SCOTTISH SOCIALIST Party (SSP) members were stunned to learn of the
resignation of Tommy Sheridan as national convenor of the party on Wednesday
10 November.
Philip Stott, CWI Scotland
His statement to the press said he wanted to step back from frontline
politics in order to be a "hands-on father", as his partner is expecting their
first child next year.
However, the catalyst for Tommy Sheridan’s resignation was the meeting of
the SSP Executive Committee (EC) the day before. This meeting discussed
allegations about Tommy’s private life that were expected to appear in Rupert
Murdoch’s rag, the News of the World, the following Sunday.
The EC proposed three options to deal with these allegations. One involved
refusing to speak about his private life, while the two others involved
speaking to the press. When Tommy Sheridan insisted that he intended to deny
the allegations and seek legal action, the EC passed a motion threatening to
remove him as national convenor unless, by Saturday, he abandoned this
strategy.
Sheridan resigned the next day and, following the article in the News of
the World alleging a four-year relationship with an SSP member, he has taken
out a libel action.
The SSP has been thrown into a serious crisis by the chain of events
following the EC meeting that has spiralled out of control and has done
significant damage to the reputation of the party.
The CWI in Scotland has worked for and welcomed the impact the SSP has made
in the last few years. It has succeeded it attracting a new generation of
workers and young people to the idea of socialism. The affiliation of the RMT
union to the SSP has underlined the potential that exists to build socialist
ideas among the organised trade union movement. Anything that undermines this
represents a blow to the socialist movement in general.
Ultimatum
NOTWITHSTANDING THE serious political differences the CWI has with Tommy
Sheridan and other leaders of the SSP, we welcome every step forward the SSP
makes, and are working hard to build its membership and support. However, the
events of the last two weeks have put in jeopardy the future of the SSP.
If the EC had not given Tommy Sheridan an immediate ultimatum to drop his
denial and legal action, and made it clear publicly that the right-wing
tabloid allegations were an attempt to undermine the SSP and Tommy Sheridan,
this situation could potentially have been avoided.
By trying to force Tommy Sheridan to drop his preferred option before even
waiting to see the press claims from the News of the World, the SSP leadership
made a potentially difficult situation much worse.
It is one thing to consider whether or not to take legal action as a party.
That issue, however, should not have immediately been linked to Tommy’s right
to take such action or his position in the party.
Of course, the personal conduct of a leading member of a political party
can damage, sometimes severely, the reputation of that party. The tabloid
allegations, completely unproven, made against Tommy Sheridan do not fall into
that category.
Capitalist media
THESE EVENTS have been a gift to a brutal anti-working class scandal sheet
with a long track record of attempting to undermine socialists and trade
unionists, including through the use of ‘sex scandals’.
The crisis has been made worse by repeated statements from leading SSP
members to the press that the party would not back Tommy Sheridan in his legal
action against the News of the World. There were also claims by leading EC
members that he wanted the party to lie to protect him.
All of this has acted to fuel the impression that Tommy Sheridan was
sacrificed in order to avoid bad publicity or the accusation of colluding in a
"lie" about personal matters.
This has played into the hands of the capitalist media who have produced
acres of newsprint over how the SSP has lost its best asset and is tearing
itself apart over the issue.
The EC carries significant responsibilty for that situation developing in
the way that it has.
The CWI has serious political differences with Tommy Sheridan. But we
recognise that he has retained significant authority among working-class
people in Scotland. It is through Tommy Sheridan that many workers identify
with the SSP.
Much of this authority was built when he was the figurehead of the
anti-poll tax struggle in Scotland. At that time he and other leaders of the
SSP were still members of the CWI.
The SSP has largely built its support up until now on its opposition to
poverty and inequality; an implacable stand against the imperialist occupation
of Iraq and through its support for workers in struggle such as the PCS
members and Scotland’s nursery nurses.
It is only by basing itself on these principles, while advancing a clear
socialist and class programme, that the SSP can recover and move forward. It
is that course that the CWI in Scotland is advocating the SSP should now take.
