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RISE - The "Scottish Syriza"


DeeTillEhDeh

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The radical left couldn't organise a two-ticket raffle. A shambles.

I was at the anti-racism demo in Glasgow on Saturday. In attendance were SSP, SWP, Solidarity, Socialist Party, CP & Fight Racism Fight Imperialism (Worker's Power?). All convinced they are right and the rest are c***s.

ETA : Fight Racism Fight Imperialism are the Revolutionary Communist Group, apologies to the comrades of Workers Power.

Edited by Broomhill Ultra
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Apparently there's been a mass resignation from Tommy Sheridans Solidarity with several activists and regional organisers quitting. Could boost RISEs chances of taking a seat? Probably not but funny anyway.

What was the fallout about?

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Solidarity implodes as Tommy looks for sympathy on Facebook

 

ooft. allegations of "bullying and fraud", apparently. Can't see even Tommy coming back from this and suspect a richly deserved obscurity awaits.

 

RISE may pick up a few votes as a result but not too many- the acrimony between the two parties is simply too great. In the long run it's a chance for them to clear the decks and sew up the radical left vote, before the 2021 elections.

 

I predict RISE will get around 1.5% of the vote in May, and after these ludicrous, 1970s-sitcom type shenanigans Solidarity will do well to register on the radar at all.

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Whatever the case, even if by some miracle they all get their shit together to form some sort of Union of Buckled Lefties & Scheme Goblins or whatever in time for the April/May election campaign season, their total vote is still going to come to the sum total of sod all.

 

All the "street activity", all the "in your face"ness of the Trotskyite clown collective isn't going to make voters pay any more attention to those living in some sort of Alan Bleasdale reality than anything approaching the 21st century.

 

Shame about Tommy - but his talent for self-destruction appears to be insatiable.

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I think it's better to be an independent, really, than get sucked into these micro-parties and their micro-disputes.

 

A poor result (almost inevitable) for RISE will see a fresh round of back stabbing and in fighting between those who will want RISE to continue, and those who always thought it was a bad idea in the first place (quite a few in the SSP).

 

Being photogenic and having a neat turn of phrase may get you a column in The National, having important friends in foreign political parties may get you "fraternal" visits abroad to another political culture which has absolutely zero parallels with what we are facing here in Scotland, but it cuts very little ice with the voters.

 

A genuione political alternative can only grow out of long, patient, hard work and practical results. It seems to me that RISE (discounting Solidarity now as a bad and soon to be defunct joke) have yet to find the right balance between posturing and actual campaigning.

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Yeah, my mate's one of the organisers for the SSP out here, he has said that after seeing what we all got up to during the referendum, he now knows how to canvass and campaign.

Standing on street corners ranting at the world is all good and well, but it doesn't win you seats. Canvass, canvass, canvass....

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How many members does Solidarity have? Impressive to have so many splits with so few members.

I remember the address that donations were sent to and the making out of cheques to various organisations linked to the Sheridans being raised at the time of the 'Hope Over Fear' rallies, I assume this is the end result.

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Yeah, my mate's one of the organisers for the SSP out here, he has said that after seeing what we all got up to during the referendum, he now knows how to canvass and campaign.

Standing on street corners ranting at the world is all good and well, but it doesn't win you seats. Canvass, canvass, canvass....

 

But that's just it - they don't.

 

The flotsam and jetsam of the political extremes will talk a good campaign, but that's all it ever amounts to. They do one leaflet drop in an area once a year, step it up come elections, & spend the next six months convincing themselves down the pub that it's all the fault of the Zionist Masonic Hollywood Illuminati Capitalist Industrial Complex conspiracy or whatever that no one was interested in them or voted for them.

 

It took the SNP 40 years to hit minor pay dirt - roughly the same length of time it took the Green Party UK wide to do the same - 73 years before they hit major paydirt. Trying to get people to accept political positions that are a sizeable departure from the mainstream takes a lot of time, patience and a lot of hard work.

 

Britain's far left and far right however are masterclasses in childish impatience & a failure to accept that it takes a massive psychological break for seasoned voters to move their crosses elsewhere no matter how much in their own best interests it may be to do so - & that it can take half a lifetime to break that mindset.

 

It takes going out there and putting in some hard local graft for your community - & I don't mean by that parachuting yourselves into some local dispute that's starting to attract press attention & via boorishness & outright intimidation take it over (that hallmark of the British political extremes which proves so counter-productive in the long term as they alienate more than they cultivate).

 

It means finding issues of your own to show you're actively interested - not merely have the eye for the main chance. Then doing so again, & again, & again, & again - without getting downhearted when it doesn't immediately translate into mass votes.

 

There's a good reason why you still have "continuing Liberal" & "continuing Social Democratic Party" councillers in above Town/Parish level seats, 20 years since their consignment to oblivion; whereas the Trotskyites & 3rd Reich fetishists for all their money & fair weather footsoldiers (a large proportion of whom are morons more interested in a punch up) can only get seats from being elected unopposed to such glorified Stoneybridge set ups. I for one am not holding my breath on that scenario changing any time soon.

Edited by WaffenThinMint
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How many members does Solidarity have? Impressive to have so many splits with so few members.

I remember the address that donations were sent to and the making out of cheques to various organisations linked to the Sheridans being raised at the time of the 'Hope Over Fear' rallies, I assume this is the end result.

 

If Solidarity have more than 250-300 members I'd be surprised. To put it in context, the SSP had 3,000 members signed up in the mont after the referendum.

 

Given the current revelations you will be able to drop that small number by 30-40% in the next month or so, plus the added demoralisation of the membership that elect to struggle on.

 

I'll be surprised if the party exists meaningfully by the end of the year. Suspect the coming disastrous showing will be the final death knell for Sheridan's political career. Even before this current typhoon-in-a-thimble, Sheridan had said that he would give up if he failed to be elected this time around.

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I was at the anti-racism demo in Glasgow on Saturday. In attendance were SSP, SWP, Solidarity, Socialist Party, CP & Fight Racism Fight Imperialism (Worker's Power?). All convinced they are right and the rest are c***s.

ETA : Fight Racism Fight Imperialism are the Revolutionary Communist Group, apologies to the comrades of Workers Power.

No Judean People's Front?

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I think the problem of movements like RISE (and even the Greens to a lesser extent), is that they manage to get a decent profile online on social media among younger/more left-leaning types, which kind of makes them appear more popular than they really are among the whole population. While the Greens are beginning to grow a greater profile and Harvie's doing quite well, I'd be surprised if anyone who isn't particularly interested in politics actually knows anything about RISE.

 

They seem to have a decent, growing membership base, but until they manage to start gaining a wider profile, they're probably going to struggle to get anywhere near 4-5%. At best they'll maybe sneak a seat in May, but even that seems quite unlikely. Greens seem like the better option on the lists.

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