SCOTTISH Militant Labour has taken a formerly safe Labour seat on Strathclyde regional council -the largest local authority in Western Europe - after winning 54 per cent of the vote in a recent by-election.
Christine McVicar's victory in Easterhouse/Garthamlock ward is a clear indication that Militant has built a serious base in Scotland's largest city.
Prison
Last May the tendency won four seats on the city council, with leading anti-poll tax campaigner Tommy Sheridan elected from his prison cell.
It also proves there is an audience for left-wing politics in sections of the Scottish working class. Easterhouse/ Garthamlock is based around the Easterhouse housing estate, one of the most run-down in Britain.
One in three men in Easterhouse are unemployed, while 70 per cent of children receive school clothing grants.
Two years ago Labour took 71 per cent of the vote; this time its support was reduced to 28 per cent, despite sending seven MPs to canvas in the ward.
The episode should clearly warn the Scottish Labour Party that it cannot take its electoral base for granted.
Yet there is a danger that Militant supporters will mistakenly draw triumphalist conclusions from this victory.
The political vacuum created by Labour's deradicalisation can also be occupied by other forces, including the SNP, possibly even the far right.
There remains at present no objective basis for building a new mass workers party in either Britain as a whole or Scotland alone.
TUC congress 1992