History of the Scottish Socialist Party

Main article: Scottish Socialist Party

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) was formed in 1998, from an alliance of left-wing organisations in Scotland. In 1999 it saw its first MSP returned to Holyrood, with five more MSPs elected in 2003.

The SSP is stood unsuccessfully on the regional lists for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, and in council elections across the country.

Scottish Socialist Alliance

The forerunner of the SSP was the Scottish Socialist Alliance (SSA) which was a coalition of left-wing bodies in Scotland which existed from 1996 to 1998.

It arose out of some Socialist Forums which involved public discussions between various socialist groups. There had been private discussions about some attempt to bring some form of political cohesion to the Scottish left, but events were forced by the formation of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) by Arthur Scargill. The forces who went on to form the SSA had talks with Scargill where they said that they were prepared to join his party if he accepted some degree of Scottish autonomy, when he refused they formed the SSA. The largest group involved was Scottish Militant Labour, although it also involved people from various backgrounds, and some smaller groups e.g. the Scottish Socialist Movement, which had been a loose discussion circle, and which dissolved into the SSA not long after this.

The first election it fought was the Toryglen by-election for Glasgow City Council in August 1996, with Rosie Kane as the candidate, where it won a respectable 18% vote (although it did not do well in some council by-elections after this). It contested 16 seats in Scotland at the United Kingdom general election, 1997, including all ten Glasgow seats and both Dundee seats. Tommy Sheridan saved his deposit in Glasgow Pollok, and Jim McVicar and Alan McCombes picked up a significant vote in Glasgow Baillieston and Glasgow Govan respectively.

Initially Scargill's SLP avoided engaging the SSA in a head-on confrontation, they concentrated on establishing a few bases of their own e.g. in former coal mining areas. At the 1997 general election the SSA and SLP members in Scotland reached an unofficial understanding that they would not stand candidates against each other. (Although this could have been a reflection of support for the two groups being based in different geographical areas rather than any strong commitment to socialist unity, at least on the SLP's part.) Scargill opposed going even this far, and instructed his supporters not to have any contact with the SSA, and they stood candidates against each other in the Paisley South by-election, 1997. Neither did well, but the SSA did better.

Overall the SSA's election results were patchy, but they were not invariably derisory with a few candidates winning a significant vote. Generally most people in the SSA felt that the experience had been enough of a success to go on to form the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in 1998, with Tommy Sheridan as its convenor.

Formation of the SSP

An important factor in the formation of the SSP was that its main component, Scottish Militant Labour, handed over most of its apparatus to the new party, including its paper Scottish Socialist Voice and its offices.

It contested the first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999. The SSP succeeded in getting its National Convenor Tommy Sheridan elected to represent Glasgow.

Period of growth

The period following the 1999 Election saw sustained growth for the SSP, including a boost to membership when the Socialist Workers Party in Scotland joined the SSP, and the Scottish section of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers affiliated to the party. During this period of sustained and rapid growth it recruited extensively from former members of the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party, in addition to trade unionists, environmentalists, and community campaigners. It also achieved what was, for a minor party, a respectable vote at the United Kingdom general election, 2001 and a series of by-elections for the UK and Scottish parliaments (Hamilton South, Ayr, Glasgow Anniesland, Falkirk West).

The 2003 elections to the Scottish Parliament took place shortly after the decision of the UK parliament to invade Iraq. The SSP was active in the anti-war movement and gained five additional regional list MSPs across Scotland (Frances Curran, Rosie Kane, Carolyn Leckie, Colin Fox and Rosemary Byrne).

Not long after the election Lloyd Quinan, a former SNP MSP, defected to the SSP. Campbell Martin, a former SNP MSP who had become an independent, came fairly close to joining the SSP, but this did not happen because of disagreements over its policy of "a workers' MSP on a worker's wage". It did gain John McAllion, a former Labour MSP who lost his seat at the 2003 election. He stood for the SSP in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, 2006, gaining only 537 votes (1.6%).

Crisis and Split

On November 11, 2004 Tommy Sheridan announced his resignation as convener of the party, citing personal reasons as being behind his decision, although it later emerged that he had been pressurised into resigning by the National Executive of the party. There were two candidates to replace him: Colin Fox - SSP MSP for the Lothians, widely regarded as a favourite, and Alan McCombes - the SSP's policy co-ordinator. Delegates to the SSP conference voted on February 13, 2005 and Fox was elected with 252 votes to McCombes' 154.

On 29 August 2006, Sheridan announced his intention to leave the Scottish Socialist Party and found a new socialist political party, which was called Solidarity. His move was supported by the International Socialists in Scotland (part of the Committee for a Workers International) the Socialist Worker Platform, Rosemary Byrne MSP, and most of the South of Scotland and Highlands and Islands regions.

The Socialist Unity Network Archive contains a selection of articles published by both sides.

Post-split SSP

The SSP first met at a national rally following the split in early September 2006, and again at a national conference in mid-October 2006, where all of the positions of the party were re-elected; including the re-election of Colin Fox as National Convenor and Alison Kane as National Treasurer, and the election of Pam Currie as National Secretary.

A decision was also taken to review all of the party's structures including the role of the national convenor, the staffing arrangements of the party and the role of elected representatives with a view to adapting the structures to further strengthen members' participation and the party's internal democracy.

At the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections, neither the SSP or Solidarity won a seat, although Solidarity did better. At the local elections on the same day Solidarity and the SSP had one councillor each elected, in Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire respectively. (Solidarity's councillor has since defected to Labour.)

However the SSP did experience a modest recovery in 2008-09, increasing its vote compared to 2007 (and doing better than the Sheridan camp) at by-elections in 2008 in Glasgow East and Glenrothes, and the European Parliament election, 2009. It has also been involved in protests against school closures in Glasgow.