The Rise and Fall of the Scottish Socialist Party

[Jolly Red Giant]

New pamphlet from the CWI outlining the history of the SSP and a response to Alan McCoombs book 'Downfall'

http://issuu.com/sdaly/docs/riseandfallssp?mode=a_p

[Sam_b]

Why the CWI is making a pamphlet out of this is beyond me. Obviously getting this out is more important than organising against the cuts, which, for instance, much of the left in Scotland have been doing alongside the SSP. Coalition of Resistance in Glasgow is a shining example of this.

The question relevant to ask here, perhaps, is why the CWI doesn't feel the need to move on. Or indeed why it continues to spurn CoR, seeing as SACA doesn't appear to have anyone in it who isn't a member of Socialist Party Scotland.

[Die Neue Zeit]

The fall of the SSP was due to a lack of discipline on the part of everybody in the leadership, including Sheridan.

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

Sam b, with all due respect you are a young person with little experience in the Scottish and British labour movement. The theoretical and political events and lessons over the question of the Scottish Socialist Party needed to be learned just as much as the history of the Russian Revolution, or Spanish Revolution, et al. If you, we , do not learn those lessons then it is to our, and the Labour Movements peril. On the question of COR and the Anti Cuts - the CWI in Glasgow are in the forefront with the Defend Glasgow Services campaign, along with the Scottish Anti-Cuts Alliance I believe before COR was established, however, yes there is a need to fight all the cuts but there also has to be a political alternative to the Establishment political parties and the economic and social system we live in, which is capitalism., in Scotland. I suggest you read the pamphlet before you put pen to paper to ask the question why. The reason why by the way is because it is an answer to the scurrilous lies written by Alan McCombes against the CWI in particular, but read it first then come back with your comments. By the way Sam b to remind you I have had over 30 years in the CWI and while I was not involved in the events of the formation, rise and decline, and destruction of the SSP I know all the political and theoretical points in relation to those events.

[RebelDog]

while I was not involved in the events of the formation, rise and decline, and destruction of the SSP I know all the political and theoretical points in relation to those events.

I was involved and the simple lesson I took from the whole thing is that you simply cannot trust politicians and leaders. In the end, the SSP was just a vehicle for Sheridan to further his selfish ends whilst thousands of members and helpers who worked like dogs to build the party were treated like shite. I hope McCombes' book tops the bestseller list.

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ Well, I've said before in the case of Sheridan that, if he wanted party support, he should have puckered up by offering all litigation proceeds against News of the World towards party coffers. That way, if someone in the ranks raised the issue of perjury, the response could have been that this was a civil disobedience campaign.

[Sam_b]

The theoretical and political events and lessons over the question of the Scottish Socialist Party needed to be learned just as much as the history of the Russian Revolution, or Spanish Revolution, et al.

I think this is adventurous at best, delusional at worst. If anything needs to be learned from the SSP project it is merely that a platform structure which prevents organisational and strategic independence and is ultimately a soft liquidation.

You seem to go on quite a lot Jimmy about experience as if this somehow invalidates political argument. I'm sorry if almost ten years isn't enough for you, seeing as I was a member of the SSP from around the age of thirteen, was North East Scotland organiser of the youth section, SSY EC member, and formerly a member of the SW Platform/SWP for six years. Oh, as well as being active in my union and in ACAN. And CoR. And STWC....


the CWI in Glasgow are in the forefront with the Defend Glasgow Services campaign, along with the Scottish Anti-Cuts Alliance

Yet we need to be realistic in calling SACA for what it is - a group composed entirely of CWI, which isn't visible, and has given a frosty reception to CoR in Glasgow. The fact that CoR is now big, vibrant and broad begs the question of why SACA isn't playing a part in it.


there also has to be a political alternative to the Establishment political parties and the economic and social system we live in, which is capitalism.

Where have I said otherwise? Is SACA supposed to be some sort of 'political alternative'?


I suggest you read the pamphlet before you put pen to paper to ask the question why.

I'll think Phil is completely right on the issue of Herald journalism et al, but it was hard to read the pamphlet at times without going 'what the fuck is the point in all this?'. In essence it is a pamphlet which only serves to talk up the CWI more than anything, and I honestly don't think it serves much use. I think a lot of what the CWI has done in the past is good, but to be blunt the Scottish left needs another thinly-veiled 'fuck you SSP' as much as it needs another hole in the head and another ten years in the political mire.


The reason why by the way is because it is an answer to the scurrilous lies written by Alan McCombes against the CWI in particular, but read it first then come back with your comments

The question is that do working people in Scotland give a fuck about what McCombes thinks, or is it merely bloggers and forum hacks? The real question is why CWI seems to spend a hell of a lot of time and money in 'back and forth' arguments and polemics (see also: CWI's pamphlet on SWP in Ireland, CWI's book on SWP...) yet is barely visible on the Scottish left these days.


while I was not involved in the events of the formation, rise and decline, and destruction of the SSP I know all the political and theoretical points in relation to those events

And then there was me, getting expelled from the SSY and fighting for our collective position within the SSP. I know what i'm talking about here, and I don't think I need to chat up how long i've been involved in the labour movement to prove such a point.

[Debaser]

In my opinion, the fall of the SSP was due to three factors:

1) The lack of discipline in the Party, as Die Neue Zeit stated,
2) The clash of egos that occured between Sheridan and Fox/Curran (wh IMO represent the more reasonable wing of the party)
3) Much of the Left Wing Nationalist vote, which the party was mainly comprised of, going to the SNP in 2007 after the Party collapsed.

I think it's somewhat sad that the SSP went from winning 245,735 votes in 2003 (just under the 2011 Liberal vote total) to winning just 8,272 this year. However the SSP will find it hard to gain credibility as a party since they have been tainted by Sheridan.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Yet we need to be realistic in calling SACA for what it is - a group composed entirely of CWI, which isn't visible, and has given a frosty reception to CoR in Glasgow. The fact that CoR is now big, vibrant and broad begs the question of why SACA isn't playing a part in it.
Being realistic - is the CoR and the SWP still inviting LP spokepersons onto anti-cuts platforms and giving them left cover?



