I FOUND myself in complete agreement with the headline advertising Carolyn Leckie’s column on the front page of The National yesterday – “Our country needs a working class Yes-backing party” – because the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is just that party.

In her column, however, she predictably misrepresented the SSP’s conference last weekend, dismissing our valid and pertinent contribution as “anti-SNP ranting” (Anti-SNP rants are not helping my former party, November 12).

Such accusations of course are commonplace for all of us in the Yes movement who dare criticise the SNP.

Ms Leckie seems to believe we should all abandon our critical faculties and commitment to independence and act as mere cheerleaders for Nicola Sturgeon. She may rest assured the SSP will not be cowed by her or anyone else who demand such subservience.

Our right to criticise political decisions, philosophies and tactics we do not agree with is not hers to give away. We are not nationalists, we belong to a socialist tradition that has supported independence for more than 100 years and to which RB Cunningham Grahame, John Maclean and James Connolly belonged.

While the SNP is obviously a major part of of the independence movement, and one we work closely with on many levels, it must never be beyond criticism. The SSP has proven over 20 years that we are perfectly capable of working constructively with our partners in the independence movement in an open and honest way.

READ MORE: Anti-SNP rants are not helping my former party the SSP

Our annual conference last weekend hosted another discussion with friends from across the Yes movement, including the SNP, which considered how to take support for Yes beyond 50%.

In particular we focused on how to win over Scotland’s working-class majority and agreed our own role in that task remained invaluable.

We reiterated that our support for an independent socialist Scotland, a modern democratic republic, distinguishes us from the SNP.

We are not nationalists. And the SNP themselves accept that they cannot win this struggle on their own. Nor does Scotland’s right to self-determination belong to them.

We also reminded delegates that the SSP helped found the Scottish Independence Convention in 2005, we sat on the board of Yes Scotland throughout the 2014 referendum campaign and we continue to play a full and active part in persuading Scotland’s working-class majority to back self-determination.

We remain four square behind the case for independence because we see it having a clear purpose; to end poverty, deliver a £10/hour living wage for all, ensure decent homes for everyone, return public services like our railways, oil and gas and power generation to public ownership, and build the green future that can both contribute to saving the planet and re-industrialising Scotland.

Our criticism of the Growth Commission and its embrace of market-dominated economics was a valuable contribution to the Yes movement. So was our advocacy of our own currency.

And instead of dismissing our warnings of the dangers of building illusions in the EU, as the SNP has done over the past two years, perhaps the movement should conclude that such criticisms are in fact healthy.

Instead of treating our exceptional contribution over decades with such disdain, perhaps even a modicum of respect would be more appropriate from Ms Leckie. We can but hope.

Ken Ferguson
SSP Press Officer