If the moves to reappoint it fail. spectrum'. The mobilisation for the NAC The General Secretary of the newly formed Scottish Labour Party, Alex Neil, announced on Sunday a list of organisations whose members would be banned and proscribed from joining the SLP. The list includes members of political organisations such as the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, the Scottish National Party, the Communist Party, The niernanona ocalists. ana te International Marxist Group:
This list of bans and proscriptions is a very bad omen for the SLP. It uses a deliberate smear tactic by attempting to lump together capitalist parties such as the Tories and the SP, and organisations SNP. of the socialist movement such as the Communist Party, International Socialists and IMG. And it is made worse by the fact that it is a clear response to a witch-hunt against militant left-wingers in the SP sponsored by The Times and by Harry Ewing MP, Under Secretary of State in the Scottish Office. On 23 January a centre page article in The Times contained an open call for Jim Sillers, Neil and the rest of the SLP leadership to deal with the influence of revolutionary socialist ideas in the new party. A statement from Ewing quickly followed to the effect that the SLP would find it difficult to contain extremists from the Inter national Marxists right through the The real meaning of Neil's statement can be gauged from two incidents at the foundation meeting of the SLP. On the one hand. Danus Skene one of the non elected group of ex-Labour Party officials who hold a majority on the SLP organising committee, told the meeting: *If there are any Conservatives or Liber als among you today, bless you, you are welcome'. On the other hand the two major speeches calling for a class struggle policy for the SLP came from a supporter of the IMG and a dissident member of the Communist Party, and both received much applause from the rank and file The satisfaction with which the capitalist class greeted Neil's move was shown cleariv in Monday's Times, which headlined the story 'Extremists barred from SLP, and reported the statement oh the CP, IS, and IMG without even bothering to mention the Tories or the Hatchet-man Neil's statement augurs badly for the future of the SLP. By itself introducing bans and proscriptions, the SLP cuts right across the campaign it shoud be fighting to establish its own right to be affiliated to the Labour Party; and by excluding people from the discuss ions which the SLP needs to thrash out traditionest the Labour bureaucrats. Neil follows in the worst What does it say for the credentials of those who claim to stand for a socialist tradition and to be independent of the Labour bureaucracy when they immediately capitulate to the witch-hunt of The Times and Wilson's chief hatchetman on devolution? Furthermore, it bodes ill for democracy inside the SLP that such a decision could be taken by an organising committee two-thirds of whose members have never been elected.
Alex Neil's announcement is one which must be fought by all members of the SLP and by the labour movement In scotland