It's the story of Socialism all over the world. I will provide you with a short guide to how things are out here that I typed up in 5 minutes, although I tried to make it colourful.
The Socialist movement in Scotland has been divided since its first conception. During what could be called the "golden age of Scottish Socialism" at the turn of the 20th century i.e. the days of the Independent Labour Party, the original Labour Party, the Communist Party, Scottish Republican Socialist Movement etc, it was divided among certain key figures. The most important of these gentlemen were;
I suppose they represented "extremes" of the movement - the Communist revolutionaries (John MacLean), the organ of Soviet foreign policy (Willie Gallacher) and general left-wing radicals (Keir Hardie). The conflicts were strong enough to ensure that the Socialist movement was set back quite badly and it never really came to anything, although it firmly embedded itself in the consciousness of working-class Scots from Fife to Ayrshire.
It hasn't gotten any better. Today in Scotland we actually have two main Socialist parties, namely;
and the ironically named
along with an independent
but this is not affilated with the
There are also many independent movements advocating Socialism (e.g. Scottish Republican Socialist Movement with which I sympathise).
Other Socialist parties in Scotland include the vaguely left-wing (but not really)
not to mention the
and finally the Left Alliance (which is tiny).
Within the Scottish Socialist Party there are numerous independent factions called "platforms". These "platforms" now consist of:
The Republican Communist Network (created in 1999), a founding member of the SSP. It prints an internal journal, Emancipation and Liberation.
The Workers Unity Platform (created in 1999) is an amalgam of members from small left groups who came together to form a platform within the SSP.
The Solidarity Tendency (created in 2006) consists of supporters of the Alliance for Workers Liberty.
At one time there were more platforms. I will now give you a copy and paste of them.
The International Socialist Movement (1999–2006) was a founder member of the SSP and was affiliated to the CWI. It broke from the CWI in 2001, when some CWI loyalists left it. It published the journal "Frontline" until its dissolution in 2006, whereupon Frontline became an independent Marxist journal.
The International Socialists (2001–2006) consisted of a small number of individuals who remained affiliated to the CWI when the ISM broke away from the international in 2001. In 2006 the platform left the party [2].
The Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (1999–2006) whose major focus is independence for a Scottish Republic, emerged from the Scottish Republican Socialist Party which was one of the founding platforms of the SSP. The SRSM officially disaffilated from the SSP in November 2006, although some individual members remain SSP members.
The Scottish supporters of the Socialist Workers Party (2003–2006) joined the SSP in 2002 becoming the Socialist Workers Platform despite strong reservations from then members. In 2006 they left the SSP to join Solidarity.
The United Left (2006–2007) was not officially incorporated as a platform within the SSP, however it operated in a similar manner and was largely regarded as such. It was formed in June 2006 and dissolved in January 2007. Its formation was largely in response to the Sheridan crisis however it drove a move towards a more collaborative and autonomous vision for the SSP in the post-split period.
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