There was a very vigorous, robust debate earler this year on a proposal to ensure gender equality on the party lists for Holyrood (i.e. in the winnable seats).
There was division on this issue at every level from the executive down to the branches. This division also affected platforms with members of the ISM, the SW platform etc speaking and voting on both sides of the debate.
The final decision, which I personally supported, was to go for gender equality. There are eight regions in Scotland; our party list in four of these regions will be headed by a woman and tour by a man.
The selection of candidates takes place on a one member-one vote basis, with those unable to attend the selection meetings entitled to a postal vote.
Members are presented with two lists, one male and one female. In a region where it has been decided to have a female candidate on the number one spot on the list, the second and third spot will be taken by the top two male candidates, with numbers four and five female. And of course, vice versa where the top of the list is a man.
There are potentially nine winnable seats in Scotland for the SSP: we could win two list seats in Glasgow and one in each of the other seven regions - though that will be a tall order and we would be happy with half that number of MSPs. But if we were to win all nine, we would have five women MSPs and four men.
Initial indications suggest that men will tend to dominate among the first-pastthe-post candidates which are selected by the members in local constituencies.
Because none of these are likely to be winnable, there was a feeling among supporters of 50-50 system that it would be better to concentrate on the winnable
party list seats at this stage. Maybe there will be proposals for twinning of constituencies or whatever, but that's something for the membership to decide in the
future.
Has the SWP's decision to join the
SSP been positive, or has it
resulted in problems for the party!
The Socialist Workers platform the SSP in terms of finance and
activity. My estimation is that most SSP
members and most SW platform members would agree that the involvement
of the SW platform has been generally
positive.
Up until now, there has been no senous political divisions in the party. Policies
that some people thought might prove
contentious, such as the SSP's support for
an independent socialist Scotland, have
platform members. stage to win seats in the four regions that make up the Central Belt." On both the anti-war movement and the anticorporate movement our approach has been shaped by the old green slogan, Think Global, Act Local. •••
There have been some local tensions in a few branches. Some non-SW members feel the SW platform still tends operates as a regimented caucus and hasn't yet fully adapted to the new terrain of working through the SSP.
The ISM has an advantage in that respect, because it has been operating on this terrain for six and a half years now, generally been accepted by most SW including the period of the Scottish Socialist Alliance. The ISM also broke with "Across all eight regions of Scotland we stand a fighting chance of winning a seat, though we'd be happy at this the CW and the Socialist Party of England and Wales, which means that we're not under any external pressures. How do you respond to the criticism that the ISM underestimates the importance of the global justice and anti-war movements?
ersonally, I haven't heard these
criticisms and I would be surprised
if anyone suggested that the ISM underestimates the anti-war movement.
Last year, when the bombing of Afghanistan began, I travelled to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to report on the ground for the Scottish Socialist Voice and to forge links with Afghan and Pakistani socialists.
The SSP was the only left party in the world and the SSV was the only left newspaper in the world to send someone out ISM and the SSP is generally drawn from the lowest paid, most exploited sections of the working class.
It's not always easy to find the time or the money to participate in a demo in Brussels, Genoa or Seville or a conference in Florence
We do try to participate in these events. But mobilising a group of activists to a demo or conference in Europe is not the be all and the end all of the anti-capitalist movement.
Sometimes you can make a more powerful contribution to that global strug gle by mobilising a local community to occupy their closure-threatened community centre, or leading a successful battle of low paid workers against a multinational like Sodexho, or by building mass support across the country for a campaign to proevents.
Especially after the Scottish elections next May, the SSP may be in a strong position to play a major part in international mobilisations.
But we have to remember that a party like the Rifondazione Communista was only able to mobilise the working class of Italy onto the streets of Italy because it had built a real base in workplaces and communities in the course of a decade of painstaking local campaigning What are the SSP's prospects in the upcoming Assembly elections?
The Herald newspaper carries a monthly poll conducted by System 3, which is widely regarded as the most reliable gauge of voting intentions in Scotland.
For each of the past three months, the SSP has stood steady at 8 per cent on the second ballot.
A regional breakdown of the poll sug gests that we could get 7 MSPs elected, the same number as the Tory Party Across all eight regions of Scotland we stand a fighting chance of winning a seat though we'd be happy at this stage to win seats in the four regions that make up the Central Belt
If we do achieve 8 per cent, that would represent a quadrupling of our vote since first Scottish election in 1999
It would be the highest vote in percentage terms yet achieved by any of the new anti-capitalist parties that have emerged in
Europe over the past decade or so
As well as standing a full slate of list candidates across Scotland, we also plan to
stand in all 73 constituency seats, with
maybe a few exemptions where there is
an independent socialist candidate such as
Denis Canavan in the frame.
We also plan to stand in hundreds of
council seats the same day