Tommy Sheridan has won a famous victory over the News of the World. This has been proclaimed by Tommy’s immediate supporters, the SWP<\/acronym> and CWI<\/acronym>, and by that section of the press and media, which likes to pretend it is morally superior to the News of the World. People from Margo MacDonald to Ian Bell have hailed Tommy’s triumph over the News of the World. When it comes to its effect on the SSP<\/acronym>, they either show little concern, or cynically declare that the SSP<\/acronym> project was doomed from the start. The Left could never unite. For some, this is no doubt said with regret, as they wistfully remember their lost and youthful radical past. And, in a desperate desire to fill the vacuum, left by the wholesale retreat of working class politics since its 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s, some of these people might claim that only celebrity politics has a chance of getting any progressive changes today. First it was Ken Livingstone, then George Galloway, and now it\u2019s Tommy Sheridan. And even some on the remaining Left seem to agree with them. They just hope for a little slice of the action. Working class heroes are our only saviour – follow the true leader!<\/p>\n What has been hidden from most of the public and many SSP<\/acronym> members, throughout the lurid 4 week trial, is the other battle that has been raging. That has been the attempt by Tommy to break the SSP<\/acronym>, in order to have an organisation, like putty in his hands. This would be, in effect, a leadership cult \u2013 the Tommy Sheridan Party (TSP<\/acronym>). In order to achieve this Tommy was prepared to resort to a bourgeois court to promote his campaign of bravado and public denigration of one-time close friends, fellow comrades in the former ISM<\/acronym>, and other socialists in the party, including many with a long record of working class struggle. Tommy has been mightily helped in this, in his attempt to portray his stance as a heroic, one-man battle against the scabby News of the World and the right to maintain his family\u2019s privacy.<\/p>\n The sub-text in Tommy\u2019s campaign has been to conjure up a secret organisation, the United Left, which conspired to topple him as SSP<\/acronym> leader on November 9th 2004. The purpose behind this has been twofold. First, to whip up hatred within the SSP<\/acronym>, directed against those members of the National Executive prepared to stand up to him; secondly, to play to the wider perception of the public (some, of course, who became members of the jury) that the SSP<\/acronym> wasn\u2019t worth a toss. It is just another joke organisation – a combination of The Life of Brian and Citizen Smith. Given the Left\u2019s past history it is not surprising that this image is all too prevalent amongst the wider public. However, in appealing to this particular widespread prejudice, Tommy has highlighted his intention to destroy the reality of what the SSP<\/acronym> has achieved. Instead, he wants it replaced either by the TSP<\/acronym>, or left as an empty shell, gutted of any independent-mindedness and democracy.<\/p>\n When did Tommy decide to pursue this course of action? Quite clearly he was shocked at the emergency November 9th 2004 Executive meeting when his closest friends and political allies were not prepared to give him unqualified backing. Protecting the leader\u2019s public image, promoted in the media at every opportunity \u2013 the squeaky clean President and First Lady \u2013 was his primary concern. The real issue, therefore, was not about Tommy\u2019s sex life. This is indeed his and Gail\u2019s affair, but it has been Tommy who seems determined to make it everybody else\u2019s. The problem is Tommy\u2019s image promoted for political purposes may be very different from reality. The wider issue isn\u2019t a concern over Calvinist morality, but over bourgeois hypocrisy. It was Tommy\u2019s decision to go to the courts, instead of shrugging off the News of the World allegations, which showed his own moralistic uncertainty about sexual conduct. Even John Prescott and Bertie Ahern have handled press allegations about their private lives better \u2013 either, In order to sustain this public image, his closest friends and comrades were asked to sacrifice their own personal integrity. Our MSP<\/acronym>s, all public figures, were also asked to compromise their integrity. The very name of the SSP<\/acronym>, as the only principled and honest party in Scottish politics, was to be threatened, by Tommy could even have gone to the following National Executive meeting, the next National Council, or to the 2005 Conference, to argue his case in front of the members. That was his right and the proper way to pursue his grievance. Certainly, the membership would have been up for a SSV<\/acronym> campaign to expose the scabby News of the World. Direct appeals could have been made to that paper\u2019s unions.