Scotland

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has announced plans to push for a second Scottish independence referendum, setting Holyrood on a collision course with Westminster and the UK courts. Only mass struggle can secure Scotland’s right to self-determination.

Pro-independence parties have won an enlarged majority in the Scottish elections, placing Holyrood and Westminster on a collision course. The British ruling class are terrified of this constitutional crisis – yet another threat to their system.

Things are heating up in Scotland as elections approach. Former SNP leader Alex Salmond continues to clash with his successor, and has formed a new party. Holyrood and Westminster, meanwhile, are on a collision course over independence.

With his incendiary defence against accusations of misconduct, former SNP leader Alex Salmond has lobbed a grenade into the heart of Holyrood. Nevertheless, support for independence remains solid. Explosive events lie ahead in Scotland.

With support for Scottish independence riding high, the establishment are panicking about the future of the Union. Boris’ recent visit to Scotland, however, has only made matters worse. Holyrood and Westminster are on a collision course.

Boris Johnson has again managed to pour petrol on the flames with his loose-tonged approach – this time by revealing his real thoughts about devolution. Rising support for independence is yet another thorn in the PM’s side.

The Scottish government has provoked a furore amongst school students by deploying a “postcode lottery” exam results system that discriminates based on class backgrounds. Capitalism is institutionalised inequality.

Conflict between the Tories and Holyrood has boosted support for independence. However, Yes supporters are growing critical of the SNP leadership. Boris Johnson may find himself presiding over Brexit, the pandemic, and a break-up of the Union.

Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson have clashed over the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst support for the Tories is plummeting, the SNP’s popularity is rising. As a result, the national question is sharpening once again.

Last year’s election saw the SNP sweep the board north of the border. This provides a strong mandate for a second independence referendum. But Boris Johnson has refused to grant such a vote, creating a potentially explosive situation.

Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell have come under attack for correctly stating that they would back a call for a second independence referendum in Scotland. This is a basic democratic question that all socialists should support.

The thought of Boris Johnson becoming the next prime minister and driving the country into a no-deal Brexit has struck fear into the hearts of the establishment, who are increasingly worried about the unity of the United Kingdom.

The huge strike action in Glasgow this week highlights the way forward in the fight for fair and decent pay. The labour movement must argue for a socialist alternative to austerity and inequality.

Richard Leonard, the left candidate for Scottish Labour leader, has won a close fought race to succeed Kezia Dugdale. His victory represents the most significant gain for the Left in its struggle to win control of the overall party since Corbyn’s victory itself. Drew Murray reports on the latest victory for the Corbyn movement.

It is clear from the recent election results that the SNP’s honeymoon period is over. The inspiring Corbyn movement has put pressure on the SNP leadership to prove their left-wing credentials. The question of independence, meanwhile, has been complicated by the possibility of an anti-austerity Labour government. What lies ahead for Scotland?

On the back of last week’s election, the SNP still dominate in Scotland, but have taken a major kicking. Key figures such as Alex Salmond have lost their seats. The unionist vote has consolidated around the Tories, whilst Corbyn’s Labour have won over some left-wing workers and youth. The political landscape continues to be transformed.

Nicola Sturgeon this week finally delivered the speech that had seemed almost inevitable ever since the Brexit vote in June last year. By announcing her intention to seek a second independence referendum, Sturgeon has started a political storm that will likely rage on – at the very least – until any referendum takes place, and possibly far beyond.

Ross Walker of the Edinburgh Marxists discusses the events of the recent SNP annual party conference, where leader Nicola Sturgeon announced plans for a second referendum on Scottish independence. Beneath the apparent party unity surrounding independence, however, it is clear that strong class contradictions are developing within the SNP.

Last week’s Scottish parliamentary election results demonstrated the continuing dominance of the SNP over Scottish politics. Labour, meanwhile, were pushed into a humiliating third place – squeezed out by the left-wing, pro-independence stance of the SNP on one side, and by the right-wing, Unionist position of the Tories on the other.

The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party shocked the establishment, and galvanised socialists, not least in radicalised Scotland. But can Corbyn win back workers and youth – who have abandoned Labour for the SNP – in Scotland?

Alongside the shock of a Tory majority, the other big story of the General Election results was that of Labour’s collapse in Scotland to the SNP. With the Nationalists very nearly sweeping the board with 56 out of 59 seats, the result constitutes an earthquake that will transform politics in Scotland and Britain for years to come.