The question is that do working people in Scotland give a fuck about what McCombes thinks, or is it merely bloggers and forum hacks? The real question is why CWI seems to spend a hell of a lot of time and money in 'back and forth' arguments and polemics (see also: CWI's pamphlet on SWP in Ireland, CWI's book on SWP...) yet is barely visible on the Scottish left these days.
The question of political programme is important - but something the SWP appear to be willing to toss aside in order to engage in popular frontism with liberals and LP hacks.

In relation to Ireland, a number of years ago the SWP attempted to grab onto the coat-tails of the electoral success the Socialist Party had achieved (after initially condemning the SP/CWI for engaging in electoral politics) - and then got their knickers in a twist when the Socialist Party asked on what basis such an 'alliance' might exist. The SWP said 'tut-tut' - 'what's this nonsense about politics' - 'lets just have an alliance' - 'don't worry about the politics of it'. The polemic against the SWP was directly the result of an attempt by the SWP to deflect their lack of willingness to discuss what basis should an alliance be formed by attempting to smear the Socialist Party. The SWP certainly do not like having the twists and turns of their political positions being exposed to them.

Even to this day in the United Left Alliance we have the same nonsense - the Socialist Party is arguing that the ULA should be an openly socialist formation whereas the SWP want a broad popular front type group. It is an important debate and will determine the impact and influence of the ULA - yet the SWP are reluctant to engage, preferring instead to push their popular-front 'fronts' with liberals. They are now pushing their 'Enough' campaign which they are using in an attempt to push for a referendum on the IMF bailout from a liberal (as opposed to a socialist) perspective.

When the SWP MP Boyd Barret pushed for a referendum on the bailout in the Irish Parliament, his position was so soft it got support from right-wing independent MPs like stockbroker Shane Ross and management consultant Stephen Donnolly.

[Sam_b]

What does your ditaribe about the SWP have to do with why the CWI feels the need to release another polemic?

Do you believe the Scottish working class gives a fuck about what Alan McCombes thinks, or indeed even know who he is?

[Jolly Red Giant]

What does your ditaribe about the SWP have to do with why the CWI feels the need to release another polemic?

With all due respect - you were the one who started it by taking a swipe at the CWI.



Do you believe the Scottish working class gives a fuck about what Alan McCombes thinks, or indeed even know who he is?
The pamphlet in reality has little to do with McCoombes book. The use of the book is merely a vehicle to demonstrate the political capitulation of a group of former Marxists as predicted by the CWI when they abandoned the idea of maintaining a revolutionary outlook at the time of the emergence of the SSP.

What is also interesting is the fact that you didn't answer the question I posed and you reply once again demonstrates how the members of the SWP are so dismissive of the need for political debate about programme. When the CWI produced their reply to the SWP in Ireland ten years ago the leadership of the SWP banned their members from reading it - and then turned up at the SP conference to hand out a one page reply devoid of any political content.

[Crux]

With all due respect - you were the one who started it by taking a swipe at the CWI.


The pamphlet in reality has little to do with McCoombes book. The use of the book is merely a vehicle to demonstrate the political capitulation of a group of former Marxists as predicted by the CWI when they abandoned the idea of maintaining a revolutionary outlook at the time of the emergence of the SSP.

What is also interesting is the fact that you didn't answer the question I posed and you reply once again demonstrates how the members of the SWP are so dismissive of the need for political debate about programme. When the CWI produced their reply to the SWP in Ireland ten years ago the leadership of the SWP banned their members from reading it - and then turned up at the SP conference to hand out a one page reply devoid of any political content.
Just so you know, Sam b isn't in the SWP.

[Sam_b]

that you didn't answer the question I posed and you reply once again demonstrates how the members of the SWP are so dismissive of the need for political debate about programme.

But I am not a member of the SWP and have no interest in defending them?

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

Sam b; I apologise if I appear or given the impression of patronising your ‘length of service’ in the labour movement, that was not my aim. Nevertheless I gave a short reply to your, what I think quite haughty and child-like, comments of why the need for discussion on this is beyond you. I gained the impression from this post and previous posts given by yourself that you were new to socialist politics. You have given anecdotal evidence to suggest your activity in the SSP as a SWP member, which I will take on board.

From what I can gather you have been active for 10 years so that is from 2001, if my maths is correct that is. So your activity in the SSP took place after, what I will call the McCombe faction, left the CWI, am I correct on that. So that was two and half years after the SSP was launched and also after the intense political debate and discussion within the CWI, which I was involved in down in England, over the way the leadership of Scottish Militant Labour wanted to form a broad socialist formation while effectively abandoning the years of preparation of a Party for the socialist reconstruction of society. This represented a fundamental break with the revolutionary socialist programme, strategy and tactics of the CWI. So the question I ask myself is do you really know, or want to know, the history of the organisation, the SSP, that you were a member for so many years. I would like to suggest you go onto the CWI website and click onto Marxist.net scroll down to 1) the Open Turn Debate and 2) the Scottish Debate, where you will read all the documents written between the various trends within Militant and Scottish Militant Labour and Socialist Party and the CWI on the formation of SML and the SSP and McCombes, TS, etal, leaving the CWI. Maybe you will learn something of why the Pamphlet was written.

The history and lessons on the building of political parties of the Left are very important to learn, not just from an academic point of view, but more importantly for how the working class is going to maintain its grasp on economic and State power to carry through the socialist reconstruction of society. The Party is the history and memory of the working class and for a certain section of SML at the end of the ‘terrible nineties’, in which you were not involved politically, was the political liquidation of the revolutionary socialist current within a broad based organisation in Scotland. So when you joined, either as a SWP member or as someone who joined the SWP from the SSP, I would like to suggest that the leadership of the SSP had abandoned the Marxist criteria of the broad based-based SSP and was advocating a left nationalist position and not a socialist internationalist one and that was when the SWP belatedly became involved in it.

