Solidarity Scotlands Socialist Movement

Last night the organisers of Edinburgh University's Politics Society had to turn people away as over 150 students packed a meeting room to hear Tommy Sheridan deliver a talk titled: Peace, Independence and Socialism.

On Peace, Tommy pointed out the ridiculous contradiction between the fact that the proposed replacement of Trident nuclear weapons will cost £76 billion over the next 30 years, while pensioners are still forced to suffer the humiliation of means-tested benefits and students have to take out loans in order to afford the same higher education which people like Gordon Brown and Jack MaConnell received for free.

On Independence, he spoke about the necessity of smashing up the British State, a key imperialist ally of the United States, and of the Scottish people being in control of big issues such as peace and war. He said: "Scotland's independence was sold 300 years ago by a parcel of rogues, as Robert Burns referred to them back then, but it can be delivered back to its rightful place by the people of Scotland if they're brave enough."

On Socialism the examples of the Socialist Republic of Cuba and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela were used to paint a picture of how Scotland could be turned into a country where co-operation replaces competition, where love replaces hate, and where solidarity replaces division in our society. He touted Cuba's outstanding achievements in the fields of healthcare, education and solidarity with the developing world despite suffering a crippling US embargo.

After answering questions from the floor, Tommy ended his talk with this quote from Malcolm X: "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

He exhorted the students in attendance to always stand for something.