<\/p>\n Instead, Tommy, at this stage with the Executive\u2019s support, decided to pursue a private action in the bourgeois courts. However, Tommy was nurturing his hurt, so he also moved behind the scenes in the party. First he broke off personal relationships with his former closest friends. Next year, he backed Colin Fox for SSP<\/acronym> leader, hoping that at least Colin could be manipulated into advancing his course. Colin, one of Tommy\u2019s close political allies, was not for being so used. So, in Tommy\u2019s mind, Colin too joined the imaginary ‘conspiracy’ directed against the Lastly, when it became quite clear that the SSP<\/acronym> could not be kept out the courts, due to the state\u2019s stance (something the RCN<\/acronym> maintained was inevitable), Tommy wrote his Open Letter, with the help of the CWI<\/acronym> and others. From then on he has played a constant game of However, since the date of Tommy\u2019s court case was declared, his battle against the News of the World \u2013 the Tommy\u2019s public portrayal of the SSP<\/acronym> has been a travesty of reality. The RCN<\/acronym> knows better than any other platform, that Tommy and his allies\u2019 are twisting and misrepresenting the reality of our party. The SSA<\/acronym>, and its successor organisation, the current SSP<\/acronym>, were built on the firm grounds of working class resistance \u2013 the Anti-Poll Tax campaign, the Save Our Water campaign, the Glaciers\u2019 occupation and many other struggles. In the process, the SSA<\/acronym>, then the SSP<\/acronym>, pulled in the overwhelming majority of socialist organisations in Scotland (including the local branch organisations of British-based organisations), which had previously only enjoyed a separate sect-like existence.<\/p>\n The RCN<\/acronym> is probably the only political organisation, currently in the SSP<\/acronym>, which argued for the welcoming of all socialist organisations into the Alliance\u2019s\/Party\u2019s ranks. The condition of membership was that they accept the SSA<\/acronym>\u2019s\/SSP<\/acronym>s\u2019 defining principles and constitution. That means we championed the right to affiliation, of every organisation which has subsequently joined, from the The CPGB-PCC<\/acronym> (now defunct in Scotland!), the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement to the Socialist Workers\u2019 Party. We welcomed people as comrades into the party, only opposing their politics whenever we disagreed. We have always tried to maintain fraternal relations with comrades as individuals.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the RCN<\/acronym>, far from supporting the politics of the ISM<\/acronym>, or other platforms or individuals in the National Executive, has always been prepared to very publicly take on positions we disagreed with. We have opposed both Tommy and Alan McCombes, on their shared slide towards Scottish nationalism. We have opposed both Carolyn Leckie and Richie Venton, when they failed to fully support the extension of the principle, However, we have also been been approached by members in all other platforms to speak for, or to support key policies of theirs. We have welcomed support from members of most other Platforms, or non-aligned individuals, when they have supported our politics. We have published articles by members of all Platforms in Emancipation & Liberation, even when this has not been reciprocated. We aren\u2019t scared of real debate.<\/p>\n Political debates and struggles inside the SSA<\/acronym>\/SSP<\/acronym> have been overwhelmingly conducted in the spirit of brotherly and sisterly comradeship. When there have been occasional lapses, apologies have been made later, and good personal relationships re-established. The RCN<\/acronym>, which is the smallest of the active affiliated Platforms, and frequently in the minority in the final votes, is proud to stand up and state that, despite any remaining weaknesses and shortcomings, the SSP<\/acronym> has been the most democratic and comradely wider organisation our members have been involved with during in their political lives (and that includes the Labour Party, the IS<\/acronym>\/SWP<\/acronym>, CPGB-PCC<\/acronym> and the SNP<\/acronym>!).<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think it is Therefore, I repeat that Tommy\u2019s portrayal of the internal life of the SSP<\/acronym> is both dishonest and sickening. If the democratic and comradely tradition established in the SSA<\/acronym>\/SSP<\/acronym> was to be finally broken, in favour of the type of hatred-promoting bile displayed in Tommy\u2019s latest contributions to the scabby Daily Record, it would represent a major set-back for our class.