Sheridan and the SSP

The last people that SSP members should be listening to in the fall-out of the 
fall out in the Scottish Socialist Party are the SWP and CWI who have now 
swooped down like vultures to pick at the flesh of the bones of the SSP .

All we have heard recently is how the ex-Glorious Leader triumphed over the 
Party apparatchiks and how he now once again lays claim to his birth-right as 
Glorious Leader .
Of all the commentaries i have heard or seen or read , one issue seems to be 
have been over -looked by most and that is the structure of a political party 
and how the membership controls and directs their party. 
The court case of Tommy Sheridan revealed secret minutes of EC meetings , which 
resembled more a Star Chamber Inquisition . 
During the court case , Colin Fox , the current Party Convenor , testified that 
he would have willingly lied to cover up Sheridan's indiscretions . In effect , 
to blatantly lie to his members and to his voters . 

Our politics in the ( leader-less ) SPGB is that regardless of potential 
problems , open-ness is a necessary requisite for the party of the working 
class . Consequently , the minutes of our EC meetings are posted on our 
web-site for all and sundry to read . Our actual EC meeting are held in public 
for anyone who cares to observe . Even the EC , itself , is forbidden from 
proposing motions to conference or making policy . 

THAT IS our commitment to party democracy .
THAT IS one of our ways of maintaining membership control of our party .
THAT IS the lesson of the Tommy Sheridan court case .
And THAT IS the message we have to ram home to the SSP members .

Neither the SSP-United Left or the SSP-Majority camps intend to change the 
structure of their party . 
We should be explaining what the alternative can be to the SSP membership and 
its voters . ( Those associated with WIC also share with the SPGB the principle 
that it's not just the ends but the means which are of equally importance in 
the workers movement and so they share in that task .) 

"I don't want you to follow me or anyone else. I would not lead you into the 
promised land if I could, because if I could lead you in, somebody else would 
lead you out." - Eugene Debs 

" I'm not a charismatic speaker, and if I had the capacity to be one I 
wouldn't. I'm really not interested in persuading people. What I like to do is 
help people persuade themselves. " - Noam Chomsky 

" He who is morally impressed by power is never in a critical mood, and he is 
never a revolutionary character " - Erich Fromm 

" Historically, the errors committed by a truly revolutionary movement are 
infinitely more fruitful than the infallibility of the cleverest Central 
Committee. " - Rosa Luxemburg


alan johnstone , edinburgh br 







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