I am sending this letter to the Scottish Socialist Voice, the
newspaper of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), and other left-wing
newspapers in Britain. I am also sending it to about 170 discussion
groups at www.yahoogroups.com (most of which are unmoderated), 33
newsgroups (at groups.google.com), and to some of the left-wing email
addresses I have been given or found on the web.

It will be probably only be printed in the Voice, the Weekly Worker
(which specialises in discussing what is going on in left-wing groups
and parties) and possibly Red Pepper (which I have not read for ages
but I am on a 300-strong unmoderated "redpepperdebate" list at
www.yahoogroups.com). [Of course, the letter could be edited due to
reasons of space.]


Tommy Sheridan played a brilliant role in the 18 million-strong mass
non-payment campaign that defeated the poll tax and brought down
Margaret Thatcher. Standing for parliament from jail and getting over
6,000 votes for Scottish Militant Labour, and subsequently (while
still in jail) getting elected to Glasgow City Council laid the basis
for the successes of the Scottish Socialist Alliance and later the
Scottish Socialist Party.

Tommy played a brilliant role as the sole SSP member of the Scottish
parliament. He was the obvious person to be the main spokesperson for
the SSP (Convenor) and he made a lot of powerful speeches at
important events such as demonstrations.

However, when the SSP went from one to six members of the Scottish
Parliament (MSPs) on May Day last year, they achieved over 15% of the
vote in Glasgow and Tommy was joined by Rosie Kane in that city.
Rosie had previously established a reputation for herself as a great
environmental campaigner, playing a leading role in direct action
used by the Scottish Socialist Alliance against the building of a
motorway extension through a run-down working class area of Glasgow.

It was pointed out on national TV (early in the morning so not too
many people would have seen it) that of all the MSPs, Rosie had
generated by far the most media coverage in the period after the
election. Her act of defiance, when she was forced to swear an oath
of allegiance to the Queen of England, was broadcast - she wrote "My
oath is to the people" on her hand and attended in jeans. Rosie
always attends the Scottish parliament in jeans whereas Tommy always
wears a suit (even on demonstrations). It is obvious that Rosie would
make a far more effective Convenor than Tommy in the vital period in
the run-up to the general election, because she will find it easier
to inspire working class people.

Tommy wrote an article in the Morning Star in which he proposed that
Colin Fox, the SSP's MSP in Edinburgh, should be the new Convenor. I
have a lot of respect for Colin, and the way he hurdled a barrier to
celebrate winning a seat in such a middle class city was an
inspiration. Nevertheless, Glasgow is the poverty capital of Britain
and it is vital that an MSP representing Glasgow plays the role of
Convenor.

I am currently living in Manchester, but I will be a full-time
activist in the run-up to the election, alongside an old school
friend of mine called Rhiannon Williams, concentrating particularly
on campaigning in Glasgow, the Cardiff area and Manchester. I have
already publicised on the internet my proposal that Rhiannon is a
candidate for the Welsh Democratic Socialist Alliance (which we will
form) in Cardiff South and Penarth against the hated Blairite and
former leader of the Welsh Assembly Alun Michael.

I will be proposing that the Socialist Alliance in England is renamed
the Democratic Socialist Alliance at its forthcoming conference. I
hope that a young Muslim woman who I know called Samia will stand for
the Democratic Socialist Alliance against New Labour minister Keith
Bradley, who made his name campaigning against the closure of
Withington Hospital and then supported its closure when New Labour
came to power. I am 100% sure that Rhiannon and Samia will get
elected to Westminster, and I think that the SSP stands an excellent
chance of winning every seat in Glasgow.

If Blair waits too long before calling a general election, it is even
possible that the SSP would win a majority of seats across Scotland.
Under those circumstances, the party must organise mass
demonstrations calling for new elections to the Scottish parliament.
When the SSP wins those elections, it will be able to call a
referendum for independence and establish an independent socialist
Scotland.


--
Steve Wallis (socialiststeve@...; http://www.stevewallis.org).

Convenor of Manchester International Socialist Movement
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/manchesterism).

Initiator of the Campaign for Democracy in the UK
(http://www.democracycampaign.org.uk;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/campaign-for-democracy-in-the-uk).

Initiator of the Revolutionary Platform of the Democratic Socialist
Alliance
(http://www.revolutionaryplatformofdemocraticsocialistalliance.org;
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/revolutionary-platform-of-democratic-
socialist-alliance).

Some of my important groups at http://groups.yahoo.com:
kerry-said-tax-the-rich, close-all-tax-loopholes, us-electoral-fraud,
uk-electoral-fraud, revolutionary-anti-war, iraq-democracy, the-
revolution-starts-now, galaxiamusic, strictly-declarative-modelling-
language

Visit the websites of the Scottish Socialist Party
(http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org) and the International
Socialist Movement platform of the SSP (http://www.redflag.org.uk).