crown Street. The hustings on Friday night are being held by the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and start from 7.30pm, and everyone is welcome to come along to hear what we have to say.

Aberdeen SSP will have members at the May Day march on Saturday, meeting at 11am in St. Nicholas Graveyard, which we would encourage everyone to come along to.

We are also leafleting the constituency as much as possible over the next week, getting placards up on lamposts and windows, and boosting our online presence as much as possible. For those who have not yet seen it, our campaign video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBDTU2TveOI. Anyone who wants to find out more or help us out, don’t hesitate to get in contact.

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Yesterday members of Aberdeen SSP were again out in the city centre to spread our message for our Aberdeen North general election campaign. We continued our themes on opposition to ALL public spending cuts, and stressing that if we withdraw the troops from Afghanistan, scrap Trident, and introduce a progressive tax on the very-wealthy, then we need not cut one job or penny from our public services.

Additionally, the campaigning became a bit of a family affair, as the mother of candidate Ewan Robertson and election agent Catriona Robertson, Anne (also an SSP member), came out leafleting on the streets with us!

The campaigning finished in Union Terrace Gardens, where Ewan stressed his support for the Peacock Arts project for the gardens over the Ian Wood proposal, as well as performing his campaign song!  This is because the Peacock project maintains and enriches Aberdeen’s civic green space, and is complimentary to the gardens, whereas Ian Wood’s proposal would destroy the space altogether by concreting over the gardens to build a commericial civic square, not something Aberdeen is desperately in need of after the building of the Union Square shopping complex. Also, with the council being in financial difficulties, we feel that the council should use its funds to protect jobs and services, not spend millions trying to satisfy the wishes of one of Scotland’s richest men.

Next week we will continue to campaign on the streets, as well as leaflet resisdences around the constituency and increase our visual presence on lamposts and windows. If you would like to come along and help us out or have a chat, we have a meeting Wednesday evening in the Belmont cinema cafe downstairs from 7.00pm, or you can contact us via phone or facebook.

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Yesterday saw a full day of campaigning from Aberdeen SSP, which began in the student Shared Planet cafe at Aberdeen University during the afternoon, before an organisational meeting in the Belmont cinema downstairs cafe with leaflet folding and political discussion in the evening, and a rendition of SSP Aberdeen North candidate Ewan Robertson’s campaign song (see the YouTube link in a previous post) from the stage at Drummonds cafe at night!

The issues we were discussing most were the SSP policy of free public transport, which would aim to reduce congestion and emissions though increasing the use of  a greatly expanded public transport service, encouraging people to leave their cars and opt for the bus/train/ferry. This policy would also act as a financial relief for millions of Scots, which through spending the saved money elsewhere would also act as a positive boost to the economy.

We were also discussing our key points over rejecting the argument that planned cuts in public spending are necessary, and that the majority of the population should not have to suffer for an economic crisis not of their making, as well as reiterating our committment to withdrawing the troops from Afghanistan.

Overall, it was a fun and energetic day of campaigning! If you want to come along and find out more about our policies and ideas, we will be in the centre of town (most likely in St. Nicholas square) from 12pm this Saturday.

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Aberdeen SSP will be represented at the following two hustings which are coming up next week. The tickets for the Thursday hustings are already pre-allocated, however the Friday hustings are open to the public, so come along on the Friday if you want to support us and hear what we have to say.

1) Thursday 29 April, Aberdeen College (Gallowgate), 6pm (refreshments from 5pm).
Audience: All tickets already pre- allocated and so this event is full.

2) Friday 30 April, Quaker Meeting House, Crown Street, (Organsed by the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), 7.30pm. Audience: Open to the public.

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Here in the Aberdeen Branch of the Scottish Socialist Party we haved moved our general election campaign in Aberdeen North onto another level with the launch of our first video on youtube. Candidate Ewan Robertson sings for your vote and deals with what has been going wrong with the four main parties, Aberdeen Council, and Donald Trump, as well as why you should support the SSP in the election and beyond. Follow the YouTube link below to view. Those who like what they see (and hear) are encouraged to tell their friends!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBDTU2TveOI

UPDATE: See our new video here, as candidate Ewan Robertson is rudely interrupted while trying to explain his party’s free public transport policy:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roF3Xg7Kk8I

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Members of the Aberdeen SSP branch were out leafleting in the city centre yesterday, on what turnout out to be a sunny, enjoyable and successful afternoon! As part of our campaign to support SSP candidate Ewan Robertson for Aberdeen North in the general election,  our central arguments were that we must oppose public spending cuts aimed at making the majority of the population pay for an economic crisis created by the bankers and politicians at Westminster, as well as arguing for the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan and the need for a locally-owned, free public transport service in Aberdeen rather than the current rip-off service from privatised First Bus. If you want to come and speak to us or support us during the campaign, we will be having a stall at Aberdeen University this Wednesday, a meeting in the Belmont cinema cafe downstairs this Wednesday evening, and more stalls in the city centre this coming weekend.

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