11.04.2001

SSP-SWP unity

May 1 target

To judge by appearances, the entry into the Scottish Socialist Party of Socialist Workers Party members in Scotland now seems imminent. A meeting on April 2 of leading comrades from both organisations agreed to aim for SWP entry on May 1. The SWP has provisionally been allocated five full-timers, including one for the SSP journal Scottish Socialist Voice and possibly three area organisers. This is a brief report on the April 2 meeting to the SSP membership from national secretary Allan Green

Comrades from the SWP proposed that both parties should take steps to enable the SWP to join the SSP on an agreed basis by the end of April.

To sum up, the thinking behind this:

• Since the last discussions, both parties have issued statements outlining that there is the political basis for the SWP to join.
• Since the last discussions, the Westminster elections have been postponed from May to June 7. There is now a 'window' in April where both parties could consider this issue before the election campaign 'proper' gets underway.
• Should the decision be delayed until after the June election, because of the usual summer break, it would be the autumn before the discussions were seriously underway again. There would be a risk of losing momentum.

The initial response from the SSP members at the meeting was a mixture of:

• There are obvious attractions in this time scale. Election period is good time for members from both parties to work together in same party. Boost for party prior to elections. May Day would be an appropriate symbolic day to announce that the SWP have now joined the SSP.
• However, it is vital to ensure that there is sufficient discussion amongst the SSP membership. The time scale is tight.

The outcome:

• The SSP and SWP agreed to meet again on Friday to discuss the nuts and bolts issues - finance, Scottish Socialist Voice, full-time staff, leadership bodies, etc.
• The SSP executive will meet first on Friday to consider the issue and, in particular, possibilities floated by SSP members on Monday. This included the possibility of a series of regional SSP aggregates at the end of April, where the membership can consider any outcome from Friday's SSP-SWP meeting and, in line with the decision of February's SSP conference, a special national council in late April to make a decision.
• The SWP indicated that they would hold an aggregate at the end of April to decide on joining the SSP.

April 3 2001