Scotland is big enough for more than one socialist party...

azzuri · Scotland is big enough for more than one socialist party...

‘Scotland is big enough for more than one socialist party. I predict thousands will join us’

By Lynn Malone

FORMER Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader Tommy Sheridan has revealed that several Scottish celebrities, including actor and director Peter Mullan, are to join him in forming a new political party.

Sheridan, who was awarded £200,000 damages earlier this month in his case against the News Of The World, said in an interview with the Sunday Herald that he wants to start a new socialist movement.

“It’s time to build a new organisation out of comrades, not collaborators. I am confident we can build a new, bigger and better socialist vehicle,” he said.

He claimed that David McKay and Martin McCardie, both Glasgow-born actors, writers and directors, will join him forming the new unnamed party.

Sheridan said: “Peter Mullan, Davie McKay, Martin McCardie are among those I’ve had consultations with and they have said they want to be part of something new, along with miners, nurses and everyday workers.

“I predict hundreds, maybe thousands, of ordinary, everyday workers will fight for equality and justice. The war is with inequality, not with fellow socialists. And Scotland is big enough for more than one socialist party.”

In the weeks since Sheridan’s court case ended, the SSP has descended into civil war, with Sheridan branding some members of the party as “political scabs”.

However, in an interview with the Sunday Herald’s sister paper The Herald yesterday, Sheridan claimed he regretted his use of the word “scabs”.

Last night he added: “It was the only term I could think of at the time. It was how I felt. But I damaged my dignity by lowering myself to the level of the name-callers. It should have been kept for an internal meeting.”

But Sheridan insisted some party members were “vile” and that the atmos phere within the SSP was “poisonous”.

He said several members, including a retired female teacher, had told him that they were frightened to go to branch meetings because of the level of intimidation.

The fighting within the SSP has became so bad that one party member physically attacked another in a street brawl in Edinburgh two weeks ago, according to an anonymous caller who contacted the Sunday Herald.

Sheridan said: “The atmosphere a faction in the SSP has created is poisonous and unacceptable.

“It’s obvious that those who are involved with the faction, which has hijacked the SSP and all its apparatus, have hatred for me as their motivating factor.

“The SSP have been bastardised, they’re now a grotesque caricature of what we had hoped. It’s time for them to fight among themselves. It’s time to make a clean break.

“The new party will share some of the political ideology of the old SSP and the internal regime will be one of tolerance, friendship and genuine solidarity.”

It is not known whether Sheridan will lead the new party. He said it is a decision that will be made by the electorate.

He said: “I don’t know who will lead it. Those who join it will decide who, but it has to be grassroots and will concentrate on politics, not personalities.

“The electorate of Scotland are intelligent enough to make up their own mind. In nine months’ time we will wage war on poverty and inequality. The party will be bigger and better.”

The politician, who received more than 1000 e-mails, 460 cards and 260 letters during and since the defamation action, does not believe the court case has damaged him politically, but that it might have damaged the SSP.

He said: “A theme running through all the correspondence I have received isn’t just congratulations at beating Murdoch’s empire, but about an SSP that is damaged, with backstabbers bereft of solidarity and dignity.”

Sheridan also revealed new details for plans to discuss the new party at a public meeting. “There will be a public meeting on September 3 at Glasgow’s Central Hotel for those who want to build a new vehicle in Scottish socialism and promote peace and tolerance.”

But current SSP leader Colin Fox has said there is no room for another socialist party in Scotland, that it would confuse the public, and claims he is confident voters will stick with the SSP.

He said: “Tommy has got it badly wrong. There is no scope for another socialist party; there is only space for one. And we will get the support of the voter on the basis of our political programme, not personalities, however exalted they may be.”

But Sheridan said: “It’s clear I’m not welcome at the SSP. I could fight and maybe win. That would feed the media frenzy but do nothing for socialism.

“The electorate will know from the bile-infested comments that Tommy Sheridan has nothing to do with the Scottish Socialist Party.

“The new party will be about solidarity, against poverty and inequality, working to help asylum seekers and promoting independent, nuclear-free social independence.”

20 August 2006

see - http://www.sundayherald.com/57447

IF Convenor

Maybe he should call his new party the People's Front of Judea to distinguish it from the Judea People's Front.

You can always trust the political left to split and fight amongst themselves. If they aren't infiltrated by agents of the state they certainly save the security forces a lot of money by doing the job for them for free.

Rinty · y

Most repeated film scene of the week IF Very Happy

You do have a point though, although I dont think its about having two parties. Its more about how best to represent a movement in elections. The SSP will forever be seen as the party of pythonesque petty differences.

Ultimately Fox will be proved right though, and only one party will remain. Unfortunately for him though it wont be whats left in the SSP after most of the members, all of the trades unions and all of the largest platforms leave. After 2007 the only way back for the SSP will be as a platform in Sheridans new party.

I was at the South regional Council today who voted 100% in favour of attending the meeting called by Sheridan. The meeting was very much in favour of only two options, win the SSP back from the UL faction, or leave and try something new. There was no-one calling for the petty name calling to continue or in support of the ruling minority faction.

Good news for your point if view was also 100% vote in favour of any new party backing an independent socialist republic.

Shadowman

It'll be interesting to see how the 12 votes for these parties split next year.

SLG

Absolutely Shadowman, and it might also be interesting to see how the other 249,835 votes are split.

parkhead_rfb

I wanted sheridan to win his case but hes starting to get on my nerves now. the way he whored himself for publicity in the, equally as bad as the notw, daily record after the case for publicity really irked me. Also setting up a party with certain members just for more short term publicity isnt the way to go imo and only strenghtens the view that socialism is a nice idea but cant be taken seriously in terms of running the country.

