At its first conference to be held since Tommy Sheridan and his supporters split from the Scottish Socialist Party to set up a rival organisation, SSP national convenor Colin Fox said that the party had been through a "real-life horror movie, a nightmare so acute that it would have broken other parties completely", but "with every passing week, more and more people are overheard saying that it was the SSP that was telling the truth all along".
Attended by 300 delegates and visitors, the conference was held on October 7-8. Sheridan, with the support of fellow member of the Scottish Parliament Rosemary Byrne, announced the formation of a breakaway party called Solidarity on August 29, after publicly denouncing the SSP's other four MSPs, including Fox, as "scabs" for refusing to lie on his behalf in a defamation suit he brought against News Corporation's News of the World daily.
Fox said that it was important to strike a balance between "reflection and reconstruction", and that the May 2007 elections to the Scottish parliament would be critically important to the SSP. He reiterated the SSP's commitment to a broad range of campaigns, including the movement to remove nuclear weapons of mass destruction from the Clyde, the growing movement for Scottish independence, the anti-war movement, the movement to protect asylum-seekers and refugees, and the campaign for free school meals for all Scottish children.
Fox argued that the Labour Party was facing a massive defeat in Scotland in the 2007 elections. Nothing would change with the replacement of current PM Tony Blair with deputy leader Gordon Brown. Fox predicted that "British and US troops will be driven from Iraq by military losses too heavy to hold".
He told the conference that the SSP could look forward to the future with "pride, passion and confidence".
The delegates voted for a wide-ranging review of the SSP's structures following the May 2007 elections, and to limit SSP elected representatives to at most two terms in office.
Fox was re-elected unopposed as national convenor. A 23-member executive committee, with nine new members, was also elected. Twelve of its members are women. Morag Balfour and John McAllion were elected as co-chairpersons. McAllion had been an MSP from 1999 to 2005 for the Labour Party.
Following the conference, Pamela Currie, the newly elected SSP national secretary, said: "The SSP has come through a difficult and traumatic period, but has elected a new, young, vibrant leadership. There will be many challenges ahead, but the party that dared to tell the truth looks ahead with confidence and optimism."
Fox told the BBC News: "We emerge from our conference optimistic about our prospects for the 2007 Scottish election. The SSP is the party of the underdogs and will be providing a resounding voice for the low paid, women, young people, pensioners, students, public sector workers, council tenants, unemployed people and trade unionists at next year's elections."
Videos of Colin Fox's conference speech and other SSP videos can be viewed at