Scottish Socialist Party (1932)
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Scottish Socialist Party
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| Chairperson | Patrick Dollan |
| General Secretary | Arthur Brady |
| Founded | 1932 |
| Dissolved | 1940 |
| Split from | Independent Labour Party |
| Merged into | Labour Party |
| Newspaper | Forward |
| Membership (1932) | 2,200 |
| Ideology |
Socialism, Social democracy |
| Political position | Left-wing |
The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) was an organisation of former Independent Labour Party members who wished to remain part of the Labour Party after their former party disaffiliated.
By the early 1930s, there was strong support in the Independent Labour Party (ILP) for disaffiliation from the Labour Party. This came to a head after the Labour Party refused to endorse ILP candidates at the 1931 general election. Several leading Scottish members disagreed with the ILP's moves to disaffiliate, including chairman of the Scottish ILP Patrick Dollan, David Kirkwood, who was one of the party's five MPs, and former MP Tom Johnston. They formed the Scottish Independent Labour Party Affiliation Committee in 1932, campaigning to reverse the policy. However, this open opposition to a key party policy was not accepted by the majority in the ILP, and the three were expelled in mid-August. They formed the Scottish Socialist Party at the end of the month, and were immediately successful in affiliating it to the Labour Party. The new party initially claimed to have 1,000 members, and by November, it claimed 2,200. This compared with 3,300 Scottish ILP members before the split.
The party's first chair was Dollan, with councillors Andrew Gilzean as vice-chair and Arthur Brady as secretary. The party was boosted by Neil Maclean, an MP who had resigned from the ILP shortly before the 1931 election, while other members included former MP James Welsh, and future MP Thomas Cook.
The ownership of property and funds held by branches which had left the ILP and joined the SSP was an immediate cause of conflict. This led to lengthy legal action, with the Labour Party financially supporting the SSP side. The party gained control of Forward, which had formerly been the newspaper of the Glasgow ILP, and from 1934, this became the party's official publication.
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