Members present: Gerry Byrne; Mike Davies; Toby Abse; Phil Kent (CPGB); Steve Freeman; Pete McLaren
Membership Secretary Steve Freeman reported that there were now 27 paid up SA members nationally. It was agreed that Gerry Byrne produce the draft of a recruitment leaflet for the STWC Demo and CNWP Rally next weekend.. It was also agreed to use the A5 recruitment leaflet drawn up earlier in the year. Treasurer Tony Greenstein had circulated a Balance Sheet which showed a surplus of £743.51, with an outstanding bill of £66.28
Pete McLaren reported
on developments within the CNWP, highlighting the number of local launch
meetings and TU Conference Fringe Meetings.
2,250 had signed the Declaration by mid July, of which less than 1/4
were SP members, and 45 were members of TU NECs. The RMT had firmed up their support for a new
left party. The CNWP were in dialogue
with Respect regarding an organisational role in the Respect TU Conference on
Nov 11, and Respect had agreed that Dave Nellist could be on the platform. The
next Steering Committee had been organised for Sept 24, in Manchester to
coincide with the Labour Party Conference, followed by a Public Rally at 3pm –
all at the Mechanics Centre.
Much of the meeting was spent discussing the AGM, and in particular concerns raised in the last few days by a couple of members about the lack of accessibility of the venue, the Lucas Arms. Pete McLaren had provisionally booked a room at ULU for £120, but the NEC voted to change the AGM venue to South Bank University where a ground floor room cost £70. The AGM would now start at 1pm as travel delays had been announced on the west coast line from the north west and the midlands. It was agreed the agenda should include Officer Reports, Constitutional amendments, resolutions, election of a new NEC, and a debate on what the SA should concentrate on in the next period – which Pete McLaren agreed to draft. A suggestion to have a RCN speaker on the crisis within the SSP was rejected.
The NEC agreed to put the following resolution on finance to the AGM:
“The SA membership fee for 2007 be raised to £24/6. SA Funds should be used to fund travel costs for NEC meetings over and above a capping level to be decided by the NEC”.
Pete McLaren submitted 5 constitutional amendments, as follows:
1. Replace the second sentence in paragraph A2
with:
The Socialist Alliance starts
from the basis of the Socialist Alliance 2001 programme ‘People Before Profit’.
2. Replace paragraph A3 with:
“The Socialist Alliance aims
to win support in the working class movement and beyond for a democratically
organised socialist party. The SA will
campaign for a Socialist Party/Organisation which is committed to socialism,
internationalism, republicanism, environmentalism and to fight fascism, racism
and specific oppressions, prioritising socialism and giving all other aspects
equal weighting”
3 Add new paragraph A14 after paragraph A13:
“The Socialist Alliance aims to provide a national framework for local
socialist alliances (which may be called “Socialist Alliance” or some other
name) and political organisations and encourages local socialist alliances and
political organisations to affiliate.”
4, Add to B6: The affiliation fee will be decided by the
NEC, subject to approval or
modification by the AGM
5. Delete paragraphs C4, C5 and
C6 and renumber accordingly
Delete paragraph C7 and replace with:
“National Executive
(a)
The National Executive will consist of nine members
directly elected by conference plus members representing affiliated local
Socialist Alliances and affiliated political organisations
(b)
The nine members elected by conference shall be
elected by STV. The National Executive shall produce a detailed protocol for
this.
(c)
Each affiliated socialist alliance and political
organization shall be entitled to one representative and shall elect that
representative.
(d) The National
Executive shall decide what specific Officer posts there shall be and shall
elect these from its number. It may also determine other responsibilities and appoint or elect
Socialist Alliance members to bear these.”
Mike
Davies submitted the following constitutional amendment:
Replace paragraph A10 with:“Anti-fascism
- The Socialist Alliance recognises fascism as a clear and present danger to
the working class here and across Europe with the rise of fascist and
explicitly racist parties and will campaign to defeat fascism and to defend
communities under attack.”
Sue Blackwell submitted the following resolution for the AGM:
"The
Socialist Alliance:
1. Notes the call from Palestinian Civil
Society, the text of which can be found on the website of PACBI at:
http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=66_0_1_10_M11
2. Notes that this call is endorsed by numerous
Palestinian political parties, trade unions, associations, coalitions and
organizations representing the three integral parts of the people of Palestine:
Palestinian refugees, Palestinians under occupation and Palestinian citizens of
Israel
3. Endorses this call for "diverse forms of
boycott, divestment and sanctions" against Israel until Israel meets its
obligation to
recognize the Palestinian people's
inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the
precepts international law by:
(a) Ending its
occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall around the West Bank;
(b)
Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel
to full equality; and
(c) Respecting, protecting and promoting
the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as
stipulated in UN resolution 194”
THE SSP
There was also a discussion
about the crisis in the SSP, around a resolution moved by Steve Freeman for
Solidarity with the SSP by encouraging and assisting local SAs to organise
“Solidarity with the SSP” meetings. This
idea was rejected by a series of votes, with the following parts of the
resolution agreed:
1 The SSP is now in a difficult position as a result of the Sheridan court case and the subsequent break away by a section of the party.
2
Whatever
mistakes different comrades believe were made or the relative merits of the
arguments of two sides over the court case, we should nevertheless stand
opposed to the split in the SSP on the ground that
i) The split divides and weakens the
opposition to New Labour
ii) The democracy of
the SSP, through its conference, should have been given the opportunity to
resolve the dispute by
democratic means.
3
The decision to call such meetings will be left to the discretion
of local SAs.
NEXT MEETING
It was agreed that the next NEC be held on Sat Dec 9, 2pm, Lucas Arms
Pete McLaren 18/09//06