Scotland’s independence referendum was drawing to a close, and the British establishment was in full panic mode. A Yes victory, once so unlikely, suddenly seemed possible. Threats of massive capital flight, eleventh hour offers of further devolution, clichéd invocations of queen and country, spread from elite circles throughout the country.

The Yes campaign, once the sectarian property of a bourgeois civic nationalist party had transformed into an idealistic grassroots movement that transcended and eluded the torpid electoralism of British politics in more ways than one.

On election night, areas like Angus and Moray, strongholds for the Scottish National Party (SNP) at both Westminster and Holyrood, decisively voted “no.” Meanwhile a majority of voters in Labour areas like Glasgow and Dundee turned their backs on the Unionist cause. In the last month of the campaign alone, support for independence among Labour voters rose from 17 percent to 35 percent.