I, also, take it you were involved in the formation of Solidarity, was that why you were kicked out of the SSY or was it for some other reason, as a member of the SWP. My understanding of the SWP’s, through the discussions I had in England, role in the formation of Solidarity was they wanted to make it a broad based as possible type organisation with no hint of Socialism in the title of the organisation, in other words a Scottish Respect style organisation. In fact am I correct that at the first national conference of Solidarity in November 2006 the SWP used the conference to effectively dispute against Solidarity becoming a socialist party?

The object of the pamphlet is not 'fuck you SSP' but the need to put the record straight on a book that was a political assassination on the CWI by a former member; and to raise the idea of a Marxist tendency within any broad based left-wing organisation. That is something the Coalition of Resistance does not accomplish. If fact it seems to me that COR is nothing more than a distorted popular front style organisation with no socialist content let alone one that puts forward the socialist reconstruction of society. Now I accept that COR and the ISG Scotland are not members of the SWP but their leadership are ex-SWP members and have been educated, coached and schooled in the theory, politics and strategy of the SWP. Sam b you told me yourself earlier this year that there are no fundamental political disagreements with the SWP when you and the rest of the ISG Scotland split from the SWP. I would also like to say that I cannot see any fundamental differences politically between COR and their former Party as well. However, if there are political differences that you have with the SWP then I would like to read them for the benefit of my political and intellectual knowledge.

Finally to return to the pamphlet, Marxists analyse political parties of the Left for the reasons of theoretical and political clarity before and during momentous class battles. For example witness the conflict between the different tendencies within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, RSDLP, between the Bolsheviks, and the Mensheviks before the 1905 Russian Revolution. These disputes were not over as some superficial Left historians, as well as bourgeoisie historians, say about Lenin wanting to have personal control of the RSDLP; but were over the character of the coming revolution and the tasks of the workers’ movement within this. It was only the dialectical understanding between the Party and the workings class that Lenin predominantly and the Bolsheviks generally were able to lead the third Russian Revolution in October 1917. Conversely, during the Spanish Revolution Leon Trotsky wrote reams on the question of building a Marxist Socialist party to guide the Spanish working class, unsuccessfully, into the socialist reconstruction of society. Both Lenin and Trotsky continually argued and clarified that a socialist revolutionary party has to build methodically and continually and does not develop out of spontaneous movements; and that is why the pamphlet was written as part of that discussion within the Left and socialist movement.

So with all respect to you and your length of years in the Left in Scotland I find your observations shallow and have any lack of understanding on the need for the working class of Scotland, Britain and through-out the rest of the world to have and build a Party that will take the step to the Socialist Reconstruction of Society.

[Sam_b]

I will attempt to respond to this tomorrow, in between the two jobs I am currently working. All I will say now Jimmy is that it's quite ironic you to characterise my argument as being 'childlike' (whatever that means in the current context) and lacking understanding when you proceed to make howlers on SWP involvement in Solidarity, Coalition of Resistance etc etc; and then proceed to engage in a stereotyped and cliched response which your grouping tends to make on many issues, rife with thinly-veiled ageism, harking for the ol' 'glory days' when Militant means something; and ultimately attempting to mount a robust defence of the CWI over a robust defence of the class. But hey, if you can completely guess my politics towards a vanguard - ie the idea of Party and something that I didn't particularly address in my response (although, to be fair, this is something that the CWI attempts to discuss upon every possible moment, often veering off-track of the discussion itself), I can at least try to read between the lines, eh?

[Sam_b]

Oh, and you still haven't answered this:


do working people in Scotland give a fuck about what McCombes thinks, or is it merely bloggers and forum hacks?

[Crux]

Oh, and you still haven't answered this:
I do think that responding to a political attack of this kind is necessary, especially if it is published in book form.

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

Sam b I never said that the SWP was involved in CoR, what I said was: “Now I accept that COR and the ISG Scotland are not members of the SWP but their leadership are ex-SWP members and have been educated, coached and schooled in the theory, politics and strategy of the SWP.” There may be ageism from my part because I am an old person in body but young in heart and mind. I am prepared to listen to people younger than me who have something to say. But it does not mean I agree with everything they say and are prepared to discuss the points they raise as a means to clarify their thoughts, as well as my own. And I look forward to your contribution. Nevertheless, learning from the past and peoples’ experiences is never “thinly-veiled ageism”, to accuse someone of that is in fact thinly veiled ageism itself.

I thought I answered your question about the general working class in Scotland caring about the McCombes’ book. I would say at this stage not, but political consciousness of the working class always lags, sometimes chronically so, behind the objective economic and political events of the day. But the object as I and other CWI members have said that is that the distortions and lies put forward by a former member of the CWI have to be answered as a means for future activity in the general working class movement and also to explain that socialism is the only way for the working class to end the crisis. Nevertheless, it is not just “merely bloggers and forum hacks” who have the pamphlet because it has been printed in ‘hard copy’ form and is being sold out in the street on Socialist Party Scotland stalls, at public meetings on the Cuts and of course in defence of Tommy Sheridan and elsewhere. So there is a public interest amongst a non-active political aware section of the working class. Especially when Murdochgate broke in early July just days after the pamphlet was written and a few weeks after the McCombes’ book were written. I offer Philip Stott’s new introduction to the pamphlet. I look forward to your contribution on the points you have raised.

New introduction to the Rise and Fall of the Scottish Socialist Party – August 2011

Only a few weeks following the publication of Downfall – The Tommy Sheridan Story in June 2011 the “Murdochgate” scandal broke in all its ferocity. The sheer scale of the illegal activities of The News of the World were exposed before an audience of millions. A public wave of revulsion and disgust engulfed News International when it emerged that the News of the World had hacked the phones of murdered children, families who had lost loved ones in the 7/7 London bombings and parents of soldiers who had died in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Within weeks the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world was shutdown after 168 years of publication. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, a man whose patronage and support Tory, Labour and SNP politicians would, and did, sell their souls to receive, was transformed into a toxic pariah. Top News International executives including Rebekah Brooks were forced to fall on their swords. Murdoch senior and junior were dragged to appear in front of a House of Commons select committee to be grilled about their role in the phone hacking scandal. News Corp’s bid for 100% control of BskyB was dead in the water. The former editor of NoW, Andy Coulson, is now being investigated by Strathclyde police for perjury during the Tommy Sheridan trial, as are two other Scottish NoW journalists who gave evidence for the prosecution.

