* Britain be a party like the others". The SSP draws a line between ourselves and the world of scandals and bribery. Our candidates stand as workers' representatives who will live on workers' wages. Tommy Sheridan only takes half his salary, giving the rest to the party and various organisations.
Our profile is important: we proclaim our socialism and put forward proposals which meet the needs of the majority in the here and now. It is crucial to be involved in struggles, small and large, and not simply disappear when there are no elections. We reject leftist platitudes that "elections aren't our terrain, our terrain is struggles". On a historical scale it is true that important questions will not be decided by mass action not elections. But today elections are an excellent way of carrying out political activity, making our ideas known on a mass scale. There is no contradiction with struggles — elections and struggles complement each other.
### Influx
The new party began to attract an influx of new supporters and to create new branches beyond the geographical base of the SSA. The first electoral test was in a European by-election in north-east Scotland. In unfavourable territory the SSP obtained 2,500 votes, more than 2 per cent. It was a modest result but sufficient to establish credibility.
After the first SSP conference in February 1999, energies were focused on the preparation of the first Scottish legislative elections in May 1999, which coincided with local elections. The electoral campaign merged with the work of building the SSP. The party increased from 600-800 members in February to 1,000 in April.
We presented lists in each of the eight regions of the country, including those where the party didn't exist. That allowed the running of a national campaign and gave every elector in Scotland the chance to vote SSP.
This was the first election to introduce proportional representation, even partially. 56 members of the new Scottish Parliament were elected under proportional representation at a regional level and 73 in first past the post constituencies. The SSP stood in 18 constituencies. At a national level the party won 2 per cent of the votes (46,000) and its score of 7.5 per cent in Glasgow allowed the election of Tommy Sheridan. The European elections 34 International Viewpoint #322 June 2000 in June provided a bigger test. The SSP vote rose to 4 per cent. Thanks to a large measure to the election of Tommy Sheridan, the SSP had established itself as the socialist alternative to the left of Labour.
The subsequent year has been crucial for consolidating the SSP. Its second conference in February 2000 reflected the growth of the party and a strengthening of its political cohesion. Electoral successes continue, with 10 per cent in the Hamilton by-election in September 1999 and 4 per cent in Ayr in March 2000. The latest opinion polls give us 5 per cent of votes nationally, 13 per cent in Glasgow and 11 per cent in the Central region, which would give us 3 deputies in the Scottish Parliament. Tommy Sheridan writes a weekly column in the Daily Record, the main daily paper in Scotland with a readership of 2 million (out of a population of 5 million).
### Responsibilities
With 2,000 members and more than 50 branches across the country, and its electoral audience, the SSP has enormous responsibilities. We have the opportunity to build a party that can present itself as a credible alternative to Labour and the Nationalists. We address ourselves to those who still vote, reluctantly, for the LP, those who don't vote and those who support the SNP. The latter is ahead of Labour in the polls and split between the need to be seen as to the left of Labour and as a viable manager of the interests of big capital in an independent Scotland
The SSP has established our image as a party which daily fights to defend the working class. We are, above all, for a rupture with capitalism, for socialism. There is no place today for yet another party that accepts capitalism as a barrier that cannot be passed. We struggle against neoliberal policies but without sowing the illusion that the LP could return to a Keynesian golden age and restore the Welfare State. While we fight on concrete issues alongside workers who remain in this party, we call on them to join us in building the socialist alternative. We also fight for the trade unions to break their political and financial links with Labour - links which are more and more being called into question anyway.
But we must be more than "the party of opposition". We are opposed to privatisations, against handouts for the bosses, against flexibility and deregulation. We defend public services and the rights and gains of workers. But every serious political force must present itself through a positive project. We work to define what socialism today could be after the double setback of Stalinism and Social Democracy, how it is possible to break with capitalism in the epoch of globalisation.
Book
We are preparing a book, due out in November, in which we will present our critique of capitalism and our thoughts on Socialism for the 21st Century, seeking to strip bare the mechanisms of capital and show the possibility of a society based on the satisfaction of human needs.
