Welcome
to The
Citizen
web site
The
Citizen
is the journal of the
Campaign
for Socialism
- the left organisation of the Scottish Labour Party
A short history of CfS and the Citizen ...
The Labour Party was deeply divided on the proposal for a rewrite of Clause IV of its constitution. On one side, the "Project" (or the "Network") and their mission to recreate Labour as a centre party. On the other, those who wanted to retain the socialist values that had underpinned the party for the bulk of its existence.
The Project pointed to the old fashioned language of the existing version, and having captured the party hierarchy, pushed the party to vote for a replacement - even though the new text would not be proposed until after the vote! Fearful that any rewrite would throw out the socialist baby with the linguistic bath water, the opposition coalesced around the campaign to retain Clause IV.
It is worth noting that if a proposal had been made that retained the commitment to common ownership, and the redistribution of wealth, the heat would probably have disappeared from the debate. It is also worth noting that common ownership is a quite different concept from that of state nationalisation, though Clause IV was widely portrayed - often out of ignorance - as a commitment to the latter .
In Scotland, several strands of the Labour Party came together as the Campaign for Socialism, to fight for the retention of Clause IV (see initial list of CfS signatories).
The battle for Clause IV was lost (very narrowly in Scotland), but the debate stimulated the creation of a single left grouping within the Scottish Labour Party, and this left coalition decided that it would continue to work together, to argue for socialist principles, policies and action.
The Citizen began as a Glasgow based paper during the Poll Tax campaign. Editors Vince Mills and Pauline Bryan steered it through several years, other campaigns and eighty or so issues, before deciding to produce a journal that addressed strategic issues for the Left in Ireland and the UK - The Next Left.' At about the same time, the Fife Federation of Trades Councils newsletter, which had expanded its circulation well beyond Fife since it was first published during the Miners' Strike, was also printing its final issue.
Euro MPs Alex Falconer and Alex Smith approached Vince, proposing that The Citizen be relaunched with their support, as a Scottish publication. The first issue of The Citizen's new incarnation came out in the middle of the Clause IV debate.
When the Campaign for Socialism was formed, The Citizen added "Campaigning for Socialism" to its logo, and became the new organisation's three or four times a year publication. In January 1996, a web site was set up to complement the printed version. Hosted by Alex Falconer, the site also contained his pamphlets and other material.
There was a gap in publication in 1999 - the year of the Scottish Parliament and European elections . The two Alexes ceased to be MEPs, and the production team were caught up with new employment and other commitments. Production restarted in 2000. The Alex Falconer/Citizen web site continued to tick over, but it was felt that the time had come for the Citizen to have its own domain. So here we are. For more of the story, check out the rest of www.thecitizen.org.uk
Previous issues - for copies send an email to Lynn Henderson. Many of the articles can be found on this website.
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