<\/p>\n The RCN<\/acronym> has issued several statements giving our view of events, since November 9th 2004. Our most recent statement, published on August 4th was drafted before the results of the trial were known. Beforehand, we were sometimes asked what we thought would be the best verdict. We said that politically it didn\u2019t matter \u2013 that Tommy was pursuing an anti-Party battle regardless. Win or lose, he would try to rally party members around him to purge what he or his close ally, Hugh Kerr, have shamefully characterised as either We also said that there could only be two official results to this court case:- either News of the World – 1, Tommy \u2013 0; or Tommy \u2013 1, News of the World \u2013 1. The real result, however, would be:- the State 5, the SSP<\/acronym> 0. In the end the official verdict was Tommy – 1, News of the World – 1. Why do we not agree with the current wider opinion that Tommy has trounced the News of the World? First, the \u00a3700,000 they had to pay out (penalties and costs) was small beer, compared to the three weeks of unparalleled publicity they received. Furthermore, on top of the persuasive direct evidence offered particularly by Katrine Troll, her flatmates, and the from the mobile phone calls, the News of the World was able to ladle on much more completely unsubstantiated salacious material, to get their money\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n Yes, the News of the World would have preferred to claim the scalp of another prominent politician, but it was always a win-win situation for them. Far from feeling defeated and browbeaten, the News of the World went on to print another story, in their very next issue (August 6th) attacking Tommy\u2019s friend, former policeman and SSP<\/acronym> member, Dennis Reilly. He was accused of getting a gangster, John Lynn, to intimidate one of the witnesses. Now that Tommy is at least \u00a3230,000 the richer, will he spend a little of this money trying to clear the name of his good friend in the courts? These accusations are far more serious than any stories about Tommy\u2019s alleged sex life.<\/p>\n The one thing the News of the World can not of be accused of, is having a party political agenda \u2013 it would print the same sort of attacks, whether it was directed against Tory, Labour, Lib-Dem, SNP<\/acronym> or SSP<\/acronym> politicians. Certainly, its owners and editors would not be averse to handling and promoting information fed to them by the state\u2019s security services, but the state has its assets in all the major media \u2013 from the serious liberal and conservative press, through to the populist gutter press. In the meantime, the News of the World has moved on unimpeded, with its usual diet of salacious stories and scandal.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the state probably knows the content of all those phone calls and e-mails mentioned in the trial. It probably knows a lot more about the private lives of all our MSP<\/acronym>s and other leading officials. The state has the choice of leaking this information in the future, either directly or indirectly, through its various assets in the media and elsewhere; or it can blackmail individuals, who don\u2019t want some aspects of their private life revealed to the public. The case of Denis Donaldson in Sinn Fein, a much more security conscious and intelligence service-savvy organisation than the SSP<\/acronym>, is a warning of how they operate.<\/p>\n When renegade ex-Trotskyist, George Kerevan, saw the success of the SSP<\/acronym> in the May 2003 elections, he cynically, but accurately, said to Alan McCombes:- Tommy\u2019s court win has had a material affect to the way he is now running his anti-Party campaign now. If Tommy had lost, his allies in the SW<\/acronym> and CWI<\/acronym> Platforms would have had to conduct their present anti-Party campaign in a different manner (although I\u2019m sure they would have continued anyhow \u2013 sectarianism seems to be hard-wired into their very being). For, whilst the case was ongoing, the SWP<\/acronym>, in particular, was careful, to try and rally support inside the party around the slogan, When asked what their attitude was to members initiating such actions, which involved attacking other members in the bourgeois courts, they adopted a Blair-type apologist stance, So what is the political essence of the new political situation? Tommy has moved his anti-Party campaign from the bourgeois courts (previously disguised as defence against the News of the World) to the bourgeois press. He is now being paid by New Labour-supporting (and politically much more dangerous) Daily Record to conduct this anti-Party campaign.