REVOLUTIONARY PLATFORM

of the Scottish Socialist Party

Website: www.revolutionaryplatformofthessp.org

Discussion forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/revolutionary-platform-of-the-ssp

Initiated by Steve Wallis: www.socialiststeve.me.uk, 07739 904924

I, Steve Wallis, distributed leaflets containing the text shown on this page (with very slight modifications) on one side and the first page of my election manifesto (with the headline “No real democracy in Iraq while occupation continues” pointing out that the war was for oil) on the other. For the main page of my manifesto, click here.

I established this website on the 22nd of April, but set up the discussion group (forum) shortly after the Scottish Socialist Party’s February conference. The group is unmoderated, the archives are publicly viewable and anyone can join without the need for approval. Click here for its home page. Note that I got the group’s address, and that of a similar group for the proposed Democratic Socialist Alliance (see below) slightly incorrect on the leaflets.

Vote for a democratic socialist world

I am a member of Glasgow Shettleston branch of the Scottish Socialist Party (Rosie Kane MSP’s branch). However, since I have been a political activist in Manchester since 1989 (getting involved in the 18 million strong mass non-payment campaign that defeated the poll tax and got rid of Margaret Thatcher) and revolutionary socialist since 1990 (joining the Militant Tendency which led that campaign), I have decided to continue living in Manchester as well as getting involved in the SSP. I intended to stand in Manchester Withington Constituency in the general election, but unfortunately did not get nominated in time. Therefore I am concentrating on spending time in Glasgow to hopefully help the SSP win at least one seat.

I am fighting for a democratic socialist world run for people not profit – free from poverty, unemployment, homelessness, discrimination, famines, deaths from preventable diseases, war and environmental destruction. A “revolutionary” believes sudden and complete change is needed, important though fighting for reforms is. The International Socialist Movement platform (formerly known as Scottish Militant Labour) that plays a leading role within the SSP is a revolutionary organisation. However, I believe unity of the left needs to be carried a stage further by uniting serious revolutionaries within the SSP in a single platform (which can have sub-platforms if desired) in order to start turning the SSP into a mass party capable of winning the next Scottish parliamentary elections (due in 2007, but if the SSP gets majority support we should demand them earlier).

I argue that socialists in the rest of Britain, who are much more divided than in Scotland, should unite in Democratic Socialist Alliances modelled on the SSP. I will help establish them in the Greater Manchester area and also in Wales (based in Cardiff where he went to school) after the general election. I have already launched the Revolutionary Platform of the DSA as an internet discussion forum in preparation for the formation of the DSA (at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/revolutionary-platform-of-democratic-socialist-alliance).

I prefer non-violent methods of achieving change, and refuse to support terrorist acts which are not just morally repugnant but counterproductive, but support genuine left-wing movements that do involve violence such as the Zapatistas in Mexico and the struggle against the terrorist Contras (backed by the CIA) in Nicaragua.

End torture by the US and British armies/police

The prosecutions for torture by three members of the British Army are just the tip of the iceberg. There are over 164 investigations at present involving British troops involving 20 deaths of Iraqis in British custody. Mass torture and abuse by US troops have been exposed in Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and Afghanistan. For both the US and Britain, the torture and abuse has been authorised from on high as a way of getting confessions (which are useless, since a tortured inmate will say anything to get more lenient treatment). One of the Birmingham Six, Paddy Hill, doesn’t have any teeth left.

Demonstrate in Scotland against the G8 in July

Many anti-capitalist demonstrations have taken place in recent years. These are often called “anti-globalisation” protests by the media, but it is big business and the governments and institutions that support global capitalism that we oppose, and globalisation of culture should be welcomed. I took these photos in Genoa.

The G8 is a group of the leaders of eight big countries (all capitalist). In the past, important capitalist meetings took place in major cities, but due to our strength, they now occur in small places that are difficult (if not impossible) to get to. The next G8 meeting is at Gleneagles in July, so most events will take place in the nearest city – Edinburgh.

For more details of protests against the G8, including my proposal for a worldwide general strike at around the time the summit takes place, plus the issues involved, visit the g8 summit worldwide general strike website.