Re: [Marxism] New Scottish Socialist Formation

["Darren Williams" <dazza1970@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This seems to me a pretty tendentious account, to put it mildly. I am not
a member of the SSP - indeed, I do not live in Scotland, so I can't claim
any expert knowledge of these events, but, like most people on the British
left, I've read a fair bit about what's happened and the impression I get
is that this whole sorry affair has more to do with Tommy Sheridan's ego
than anything else.

Sheridan insisted on taking legal action, against the advice of the vast
majority of the SSP leadership, and despite having apparently admitted some
of the claims made by the News of the World in an EC meeting, the minutes
of which have been verified by 15 of the 19 people present, several of whom
were neutral between the two 'camps'. Furthermore, the 11 SSP members who
gave evidence did not do so willingly, but were obliged to; it was Sheridan
who put them in that position. There is also a nasty, anti-feminist and even
misogynistic character to some of his recent statements.

(Here is an alternative account of events - a statement from Socialist 
Resistance,
a group to which I do not belong, but which does have a few supporters in
the SSP: http://www.socialistresistance.net/srssp.htm.)

Where is your evidence for saying that the SSP has lost the support of unions
and the working class and for implying that it could have done more to win
the support of muslims? And how is this due to policies adopted by the 
post-Sheridan
leadership since 2004? And how will the support of unions, workers and muslims
be maximised by the left if there are two socialist parties instead of one?

The second paragraph of your posting, in particular, seems to translate as
'The SSP was not sufficiently like Respect'. It is noteworthy that the SWP
has enthusiastically supported Sheridan's actions, presumably hoping that
they can control the new party, with Sheridan as the figurehead, as Galloway
is in Respect. For its faults, at least the SSP has  been a broad, open and
democratic party of the socialist left in Scotland - not the exclusive preserve
of any one 'revolutionary' faction.

>-- Original Message --
>From: Jscotlive@xxxxxxx
>Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2006 01:44:15 EDT
>Subject: Re: [Marxism] New Scottish Socialist Formation
>To: marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Reply-To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
>       <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

>The SSP has lost the confidence of the trade union movement in Scotland,
> the
>working class in the communities and at the ballot box. It has failed to
>
>attract muslims and members of the immigrant communities. The leadership
>has
>refused to engage meaningfully in the antiwar movement, and failed completely
>to
>get involved in the biggest political event in Scotland's recent history,
>
>last  year's G8 mobilisation.



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