<\/p>\n Now, you can have two views on this. Either, by so publicly and generously providing Tommy with the means to conduct his own campaign (it was given priority on the front page, as well as on several other pages on August 8th, 9th and 10th) the Daily Record has joined the principled battle for socialism in Scotland. Or, you can take the view that the Daily Record has been presented with a golden opportunity to attack socialism, the SSP<\/acronym>, and is proceeding with great relish.<\/p>\n Any serious person examining August 7th and 8th Daily Records, can see its editors and journalists are taking the piss. They just can\u2019t believe how far Tommy is prepared to go to further his celebrity status and bid for Leader of the SSP<\/acronym>. They even conned Tommy and Gail, on page 7, to pose for a ‘royal photograph’, with King Tommy, Queen Gail and the wider family! On August 8th, we had former Royal Marine, James Moncur, lauding Tommy\u2019s fitness, in testosterone-fuelled prose (page 4). In passing, Tommy mentions his old pal, Ally McCoist \u2013 So whilst Tommy thinks he his working jointly with the Daily Record to destroy the SSP<\/acronym> as it is presently constituted, he can not see that he is also being set-up for a great fall. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the Daily Record\u2019s response to Tommy sacking his lawyers \u2013 was Tommy Drops His Briefs (Daily Record, 15th July)<\/cite> \u2013 ho, ho, ho!<\/p>\n Tommy is falling over himself to help the Daily Record, to break the socialist opposition in parliament before next year\u2019s Holyrood elections. He apparently cannot even see that he is being used. The Daily Record is far more politically conscious than the News of the World. It props up New Labour in Scotland. Jack McConnell and Gordon Brown\u2019s political careers are more important to the Daily Record than the Four days after Tommy\u2019s court triumph, even one sympathetic journalist, Ruth Wishart, was beginning to send him warning signals, after his post-victory behaviour (Daily Herald, 8th August). You might have thought that Tommy\u2019s supposedly politically astute advisers in the SWP<\/acronym> and the CWI<\/acronym> would have warned him too about the political designs of the Daily Record. Tommy\u2019s outrageous calls for the But then Trotsky supported the clampdown on internal party democracy, after crushing the Kronstadt sailors and workers. Trotsky helped to suppress Lenin\u2019s Last Testament. Therefore, it shouldn\u2019t have come as any surprise that Trotsky later became a victim of his own political manoeuvrings. Tommy may have a more immediate political target in the UL<\/acronym>, but he holds no love for either the SWP<\/acronym> and CWI<\/acronym> \u2013 Colin Fox, our party\u2019s convenor (voted in 2005, by the majority of delegates, in an election where he received Tommy\u2019s backing) has appealed to SSP<\/acronym> members to protest against Tommy\u2019s scurrilous anti-Party attack,(in the Daily Record,) on four of our MSP<\/acronym>s,. So far, (some) SWP<\/acronym> members have declined to sign this appeal. They appear to approve of Tommy\/Daily Record\u2019s methods. So these SWP<\/acronym> members must approve of the Daily Record\u2019s campaign too.<\/p>\n But, then of course, the Daily Record is able to reach those parts which Socialist Worker can not reach. What, with Tommy\u2019s five page And, I suppose that, given all the Daily Record\u2019s pages of publicity, given over to Tommy, the paper at least managed to cover the war in Lebanon on page 2. They even managed to relegate their own salacious material to page 9 \u2013 beyond the five pages of Tommy and Gail coverage. As yet, Tommy himself appears to be oblivious of this wider world situation, devoting not one word to it, in all the extensive space he has received.<\/p>\n But wait a moment, let\u2019s look again at that page 2 Daily Record headline, ROCKETS RAIN DOWN AS TRUCE BID FAILS<\/cite>, Dozens hit in Hezbollah attack on Haifa. Ah, so it\u2019s all Hezbollah\u2019s fault! And SWP<\/acronym> members joined the anti-war march in London on July 22nd, chanting the slogan, However, Tommy isn\u2019t going to get his TSP<\/acronym> in one bold leap. First of all the letters of the SSP<\/acronym> have to be changed to mean the ‘Sycophants and Sectarians Party’. This sadly is the political intention behind the political statement, The SSP<\/acronym> has reached a crossroads, issued on August 7th. Pre-conference delegate meetings are to be packed by SWP<\/acronym> and CWI<\/acronym> supporters. The October Conference is to be converted to a rally and coronation. Yes, we could all join Respect if we like this sort of behaviour.