Article from the Sept. 2006 issue of the Socialist
newspaper of the Socialist Party, Irish section of the CWI

New Socialist Party launched in Scotland

By Philip Stott, International Socialists, (CWI Scotland)

FORMER SCOTTISH Socialist Party MSP’s (Members of the Scottish Parliament) Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne have left the SSP and set up a new socialist party in Scotland.

Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement was launched at the beginning of September at a packed to the rafters, 600 strong rally in Glasgow. The SSP had held their own rally in the same room the day before but attracted less than half that number.

Many SSP members, including the overwhelming majority of trade unionists, have joined Solidarity. These include leading members of the civil service union (PCS). At the launch rally of Solidarity the TGWU organiser for Scotland’s opencast miners handed in 100 application forms for the new party from miners and their families.

The SSP was thrown into a crisis in November 2004 when the party leadership forced the then national convenor Tommy Sheridan to resign. This was over fears about stories relating to Tommy Sheridan’s private life that were expected to be printed in the News of the World (NoW).

These actions had a big impact on the SSP’s electoral support. Even before this the SSP’s support had began to dip. This was linked to the turn to left nationalism and more pronounced reformist ideas by the SSP leadership. But Tommy Sheridan’s resignation was the catalyst for a collapse in support for the party. For example in 2003, the party had six MSP’s elected with almost 7% of the national vote, by the 2005 Westminster elections this had fallen to 1.9%.

The majority of working class people had identified with the SSP through Tommy Sheridan who when a member of Militant, [our sister party in Scotland at the time - Ed] was jailed for six months in 1992 for his role in the mass-non payment campaign against the poll tax.

However, along with many of the leaders of the SSP, Tommy Sheridan had left our international organisation (CWI) in 2001. They had drawn the conclusion that it was no longer necessary to continue to build a Marxist organisation and the CWI’s fighting socialist programme while building the politically broader SSP. This had a big impact on the SSP as it increasingly was seen to be moving away from taking up the day-to-day issues facing the working class while linking those to the need to build a socialist alternative to capitalism.

Instead a campaign to "break apart the UK" and promote the benefits of independence on a capitalist basis through the launching of the cross party independence convention with the main pro-capitalist party in Scotland, the Scottish National Party, was attempted.

However, despite our political differences with Tommy Sheridan the CWI recognised the standing and authority he has among the majority of the working class in Scotland. We therefore opposed the actions of the SSP leadership. We warned that this would lead to the weakening of the SSP’s support in society.

Detailed minutes of a November 2004 EC meeting had been kept by the SSP leadership including alleged admissions by Tommy Sheridan about his private life. They then admitted in the press that a minute existed. The NoW demanded those minutes as part of their defence against Tommy Sheridan’s defamation (libel) case.

It was described as the most sensational libel trial in Scottish history. 11 SSP EC members, including 3 MSP’s were called by the NoW to give evidence and confirm the accuracy of the minute of November 2004. Nevertheless, Tommy Sheridan, who had sacked his legal team half-way through the trial won his case. The jury also awarded him the largest damages ever in a Scottish court for defamation – £200,000.

His court victory, against all the odds, was greeted with huge enthusiasm by the working class in Scotland. There have been dozens of stories of cheering and applause in the pubs on the Friday afternoon when Tommy Sheridan left the court with his fist clenched in victory. It was seen as a victory for the little guy against the Rupert Murdoch empire; for a socialist against an-anti-trade union and anti-socialist rag.

But not by the SSP leadership, who have become increasingly out of touch with the outlook of the working class. They accused Tommy Sheridan of lying and demanded an apology from him. Some SSP branches, controlled by the pro-leadership faction (United Left), called for his resignation. A campaign began in Glasgow among the United Left to have him deselected as an SSP candidate.

The Party newspaper and the SSP website, controlled by the leadership, printed the November 2004 minutes and a diatribe entitled "The Fight for the Truth". Not a single word from Tommy Sheridan or those opposed to the SSP leadership was allowed in the party newspaper, the website or the members’ bulletins produced after the court victory. These Stalinist methods and the use of the media to denounce Tommy Sheridan led to many in the SSP to draw the conclusion that a clean break was necessary.

The International Socialists (CWI in Scotland) have supported the launch of the new party. Despite the political differences we have with Tommy Sheridan, it was clear that the SSP because of the actions of the SSP leadership, was finished as a viable vehicle for the working class and socialism.

We will work to build the new party based upon taking up the immediate issues facing working class communities in Scotland and the need for a socialist solution. The strengthening of the forces of Marxism and the CWI will be vital in ensuring this new movement can succeed.