The head and his deputy at the Metropolitan police were forced out when it became clear the police had covered up the extent of the phone hacking by News International. Criminal acts that had been carried out on an industrial scale for years. Thousands of people had their phones hacked by private detectives working for News International. All the revelations about the hacking of the murdered girl Milly Dowler’s phone were in the possession of the police in 2006 and were hidden by the police who claimed there was no evidence of hacking beyond “one rogue reporter” working for the NoW.

The Murdochgate scandal also exposed the cynical merry-go-round whereby top police officers charged with investigating phone-hacking ended up working for News International. While News of the World editors and leading journalists secured employment with the Met police. Huge sums of money, it emerged, was paid out by News International to corrupt police officers for information and influence. At the same time the Crown Prosecution Service in England refused to act for years despite mountains of evidence.

In “normal” times the embedded links between the media, capitalist politicians and the state machine are hidden from the full view of working and middle class people. However, the Murdochgate scandal has exposed the rotten and corrupt underbelly of the capitalist elite to an audience of tens of millions. The billionaire-owned media organisations are overwhelmingly hostile to the interests of the working class and exist ultimately to defend capitalist interests. In contrast the Socialist Party calls for the major media corporations and their resources to be brought into democratic public ownership. Access to the press, TV, radio etc could then be made available to a range of ideas, including those of socialism, based on their support within society. At the same time these events also underline the need for the workers and the socialist movement to build our own mass circulation papers and other forms of mass media.

The depth of the collaboration between the Metropolitan police and News International raises many questions as to whether there was a similar relationship in Scotland. A police investigation is now underway into phone hacking in Scotland. The Scottish Crown has said this will also cover the possibility of corruption among Scottish police officers who may have been influenced by News International. Socialists have no illusions that such an inquiry – the police investigating the police - will be open, transparent or honest. That’s why we demand a full public inquiry made up of democratically elected representatives including trade unionists that have full access to all documents and information currently help by the police, the Scottish Crown and the CPS in England.

The Tommy Sheridan case hinged on the unprecedented decision by the Scottish Crown to pursue a perjury inquiry following Tommy’s 2006 defamation victory over the NoW. Lothian and Borders police carried out that inquiry and millions was spent trying to secure a conviction against Tommy Sheridan. Andy Coulson and other current and former News International figures gave evidence that subsequently proved to be false and they are now facing a perjury investigation. It remains to be seen if the police carry out this inquiry with the same enthusiasm and vigour as they did when pursuing Tommy Sheridan.

It is clear now that Tommy Sheridan should be released immediately and a full investigation carried out into the political vendetta that he was so clearly a victim off. As the Labour MP Tom Watson, who has led the charge against News International said, the conviction of Tommy Sheridan is now likely “unsafe”.

Murdochgate also places the actions of the leadership of the Scottish Socialist Party in an even worse light. As this pamphlet explains this was a group of people who consciously conspired to secure the conviction of Tommy Sheridan, working hand in hand with the enemies of socialism and the working class. One member of the SSP, with the full knowledge of the party leadership, received £200,000 from News of the World for a “videotape” that was used to help convict Tommy Sheridan of perjury.

The Murdoch press and other right-wing journalists have lauded the book Downfall. In contrast the tiny handful of workers who have read Downfall will scratch their heads in bewilderment as to how a so-called socialist party could have sided with one of the most reactionary and corrupt media organisations on the planet. As journalist Ian Bell commeneted in his review of Downfall in the Scottish Review of Books;

"The fact remains that Sheridan committed no crime. The same cannot be said about the unlamented NoW. As even Rupert Murdoch now seems prepared to admit, its sensational tales depended on wholesale criminality. It victimised and persecuted individuals simply because, so it believed, it could. If its journalists – the word will have to do – could treat murdered Milly Dowler as mere headline fodder, why would it hesitate to hunt down an MSP with outré tastes in sex? But it’s worth repeating: before he lied, Sheridan committed no crime. Who would still say the same about his NoW foes?

"Inadvertently, meanwhile, Downfall tells us a lot about the collective failures of the Scottish left. [This pamphlet will argue it was specifically the collective mistakes of the SSP leadership that led to the downfall of the SSP] The NoW would have called that a result. By the time Sheridan went to jail, according to McCombes, ‘the one-time idol of the poll tax campaign had inflicted more damage on the left in Scotland than Margaret Thatcher and Rupert Murdoch combined’. If the author believes that piece of nonsense, socialism’s perennial debilities become easier to understand.

The phone hacking scandal, the deepening economic catastrophe, the recent riots and the general onslaught against the working class and young people shows that capitalism is a bankrupt system. It underlines the urgent need to build a political alternative to the literal and moral corruption of the main capitalist parties. A mass workers' party would offer genuine “clean hands” in contrast to the toxic stink of the current political elite. A party that would help lead a mass struggle against the savage cuts and austerity, rebuild what has been lost as a result of the collpase of the SSP and prepare the way for the building of a new socialist society. That’s what the Socialist Party and the Committee for a Workers’ International is striving to achieve. Join us in that struggle today.

[Jolly Red Giant]

My apologies for the assumtion about your party affiliation -


Oh, and you still haven't answered this:

I also notice that you have failed to answer the question I posed -


is the CoR ... still inviting LP spokepersons onto anti-cuts platforms and giving them left cover?

[A Marxist Historian]

Sam b I never said that the SWP was involved in CoR, what I said was: “Now I accept that COR and the ISG Scotland are not members of the SWP but their leadership are ex-SWP members and have been educated, coached and schooled in the theory, politics and strategy of the SWP.” There may be ageism from my part because I am an old person in body but young in heart and mind. I am prepared to listen to people younger than me who have something to say. But it does not mean I agree with everything they say and are prepared to discuss the points they raise as a means to clarify their thoughts, as well as my own. And I look forward to your contribution. Nevertheless, learning from the past and peoples’ experiences is never “thinly-veiled ageism”, to accuse someone of that is in fact thinly veiled ageism itself.