<\/p>\n Apparently, the SSP<\/acronym>\u2019s arrival at the crossroads has One bone of contention in the party has been the drift towards Scottish nationalism. This has been contested by the socialist republican wing of the SSP<\/acronym>, (led by the RCN<\/acronym>) on one hand, and the Left British unionist wing (led by the CWI<\/acronym>, SWP<\/acronym> and Workers\u2019 Unity) on the other. It was the CWI<\/acronym> which coined the highly ambiguous, but definitive SSP<\/acronym> policy \u2013 an The Differences have also emerged over the anti-G8<\/acronym> campaign. Rosemary Byrne and film-maker, Peter Mullen publicly attacked the parliamentary protest made by four of our MSP<\/acronym>s (I suspect that Peter Mullen was articulating Tommy\u2019s stance on this). When the RCN<\/acronym> moved a motion at the subsequent National Council, strongly approving the protest action, Phil Stott for the CWI<\/acronym>, and a couple of other delegates, opposed it. Apparently this protest wasn\u2019t understood by your average Daily Record reader! (This may help us understand why Tommy has chosen the Daily Record to issue his own ‘manifesto’) In reply, the RCN<\/acronym> said that may indeed be the case, but the protest was taken on behalf of more politically conscious workers, and the large international socialist contingent, which had been prepared to take far stronger measures to defend anti-G8<\/acronym> protests in their own countries.<\/p>\n The SWP<\/acronym> delegates appeared to agree with us, and were part of the overwhelming majority who voted for our motion. Since then, in contrast to Peter Mullen\u2019s mean-spirited attacks in the press (but Peter, please keep producing the films which you are good at) Benjamin Zephaniah, has shown real solidarity with the SSP<\/acronym>, by producing the excellent fine-raiser, the Fight the Power CD. Benjamin has put On the day of the July 2005 In the meantime, most SWP<\/acronym> members donned white T-shirts, as called for by the official organisers of the The SWP<\/acronym> also has claimed there have been significant political differences, justifying a new leadership-bid, but they are mostly the opposite of those held by the CWI<\/acronym>! The SWP<\/acronym> feels that the SSP<\/acronym> wasn\u2019t\/isn\u2019t fully committed to either the anti-G8<\/acronym> or anti-war campaigns. In as far as it did need a little outside pressure to push our MSP<\/acronym>s into a stronger stance over the anti-G8<\/acronym> protest at Gleneagles, it certainly wasn\u2019t the CWI<\/acronym> who came to the SWP<\/acronym>\u2019s help to defend the right to demonstrate at Gleneagles. Pressure, when holding official office (particularly parliamentary or trade union), will always take its toll. We only need to remind the SWP<\/acronym> of the stance taken by its own CPSA trade union official over the recent pensions When the draconian penalties were imposed by Blair\u2019s New Labour mouthpieces in the Scottish Executive, in response to the Holyrood protest, our MSP<\/acronym>s publicly exposed the panoply of forces that US<\/acronym>\/UK<\/acronym> imperialism would bring to bear to break any opposition to their designs. They also exposed the spinelessness of the SNP<\/acronym> and Greens, in particular, when it came to defending the autonomy of the Scottish Parliament. No, for them it\u2019s not And, as for the ongoing permanent war situation, the SWP<\/acronym> is particularly upset at the Scottish Socialist Voice\u2019s stance over Hezbelloh. So are we, as indeed are some UL<\/acronym> supporters. However, the RCN<\/acronym> also believes you can give wholehearted support to the struggles of the Lebanese and Palestinian people, without tail-ending Islamicist forces. This contrasts with the SWP<\/acronym>\u2019s slogan Almost exactly a century ago, socialists lived in a world of ongoing, vicious, anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish asylum seekers, fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe. They faced the first racist immigration legislation in the UK, with the Aliens Act of 1905. Whilst, being prominent in the many protests to defend the Jewish community, socialists of the day were always clear in their opposition to Zionist politics. The Islamicists of 2006 are the political equivalents of the Zionists of 1906.<\/p>\n So, exactly where did the politics behind this particular SSV<\/acronym> article come from? Well, straight from the old Militant tradition, as currently upheld by the CWI<\/acronym>. I have seen no evidence yet, in this particular respect, that Tommy has fully broken from this tradition either. The continued debates over Ireland, at successive SSP<\/acronym> Conferences and branches, have shown the hold of old Militant-type politics, when dealing with anti-imperialist struggles, even amongst many ex-members. Tommy has only publicly broken with this stance over Cuba, but not over the less popular, non-state led, anti-imperial resistance found elsewhere, especially in Ireland.