With just one week to go till the British General Election, polling in Scotland, and the SNP in particular, has been at the forefront of reporting. Polls have shown that rather than Labour closing the gap, the SNP’s dominance in Scotland has solidified and even extended. Labour faces complete annihilation north of the border – a result that will send tremors across the entire British political landscape.

Alan Woods provides a Marxist analysis of the national question in the context of Scotland. Despite the defeat of the Yes campaign, the referendum on Scottish independence was a political earthquake, which has transformed the landscape of British politics for years to come.

As the general election approaches, polls indicate that Labour will be hit hard in Scotland, possibly being reduced to just a handful of seats. The rise of the SNP is posing an enormous headache to Labour, who will be unable to form a majority government without their support – and yet Miliband has, under Tory pressure, ruled out a coalition.

The Blairite Jim Murphy has been elected as the new leader of Scottish Labour. This new leadership begins in far from happy times for the Labour Party, with Labour predicted to be heavily beaten by the SNP in Scotland at the next General Election. It is set to be a turbulent political period ahead in Scotland and the rest of Britain.

We live in turbulent times. Across Europe, the old parties of the social democracy are facing perhaps the deepest set of crises in their history. Britain has not been immune to this. Following the independence referendum and a collapse in its support, and with a leadership election on the horizon, Scottish Labour is facing a crisis of its own.

Over the past few weeks, membership to the Scottish National Party has skyrocketed on the back of the momentum from the pro-independence campaign. Recent events, in which the SNP-led government has overseen the re-privatisation of the Scottish rail network, have exposed the divide between the SNP leadership, which is wedded to capitalism, and the radicalised rank-and-file, who are looking for a genuine alternative to austerity.

The referendum is over and now is the time to consider the future of Scottish politics and how we as Marxists should intervene in the movement. Amy Dean of the Glasgow Marxists analyses the developments in Scotland over the past two years.

The referendum in Scotland marks a fundamental shift in consciousness, with thousands brought into political activity and discussion for the first time. By looking at the survey statistics on how and why people voted, one thing stands out: the desire for change and a break from the status quo of the Establishment and capitalist austerity.

The referendum campaign in Scotland is over. Now in the cold light of day it is necessary to draw all the conclusions. The first and most important is that this represents a decisive turning-point in the development of the class struggle in Scotland and in the rest of these islands. Alan Woods analyses the implications of the referendum on Scottish independence.

The Scottish Referendum produced a seismic shift in the political landscape of Scotland. The campaign shook up the whole of society and touched those who had never even voted before. Although the Scots rejected independence, they have sent shockwaves through the British political Establishment. We must work to link this mood, together with workers throughout Britain, to the fight for socialism.

With the referendum vote finally here, we are at the end of two years of campaigning by both sides. Neither the SNP-led YES campaign nor the Better Together campaign have offered any genuine change or alternative. Workers and youth must reject any attempt to divide the working class along national lines; instead, we must remain united in the fight for a socialist future.

With under a week to go until Scots head to the vote, the results of the independence referendum are too close to call. A recent surge in support for the pro-independence campaign has struck fear into the leaders of the NO camp. The maintenance of the union is now seriously under threat, providing yet another demonstration of the weakness and crisis within the Establishment in this epoch of capitalist crisis.

With just 8 days left until the Scottish independence referendum, the past week has seen a big shift in the polls. Having been comfortably in the lead up until recently, the NO campaign now facing the possibility of losing. Amy Dean of the Glasgow Marxists analyses the factors behind the growing popularity of the YES campaign.

With the referendum on independence approaching in Scotland, we republish here an indepth analysis by Ted Grant on the national question in Scotland. The article, written in 1992, was originally written in response to the formation of the “Scottish Miliant Labour” organisation, but contains much relevant and interesting material in relation to today’s political situation in Scotland.

The July 10th public sector strike will be a significant step forward for the labour movement in Britain, with possibly up to two million workers participating. It has been dubbed by the press as a “mini general strike”. The task for the labour movement now is to ensure that the continued fight back against the hated coalition government is united throughout Britain.

The campaigning around the referendum on Scottish independence has now entered the final period with the vote only a few months away. Paul Cummings of the Edinburgh Marxists reports on the latest developments in what is turning out to be a tight contest.

