Re: [OPE-L] Scottish election

From: Anders Ekeland (anders.ekeland@ONLINE.NO)
Date: Sun May 06 2007 - 14:22:14 EDT 

Dear all,

The split in the SSP a sad thing, and the most 
problematic as I see it here from afar, is that 
there are very trustworthy people on both sides. 
 From what I know of the affair, it seems strange 
to me that a majority of the old leadership 
should witness against Sheridan, if there was not 
a grain of truth in the question of Sheridan 
frequenting a swingers club, which in itself is 
no sin, it was Sheridan's denial of the facts 
that made the conflict so bitter.

But let's not discuss this here. I just wanted to 
state that to make a real judgement in this case 
one would have to study the evidence very 
carefully. Both sides have credentials as 
dedicated militants to the good cause for decade 
after decade - and everybody agree that the split 
was a very unfortunate one. Which means that 
genral confidence in this or that person is not 
enough, one would have to study the facts in detail.

Regards
Anders

At 23:53 05.05.2007, you wrote:
>I know Tommy personally. I met him many times in 
>Glasgow ind Edinburgh. Though I do not agree 
>with everything  what he believes, thinks and 
>does, I must admit he is one of the most 
>impressive socialist leaders Scotland has ever 
>had on the left. He is in my view one of the few 
>charismatic and revolutionary candidates to 
>unite the left. I do not believe a single word 
>of this rubbish. It is a campagn to split the 
>left so that it does not become a serious factor 
>in Scotland and Britain. Pity that bourgeosie 
>could find allies within the left.
>
>Dogan
>
>
>-----UrsprĂĽngliche Mitteilung-----
>Von: wpc@DCS.GLA.AC.UK
>An: OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU
>Verschickt: Sa., 5. Mai. 2007, 21:22
>Thema: Re: [OPE-L] Scottish election
>
>
>The SSP split at the end of last year into the SSP and Solidarity, the latter
>headed by Sherridan.
>
>The reasons was a court case which had the whole nation gripped for a month
>in which Tommy defended himself against libels put out in Maxwells papers to
>the effect that he was a drinker, drug user, and frequenter of Swingers clubs.
>
>He conducted his own defence, won the case and was awarded ÂŁ100,000 damages
>against Maxwells papers, but several SSP members of parliament appeared
>as witnesses for the papers and against Tommy. After his victory in the court
>case this caused so much bad blood between the MPs that they split. It
>also polarised the membership between those who believed him, and those
>who believed the allegations against him in the press.
>
>Prior to the court case some of the MSPs had been spreading even more lurid
>tales to blacken his name : that he dealt in drugs, that he was involved in
>smuggling Ukranian prostitutes into the country etc. From what I know of him
>as a leader of struggles going back years, these allegations seem unlikely -
>he makes a point of being a non-smoker, non-drinker etc.
>
>Prior to the split there did not appear to be any pressing ideological
>issues at stake. I put it down to personal rivalries among the new MSPs
>agravated by interference by the yellow press and perhaps agent provocateurs.
>
>Bugs were found in Tommy's car, secret tapes of his discussions with
>executive members were released to the TV etc.
>
>Paul Cockshott
>
><http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/%7Ewpc>www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: OPE-L on behalf of Dogan Goecmen
>Sent: Sat 5/5/2007 7:31 PM
>To: OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU
>Subject: Re: [OPE-L] Scottish election
>
>
>
>
>
>"1. The socialists had split into two parties competing for the same votes"
>
>   Paul,
>
>  who were these two socialist parties and what was the reason that they had
>split?
>
>  Dogan
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>Kostenlos: AOL eMail
>2 GB Speicherplatz sowie erstklassiger Spam- und eMail Virenschutz.
>Sichern Sie sich Ihre persönliche eMail Adresse noch heute!
>
>
>----------
><http://www.aol.de/email/>Kostenlos: AOL eMail
>2 GB Speicherplatz sowie erstklassiger Spam- und eMail Virenschutz.
>Sichern Sie sich Ihre persönliche eMail Adresse noch heute!

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu May 31 2007 - 00:00:08 EDT