<\/p>\n In as far as ex-Militant members have begun to break from this particular tradition (some UL<\/acronym> members) I think that they would admit that the RCN<\/acronym>\u2019s campaigning on republicanism and consistent support for the anti-imperial struggle in Ireland has influenced their thinking. We welcomed their participation in Edinburgh\u2019s annual James Connolly march this year. We didn\u2019t expect any CWI<\/acronym> supporters, who publicly declared their opposition at Conference, but oh, where were the SWP<\/acronym>, who voted for support, even if they were rather shy in speaking up at Conference!<\/p>\n So the August 7th Tommy\u2019s hidden battle against the SSP<\/acronym><\/h3>\n
Tommy\u2019s anti-party course was a response to being challenged by close friends, on November 9th, 2004<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s none of your concern<\/q>, or,
So what<\/q>!<\/p>\n
building a tower of lies<\/q>. And for Tommy, the threat to sue the News of the World, at this stage, was all a
bluff<\/q>! The National Executive was faced with the choice \u2013 to follow the politics of bluff and short-term tactical expediency, or to follow the politics of truth and long term principled gain. It should have been a
no brainer<\/q>.<\/p>\n
\nunchallengeable leader.<\/p>\nbluff<\/q>, which can, with a skilled poker face like Tommy\u2019s, deliver the wins he craves. But not forever \u2013 his cards will eventually be called and they will be exposed as knaves, when aces are required. <\/p>\n
bluff<\/q> \u2013 has taken second fiddle to Tommy\u2019s very real battle against everything the SSP<\/acronym> stands for.<\/p>\n
The record of the real SSP<\/acronym><\/h3>\n
an SSP<\/acronym> MSP<\/acronym> on a workers\u2019 wage<\/q> to the principle that any
SSP<\/acronym> TU<\/acronym> official should be on the average wage of the workers they represent<\/q>. We have opposed the CWI<\/acronym>\u2019s and Allan Green\u2019s welcoming of loyalist paramilitary, Billy Hutchinson to
Socialism<\/q>. We have opposed the SWP<\/acronym>\u2019s continued resort to undemocratic front organisations.<\/p>\n
blowing our own (RCN<\/acronym>) trumpet<\/q> to state that we have moved from being perceived as a marginal, somewhat bizarre republican-supporting sect, to being respected as a hard-working, SSP<\/acronym> supporting Platform, which has
punched above its weight<\/q>. We have been seen as champions of SSP<\/acronym> internal democracy and have pushed the debate on republicanism from the margins of the SSP<\/acronym> to its centre.<\/p>\n
The political situation after Tommy\u2019s court victory<\/h3>\n
scabs<\/q> or
supergrasses<\/q>.<\/p>\n
When you had one {colourful, and impassioned} MSP<\/acronym> you were an ongoing media story; now you have six you are a threat to the state<\/q> (or words to that effect). In other words the media likes and revels in celebrity politics (of whatever political persuasion, or of none), but it cannot tolerate a real socialist opposition. Tommy wistfully wants to take us back to this days of celebrity politics, with him self as President, and Gail as First Lady of the SSP<\/acronym>.<\/p>\n
Tommy\u2019s ignores some of his supporters\u2019 advice<\/h3>\n
Better a Perjurer than a Scab<\/q>! The fact that it is not usual for struggling workers to want to conduct their campaign against scabs in the bosses\u2019 main office (the courts), seems to have escaped them!<\/p>\n
We are opposed to the use of courts (war), but now we are there, we have to support Tommy (our boy\/s)<\/q>. Others, such as John Aberdein and John Dennis (both of whom I would consider good friends) have called either for magnanimity, or burying past differences after Tommy\u2019s triumph, and for uniting all the party around a campaign for its policies, particularly in the run-up to the May 2007 Holyrood elections. Tommy\u2019s highly paid Daily Record
manifesto<\/q>\/rant on August 7th doesn\u2019t quite seem to fit with this political advice!<\/p>\n
Tommy\u2019s attack on the SSP<\/acronym> shifts from the bourgeois courts to the bourgeois press<\/h3>\n
Coisty has been on the phone and texted me a couple times.<\/q> (No, you couldn\u2019t make this up). Sadly, we are seeing a macho-man wallowing in the world of his celebrity friends!<\/p>\n
tits and bums<\/q> used to sell the News of the World.<\/p>\n
destruction<\/q> of members and for
purges<\/q> have an ominous Stalinist ring about them. Time, you would have thought for Trotskyists to call time, and to try and rein this unacceptable behaviour.<\/p>\n