I thought I answered your question about the general working class in Scotland caring about the McCombes’ book. I would say at this stage not, but political consciousness of the working class always lags, sometimes chronically so, behind the objective economic and political events of the day. But the object as I and other CWI members have said that is that the distortions and lies put forward by a former member of the CWI have to be answered as a means for future activity in the general working class movement and also to explain that socialism is the only way for the working class to end the crisis. Nevertheless, it is not just “merely bloggers and forum hacks” who have the pamphlet because it has been printed in ‘hard copy’ form and is being sold out in the street on Socialist Party Scotland stalls, at public meetings on the Cuts and of course in defence of Tommy Sheridan and elsewhere. So there is a public interest amongst a non-active political aware section of the working class. Especially when Murdochgate broke in early July just days after the pamphlet was written and a few weeks after the McCombes’ book were written. I offer Philip Stott’s new introduction to the pamphlet. I look forward to your contribution on the points you have raised.

New introduction to the Rise and Fall of the Scottish Socialist Party – August 2011

Only a few weeks following the publication of Downfall – The Tommy Sheridan Story in June 2011 the “Murdochgate” scandal broke in all its ferocity. The sheer scale of the illegal activities of The News of the World were exposed before an audience of millions. A public wave of revulsion and disgust engulfed News International when it emerged that the News of the World had hacked the phones of murdered children, families who had lost loved ones in the 7/7 London bombings and parents of soldiers who had died in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Within weeks the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world was shutdown after 168 years of publication. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, a man whose patronage and support Tory, Labour and SNP politicians would, and did, sell their souls to receive, was transformed into a toxic pariah. Top News International executives including Rebekah Brooks were forced to fall on their swords. Murdoch senior and junior were dragged to appear in front of a House of Commons select committee to be grilled about their role in the phone hacking scandal. News Corp’s bid for 100% control of BskyB was dead in the water. The former editor of NoW, Andy Coulson, is now being investigated by Strathclyde police for perjury during the Tommy Sheridan trial, as are two other Scottish NoW journalists who gave evidence for the prosecution.

The head and his deputy at the Metropolitan police were forced out when it became clear the police had covered up the extent of the phone hacking by News International. Criminal acts that had been carried out on an industrial scale for years. Thousands of people had their phones hacked by private detectives working for News International. All the revelations about the hacking of the murdered girl Milly Dowler’s phone were in the possession of the police in 2006 and were hidden by the police who claimed there was no evidence of hacking beyond “one rogue reporter” working for the NoW.

The Murdochgate scandal also exposed the cynical merry-go-round whereby top police officers charged with investigating phone-hacking ended up working for News International. While News of the World editors and leading journalists secured employment with the Met police. Huge sums of money, it emerged, was paid out by News International to corrupt police officers for information and influence. At the same time the Crown Prosecution Service in England refused to act for years despite mountains of evidence.

In “normal” times the embedded links between the media, capitalist politicians and the state machine are hidden from the full view of working and middle class people. However, the Murdochgate scandal has exposed the rotten and corrupt underbelly of the capitalist elite to an audience of tens of millions. The billionaire-owned media organisations are overwhelmingly hostile to the interests of the working class and exist ultimately to defend capitalist interests. In contrast the Socialist Party calls for the major media corporations and their resources to be brought into democratic public ownership. Access to the press, TV, radio etc could then be made available to a range of ideas, including those of socialism, based on their support within society. At the same time these events also underline the need for the workers and the socialist movement to build our own mass circulation papers and other forms of mass media.

The depth of the collaboration between the Metropolitan police and News International raises many questions as to whether there was a similar relationship in Scotland. A police investigation is now underway into phone hacking in Scotland. The Scottish Crown has said this will also cover the possibility of corruption among Scottish police officers who may have been influenced by News International. Socialists have no illusions that such an inquiry – the police investigating the police - will be open, transparent or honest. That’s why we demand a full public inquiry made up of democratically elected representatives including trade unionists that have full access to all documents and information currently help by the police, the Scottish Crown and the CPS in England.

The Tommy Sheridan case hinged on the unprecedented decision by the Scottish Crown to pursue a perjury inquiry following Tommy’s 2006 defamation victory over the NoW. Lothian and Borders police carried out that inquiry and millions was spent trying to secure a conviction against Tommy Sheridan. Andy Coulson and other current and former News International figures gave evidence that subsequently proved to be false and they are now facing a perjury investigation. It remains to be seen if the police carry out this inquiry with the same enthusiasm and vigour as they did when pursuing Tommy Sheridan.

It is clear now that Tommy Sheridan should be released immediately and a full investigation carried out into the political vendetta that he was so clearly a victim off. As the Labour MP Tom Watson, who has led the charge against News International said, the conviction of Tommy Sheridan is now likely “unsafe”.

Murdochgate also places the actions of the leadership of the Scottish Socialist Party in an even worse light. As this pamphlet explains this was a group of people who consciously conspired to secure the conviction of Tommy Sheridan, working hand in hand with the enemies of socialism and the working class. One member of the SSP, with the full knowledge of the party leadership, received £200,000 from News of the World for a “videotape” that was used to help convict Tommy Sheridan of perjury.

The Murdoch press and other right-wing journalists have lauded the book Downfall. In contrast the tiny handful of workers who have read Downfall will scratch their heads in bewilderment as to how a so-called socialist party could have sided with one of the most reactionary and corrupt media organisations on the planet. As journalist Ian Bell commeneted in his review of Downfall in the Scottish Review of Books;

"The fact remains that Sheridan committed no crime. The same cannot be said about the unlamented NoW. As even Rupert Murdoch now seems prepared to admit, its sensational tales depended on wholesale criminality. It victimised and persecuted individuals simply because, so it believed, it could. If its journalists – the word will have to do – could treat murdered Milly Dowler as mere headline fodder, why would it hesitate to hunt down an MSP with outré tastes in sex? But it’s worth repeating: before he lied, Sheridan committed no crime. Who would still say the same about his NoW foes?

