We have started writing this article on three separate occasions, but
each time news kept coming in and changes had to be made. This
illustrates the media rollercoaster that the Scottish Socialist Party
has become. In reality only a hard heart would not have enjoyed a wry
smile on hearing of Tommy Sheridan's spectacular victory over The News
of the World and his award of £200,000 in damages on August 3rd
at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. This case received an incredible
amount of media attention, Sky News broke into a report from Lebanon to
cover the emergence of Sheridan live.
The case of Tommy Sheridan v News Group opened at the Court of Session,
Edinburgh, on 4th July 2006. The court heard all kinds of sordid
allegations. The proceedings filled the TV and newspapers for more than
three weeks! The SSP leaders had more coverage in one month than in the
previous year.
The show continues even now as witnesses in the case face an
investigation over perjury. This can also last for weeks deepening the
crisis in the SSP even further.
Tommy gave a vintage performance in a fiery speech on the steps of the
court before being whisked off by representatives of a Sunday tabloid
to whom he sold his story for £30,000. The man fighting the bourgeois
media ended up selling the story of the case to one of the main tabloid
rags in Scotland which, back in 1992, attacked Tommy when he became
known as one of the leaders of the Anti-Poll Tax Campaign.
Ironically the case also spelt the end for the SSP as we know it! We
will not concern ourselves here with Tommy Sheridan's private life,
instead we want to look at the causes and consequences of this latest
crisis. The Sheridan case has left the SSP fatally split and now
Sheridan has called for a meeting to presumably launch a new socialist
organization because the SSP is no longer the 'broad based socialist
party' that it was when he was the leader. After a decade as SSP leader
Sheridan is searching for yet another shortcut to keep his career alive.
The SSP was born out of a loose alliance of left organizations and
nationalist groupings in 1998. In doing this the leadership of the what
became the SSP abandoned Marxism in favour of an illusory quick recipe
to build a left alternative to "New Labour". All kinds of ideas, alien
to the working class, took over the leadership and their outlook. This
"new" party was based upon the wrong conception that it was the only
working class organization as the Labour Party is now the same as the
Tory party. They also adopted some old theories such as the need for a
Scottish only socialist organization, and the liberation of the
Scottish working class by stages, recovering from the dusty shelves of
history a modern version of the disastrous 'two-stages theory'.
Sheridan, McCoombes, and all the other MSP's were, throughout the
development of the SSP, happy to talk about Norway as a model for an
Independent Scotland!
Political Differences?
There are no declared political differences between the two camps –
Sheridan has kept saying that he stands for an independent socialist
Scotland and McCoombes continues to argue that the British state is on
the point of breaking up, as he wrote in the introduction to a recent
SSP members' bulletin. Astonishingly none of this mess has served to
make some of the leaders think about the political causes of their
crisis.
Throughout this time, a casual observer could have been forgiven for
thinking that all was well within the SSP. In fact, even the members
had to rely on the coverage of the bourgeois media for their
information (the very same media that Sheridan claimed he was fighting
against). The leadership around McCombes made very important errors at
crucial times. They refused to instruct Tommy not to go to the
bourgeois courts, instead "advising" him not to do so. Even this advice
was democratically ignored by Tommy, who pressed on with his litigation.
In October 2004, the gutter rag, The News of the World, published a
story about a married, but un-named, MSP's sex life. Also by this time,
via leaks and "sources" speaking anonymously to the bourgeois press,
the membership were informed that the EC meeting of 2004 had given
Tommy options to deal with the rumors and allegations surrounding his
private life. He could "Tell the media his private life was exactly
that – private." Or he could admit to the allegations and embark on a
damage limitation exercise. Some of those present at the EC meeting
later claimed in court that he had admitted attending a swingers club
at the 2004 meeting. But the personal pride of the former convener of
the party was apparently more important that plunging the organization
into disarray.
Socialists should not welcome the sight of comrades in the struggle at
each others throats, but at least this should act as an alarm for those
who think that a socialist organization can be built without a clear
programme and methods.
The SSP is now on the verge of collapse. After seven years in
existence, during which time they secured 6 seats in the Scottish
parliament, the party is now engaged in a bitter, dog-eat-dog faction
fight involving the supporters of Sheridan and McCoombes. There are no
principled differences between these camps. This is a battle of
personalities over the leadership of the party. Yet beneath these
clashes the root causes of the crisis are indeed to be found in
politics. They spring, above all, from the abandonment of Marxism. Once
they had set off down this path, making concessions to nationalism and
reformism, there was never any other final destination than crisis. The
manner of that crisis is somewhat accidental. Now the important
question for those workers and youth that looked to the SSP for some
kind of way forward is what next? This short cut has led to a dead end.
The task of building a revolutionary organisation is no less urgent
than before, however, it is not short cuts that are required but
patience and the ideas of Marxism.