Factions, factions, let me be rid of factions!<\/q> The UL<\/acronym> today, and then the SWP<\/acronym> and CWI<\/acronym> tomorrow.<\/p>\n
The Daily Record, the new ‘Socialist Worker’ in Scotland!<\/h3>\n
socialist salvo<\/q> and the page 2 war coverage, hey, we have a new ‘Socialist Worker’ for the masses!<\/p>\n
We are all Hezbollah<\/q>. I hope the SWP<\/acronym>\u2019s London offices are well secured against uranium-tipped, bunker-busting bombs \u2013 cheered on by the Daily Record!<\/p>\n
The SSP<\/acronym> \u2013 the Sycophants and Sectarians Party?<\/h3>\n
underscored a number of political differences, outlook and methodologies that have been increasingly apparent over the year.<\/q> Funnily enough, I can agree with this so far. So let us examine some of the differences which have indeed emerged.<\/p>\n
The political
differences<\/q> not mentioned by the
Crossroads<\/q> Group<\/h3>\n
independent socialist Scotland<\/q>. They have never dropped this as a paper political position, but have grown increasingly uncomfortable at the way this is interpreted by sections of the leadership (especially Alan McCombes). Yes, and so are we in the RCN<\/acronym>. We have consistently opposed this Scottish nationalist drift, and its mirror image, Left British Unionism, by advocating a republican and Scottish internationalist strategy of ‘internationalism from below’. But, the most public advocate of the Scottish nationalist road is none other than Tommy. He also was amongst the first to sign up to the overtly Scottish nationalist ‘Independence First’ grouping! Tommy joined Alan, at this year\u2019s SSP Conference, to overthrow the SSP\u2019s independent republican and Scottish internationalist strategy, proposed by the RCN<\/acronym> and won at the 2005 Conference, and enshrined in the Calton Hill Declaration. The way is now paved for tail-ending the SNP<\/acronym>, in the Scottish nationalist strategy advocated by Hugh Kerr and ‘Independence First’. The
Crossroads<\/q> Group\u2019s ‘manifesto’ evades all this.<\/p>\n
Crossroads<\/q> Group\u2019s ‘manifesto’ evades this.<\/p>\n
internationalism from below<\/q> into practice. Now, perhaps the SWP<\/acronym> weren\u2019t really paying attention and just raised their hands without realising what they were doing \u2013 something that appears to have happened on other occasions, according to Mike Gonzalez, in court!<\/p>\n
The SWP<\/acronym> and the CWI<\/acronym> \u2013 the two faces of sectarianism in the SSP<\/acronym><\/h3>\n
Make Poverty History<\/q> demonstration in Edinburgh, the two faces of sectarianism, represented by the SWP<\/acronym> and CWI<\/acronym>, were on public display. The CWI<\/acronym> insisted on forming a separate red T-shirt wearing contingent on the march, despite having no major differences with the slogans of the considerably larger official SSP<\/acronym>-organised, and also red T-shirt wearing contingent! If the CWI<\/acronym> had joined the main socialist forces, with its own contingent and banners, they would have been most welcome and helped to maximise the public face of socialism.<\/p>\n
Make Poverty History<\/q> march, whose politics had been colonised by Gordon Brown and New Labour. In effect,
Make Poverty History<\/q> was calling upon the G8<\/acronym> leaders to be generous to the Third World \u2013 a utopian campaign for a nicer, fairer imperialism! But tail-ending liberal pacifist sentiment has been one consistent thread of SWP<\/acronym>\u2019s politics in recent years. A sub-text of the weekend\u2019s events was SWP<\/acronym>\u2019s attempt to marginalise the official SSP<\/acronym> presence on the following day of meetings and debates, by ensuring that most of the prime spots in the Usher Hall were filled by SWP<\/acronym> front organisations, and the official SSP<\/acronym> stand, relegated to Chambers Street!<\/p>\n
More political
differences<\/q> unacknowledged by the Crossroads Group<\/h3>\n
climbdown<\/q> \u2013 oops, sorry
victory<\/q>, in the CWI<\/acronym> version of events \u2013 to highlight this. The key point is that our MSP<\/acronym>s (well four of them at least) were indeed successfully pressured into raising their game in Holyrood.<\/p>\n
independence first<\/q>, but doing down the socialist opposition!<\/p>\n
We are all Hezbollah<\/q>. Soon, no doubt, we will be asked to shout out
We are all Taliban<\/q>, as US<\/acronym> and British imperialism steps up its attacks on Afghanistan!<\/p>\n
The Crossroads proposals would lead to purges then splits and splits again<\/h3>\n
Crossroads<\/q> document claims there have been
differences<\/q> \u2013 indeed there have. But so far, it is the signatories themselves who have been the most divided over these