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"I think I have got a bit of a reputation of being quite
forthright" says the Socialist MSP Carolyn Leckie, but she says she
prefers it that way, as it means she does not put a spin on what
she says. Her determination not to compromise who she is, is
illustrated by her assessment of the comments that surrounded her
and her SSP colleague, Rosie Kane, when they first became MSPs - it
was "just sexism". "I think some people think that working class
women, like us particularly, just have no place in that Parliament
and I am absolutely determined that they are reminded that working
class women are in that Parliament and we are not going to change
ourselves into something else just so they can be made a little
more comfortable". She feels that generally women find it more
difficult to be taken seriously unless they present themselves and
behave like men.
Entering the Parliament proved to her that although it was set
up with the claims that it was going to be more open, democratic
and responsive, it is all "just a show". The Scottish Parliament
does not have the pomp and ceremony that is found at Westminster
but "it essentially does the same thing - keeps people out and
politicians in jobs". This is why the SSP is anti-establishment,
although it works within the Parliament by applying pressure from
outside it by mobilising public opinion so that the bigger parties
feel voters breathing down their necks, which can sometimes spur
them on to support policies more in line with the Socialists. She
says that many people are disillusioned and cynical about the
Parliament because they thought it would support Scottish
communities and listen to what they wanted, whereas they have found
that even when they are vehemently against a school or a hospital
closing, they can't get anywhere because "there is a predetermined
agenda and they deliver it come hell or high water".
For Carolyn being an MSP is "just one tool in a box of many
tools to try and change the world". Until the SSP was formed in
1998 she had never been a member of a political party because none
of the other parties matched what she wanted, although she has been
politically active since she fifteen - right to work marches,
member of CND, trade unionist activist (internal fighting there had
put her off other parties on the left). She had been looking for an
outward looking socialist party that believed in an independent
Scotland and she found that with the SSP. Carolyn says that the SSP
are not right about everything but they are a very democratic
party. Everything is agreed by the entire membership so "there are
no appointments in the SSP, there are no instructions in the SSP,
it is all collective and democratic", although it can be "advisory
sometimes", rather than issuing direct instructions. Her response
to people who say that socialism would never work and that it is a
waste of time supporting the SSP, is "how can you possibly defend
the status quo?" Her answer is to ask them if they are happy to
stand by while millions starve, while children in Scotland live in
poverty and when obesity kills people in the western world but
starvation kills people in the third world.
In keeping with her party's ethos, Carolyn lives by the two
principles of fairness and equality and completely rejects the idea
of the financial market running people's lives. She believes that
if people, poor or well off, are freed from economic concerns and
from thinking that they need a bigger car and a bigger house, they
would be happier and more content. Instead she says we are all
bombarded with messages to aspire to material wealth and yet this
leaves so many people disenchanted with their life, even if they
achieve material success. It disgusts her that there are enough
resources in the world for everyone to have a comfortable existence
but so much injustice exists, to the extent that some individual's
have so much wealth that they wouldn't be able to spend it in
twenty lifetimes. Carolyn says that most children are idealists and
are not essentially selfish, so there is a potential for humans to
collectively care for each other but it is once the children get
older that outside influences take their grip and they then believe
in the right to seek individual gain. She states that this
contradiction between our idealist aspirations and the pressure to
be 'successful' poses a psychological dilemma, which is why so many
respondents to surveys are dissatisfied with their lives. She says
this is the challenge for the SSP - to persuade people that there
is a better way of running the world and that socialism is
possible.
You could say that this non-materialistic caring vision for the
world was biblical but Carolyn herself is not religious. She was
brought up in an Orange Protestant family in the Gorbals, where her
father was in the Blacks, a Mason and a Worthy Master in the Orange
Order, although he was also a shop steward and a very active and
principled trade unionist. She always thought that he was quite
contradictory but feels that for her family joining organisations
like the Orange Order was to do with tradition and belonging,
having networks and being part of something. He died when she was
eleven but she was seen as the black sheep of the family for
questioning what she saw as contradictions in her father's life,
like why he believed in equality for all regardless of religion or
creed as a trade unionist but still supported the monarchy. She
thinks that faith and religion can play a very positive role but
that it can also be unhelpful because it can sometimes promote a
regressive and reactionary agenda - "you have conservative elements
and you have progressive elements - and like in other spheres of
society, I don't think conservative elements are particularly
helpful'.
Her immediate short term concern is the NHS ("it is reaching
meltdown"), although she would like to see Scotland moving ever
more to the left and to see an independent Scotland in the longer
term. For her, independence is a means to an end - it's about
achieving a more equal Scotland, which it could do if it had fiscal
autonomy and powers over immigration, asylum, pensions and
taxation. She thinks a healthy SNP would be good because it would
help the independence movement and so she would welcome someone who
could put them on a healthy footing. Although she did offer
friendly advice to them in terms of who should fill in their
leadership vacancies - "I think Fergus Ewing [deputy leader
candidate] would be a disaster for the SNP" as it would give the
party a right wing identity and "that ground is already over
occupied" but she was sure that they had the sense to realise
that.
Outwith politics, Carolyn's biggest passion is her leisure time,
friends and most importantly her teenage children. She says her
daughters suffer from the same problem as Rosie Kane's children -
it is very difficult for them to find ways to rebel when their
mothers are "a wee bit non-conformist". What options are open to a
teenager when your mum takes direct action, gets arrested and
doesn't believe that the law and those in authority are right every
time? Carolyn's 18 year old daughter has never had a drink despite
the fact she is sent to the off licence to buy her mum a bottle of
wine. All this conjures up the image of Jennifer Saunders and
Joanna Lumley as the two somewhat fond of alcohol, non conformist,
hippy and rule free Edina and Patsy from the TV programme
Absolutely Fabulous with Edina's very sensible and proper
daughter Saffy. To which Carolyn replied, "funny that you should
say that because my oldest daughter's nickname is Saffy!"