Rinty · y

You are poorly informed RFB. Sheridan isnt forming a party with a few members for publicity. The SSP has been falling apart internally since 2003 and the majority of members are leaving to launch a new less bureacratic movement. This is a widely held belief across the party and Tommy is one of those who is leaving.

I take your point on the Daily record but there was a good reason for that. If he had lost the case he would have been bankrupt. The money for the Sunday Mail and Daily Record was paid to Gail to make sure that her and her daughter could survive if Tommy was bankrupted.

The same groups sister paper the Sunday Mail pays Rosie Kane £1k a month which she has never given to the party, despite agreeing to do so 18 months ago. When Tommy wrote a column for the Mirror he didnt keep a penny of it. In the case of the stories last week I would have done the same personally if it meant feeding my family.

Dont be fooled by the so called SSP who are putting statements out at the moment, they are clutching at straws. At our regional council yesterday we voted 100% in favoiur of talks on a new party. My branch is also 100% in favour of breaking away.

The SSP is a tarnished image and is a centralist bureacratic nightmare that has been a good chapter in history that has privided us with a lot of lessons to learn from.

The response so far has been overwhelming with trades unionists and others not in the SSP getting in touch and lost members returning.

Reluctant Hero

Rinty, do you know what time the meeting on the 3rd is scheduled for?

parkhead_rfb

this is part of the problem with the ssp at the moment, the confusion and i have an active interest in the party. I dont think forming a new party is the answer though i would prefer a change in the ssp as a whole as it at least provides a continuation to the general public all this change and counter claims is doing is making them look less and less credible as a party.

this is particularly disturbing for me as the ssp have been the only party in scotland i have ever felt a great deal of sympathy for.

Personally i have never trusted sheridan but i will admit this is more to do with a feeling about the personality rather than any great rational basis. I would though be very disheartened if what you are saying about rosie kane is true.

i also see your point about the sheridan daily record thing and your right the guy could have been in severe trouble. it just looked like a deal signed after the event though so i was under the impression thats what it was, i didnt know it had been signed previously as a safety net.

RedScotland

It seems that Sheridan is determined to drag down the entire socialist movement in Scotland in a pathetic attempt to bolster his own massive ego and in this he's unsurprisingly won the support of the authoritarian trotskyist sects of the Brit left. He may well succeed, at least for the moment, and with the present electoral system it's unlikely that two parties with a relatively similar programme can each get enough votes to win even one seat in 2007. I do however think that the SSP has enough committed members and supporters to survive as a political party and to hopefully regain its popularity within the wider electorate in the years ahead as there is a greater need than ever before in Scotland for radical leftist policies and, unlike Sheridan's new media-driven top-down party, it will continue to be involved at a community level in campaigns which make a real difference to the lives of ordinary people. In regards to Rosie Kane I've heard from others within the party that she does give away all the money she earns from the Sunday Mail.

azzuri

Wonder what the new party will be called? 'Scottish Independent Socialists' perhaps? Smile

Rinty · t

I've been involved since the start of talks Russel, we have still to decide a name. Its very much a looser, more democractic movement than the SSP which is very much a top down post-holders run party.

Most people I know in the party are fed up with the tight control that those who turned out to be the UL have on the party.

A new start is to be welcomed as recent events have underlined just how undemocratic the party was and just how much of a grip a small faction have on things.

So far the CWI, SWP, trades unions and about 400 individual members have indicated their willingness to join with a new start away from the ex-militant control freaks who currently run the party. thats the best part of 1,000 members and a significant part of the SSPs revenue.

Instead of trying to keep those people in the party they seem incapable of coming out with anything other than personal attacks on Tommy and anyone they see as supporters.

The launch meeting is 1pm on Sunday 3rd September at the Central Hotel at Central Station.

The EC decision to hold an "SSP" rally in the same venue on the day before indicates the level of childishness they have stooped to. Are they seiously expecting anyone to believe that was the best time and place for an election campaign rally?

I wouldnt be surprised if the UL turn up to the meeting Tommy called to diisrupt it, thats the sort of people they are.

The ego talk is all about a sinking SSP trying to damage the new party. The EC are attempting to keep the party together by insulting hundreds of members by calling us sycophants.

The real split taking place is between the activists who want an open democractic party and the post holders and their supporters who want to continue the control freak, bureacratic party centred around a few senior members that exists now.

Those who have broke away so far amount to about 60% of members paying monthly subs to the party, and a serious chunk of the REAL activists. These people in the UL have had one day in court each yet they expect us to believe that has prevented them from campaigning against the war in lebanon for a whole summer. At the last Prestwick demo there were plenty of SSP activists there including MSP Rosemary Byrne, the trouble the SSP have is that almost all of them have now left or are about to leave.

The EC/UL are kidding themselves on that the SSP will survive this. They wont and they know it, and its only what they deserve.

neil8r · Re: t

Rinty · y

They are not fans of much Neil, other than their own wee sect. The indications so far is that the new party will be bigger than the SSP within days of launching.

Many trades unionists and others didnt feel that the SSP was a place for them but want to see a new left party in Scotland.

The SSP will have a very real problem in the next week. Outside of Glasgow and the Central belt they will be virtually non existent.

My local branch is typical, with 10 active members, similar to many branches across the country. ALL of our branch members are moving to the new party and in Ayrshire the 150 or so members of the SSP will become 10-12 at the most with the rest joining the new party or leaving altogether.

Scotland is big enough for more than one socialist party...

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Re: t

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