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Colin Fox's earliest political memory is of marching down Queens
Park in Glasgow in 1980 in a demonstration against unemployment. "I
was going out with a girl and I can remember walking down on a
bitterly cold February Saturday and thinking what kind of courtship
is this taking her to an unemployment demonstration!" Inspired by
the speaker from the Young Socialists, this march was to mark a sea
change for the trainee chartered accountant - "that was probably
the Rubicon I crossed between just being someone who criticised and
talked about it to my friends. That was the day I decided to get
involved."
Accountancy may seem an unlikely radicalising experience, but
discovering that cousins and friends were earning almost 3 times as
much as his very low trainee salary, and that one wealthy client he
was assigned was being charged £50 to £60 an hour - equivalent to
Fox's weekly wage - saw him leave as soon as he could for a job in
the Council finance department, where he threw himself into the
Young Socialists and being a union rep.
Hailing from a big Irish Catholic family (a "typical west of
Scotland family"), Fox was an altar boy until the age of 16. He
gave it up because he "became self-conscious of being taller than
the priest", but "quite enjoyed" the experience. He recounts
a tale of an election time when the local priest told the
congregation he expected everyone to do their duty and vote Labour.
Fox's father stormed out - "not because he didn't want to vote
Labour but because he didn't want to be told to vote Labour". He
never went back after that. Though Fox himself stopped attending
Church at 18 and now classes himself as an atheist, his religious
upbringing is not something he regrets, saying "I think it shaped
me; I learned a lot of things, having a grounding in a Christian
faith is no bad thing … there are things in the Christian faith
which are very close to the ideals that I hold dear - how we treat
other people, how we live in a society, look after the most
vulnerable, make the most of our moral obligations to distribute
our rewards to people who are less well advantaged."
He is only happy about the Church's role in politics where there
is complete separation between the church and the state. "That is
not to take away the churches right to speak out on issues that are
important to it, I would encourage that", he says. "I don't agree
with the Catholic Church's teaching on abortion, divorce,
contraception, women's emancipation, but I am perfectly sanguine
about their right to put it forwards." Where Marx viewed religion
as the opium of the people, Fox sees football as playing that role
in Scotland today, for men at least. So the churches' role in
speaking out he feels is valuable. He laughs: "Not every
member of the Scottish Socialist Party is an irreconcilable atheist
and Marxist Trotskyist like me and Tommy Sheridan!"
"I don't like to see anybody poor and suffering want, whether
they are the youngest or oldest - that's what drives me."
Being the father of 2 kids - aged 8 and 3 - has made him a
"complete pushover" where children are concerned. "I hate to see
kids in any desperate situation, whether it's here or abroad,
without enough to eat, dying of dehydration - that makes me really
angry". He is outraged that people can still die of hypothermia in
Scotland "in this day and age".
As the oldest of 40 grandchildren, Fox was very close to his
grandparents who influenced him greatly. "They worked all their
lives, they are very proud, they won't take help and they won't
take any charity. My grandfather is scared in case he gets benefits
he's not entitled to." They are representative of a generation to
whom the idea of being in debt was anathema and for whom a strong
sense of community was central, he says.
Music and culture are very important to Fox - not the most
natural association people make with his party, often classed as
"grey, monolithic" and linked, "whether we like it or not", with
the repression of the communist bloc era. People expect the SSP to
talk about poverty and disadvantage, and if they are to be known
for just one thing, he is happy with that focus, yet believes there
is much more to a fulfilling life - "I don't think anybody wants to
live in a society where there is only bread available. I would like
to see bread and roses." He loves to see how art and
culture moves people. His uncle, a contract electrician - "an
ordinary guy from Motherwell"- is the best painter he has seen,
motivated by sheer "love and enjoyment".
"I am a great believer that there is something unique and an
exceptional talent in every single human being - even the most
vicious, horrible killer - there is something that is unique,
something worthwhile, something they can contribute to make the
world a better place."
Anyone who witnessed Fox's rendition of Robert Burns' A
Man's a Man for a' That as a protest against taking the oath
of allegiance to the Queen, will not be surprised to learn that the
Bard is a source of inspiration. It's less his poems, however, and
more his colourful life, which Fox finds inspirational. Paul
Robeson, the black American singer, actor, athlete, and activist is
someone he regards as an "awesome figure." Tony Benn, whom Fox
describes as "a wonderful character" and whom he has met on several
occasions, is one of the reasons he got involved in politics. As
someone who relished being unpredictable, Fox feels one of his
heroes, Leon Trotsky, is a bit too predictable as an answer, yet
the Russian Revolution, for him "still stands out as an occasion
when the ordinary people rose up". As a fan of Lewis Grassic Gibbon
he was thrilled to find a copy of Spartacus, while browsing in a
second-hand bookshop one day while waiting to 'sign on'- "Here was
one of my literary heroes writing about my political heroes", he
says. Someone who doesn't impress Colin Fox is Fidel
Castro (unlike colleague Tommy Sheridan, who is a great fan).
"Castro has an appalling record. He does not allow people to speak
out and I think that is terrible and I won't condone it. I won't
gloss over it. It doesn't encourage people to think that a
socialist model is free, democratic, diverse, and celebrates what
is different about people."
Juggling work as an MSP with the responsibility for looking
after his kids he shares with his partner (a midwife) is
difficult. He is determined to play a full part in their
upbringing, insisting that he wants "to see them grow up". Having
no legal background has meant that getting to grips with the
workings of the Scottish Criminal Justice System, for his role
serving on the Parliament's Justice 2 Committee, has proved time
consuming. He jokes that he has been assigned this committee
because he is probably the only one of his party colleagues who
hasn't been to jail.
Conscious of the weight of expectation the SSP now bears, the
questions of how committed they are going to be to the parliament,
carrying out their committee duties, and the responsibilities this
entails, Fox and his colleagues find themselves in a dilemma. They
don't believe that the Parliament will deliver the kind of society
they what want and are mindful of the experience of socialists in
parliaments internationally where the tendency has been to conform
to the "rules and parameters" of the institution, to be "crushed by
the machine". "This Parliament has hardly any powers", he says. "it
has no powers over Dungavel, it has no powers over Faslane, no
powers over employment" - all key issues for the Scottish
Socialists.
It's no accident, Fox believes, that disengagement from the
political process is more acute in poor constituencies as witnessed
by the disparity in turnout rates. People think all politicians are
just in it for themselves, he says, they see too little change in
their area, and perceive little choice between the main parties. So
they just "opt out". Fears over unpaid poll tax bills mean many who
are eligible to vote are not registered. He's not claiming
that the SSP are necessarily perceived as being any different. "The
challenge is as much for us as for anybody else" he acknowledges.
The party desperately want to engage what is after all their target
audience. People aren't apathetic, they want change - they just
don't believe the politicians on offer are going to deliver
change.