With less than five months to go before Scotland goes to the polls to vote on independence, the Better Together campaign is in a state of panic as the gap between both sides continues to narrow. Recent opinion polls indicate that support for Scottish independence is rising and all the momentum is with the nationalists. Given the performance of the unholy alliance of the No campaign, that should not be totally surprising.

We publish here an open letter from Ross Walker of the Edinburgh Marxists, who appeals to those supporting a “Yes” vote – from a leftwing perspective – in the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence. The letter outlines the position of the Marxists, who call for a “No” vote to retain the unity of the working class across Britain in the struggle for international socialist revolution.

With less than seven months before Scotland goes to the polls over its future, the “No” campaign to keep together the 300-year old Union with England has once again been put on the back foot due to the clumsy intervention of the English Tory Prime Minister, David Cameron. Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist Appeal, looks at the latest developments in the question of the referendum on Scottish Independence.

The conservative government in Spain has recently abolished the right to abortion in the country after a long campaign of demagogy and reaction. The response in cities across Spain has been immediate, with tens of thousands protesting against this new change to the law. Julia Vidania of the Edinburgh Marxists reports on the recent solidarity demonstration in Scotland against the Spanish abortion ban.

On Saturday 16th November, about thirty young Spaniards in Edinburgh gathered outside the Spanish Consulate in Castle Street to protest against the Madrid government’s cuts in financial support for students studying abroad under the Erasmus Scholarship scheme. The cuts are one more attack the big business government is making on the living standards of Spanish workers. Tam Burke of the Prospect trade union (personal capacity) reports.

In a year’s time, on 18th September 2014, Scotland will go to the polls over a key constitutional change – over whether to support an independent Scotland or not. This will be a vital issue, the outcome of which will have profound consequences for the fight for socialism in Scotland and the rest of Britain.

It’s hard to find people in Britain who don’t have an opinion on the late Margaret Thatcher; her politics were, and still are, divisive at best. Of her myriad policies which forever changed the landscape of British politics one of the most commonly overlooked decisions was the “Right to Buy” scheme which was introduced in the 1980 Housing Act. For the first time a large proportion of the population was promised the opportunity to make owning property a reality. The fulfillment of this promise, however, came at a price.

After months of uninterrupted work, supporters of the International Marxist Tendency and Socialist Appeal, in collaboration with Hands off Venezuela and the Solidarity with Bolivia campaigns, launched the first one-day conference of its kind in Edinburgh on the 9th of June. “La Revolucion” tackled the different movements against the capitalist system across several countries, and made a special emphasis on the international nature of the crisis and class struggle.

On Saturday, 1st of June the facist Scottish Defence League (SDL) held a static protest outside the parliament in Edinburgh in response to the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in London. Corrie Knight of the Edinburgh Marxists reports on the SDL’s arrival in Edinburgh.

Thousands of people in two Scottish cities took to the streets on 30th March to protest against the bedroom tax, which has now been brought in by the Tory-led government as part of a package of attacks on the welfare state and on the most vulnerable in society. Our correspondents from the Glasgow and Edinburgh Marxist societies provide reports of the demonstrations in these cities against the cuts.

Students and workers sympathetic to the ideas of Marxism have founded a Marxist Society at the University of Edinburgh after holding several successful meetings with the help of Socialist Appeal supporters. The arrival of a forum for Marxist ideas on such an important campus comes as British capitalism continues to decline and Tory cuts bite. The economic crisis is deepening and the effects are beginning to be felt everywhere, including Edinburgh, where many workers across the city  are being threatened with wage cuts, worsening conditions, and lay-offs.

It’s finally been confirmed. After months of dithering and posturing
from David Cameron last month saw the British and Scottish governments
agree that there would be a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014.

The mood was not of anger, nor even
that of resentment, but of militancy towards those who were placed in
their positions to represent us, the workers.

On May 26th, the city of Edinburgh prepared itself to give a heated
welcome to the racist members of the SDL, who were planning to
demonstrate in the city.This demonstration was shamefully unprecedented,
with members of the SDL having been granted the local authorities’
permission to demonstrate legally, despite continuous violent attacks
against Muslims in particular, all across the country.

“From Scotland to Spain, the problem is the same!” was one of many slogans being shouted from the streets of Edinburgh today (29^th May) as around 200 – 300 people (most from Edinburgh’s sizeable Spanish
community) organised to demonstrate in solidarity with revolutionary
movements in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

On Thursday history was made as the
Scottish National Party, who only a decade ago seemed destined to play
second fiddle to the Labour Party in Scottish politics, became the first
party in the Scottish Parliament’s twelve year history to form a single
party majority. More importantly, for the first time there is a
pro-independence majority in the Parliament, and consequently a
referendum on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom will be
held within the next five year term.

