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2005-01-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

Last week, an anonymous “senior source” within the SSP told the Herald: “we need a contest like we need a hole in the head”.
I profoundly disagree. As a republican socialist, I’ve never liked coronations. Along with monarchs, they should have been abolished around the time of the French revolution.
As it happens, we all need holes in our head. We use them to breathe.
And just as the human body needs oxygen, a socialist party needs democracy. This election does not signify that the SSP is split; it underlines the fact that the SSP is diverse, vibrant and alive party.
Personally, I would have liked further discussion about what kind of convenorship structure we now need, rather than close down the debate.
I don’t believe we should try to replicate another Tommy Sheridan. We have no other media superstars right now.
But we do have a number of highly talented people inside and outside the Scottish Parliament.
Instead of trying to find a single Henrik Larsson, or an Ally McCoist, I believe we should be trying to build a whole forward line of strikers.
Equally important, we need a strong midfield and defence in the regions and branches. And I suppose the thankless role of goalkeeper rests on the shoulders of our national secretary, Allan Green.
Socialism has never been about commandism from above. It is about working together, harmoniously, as a team.
I believe it would reinforce our commitment to team leadership to move towards what would be, in effect, be a dual convenorship.
I believe there is clear-cut case for an overall party convenor, whose role would be to galvanise and motivate the party outside the parliament – with a separate figurehead fronting our work inside the parliament, including our media profile and First Ministers Questions.
We have six MSPs, including Colin Fox, who are more than capable of playing that role.
In the next six months, we'll be involved in a vital general election battle with our opponents desperate for us to falter.
We’ll be mobilising against George Bush and the other godfathers of global capitalism when they descend on Perthshire for the G8 summit in July.
We’ll be stepping up the pressure for troops out of the killing fields of Iraq.
We’ll be stepping up the fight to scrap our own nuclear weapons of mass destruction. To close down Dungavel Detention Centre. Against ID cards. Against low pay.
All of these campaigns are outside the scope of the Scottish Parliament.
Meanwhile, inside Holyrood, we have important battles to fight, including our bills on free school meals, free prescription charges and the Scottish Service Tax.
Behind the scenes, our MSPs are involved in bodies such as the transport, education, justice and health committees, the parliamentary bureau, and various cross-party groups. They are often swamped with difficult and demanding constituency casework.
Even with Clark Kent in the parliament, it’s difficult to see how he could change into his superman outfit at 6.00pm before switching his attention to the multitude of battles outside Holyrood.
If we elect an MSP as sole convenor, I fear that the centre of the gravity of the party could be pulled further towards Holyrood while the other vital work of the party becomes more and more fragmented. There is even a danger that the party could, imperceptibly and gradually, be turned into a support group for our MSPs.
Devolution was an advance for Scotland. But we should guard against media pressure to turn the SSP into a devolutionist party, preoccupied with winning reforms within the strict parameters laid down by our lords and masters at Westminster.
Our convenor has no special powers. He or she should be innovative and prepared to argue for their strategy and vision. But the convenor should also be fully accountable to the wider party.
As convenor I would call for a full-scale overhaul of the party structures. These were geared towards the 2003 Holyrood election.
Now we need to look to the future. With STV pending for local council elections pending, we have to prepare to strengthen our roots in local communities.
We need to build on our superb breakthrough in winning RMT affiliation to the party.
We need to develop a party which is controlled from below, by the membership, and with greater grassroots participation than ever before.
Above all, we need to fire the imagination of young people. Over the next five years, we could double our membership, and our share of the vote, not by poaching members and voters from Labour or the SNP, but by capturing the hearts and minds of the disaffected generation.
That means boldness, radicalism and idealism. It means engaging in direct action. And it means raising ever-higher our red banner of socialism, internationalism, independence and republicanism.

Alan McCombes: For Socialism & Independence

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