Scottish National Party

In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) (Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a centre-left political party which campaigns for Scottish independence. It currently regularly polls the second highest number of votes for a political party in Scotland.

Party Ideology

Although it is widely accepted that the SNP is in modern times a moderate left-of-centre political party, this has not always been the case. From almost the instant the party was born, there have been ideological tensions present within the SNP. This was by and large a product of the way in which the party was formed, as an amalgamation of the left-wing National Party of Scotland, and the right-wing Scottish Party. The tensions were resolved in some way by the party officially taking no clear stance on the left-right issue.

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However, by the 1960s the party was beginning to be defined ideologically. They had by then established their National Assembly which allowed for discussion of policy and it was producing papers on a host of policy issues that could be described as 'leftist'. Also, the emergence of Billy Wolfe as a leading figure played a huge role in the SNP defining itself as a left-of-centre social-democratic party. He recognised the need to do this to challenge the dominant political position of the Labour Party in Scotland.

Related Topics:
1960s - Social-democratic

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He achieved this in a number of ways: establishing the SNP Trade Union Group; promoting left-of-centre policies; and identifying the SNP with labour campaigns (such as the Upper-Clyde Shipbuilders Work-in and the attempt of the workers at the Scottish Daily Express to run as a co-operative). It was during Wolfe's period as SNP leader in the 1970s that the SNP became clearly identified as a social-democratic political party.

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Some attempted to cement this at the 1975 SNP conference where a motion to change the name of the party to the Scottish National Party (Social Democrats) was due to be debated. However, this motion was withdrawn at the last minute.

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There were some ideological tensions in the 1970s SNP. The party leadership under Wolfe was determined to keep the party clearly on the left, to put them in a position to challenge Labour. However, the party's MPs who in the main represented seats won from the Conservatives were less keen to have the SNP viewed as a left-of-centre alternative to Labour, for fear of losing their seats back to the Conservatives.

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There was further ideological strife after 1979 with the 79 Group attempting to move the SNP further to the left, away from being what could be described a 'social-democratic' party, to an expressly 'socialist' party. This brought with it a response from those opposed to this, who desired the SNP to remain a 'broad church' and apart from arguments of left vs right, in the shape of the Campaign for Nationalism in Scotland.

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The 1980s saw the SNP further define itself as a party of the left, with campaigns against the poll tax and so on. They have developed this platform to the stage they are at now: a clear, moderate, centre-left political party. This has itself not gone without internal criticism from the left of the party who believe that in modern years the party has moderated itself too much.

Related Topics:
1980s - Poll tax

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The ideological tensions inside the SNP are further complicated by the arguments between gradualists and fundamentalists. These arguments too go back to the very foundation of the party, with the merger between the pro-independence National Party of Scotland and the pro-devolution Scottish Party.

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In essence, gradualists seek to advance Scotland to independence through devolution in a 'step by step' strategy. They tend to be in the moderate left grouping, although much of the 79 Group was gradualist in approach. However, this 79 Group gradualism was as much a reaction against the fundamentalists of the day, many of whom believed the SNP should not take a clear left or right position.

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The position of fundamentalists within the SNP is further complicated by the fact that modern fundamentalists are unlike the old-style. They tend to be on the left of the party, critical of both the gradualist approach to independence and what they perceive as a moderation of the party's socio-economic policy portfolio.

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This grouping of neo-fundamentalists have their roots within the Jim Sillars camp inside the SNP.

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