There are  just over three months to go before the elections for the
Scottish parliament, which take place on May 5th.  Aside from the
contest itself the Scottish electorate is left with the knowledge that,
whoever wins the election, massive cuts are set to follow after the
Nationalist Scottish Government set a budget in December clearly aimed
at winning this election.

John Swinney’s launch of the Scottish budget went down like a damp squib
as the Nationalist government attempts to balance its way between the
cuts from Westminster and the increasingly unpopular administration’s
electoral prospects in May. The Finance Minister announced a raft of
cuts, “efficiency savings” and real wage cuts.

On Saturday 20,000 people marched through
the streets of Edinburgh to show their opposition to cuts in public services.
The march was called by the Scottish Trade Union Congress to launch their
“There is a Better Way” campaign, which they have described as the beginning of
the fight against Tory cuts north of the border.

This Saturday Glasgow once again showed that we won’t tolerate fascists and the far-right on our streets.

After spending most of the week following the general election wheeling
and dealing his way to power, David Cameron expected his first prime
ministerial visit to Scotland to be somewhat more dignified. However
this was not to be as the Tory leader was once again forced in and out
of the back doors. This time it wasn’t to woo the Liberals but to flee
from protestors!

It was one of the surest things in British politics: when an election
comes around, no matter the national trend, Scotland will always vote
Labour. But with the SNP managing to form a minority government,
winning one more seat than Labour in the 2007 Scottish Parliament
election, and then their shock by-election victory in Glasgow east in
2008 it seemed, to some, that the Scottish working class was switching
their allegiances.

The suicide of three Russian asylum seekers has aroused the indignation
of the local community in Springburn. A mother, father and stepson
jumped from the fifteenth floor of a tower bloc in the Red Road flats
in Springburn, Glasgow. This followed the rejection of their asylum
application, with the family having been instructed to leave the flats
in Springburn following this.

The suicide of three Russian asylum seekers has aroused the indignation
of the local community in Springburn. A mother, father and stepson
jumped from the fifteenth floor of a tower bloc in the Red Road flats
in Springburn, Glasgow. This followed the rejection of their asylum
application, with the family having been instructed to leave the flats
in Springburn following this.

On the 6^th of March around 10,000 teachers, students, parents and political activists took part in a demonstration organised by the main Scottish teaching trade union, the EIS, against proposed cuts to education funding by both the Scottish government and local councils.

On the 6^th of March around 10,000 teachers, students, parents and political activists took part in a demonstration organised by the main Scottish teaching trade union, the EIS, against proposed cuts to education funding by both the Scottish government and local councils.

The Scottish Defense League (SDL) was once again run out of a major Scottish
city on Saturday the 20^th of February by militant anti-fascist
demonstrators. This was the Scottish wing of the English Defense League’s
second attempt at staging a march in Scotland, after they had been denied a
march and bussed out of town in Glasgow.

The Scottish Defense League (SDL) was once again run out of a major Scottish
city on Saturday the 20^th of February by militant anti-fascist
demonstrators. This was the Scottish wing of the English Defense League’s
second attempt at staging a march in Scotland, after they had been denied a
march and bussed out of town in Glasgow.

Saturday November 14^th saw the Scottish Defence
League’s attempt at a Glasgow
city centre rally fail miserably. The group spent most of the day confined in a
pub, protected by hundreds of police, before being forced onto chartered buses
in the face of a much larger counter demonstration. However, the story is not
simply one of the far right being driven from the streets by a left wing
demonstration. There are many political lessons to be learned from Saturday’s
events and the lead up to it which are important for those attempting to
effectively oppose the English Defence League and its Scottish ally

The Glasgow North East By-election was billed by political
commentators as a final test for Gordon Brown and his leadership of the Labour
Party. If he was to loose another Labour heartland seat in Glasgow to the Scottish National Party (SNP)
then he would struggle to hold on to his position as party leader. Despite many
early predictions to the contrary, Labour held on to the seat (formerly held by
the speaker and therefore previously benefiting from no opposition from Tories
or Lib-Dems) and actually managed to increase their percentage of the vote. But
this hides the real story. Labour got 3,000 less votes than they did in 2005, these
votes did not fall to the Nationalist, who lost 1,000 votes on last time but
instead fell into mass abstentions making this the lowest turn-out in a
Scottish by-election ever.

