Jock Tamson's Tommy Sheridan's Bairns #3

Reproduced below with his permission is an interesting post from Dave Spencer that originally appeared on the UK Left Network discussion list, where he details the shenanigans of the SWP and the Millies in the Socialist Alliance, and where he sets out his opinion on why the SSP has imploded.

I'm not sure I totally agree with his position that the CWI amd Socialist Worker Platforms only joined the SSP in order to break it up, but it seems self-evident that the two traditions, who have it written in their political dna that they must control movements they are a part of, felt marginalised within the SSP, and have seen this as an opportunity to become bigger fish in a smaller pond. Sheridan, needing foot soldiers, will accede to their request that they can operate openly as platforms within the new organisation, and they will both once again hide their true political position within the new organisation, and pretend that they are in favour of "an independent socialist Scotland"

With Sheridan's high profile, and the boost that all new organisations have when they start out, I'm in no doubt that 'Solidarity – Scotland’s Movement for Socialism' will burn brightly at the onset, but as Dave Spencer's post below indicates neither of these groups have a happy history of working together within the same organisation. Roll on May 2007 . . . if Solidarity in fact lasts that long.

What are the SWP and SP(CWI) doing in Tommy Sheridan's "Solidarity" group -- due to be formed this Sunday? If they are in solidarity in Scotland, why are they not in solidarity in a united organisation in England?

What were they doing in the SSP in the first place? They were both opposed to the ISM's "Scottish Turn" which transformed the Scottish Socialist Alliance into the SSP as a unitary, democratic party. So why then join it? In England the SP when they were the largest group in the Socialist Alliance refused to do the equivalent of a Scottish Turn. They insisted on a federal constitution giving themselves the power of veto over all decisions. When the SWP joined the Socialist Alliance, the SP walked out without a fight. The SWP then used its majority in the SA to close it down altogether. Our experience in the Socialist Alliance in England has been that neither the SWP nor the SP(CWI) were in favour of solidarity either with each other or with anybody else. They saw the Socialist Alliance as a possible rival to their own organisations and so wanted to destroy it.

From this experience I would conclude that both the SWP and SP(CWI) joined the SSP for tactical reasons in order to break it up. The Tommy Sheridan affair has been used as a means to that end. I doubt whether Tommy could have started on his path to "Solidarity" without the advice and support of the leaderships of the SWP and SP(CWI).

Some comrades have looked for evidence of a state conspiracy to break up the SSP. Who needs the state when we have the SWP and SP(CWI)? Other comrades have looked for "political differences" like class versus gender politics or internationalism versus Scottish nationalism. These are issues which could be contained and debated within a unitary democratic party. The point is that the SWP and SP(CWI) don't want a unitary democratic party and this is the central issue and the central stumbling block to all moves towards a united left. They hate democracy like the plague.

Tommy Sheridan has been encouraged by the SWP and SP(CWI) in order to break up the SSP -- that is my reading of the situation.

Dave Spencer

Jock Tamson's Tommy Sheridan's Bairns #2

Someone with the monicker of 'Smiley' commenting on Lenny's Blog on the Socialist Worker's Platform so-called commitment to a broad, inclusive political organisation to replace the SSP in Scotland:

""The difference between Alan and myself is over what sort of party we need. In 1914 John Maclean was correct when he decided there was a fundamental divide between reform and revolution. There was a river of blood between them. Maclean, Lenin, Trotsky and Luxemburg understood that reform and revolution aren't two roads to one goal, they are two separate roads to very different goals. The whole history of the Labour Party this century has shown it. The attempt of the Scottish Socialist Party to bridge that divide, to have people from the social democratic tradition, the reformist tradition and the revolutionary tradition in the same party, and to say we can conduct this argument over a period of time is fundamentally wrong."

An amusing quote from Chris Bambery in debate with McCombes. Oh, how 'ultra-left' the SWP was then. Oh, how the SWP hath changed. Oh, the pull of electoralism.

And the SWP has the cheek now to accuse the SSP of wanting to build a 'narrow' party.

Come on Lenny, defend the party line.

See http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr226/scotland.htm

Ouch.

I Was Only Obeying Orders - Will's (Tidied Up)

You scored as Soviet Union. You should have fought in the army of the Soviet Union. You believe that the enemy will be conquered by a combination of manpower, political coordination and relentless spirit of resistance.

Soviet Union 69%

Italy 63%

Finland 56%

France, Free French and the Resistance 50%

British and the Commonwealth 31%

Poland 31%

United States 31%

Japan 19%

Germany 13%

In which World War 2 army you should have fought?

The cartoon is the only one I could find of Private Ivan Chonkin. For more details on the Soviet Švejk, click on the link.

Repeat after me - "There is nothing wrong, there is nothing wrong"

A Musical Interlude

Found this excellent song via the good people at Tasty Fanzine, and though I'm not sure about Tasty's description of it as sounding like "Debbie Harry duetting with Iggy Pop" - I think it starts off sounding more like Alison Goldfrapp singing vocals over an old Godfathers' track - its kick arse quality means that it parachutes straight in as the new profile song on the unofficial Socialist Standard MySpace page.

And of course they have a myspace page.

Everyone's Reading It

"The Socialist Standard? Is that still being published?"

Hat tip to Neil W. for the pic.

Dennis Leary rips Mel Gibson a new one . . . and goes up in my estimation as a consequence.

Did I ever mention that Fever Pitch was one of my all time favourite sporting movies? Scrub that, it's one of my all time favourite movies . . . full stop.

I still don't understand the first thing about baseball, though.

Hat tip to Will Rubbish.

Bad Jokes, an old link, repeating myself and that's what happened to Texan Bars

"A few weeks passed and hearing nothing back from him, I thought no more about the matter and got down to the serious business of contemplating those life inponderables that always keep me awake at night: What happened to Texan Bars? What . . . erm, that's it - it's a recurring thought of mine." - Existencilism

This post arrives simply as a result of me realising that the title of the last post, whilst trying to be clever-clever, is in fact embarrassingly piss-poor. Therefore, I thought I would scour out some confectionary websites for inspiration - I failed miserably - but I did stumble across the explanation for something that had kept me awake far too many nights (see above):

Launched in 1975.

Withdrawn in 1985.

Reason for its withdrawl (as given by Nestle) was the miners strike of 1984, apparently it was made in Halifax and the strike prevented lorries entering and leaving the plant.
[From Chocolate Review]

Did I need another bastard reason to hate Thatcher? I'll burst an ulcer before she bursts a bloodvessel.

"Sweetshops Cookshops of the Future" - Karl Marx

A link to another post from Alan J. at Mailstrom that gives me the excuse to post a pic that has been knocking about the desktop for far too long.

Fret-wankery

'This Charming Man' is the greatest opening riff in the history of pop music, despite it being overlooked by this shower of numpties.

Fun for all the family

Ties are optional, but no trainers or football tops. They run a respectable establishment.