History of the Scottish Socialist Party

[1][2] Around 400 people attended the SSA's launch rally in Glasgow in February 1996, which attracted socialists and communists from various party backgrounds.

The first election fought by the SSA was the Toryglen by-election for Glasgow City Council in August 1996, with Rosie Kane as the candidate, where it won a respectable 18% of the vote.

It also achieved what was, for a minor party, a respectable vote at the 2001 general election and a series of by-elections for the UK and Scottish parliaments (Hamilton South, Ayr, Glasgow Anniesland, and Falkirk West).

[8] They gained five additional regional list MSPs across Scotland: Frances Curran; Rosie Kane; Carolyn Leckie; Colin Fox; and Rosemary Byrne.

The party had a boost when the Scottish section of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) affiliated with them, breaking their historical association with Labour.

On 11 November 2004, Tommy Sheridan resigned as convener of the Scottish Socialist Party, citing personal reasons.

The SSP's national co-spokesperson, Colin Fox, was invited to sit on its advisory board, reflecting the party's crucial support for independence over the past fifteen years.

[18][19] On 11 September 2013, the SSP launched a pamphlet called The Case for an Independent Socialist Scotland,[20] the publication of which has been welcomed by MSPs.

[23] As part of the party's campaign for independence, it held dozens of public meetings across Scotland with a range of speakers.

When the make-up of the Smith Commission was announced, Colin Fox protested the decision to "uniquely exclude" the SSP from proceedings.

He wrote to the Smith Commission: "The argument some use to justify our exclusion on the grounds that we currently have no 'parliamentary representation' fails to appreciate that the referendum was not a parliamentary process but an unprecedented public debate that resulted in an extraordinary level of engagement from all sections of society.

"[29] The SSP's 2014 National Conference took place in Edinburgh on 25 October and the party reported it had been better attended than the preceding several years and that their membership had trebled during the weeks following the referendum.