The Scottish Socialist Alliance

Andrew Murray

The Scottish Socialist Alliance (SSA) held its first conference in June. It was formed last year by socialists from a wide range of backgrounds; the largest component is Scottish Militant Labour (SML)"they have retained their name in Scotland. But an important role in its formation was played by the Scottish Socialist Movement (it has since dissolved) which was formed in parallel with the Socialist Movement in England and Wales, but did not evolve in quite the same direction. During its existence the SSA played the leading role in campaigning against council cuts in Glasgow, including protests against school closures and the occupation of two community centres, and has campaigned against domestic violence. Revolutionaries should recognise the formation of the SSA as a positive development and fight for political leadership within it.

The politics of the SSA are to a large extent, though not entirely, informed by those of the Militant, which led them, for example, to over-reach themselves by standing candidates in 16 seats, including all 10 Glasgow seats, although they did refrain from standing in Tory marginals, and it would be wrong to accuse them of electoralism. Tommy Sheridan won 11% in Glasgow Pollack, the largest share of the vote for any candidate in Britain not backed by a major party, and one of the best results by a leftist candidate for many years. But the others did not do so well, the next best was 3% for Jim McVicar in Glasgow Baillieston. Last year the SSA won a respectable 19% in a Glasgow city council by-election, but this was achieved by activists descending on the ward from across the city, enabling a canvass and knock-up of much of the ward, not possible when resources were spread much more thinly. I tactically proposed standing 5 candidates in Glasgow, arguing that while there was nothing unprincipled about standing candidates there was no reason to get gung-ho about standing a large number.

The SSA National Council has spent some time drawing up a "Charter for Socialist Change", which is basicly a left social democratic document, although there are large sections revolutionaries could support. I moved a couple of amendments in Glasgow (all defeated) and abstained on this document at the conference. I did vote for the National Council’s document on "Campaigns and Elections", it got the emphasis right by putting campaigns first, and took a realistic view of the SSA’s electoral success. The dissenting voices in the SSA come from two quarters. The CPGB/Weekly Worker in Dundee have an ultra-left position of calling for a boycott of the government referendum on a Scottish Parliament. The Republican Workers’ Tendency in Edinburgh have called for a write-in campaign for a Scottish republic. SSA conference voted overwhelmingly to call for a double "For" in the referendum in September, but only voted narrowly to participate in the campaign set up by the Labour Party, "Scotland Forward". The Socialist Labour Party (SLP) has not engaged the SSA in a head-on confrontation but has established some niches of its own, in Motherwell where it has a base in the RMT, and in the former coal-mining area of Ayrshire and Fife. They stood three candidates, there was a tacit understanding that the SSA and the SLP would not stand against each other. Some activists in the SLP and the SSA are personally on reasonable terms, many would prefer a closer relationship, but SLP members feel they cannot do anything which the London leadership would disapprove of.

Materials on the Internet on SSA’s home page: http://wkweb/cableinet.co.uk/diblake/ And the CPGB’s "Campaign for Genuine |Self-Determination" home page: http://www.duntone.demon.co.uk/cgsd