"Inadvertently, meanwhile, Downfall tells us a lot about the collective failures of the Scottish left. [This pamphlet will argue it was specifically the collective mistakes of the SSP leadership that led to the downfall of the SSP] The NoW would have called that a result. By the time Sheridan went to jail, according to McCombes, ‘the one-time idol of the poll tax campaign had inflicted more damage on the left in Scotland than Margaret Thatcher and Rupert Murdoch combined’. If the author believes that piece of nonsense, socialism’s perennial debilities become easier to understand.

The phone hacking scandal, the deepening economic catastrophe, the recent riots and the general onslaught against the working class and young people shows that capitalism is a bankrupt system. It underlines the urgent need to build a political alternative to the literal and moral corruption of the main capitalist parties. A mass workers' party would offer genuine “clean hands” in contrast to the toxic stink of the current political elite. A party that would help lead a mass struggle against the savage cuts and austerity, rebuild what has been lost as a result of the collpase of the SSP and prepare the way for the building of a new socialist society. That’s what the Socialist Party and the Committee for a Workers’ International is striving to achieve. Join us in that struggle today.

As those who have followed my arguments with CWI people in these forums know, I am not exactly a fan of the CWI.

But on this issue, they are absolutely right. The moralistic assault on Sheridan and his personal life, which the leaders of the SSP so eagerly jumped into bed with, destroyed their organization. It is nobody's business what a Tommy Sheridan or a Bill Clinton do in their sex life other than their own.

Clinton, a clever sucessful politician, parlayed the insane assault on him over the Monica Lewinsky affair into increased popularity because Americans saw the Republican jihad against him as vastly overblown. The treacherous idiots of the SSP leadership helped put Sheridan in jail, thereby cutting their own political throats.

Good riddance I say to them. I am no fan of Sheridan, but maybe, who knows, the experience of jail and political persecution at the hands even of his ostensible comrades will radicalize him when he comes out.

-M.H.-

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

As Murdochgate scandal goes on - release Tommy Sheridan!

Philip Stott

What do you give a billionaire media mogul whose company is mired in scandal, illegality and corruption? Why, a 47% pay rise, that's what.

Rupert Murdoch's nice little earner of $33 million for 2010/11 included a $12.5 million bonus. Not bad for the boss of a company whose share price has collapsed and whose bid for BskyB had to be withdrawn when the Murdochgate scandal broke in July this year.

His son James, now accused of having delivered a pile of SHockingly Inaccurate Testimony to the House of Commons select committee, turned down his $6 million bonus. Poor old James has to make do with a $12 million annual salary instead.

Murdoch junior swore blind that he knew nothing about the widespread nature of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World (NoW).

Or having seen an email in 2008 that proved that the illegal actions of NoW went way beyond the risible "one rogue reporter" fig leaf that News International (NI) clung onto for years.

Tragically for Murdoch, the former editor of NoW Colin Myler and the paper's long term lawyer Tom Crone gave evidence last week to the select committee that they had both met James Murdoch and showed him the email in 2008.

The "For Neville" email contained transcripts of hacked messages from the mobile phone of Gordon Taylor - head of the football players union, the PFA.

Murdoch junior agreed to the £500,000 pay-off to Taylor to stop his legal action. In other words James must have had knowledge of the phone hacking operation.

Police involvement
Significantly, Myler and Crone claimed that the "For Neville" email was given to them by the Metropolitan police after the police seized thousands of documents from NoW's private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

Mulcaire carried out a large amount of the phone hacking for the paper and was jailed in 2007.

Why did the Met police hand incriminating evidence back to the NoW that clearly showed illegal activities had take place? Why did the original investigation into phone hacking by the police conclude that this evidence and thousands of other documents did not prove widespread illegal activity? And why, when the police were asked to review all the evidence again in 2009, did it take just eight hours to conclude there was nothing to justify new prosecutions - when the Met had all the information in their possession, including about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone and thousands of other cases?

As we have pointed out there was a culture of cover-up by the Met and collusion between the leading figures in the Met and News International.

The head of the original police investigation, Andy Hayman, ended up working for the Times, part of the NI empire.

Tommy Sheridan
Another former editor of NoW, Andy Coulson, is currently being investigated by Strathclyde police as part of a perjury investigation.

Coulson, NoW editor when Scottish socialist Tommy Sheridan won a defamation case against the paper in 2006, along with the Scottish NoW editor, Bob Bird and the Scottish paper's chief reporter, Douglas White are under investigation after giving evidence during the Tommy Sheridan perjury trial.

They variously denied in court knowing anything about phone hacking, payments to police officers and denied ordering the hacking of Tommy Sheridan's phone.

This is despite the fact that Tommy's mobile number, PIN number and home address were found in Mulcaire's documents.

Clive Goodman, the NoW former Royal Correspondent, however claimed hacking was widely discussed at editorial meetings when Coulson was editor.

Operation Rubicon was launched after Tommy Sheridan's solicitor and the Labour MP Tom Watson handed in a dossier which including the names of hundreds of people in Scotland believed to be victims of Mulcaire's and the NoW phone hacking operation.

It's been reported that there are now between 40 and 50 police officers involved in the Scottish investigation into hacking, possible police corruption and perjury.

It remains to be seen if charges are brought against Coulson - who was David Cameron's communications director when he gave his evidence in December 2010.

And what attitude the Scottish Crown office takes given their vendetta against Tommy Sheridan over the last five years.

What is clear is that Tommy Sheridan, currently in Castle Huntly open prison, should be released immediately.

As Tom Watson pointed out in the House of Commons in July, Tommy Sheridan's conviction "may well be unsound".

The full scale of the Murdochgate scandal, which has yet to fully emerge, involving top politicians, police officers and the legal establishment as well as the Murdoch empire,demands nothing less than a full and open public inquiry by elected and accountable representatives including from the trade union and workers' movement.

[Sam_b]

Sorry i'm taking my time on this one, got to prioritise the free hours I have in the day (working 14-15 hour shifts) and don't want to give a half-arsed response.

