15.02.1996

Challenging reformism?

Nick Clarke spoke to Allan Green, coordinator of the Scottish Socialist Alliance, after its conference last week

What do you see as the role of the SSA?

I think there are two parts. First to build a serious left alternative to ‘new’ Labour’s full scale adoption of free market policies. The second is to try to break through the sectarianism on the left that we’ve seen for quite a while by encouraging the left to find common campaigns.

Do we leave it at the level of an alliance or do you think we have to move towards a single party?

Hopefully the alliance will develop trust and confidence between the various component parts of it and various individuals so that we can move towards a tighter organisation.

What were your impressions of the SSA launch meeting on Saturday?

There was a wide range of unions, campaigning groups and political organisations of the left. The sheer good will gives the alliance project a really good chance of taking off.

What is the process now for proposing amendments to the programme and constitution?

There was only one specific disagreement on Saturday, which was over whether the alliance should stand against Labour. I think it will be left to the democratic will of the members in each locality.

Steering committees are being set up in the west of Scotland, the north and the east. They will be asked to provide representatives to form a working group that will use some of the feedback we have had already to add to amendments to the constitution and the draft Charter for socialist change.

We want that working group to get as much consensus as possible before the founding conference on April 20. Obviously there will be some arguments and open debate on the day. There will be plenty of opportunity for anyone who wants to take part in that process.

The other things that the participants have to realise is that we are trying to build a radical fighting alliance. On the one hand we have to have the opportunity to argue out differences, but on the other hand you also have to consciously seek common ground.

In a fairly short time I think we should be able to put a framework for launching the alliance properly.

On the question of not standing against candidates in other parties with a clear socialist record, what do you think about the idea of a minimum platform, based on working class needs, that could be put to other candidates? If they publicly supported it then the SSA could support them.

I think the whole question of standing in elections, especially the general elections, is just a tactical one. We are talking about using elections as a platform to show we are serious about building the alliance as a credible force.

We also have to see how we attract more people from the Labour left and it is an open question about whether you encourage these people to join the alliance by standing against them or by giving support to the candidates that the Labour left will regard as good leftwingers.

On the question of the minimum platform, I’m generally sympathetic to that type of approach.  

What is your own history in the movement, and where did the initiative for a Scottish Socialist Movement come from?

I’ve been a member of the Labour party for 16 years. I have been around various far left organisations, but for quite some time now my main activity has been through the Socialist Movement, particularly the Scottish Socialist Movement.

The SSM has set out to bring about a realignment of socialist policies on two main tactics. One, the recognition of Scottish self-determination and that the radical left in Scotland had the potential to pull together an alternative to new realism around the call for Scottish self-government.

Secondly, with the collapse of authoritarian regimes and the ex-Soviet Union, there is a process of self-assessment that again might get realignment.

Would you call yourself a revolutionary?

Probably. I accept the basic Marxist analysis of society that the working class are fundamentally the force of change. Where I have got reservations is that unfortunately in Britain we are a long way away from revolution.

Challenging reformism from a radical socialist perspective at the moment is a useful and necessary process, but revolution is for the future. I think the way some self-proclaimed revolutionary organisations structure themselves is sectarian and gives Marxism a bad name.