Poor old Gordon Brown, down in the polls as his part in destroying the lives of millions of working people through his mismanagement of the economy is exposed to all. With his attempts to smear the Tories blowing up in his own face, things aren’t going so well for him. He thought a cabinet meeting in Glasgow, away from the City and Fleet Street, might do some good for his popularity. He was wrong.

March 23rd saw the BNP once again make another ugly appearance on the streets of Glasgow, the second time they have done so in three days. On this occasion they could only muster two supporters, seemingly their hardcore in the west of Scotland. As usual this pair carried out their Laurel and Hardy style act with the big intimidating one, complete with scary red bobble hat, remaining silent as the smaller overly confident character spewed out a range of contradictory positions and bigoted lies.

The chances of a referendum on Scottish independence appear increasingly distant following a Scottish parliamentary vote in favour of a resolution condemning moves towards one. This is a huge blow to the SNP self-declared Scottish Government that is committed to holding a referendum before the current parliament ends in 2011. However the vote has also done little for a Labour Party that has lost all sense of direction, as its leadership exposes itself as utterly unable to capitalise on the SNP’s fall from grace.

Poor old Alex Salmond. Things
haven’t been going too well for him lately. Maybe it was one too many whiskeys
with their Burns Suppers, but the Scottish National Party Government seems to
be stumbling from one embarrassment to another. First they couldn’t get their
“recession beating” budget passed on the first go. Then they were forced to
back down on their flagship policy to scrap council tax, apparently due to a
lack of “parliamentary consensus”. And then, just to add insult to injury Iain
Gray, the Scottish Labour Party leader, slammed the SNPs plans for an
independence referendum.

n light of the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, people in Britain and around the world have come out to demonstrate and show their disgust at the imperialist attacks of the Israeli state and its funding and support from both the UK and the USA. On the 10th of January supporters of Socialist Appeal attended the Palestinian Solidarity demonstration in Edinburgh.

Saturday 13th
December saw fascists once again attempt to organise in Glasgow’s city centre.
A few weeks ago it was the pleasantly named and completely ineffective ‘Racial
Volunteers Squad’ who were intimidated just by the sight of the number of left
wingers who were also handing out propaganda on Buchannan Street.  However this Saturday saw those fine
defenders of white nationalism, the racist British National Party attempting to
distribute their paper, the aptly titled ‘Voice of Freedom’ to unwitting members
of the public.

The situation of financial crisis, coupled
with a hugely unpopular Westminster government that has found itself entirely
incapable of coming up with any solutions 
beyond throwing more and more of our money at the banks, would seem a
perfect opportunity for the SNP to make their mark and assert the need for an
independent Scotland. With unemployment poised to reach two million and share
prices continuing to fall at the SNP conference, Alex Salmond has been reduced
to calling for the return of ‘Scotland’s money’ and blaming the collapse of
Scottish banks on the Union. Supposedly independence will save us from such
catastrophes in the future. 

The SNP victory
in the Glasgow East by-election certainly marks a new low in the recent history
of the Scottish Labour Party but the question is now posed: does it mark the
seismic shift in Scottish politics that Alex Salmond has declared?

Just
when you think it can’t get any worse for Gordon Brown, it does. New Labour has
succeeded in losing the Glasgow East by-election. Glasgow East is a solid
working class area with one of the finest labour movement traditions on the
country. It has been a Labour heartland for generations.

The unexpected by-election in the Glasgow East constituency
has focussed the attention of the political parties and the media on a part of
Clydeside which it has long been fashionable to ignore. At the
general election Labour obtained a majority of 13,500 over the SNP candidate,
gaining 60.7% of the vote. If ever Labour had a safe seat it was Glasgow East.
This has led to the constituency being taken for granted and systematically neglected.
In Greater Glasgow, life expectancy is below the national average at 70.7
years. In the Calton ward of Glasgow East it is just 53.9 years, a figure
comparable with many ‘third world’ countries.

