Murray Smith on Scottish Elections

The always interesting Murray Smith as a piece in the Fourth International Online magazine International Viewpoint (IV389 - May 2007) on 'The Scottish elections and the SSP'.

"From the point of view of the radical Left in Western Europe, and beyond, the most striking thing about the 2007 Scottish parliamentary elections was the wiping out of the parliamentary representation of the anti-capitalist, socialist Left, and in particular the Scottish Socialist Party. This is a very serious defeat, not only for the left in Scotland, but for all those internationally who have seen the SSP as an example and as one of the pioneering organisations of the European Anti-capitalist Left. We will come back to that, but first of all it is necessary to look at the broader context of these elections, which also explain in part the defeat of the left."

Smith points out that the Labour Party vote actually held, the SNP vote grew with the collapse of Green and Socialist votes. His predictions: the SSP will survive, Solidarity will collapse.