Scottish Militant Labour (SML) was a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

Dave avidOsle
"The Tribune interview: Tommy Sheridan – Tartan Trot"
''Tribune'', 30 July 1993 political party operating in Scotland for most of the 1990s and was part of the

Committee for a Workers' International The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) was an international association of Trotskyist political parties. Today, two groups claim to be the continuation of the CWI. History Founding The origins of the CWI can be traced to a group of ...

. It later became known as the

International Socialist Movement The International Socialist Movement was a Trotskyist current inside the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 2001 until March 2006. It came into existence as a change of name by Scottish Militant Labour, the since defunct Scottish section of the ...

, which has since dissolved. It was formed when

Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

(also known as the Militant tendency) split after abandoning entryist tactics in the Labour Party. Its best known member was

Tommy Sheridan Tommy Sheridan (born 7 March 1966) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2 ...

, although

Alan McCombes Alan William McCombes (born 1955) has been a leading member of the Scottish Socialist Party for several years, and was the editor of the ''Scottish Socialist Voice'' until 2003. With Tommy Sheridan, he was also author of Imagine: A Socialist Visi ...

played an important role behind the scenes. The party had six councillors in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

during 1993–95. In 1998, the ''Scottish Socialist Voice'' announced that the SML executive had decided to support

Scottish independence Scottish independence ( gd, Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; sco, Scots unthirldom) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about. S ...

. In 1996, it led the formation of the Scottish Socialist Alliance, the precursor of the modern

Scottish Socialist Party The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland. The party was founded in 1998. It c ...

(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.''The Scottish Debate'' – Transcripts of the debates within the SML and between the SML majority and the CWI International Secretariat
/ref> The majority of ISM members broke with the CWI while a minority stayed part of the CWI and created the

International Socialists (Scotland) International Socialists is the name of a number of Trotskyist organizations. Most organisations using this name are in the International Socialist Tendency. They are: *International Socialists (Denmark) (Internationale Socialister) (Denmark) * Int ...

, which claimed to be the successor of SML. Tommy Sheridan is now co-convenor of

Solidarity (Scotland) Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement was a political party in Scotland. The party launched on 3 September 2006, founded by two former Scottish Socialist Party MSPs, Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne, in the aftermath of Sheridan's libel ...

, and the International Socialists are a platform within it.

Electoral performance

References

{{UK far left 1992 establishments in Scotland Labour parties in Scotland Militant Labour, Scottish Militant tendency Political parties established in 1992 Militant Labour, Scottish Scottish Socialist Party Defunct Trotskyist organisations in the United Kingdom 2001 disestablishments in Scotland

Electoral performance

See also

References