Workers' Liberty

Dear SSP Member: I enclose a copy of the Open Letter I felt compelled to distribute at the Emergency NC meeting of 28th May in Glasgow, I apologise for not sending a copy to you sooner but things have been hectic.

Since wrote the letter on late Saturday, 27th May, several important developments have occurred:

1) The Sunday Herald of 28th May ran a front page story about a "senior SSP official"' who apparently supplied that paper with a signed affidavit concerning tie details of the special EC meeting of 9tn Nov. 2004 "within days" of the meeting! What a scandalous breach of confidence and Party discipline. Who was it and how many others have known about this? Details will emerge in the course of my court battle with News International as the particular journalist involved has been cited to appear. The case begins on July 4th.

2) The Emergency National Council meeting of 28th May was the largest in the Parties 7 year history. 150 delegates and over 150 visitors attended from branches from across Scotland. It was the most representative meeting of Party opinion since our Conference. The EC's strategy of continued defiance of the court over the secret document was rejected after lengthy debate. After admitting in court to the existence of a secret document, and it being publicly admitted to in the press that such a document existed, it would have been wrong to have continued to resist the court as it was clear long prison sentences and sequestration of the Party would have followed.

The Party complied with the court in the first instance so a strategy of continued defiance, after the jailing of Alan McCombes and the obvious financial impact on the party was never a serious option. The meeting also rejected the earlier EC decision to publicly call on me to drop my action against the reactionary scum of the world. Instead the NC voted to offer me "100 political solidarity" in my court case by 81 votes to 60.

It was great to secure such support but sad that 60 delegates voted against. Regardless of personal feelings toward me I am fighting the most powerful and reactionary representative of the boss class on the planet. I expect other socialists to support me not assist them It's about basic class solidarity!

3) The Cardonald branch motion forwarded to me and then from me was passed to at least two newspapers to assist in mounting a case against me of attempting to pervert the course of justice re the call to destroy any secret document. The actual email sent from my computer terminal was passed on to the press to cause maximum damage to me. Again who would commit such treachery?

DIVISION

Our Party is clearly divided at this time. Blame for the crisis we are in is laid on my shoulders by sections of the EC. Yet the reality is those who have promoted the alien practice of keeping personal records of confidential discussions and alerting the press to such documents are the ones to blame. For too long the rank and file of our party have not had the chance to bring , the leadership of our party to account for their actions and unacceptable methods which are responsible for the crisis our party is now in. This has to change.

What is now needed is a complete democratic renewal of our structures, our apparatus and our leadership. All of us on the EC and all National office bearers must subject ourselves to re-election at a specially convened conference in September.

Not all members will agree with my criticisms. That's reality. I appeal to you however to engage yourself in your branch. Our branches are the most important building blocks of our Party. Get along and have your say. If your branch is not meeting regularly make the current serious debate about the future of our party the reason to re-establish it.

Whether you support or oppose the points I have raised in my Open Letter or in this covering note get yourself involved in the Party's democratic process through your branch This Party was built from the bottom up. By returning to that basic philosophy and the class based politics we championed in our formative years we can emerge from the current crisis wiser and stronger. A democratically renewed SSP can reconquer the 132,000 support base in time for 2007's Parliament and council elections,

FINANCE

Although I opposed the EC court strategy we cannot allow the subsequent punitive costs to be borne by only a few members. In the real SSP we win1 together and we lose together. Now is the time for collective effort to- raise the money required to meet the legal costs incurred. We also desperately need to establish an election fighting fund. Towards these ends I appeal to you to send or make a donation locally. From £10 to £100. More if you can afford it Please send donations to our National Convenor directly at the Scottish Socialist Party, 52 dark street, Edinburgh, EH8 9JD to ensure proper recording and administration.

Comrades, our Party has achieved so much in a relatively short space of tine but we have so much more to learn and achieve. We have been derailed and diverted from the class war and those responsible must be held to account for their actions but let's not lose sight of our magnificent goal of a world based on people not profit, peace not war and love and human solidarity not hate and violence. The only war worth fighting is the class war against unnecessary poverty and obscene inequality. Forward comrades to an independent socialist Scotland and a new and brighter socialist world.

Yours in solidarity,

TOMMY SHERIDAN, NATIONAL CO-CHAIR