Last night I ran into an aquaintance of some 20 years. He was not really a friend, just someone I have known and say hello to. He used to be in the SNP and moved to the SSP long before I joined the former. From members of my party that remember him, I have learnt that he was one of the more radical, and some would say hot-headed, elements. So as the party turned more professional (maybe to him conformist and boring), a necessary step towards our 2007 victory nevertheless, the SSP became more suited to him.
He has now quit politics. Towards the end he had followed Tommy Sheridan to the new Solidarity party. But now he is no longer a Trotskyite activist. Although you should never make a statistical inference from a sample of one, individual cases can illustrate a more general trend. Many of its activists, who were committed and well-intentioned if somewhat naive, worked hard for their beliefs. They then tore themselves apart over the private life of their founder and most charismatic advocate. The SSP was an interesting experiment in Scottish politics. Remember in 2003 they won 6 seats! Most of them now have now hung up their trestle tables - Trots love street campaigning with trestle tables on which to place petitions for some obsure cause or other.
Please note that as election agent for Chris Stephens (SNP Holyrood candidate for Glasgow Pollok), I do organise streetwork with balloons, wee saltires and even a piper but have absolutely banned the use of trestle tables because of their Trotskyite associations.
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