We also try to put forward solutions to concrete problems. One of the central questions among youth is drugs. We propose the legalisation of cannabis and decriminalisation of other drugs.
We have put forward a proposal for a Scottish Service Tax — a system of local taxes, based on strongly progressive measures which would lead to a significant redistribution from rich to poor. It would also give the local councils extra revenue, giving them a margin for manoeuvre in relation to central government, allowing them to carry out policies in the interests of the population.
Tommy Sheridan's Bill in the Scottish Parliament to "Abolish Poindings and Warrant Sales" (aimed at the legislation which allows the authorities to confiscate the belongings of debtors) was carried at its first reading by a massive majority of 79 to 15 with 30 abstentions — a huge victory for the SSP even though the bill still has two stages to go through.
The SSP tries to act within the concrete conditions of Scotland but we do not neglect the international dimension. We see the SSP as part of the recomposition of the workers' movement internationally. We therefore see it as very important to reinforce links between the new anti-capitalist formations which are being created, especially in Europe. It is in that spirit that we participated at the meeting of a number of these formations in Lisbon last March and look forward to strengthening this type of collaboration. * *Frances Curran and Murray Smith are the international coordinators for the SSP
A body blow for
THE decision by Ken Livingstone, a popular left wing MP, to break with the Labour Party and stand as an independent for Mayor of centre Green Party (the Green Party is for- Party. Also the vote going to the left of
Britain *
LSA
Labour and the Greens was split among five contending slates. If the slates had been united together they would have received more than the combined 5.2% and
London represents the most important left split in Labour since the Second World War. His subsequent landslide victory is a body blow to Tony Blair and his "New Labour" Government. DAVE HUDSON
Boty and a precial pee tel LAIR has lost control of his capital
alternative power base to his left has been established. However, there are few signs that Ken Livingstone is about to use his victory to fight for a socialist alternative. Although he gained 55% of the vote, including second preferences, putting him way ahead of the competition, this was achieved despite a generally weak campaign, which could be described as rightwards moving and populist.
### Cross-party
Now he is assembling a cross-party administration including rotating the deputy mayorship amongst all four parties in the assembly! And he is backing off from a confrontation with the government over its unpopular plans to privatise the underground system - a key divide in the election. On the other hand he remains a loose cannon, so the potential for confrontation between him and new Labour remains high.
Livingstone's vote was comprised of diverse social forces and political standpoints, as one would expect of any successful populist candidate. However, in its majority it represented a working class rejection of New Labour's failure in government to deliver any really significant reforms in the interests of the working class.
Livingstone's stated intention to get back in the Labour Party suggests the space opening up to the left of Labour will not be quickly filled; Livingstone will not be able to hegemonise this space in the longer term. The question is, will it become occupied by forces like the left of mally a petit bourgeois party, but is perceived by many in the workers' movement including on the left and among the youth as a radical party to the left of Labour), or the socialist and revolutionary left organised through the LSA? Or will it be filled by other more sinister forces like the neoFascist British National Party, which got over 60,000 votes?
### High profile
The London Socialist Alliance (LSA), although virtually unheard of before this election, ran a militant high profile campaign throughout London, which has an electorate of 5.1 million people, and gained an excellent vote, especially in some inner London working class districts. The LSA presented a full LSA list for the GLA in both the constituency section and the party list section, and called for a vote for Ken Livingstone for Mayor.
Across London the LSA received 46,530 votes in the constituencies, which on average is equivalent to 3.1%. In some inner London constituencies, such as the North East and Lambeth & Southwark constituencies, for example, where the LSA ran brilliant local campaigns, we got 7% (8,629) and 6.2% (6,231) respectively. These are very significant votes and, together with those for the Green Party, reflect the growing crisis of New Labour and confirm that a political space is opening up to the left of the Labour Party.
