Scottish Militant Labour

Scottish Militant Labour (SML) was a Trotskyist^[1] political party operating in Scotland in the 1990s and was part of the Committee for a Workers' International. It later became known as the International Socialist Movement, which has since dissolved.

It played a major role in the formation of the Scottish Socialist Alliance and the Scottish Socialist Party, and was the original publisher of the Scottish Socialist Voice. It was formed when Militant (also known as the Militant tendency) split after abandoning entryist tactics in the Labour Party. Its best known member was Tommy Sheridan, although Alan McCombes played an important role behind the scenes. The party had six councillors in Glasgow during 1993-95.

In 1998, the Scottish Socialist Voice announced that the SML executive had decided to support Scottish independence.^[2]

In 1996, it led the formation of the Scottish Socialist Alliance, the precursor of the modern Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) formed in 1998. As part of the SSA and SSP it changed its name to the International Socialist Movement. Many of its leading members were leading members of the SSP. A split occurred after years of debate centred on questions such as what the SSP should be, what the nature of a revolutionary party is and the relationship of the ISM to the CWI.^[3] The majority of ISM members broke with the CWI while a minority stayed part of the CWI and created the International Socialists (Scotland), which claimed to be the successor of SML.

Former members of SML form a large part of the SSP's present leadership, while Tommy Sheridan is now co-convenor of Solidarity (Scotland), and the International Socialists are a platform within it.

Electoral performance

References

See also

• International Socialist Movement
• International Socialists (Scotland)