Solidarity, Scotland’s Socialist Movement can today confirm that our Co-Convenor Tommy Sheridan, has been selected by the Glasgow membership to stand as our candidate in the forthcoming Glasgow North East by-election.
Tommy’s record as a representative and tribune of socialist ideas is second to none having served as both a councilor and two periods as an MSP.
He was elected to Glasgow City Council in 1992 to represent Pollok from his prison cell having been jailed in his opposition to the hated Poll Tax. (click here)
Tommy served as a Glasgow City Councilor between 1992 and 2003 and was elected to Holyrood in 1999 where he served the first of his two terms as an MSP.
Opposite is a Labour Party campaign poster from 1931. The message conveys the irony of the rich and powerful calling on “everyone” to share the burden of the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
With the unemployed and low paid already up to their necks in the sewer then it would be they who drowned in a sea of filth created by those at the top of the ladder demanding each took steps down the ladder in equal sacrifice.
Yet it was a very different Labour Party that met for its annual conference last week in the teeth of the greatest economic crisis since those dark days of the 30’s. After 12 years in power and despite at times having huge parliamentary majorities capable of passing legislation to benefit the poorest in society, Labour met to survey the economic wreckage that their neo-liberal policies have wreaked.
Government ministers have long since abandoned rhetoric about defending the poorest and most vulnerable. There is no pretence about standing up for ordinary workers and the unemployed. Instead, government ministers have tried to outdo their Tory counterparts in calling for the “equality of sacrifice” to help the country ride out the economic recession.
The message was clear from both George Osborne and Alasdair Darling. If you are poor, elderly, unemployed, on Incapacity Benefit or a public sector worker then you are being made to pay for the crisis in capitalism. All the main parties are repeating the mantra – “tighten our belts”, “prepare for cuts”, “share the pain”, except whilst the bankers are given billions to bail them out of the hole they dug for themselves, the biggest burden will fall on those who can afford it the least.
Solidarity Seek Socialist Unity in Glasgow North East
Thursday, 02 July 2009
Scotland's best electorally supported socialist party has agreed to renew efforts to foster left unity across Scotland and specifically to encourage a single left candidate in the forthcoming Glasgow North by-election. Solidarity will contact the leading left trade unions in Scotland again to appeal to them to gather the left groups and forces together with a view to knocking heads together in time for the likely November by-election poll.
Solidarity also agreed that if the left unity process does not develop in time for the by-election then our national co-convenor and former MSP, Tommy Sheridan, should be nominated as the Solidarity candidate. A final decision on this process is to be taken in early September.
Tommy Sheridan said today;
"My preference would be to campaign in support of a trade union backed left unity candidate instead of several socialist parties competing against one and other. . If the timescale available does not allow that process to ferment in time then I will fight hard to win the seat. With 11 years as a city councillor and 8 years as an MSP representing Glasgow under my belt I would probably be the most politically experienced and qualified candidate on the ballot paper".
The Solidarity National Steering Committee met on Saturday 13th June to discuss the implications of The European Election results and to discuss progress that has taken place on possible closer cooperation between left parties at the forthcoming Glasgow North East By-Election.
The Solidarity National Secretary was instructed by the NSC to issue the following letter to be distributed to members of The SSP who are meeting at a Regional Aggregate in Glasgow on June 16th.
The Glasgow North East By-Election – An Open letter to SSP Members
Comrades,
The crisis in global capitalism and the recent European election results have given us all on the left much to ponder. The collapse of the vote for The Labour Party, the emergence of the BNP as an electable force and the huge levels of abstention, (especially in working class communities) mean that we all need to re-examine our strategy for the coming period. The resignation of The Speaker of The House of Commons, Michael Martin will necessitate a by-election in his constituency of Glasgow North East. Early indications are that the election would be held in early September.
It has come to our attention that the SSP plan to discuss standing and possibly select a candidate for the forthcoming Glasgow North East by-election at a Glasgow members meeting to be held in the city on Tuesday night. We in Solidarity would like to respectfully ask that SSP members delay a final decision on the issue, at least in the short term, until some form of left unity discussion can take place. It is our understanding that a group of prominent Scottish trade unionists linked to none of the parties of the left in Scotland are in the formative stages of brokering left unity talks specifically on the issue of the Glasgow North East constituency. Our understanding is that during the next week formal approaches will be made to trade unionists, left progressives, environmentalists, community activists, the SSP, SLP and Solidarity to see if a unity process is achievable.
If the call for such unity was to come from either ourselves in Solidarity or one of the various parties of the left in Scotland then you could be justified in treating it with suspicion and reject it. As however, the call is expected to come from respected trade unionists we hope the SSP will consider it seriously, just as Solidarity intend to do.
Events Calendar
He was elected to Glasgow City Council in 1992 to represent Pollok from his prison cell having been jailed in his opposition to the hated Poll Tax. (click 
Solidarity Public Meeting
The Solidarity National Steering Committee met on Saturday 13th June to discuss the implications of The European Election results and to discuss progress that has taken place on possible closer cooperation between left parties at the forthcoming Glasgow North East By-Election.