[A.J.]

The real reason why nobody votes for this SSP is because they by and large consist of persons who are, not to put too fine a pont on it, butt ugly(I can post video evidence to prove this accusation).

Lets be brutally honest; we live in a very image-conscious age. That together with the fact that bourgeois elections are to a large extent mere popularity contests next to no-one is ever going to vote for the collection of gruesome monsters that calls itself the scottish socilist party.

I can also confirm that their personalities are as unpleasant as their hideous facial features. Just telling it like it is.

[Aurora]

You dug up a thread from september to post that? :bored:

[dodger]

if you can't do the time.......don't do the crime.

Don't worry anybody, you won't have heard the last of Sheridan, he likes himself tooo much. Flashbulbs , TV arclights and Gail, partner on the sun bed, what grotesques . The stalwarts who fingered him in court must be equally pleased that this circus gave so much insight into R E A L revolutionary politics. 6 fat-arsed suckers got sent packing by the electorate in Scotland. The feast in Brussels came to a sad end. Not before they had given a sterling performance. Have the bailiffs made....... an appearance ? His wife probably is chained to the sunbed even now. So vain he thought he could make a monkey out of a fellow Scot/Australian/Yank Murdoch. The rest of the lags in Barlinnie or wherever, must have had their ears bashed...."Murdoch should be here not meeeee!!"

Now there is a book....good I shall devour it when I return to civilization.....any chance of a film???? A cartoon? The NUMPTIES........SORRY...for the life of me, cannot see any politics in this at all. It is hardly "The Ballad of Reading Jail" either.

Now BROWN and BLAIR, fellow Scots, they got TEFLON/KEVLAR Sporrans....kick them in the balls as much and as hard as you like....wouldn't get anything to stick to them......or they would be in the TOWER of LONDON.....

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

WHERE IS THE POLITICAL DISCUSSION? The two previous morons have nothing to say about the Left and/or socialism in Scotland! What is the way forward to fight the capitalist political parties in Scotland? The 30 November public sector general strike was a watershed in Scottish, and British, working class politics for over 20 years.

That is why a meeting is taking place in Glasgow on the 10th December initiated by leading Scottish trade unionists, from the PCS, Unite, Unison, to stand anti-cuts candidates in Next May’s local council elections. With politicians of all political parties in Scotland, both at a national level in Government and the local level in Councils, carrying out the ConDem cuts, Scottish working people need their own candidates to defend jobs, public services and our communities.

This political anti-cuts style coalition will stand on the basis of opposition to, and if elected will vote against, all cuts to jobs, pay, services, pensions, benefits etc. Only cuts we support are those that would cut the income of rich and big business the bankers; our candidates if elected will put forward needs budgets that protect services, our communities and jobs. Our Councillors will help lead a mass campaign to demand a return of the money stolen by the ConDem's to invest in public services; oppose all privatisation which is increasingly on the agenda in local government; stand for the abolition of PFI/PPP schemes that are a huge drain on public resources; Full support for workers and trade unions in the public and private sector, the communities and young people who are taking action to fight against the cuts; for a united fightback against austerity and cuts; abolish and oppose all anti-trade union laws; we will support progressive policies including making the rich elite pay increased tax, and for increased tax on big business; we are for public ownership of the banks the privatised utilities and the big corporations; public ownership would allow investment in jobs and services, which are needed now more than ever.

I believe only on this basis will the beginnings of a working class political fightback against the ConDem government and SNP government on the one hand and the Local Councils, of whatever political colour, on the other can begin.

[dodger]

WHERE IS THE POLITICAL DISCUSSION? I do so agree dear Jimmie..The subject of the thread...The Rise and Fall of the Scottish Socialist Party. Come on Jimmie what happened? What the hell were they thinking of? You must have some insight, surely? Or is it ....TOP SECRET! If you were all upfront and honest with workers..this might not have come to such a public debacle. Your attempt to divert debate or indeed further ridicule or censure by writing high flown prose about workers in struggle, is cheap theatrics. What we need to know is what the hell was going on. Explain simply and transparently. I am a moron. Of course if you are too far down the greasy pole and are kept out of the loop.....or it is a matter of utmost revolutionary security. I perfectly understand dear Jimmie.

In the meantime AJ(cool dude??) 's opinion stands "I can also confirm that their personalities are as unpleasant as their hideous facial features. Just telling it like it is."

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

http://issuu.com/sdaly/docs/riseandfallssp?mode=a_p

The lessons of the debacle need to learned so that the mistakes are not repeated; nevertheless, working people and the Left in Scotland need to move on because the ConDem austerity programme and the SNP government’s cuts are of the utmost urgency to repeal. And that is by the trade union action of the likes that took place on the 30 November and building a political alternative through the anti-cuts political initiative. That is not diverting the debate.

On a personal note, I have been a member of the CWI for just over 30 years but with 99% of that in the south of England. I was never involved in the Militant Tendency in Scotland, or SML or the SSP; and only recently involved in Solidarity as a CWI member. However, because I was in the CWI I was involved and/or discussed all the events around the formation of the SSP and its decline, etc. So I have known what has been taking place.

[dodger]

As you say time to move on and good luck to you all, Jimmie. Bigger fish to fry out there too, I would say...what folk make of it all....I can't imagine.

[Jimmy Haddow (SPS)]

SCOTTISH ANTI-CUTS COALITION TO STAND IN MAY 2012


Article by Matt Dobson. Posted 12th December 2011

Over 70 trade unionists, community campaigners and socialists gathered for a conference in Glasgow on December 10, to launch the Scottish Anti Cuts Coalition. The coalition will stand candidates across Scotland in the May 2012 council elections.

From the chair, PCS national executive member Cheryl Gedling - who along with other leading public sector trade unionists has played a central role in the formation of SACC - introduced the discussion explaining that the conference had taken on further importance after the mass public sector strike on November 30.

Cheryl highlighted the colossal impact of the strike that had cost the economy £500 million and had shaken the ConDem government. Tory Chancellor Osborne’s provocative autumn statement unleashing further austerity on the poorest in society and the continuing loss of thousands of jobs a week in the public sector show the need for an anti-cuts electoral challenge.