In the Party list the LSA vote of only 1.6%, although larger than the other socialist lists, was the most disappointing. There are a number of reasons for this. First, as we have mentioned, Livingstone called on all his supporters to vote for the Green would easily have gained one GLA seat. A third, unquantifiable cause, was voter confusion over the new proportional representation element to the system of voting — 16% of ballot papers were spoiled!
The campaign on the ground was very important. We distributed 1.5 million election addresses to individual households mostly in the inner London areas, covering approximately 90% of the electorate. There were over 3,000 people active in the LSA. We held two central London rallies attended by over a thousand people and numerous smaller local meetings and fund raising social events.
The campaign collected from donations and on the streets approximately £40,000 towards its expenses. Many trade union branches sponsored our campaign and donated money. The LSA made great efforts to link up and unite with the Labour left and gained many supporters including local councillors.
### Unity
Everbody recognises that the LSA was more than the sum of its parts, and the degree of active unity achieved was unprecedented and is rooted on the objective conditions the working class and its broad vanguard confronts under Blairism. When the Blair government loses its gloss for the working class, a space will open up to the left of Labour which we must try to fill. The success of the LSA in London makes this project more credible and suggests that we can build Socialist Alliances across the country, drawing on the lessons of the LSA. The LSA will continue to build itself between elections, although it won't be the only vehicle for united actions for any of the organisations involved. At present there is no adequate political basis for the regroupment of revolutionaries, nor do the conditions exist for the founding of a new workers' party in Britain.* International Viewpoint #322 June 2000 35
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Tony Blair
Youth against capitalist globalization
THE 17th International Youth Camp in solidarity with the Fourth
International will take place in Portugal this year, from July 23rd-29th.
The camp will be held near Coimbra in a magnificent setting. Ideal con-
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Obituary: Libardo Gonzalez COLOMBIAN revolutionary Libardo Gonzalez died of a heart attack on March 27th 2000. Aged 58, he had in the early 1970s founded "Espartaco", the first Trotskyist group in Colombia.
ditions to enjoy a week of political discussion and leisure activities. More than 500 youth from around 15 European countries are expected to attend. The overall theme of the camp is the fight against the global order *500 years" since the "discovery" of Brazil by the Portuguese, examining what has changed and what has not in relations of domination and ways of fighting back. The camp will be organized around thematic working groups in the morning, meetings between delegations and educationals in the afternoon, and forums in the evening around six main themes: anti-racism and anti-fascism, feminism, the effects of globalization, gay and lesbian struggles, ecology, and internationalism. With participants involved in struggles and social movements from around Europe and the world, this camp will also embody the struggle against colonialism and neocolonialism with a central meeting around these themes. All these activities and discussions can be continued over a drink at the camp bar or at the disco. As usual, there will be a wide range of leisure activities at the camp, with videos and discussions, parties, daily "leisure workshops" teaching everything from Brazilian dance to juggling and excursions to nearby villages and mountain ranges. Speakers at the camp will include Francisco Louçă, a Left Bloe deputy in the Portuguese parliament, Livio Maitain, a leader of the of the Fourth International, and European MP Roseline Vacchetta. * For further information contact Portugal: PSR /Acampamento Internacional, Rua da Palma 268. 1100 Lisboa, tel.: 351-1-8864643 / Fax 351-1-8882736, E-mail:
Although he became estranged from the PSR (the Colombian section of the Fourth International) when some of its leaders were involved in mediation between the guerilla movement and the government in 1981, he returned to the leadership of the organization in 1985. He never stopped searching for a way to regroup revolutionaries in a stronger organization respecting democracy in its own ranks and in the mass movement. He took part in the integration of the PSR inside "A Luchar", and was then involved in the "Corrente de renovacion socialista". After the failure of this political project Libardo devoted himself to analysis and political education. His involvement was enough for him to be detained by the army in 1982 and 1992. A university professor, he wrote numerous books on the history of Colombia and of economic analysis. He never stopped arguing for the Fourth International, circulating its press and translating its writings. Before his death, he planned to publish the last writings of Ernest Mandel and he collaborated with the organization
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"Presentes por el socialismo". *
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* Youth Camp / Obituary