Wendy Alexander, leader of the Labour Party in Scotland has
declared that the SNP Government should “bring on” a referendum on independence
and has gone as far as to not rule out a bill calling for a poll earlier than
the Nationalist administration’s proposed date of 2010. This has resulted in
the issue of Scottish independence making a large impact on the national media
for the first time since the SNP’s victory in the Scottish Parliament elections
in May of last year. It has also unleashed a potential Pandora’s Box that is
threatening to divide the Labour leadership in Scotland from the national
leadership.

The Scottish parliament elections last May saw
the Scottish National Party (SNP) win a national election for the first time in
its history. The flip side of this is that the majority of Scots have
always consistently opposed independence. But on Sunday, Dec 16th, the
Sunday Herald newspaper claimed in their own poll that demand for independence
was just short of 50%. Their poll was based on a random 1,000 people
across the country. Why the rise in nationalist sentiment? Events of recent
times have caused a large section of the electorate in Scotland to
lose faith in Labour.

The Electoral Commission
has launched an investigation into an illegal donation to Wendy Alexander MSP’s
campaign to take over from Jack McConnell as Labour leader in the Scottish
Parliament. The crisis
unfolded when the Sunday Herald learned that every donation to the Wendy
campaign was under £1,000. Many were for £950. Under the Elections Act 2000,
all donations of £1,000 or more must be declared to the Electoral
Commission.

In last May’s Scottish
Parliament elections the Scottish National Party (SNP) emerged victorious as voters
wilted under increasing attacks and cuts in public services – already threadbare
after the Thatcher Tory years – by the New Labour-Liberal coalition. Socialist Appeal carried
in-depth Marxist analysis at the time when
we predicted an SNP victory and the factors that had made it possible. 

As winter creeps, in students and staff at Edinburgh schools and nurseries have learned
of the chilling news that their places of learning and work places may be under
threat once again. The Edinburgh Evening News reported on the thirtieth of
October that Edinburgh Council intended to reopen a consultation process that
would look into the future of schools. It also listed seventeen schools and
nurseries that it expected to be earmarked for the process.

In May 2004, we reported Scotland’s worst ever industrial disaster when the
Stockline plastics factory in Glasgow exploded leaving 9 dead and 40 injured.
It was another searing indictment of breaches in Health & Safety
legislation, now a matter of course in Britain. Ex-employees told journalists
they had been sacked after raising concerns about safety. The 2 companies jointly responsible, ICL Tech and
ICL Plastics, faced only charges relating to Health & Safety, for which they have now been
fined a measly £400,000.

While the Blairites are licking their wounds after last week's elections results, the results of the Scottish Socialist Party and Solidarity in Scotland and the Socialist Party in England should leave no doubt in anyone's mind that sectarian politics is a dead end.

On April 16th, "senior Labour sources" briefed the Financial Times that they "fear a drubbing" in Scotland. What we are witnessing is a rejection of the New Labour project which rejected class politics as outdated.

This Thursday May 3rd, Scotland goes to the polls. With capitalism red in tooth and claw and public services cut to the bone, people's needs are at odds with parliamentarians actions. Policies and programmes benefiting ordinary people and the poor, the sick, pensioners and students are difficult to find. What developments can we expect in this Thursday's elections? A grim reminder of the ultimate failure of Blairism and the policies it represents.

The mood for change in Scotland, the discontent Scottish people have for Westminster and Holyrood, is finding its expression in the rise in support for the Scottish Nationalist Party. However, the supplantation of bourgeois rule from London by a capitalist class closer to home will do nothing to change the fundamental conditions of ordinary working people.

In the light of recent developments in the Scottish
Socialist Party (SSP) we are publishing a document written by Ted Grant back in
1992 which already outlined the roots of the present crisis in the SSP. Ted
explained that the concessions the leaders of the then SML (later to become
SSP) were making to Scottish nationalism would lead to a disaster. Time has
proven him correct.

There is more news emerging from the crisis within the Scottish
Socialist Party every day. This article was received a few days ago and
appears in the new issue of Socialist Appeal.

The crisis in the
Scottish Socialist Party hit the news when judge Lady Smith jailed SSP policy
co-ordinator, Alan McCombes, for 12 days on May 26^th, after he
continually refused to hand over the minutes of a meeting from November 2004.
This was the latest in a series of crises which has stretched the party almost
to breaking point.

The Scottish Socialist Party, once heralded by many on the left as the
most successful socialist experiment in recent times, is in the process
of tearing itself apart after sacking its founder and leader Tommy
Sheridan as the party’s convener. Officially he is now simply a
“backbencher”.