Brian Smith, Branch Secretary of Glasgow City Unison and a member of Socialist Party Scotland underlined the anger of workers in response to SNP government ministers crossing picket lines and Labour’s inconsistent attitude towards the strike. Labour leader Ed Miliband refused to back the strikes and while Scottish Labour supported it, their MSPs had crossed picket lines on the previous strike on June 30.

Brian stressed the need to expose and oppose SNP and Labour politicians implementing the ConDem’s cuts in council chambers not just through general anti cuts campaigning but also a political challenge to the cuts agenda. Anti-cuts activists have an opportunity with all of Scotland’s councillors up for election in May under a proportional representation system to raise principled opposition to all cuts to a wide audience.


5 key principles

Brian urged support for a resolution to create a coalition of anti-cuts candidates based around five key points: Opposition to all cuts, Candidates if elected would put forward needs budgets protecting services, jobs and communities and build a mass campaign to demand a return of the money stolen by the Con Dems from public services, Opposition to privatisation, Full support to workers taking industrial action and communities, young people fighting the cuts, Taxation of the rich and Public Ownership allowing investment in jobs and services.


Brian outlined the basis for a voluntary coalition. That all candidates would sign up to the five pledges and can add to them with further political and local demands. Socialist Party Scotland members who are candidates for example will also raise wider socialist demands alongside the 5 key pledges.


The coalition will aim to stand credible candidates in as many areas as is practically possible, bearing in mind the importance of standing candidates with a good record of fighting cuts, local campaigning etc. Where, therefore, other Left candidates are standing who have a principled record of defending the interests of local communities and opposition to cuts, the coalition will not stand against them. Provided they clearly come out against all cuts.


The name “Scottish Anti Cuts Coalition” would be registered. Candidates who are members of already registered political parties can use their party name if they wish. He also noted the calling of a political conference by the United Left (broad left in the Unite trade union) on 14 January and said he hoped this would be step towards trade union’s taking part in building political representation for workers and that the coalition set up at this conference would attend and participate.


Rab Patterson, chair of Midlothian Trades Council and a member of Midlothian Against the Cuts gave a flavour of the frustration of working class communities at Labour councils carrying out cuts. In his community, Labour councillors had carried out a large scale cuts program and failed to take up the privatisation scandal at a local Southern Cross hospital, instead they had spent millions on legal fees trying to stop the council’s workforce enforcing their rights under equal pay legislation.


Dundee Unison Chairperson and Socialist Party Scotland member Jim McFarlane gave a picture of the scale of the N30 strike pointing to the magnificent 10,000 strong demonstration in Dundee, a city of 140,000. Jim said the mood of workers reflected a political turning point which anti cuts activists had to respond too. He recounted that the loudest cheers at the Dundee rally, were for speakers who denounced the politicians for not supporting the strike but also for those who pointed to the cuts policies of the SNP and Labour in power. Jim argued that the SNP and Labour had had every chance and opportunity to defend communities against cuts but have shown which side they are on. These political representatives who have betrayed workers should stand aside or be forced out by a principled anti cuts challenge.


These points were echoed by young people at the meeting. Youth Fight for Jobs activists, Ryan Stuart and Wayne Scott explained the disenfranchisement of young people who are consigned to unemployment or low paid work and are being hammered by education cuts.
Unison activists and Socialist Party Scotland members Diane Harvey and Ian Leech highlighted the role of Glasgow’s Labour council in attacking workers conditions and attacking community services. Ian raised the need for the anti-cuts movement to have political leadership that challenged Labour’s argument for cuts at a slower pace.


Diane pointed to the government’s strategy of trying to divide public and private sector workers and argued that the disputes of the electricians and the Unilever workers were undermining this. She explained that workers who took part in N30 were asking who to vote for.


Gordon Morgan gave support for the motion on behalf of Solidarity Scotland’s Socialist Movement and said he hoped an anti-cuts electoral challenge would be a catalyst for strengthing and building community anti cuts campaigns.


Labour and SNP

The Socialist Workers Party supported the motion but raised differences about the approach of the coalition towards Labour and the SNP. In several contributions they raised some doubts about the impact of an anti-cuts electoral challenge and how widely it should be standing candidates.
SWP members for example argued that Labour councillors, activists and MSP’s had played a positive role in the campaign against the Edinburgh SNP/Liberal coalition’s privatisation program and that raising the question of standing against them may be divisive.


They urged unity with Labour representatives against the “common class enemy, the ConDem’s”. This was answered in the debate by Socialist Party Scotland members who explained that Labour, if they win control of Edinburgh council, will implement a cuts program.


The International Socialist Group, a recent split from the SWP, expressed a change of attitude towards the idea of the coalition from their position at the 22 October meeting. In October, the ISG had opposed the initiative, saying it did not go far enough and called for the immediate creation of a new united left. At the conference the ISG made a similar argument but supported the resolution to set up a broad coalition.


Kevin McVey, Scottish Socialist Party National Secretary reported on discussion in the SSP about the coalition and declared that the SSP members present would abstain on the vote for the resolution. The SSP had concerns that no new forces were involved in the setting up of the coalition and that its constituent parts did not represent anything significant. He also made it clear that the SSP had begun selecting candidates for the elections.


This was replied to by Alan Brown, a leading PCS member speaking in a personal capacity, who highlighted the social and political weight of the trade unionists attending the conference and the wider support for the idea of standing anti cuts candidates amongst trade union members and the wider working class.


Brian Smith concluded the discussion by raising the need to organise meetings in local areas in the New Year to bring together activists, discuss candidates and seats and raise the profile of the coalition. He reported that he had been involved in discussions with community campaigners and trade unionists and was encouraging them to stand.


Socialist Party Scotland members played a key role in driving forward the initiative for a coalition and will be standing candidates in the elections in May. The launch of the Scottish Anti-Cuts Coalition marks an important step forward. It will now be taken out among trade unionists, communities and the wider working class to build the challenge in May 2012 for a principled anti-cuts alternative.












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