THE SOCIALIST PARTY
MINUTES OF THE 7TH MEETING OF THE 102ND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
HELD AT HEAD OFFICE ON SUNDAY, 26TH JUNE, 2005, AT 2.15 PM
As a meeting of the EC on either of the first two Saturday's of July was
impossible, because of the higher party activity/Summer School, it had
been
agreed at the 4th June EC Meeting to hold the July Meeting on 26th June.
Present: Bissett (General Secretary), Carter, Stair, Thomas (Chair),
Wigley.
Apologies received for: Lambert, Lawrence, Parker, Scholey,
1. Amendment and Adoption of Previous EC Minutes
1.1 Wigley &Carter: "That the Minutes be adopted as a true record."
Agreed 5-0.
2. Matters Arising from May EC Meeting
2.1) Re item 2.1.i of June 4th Minutes. WSM (Uganda) and companion party
status. Further to the General Secretary contacting the Ugandan
Comrades and the
Companion Parties regarding the desire of the comrades in Kabale to
exist
independent of the SPGB, no reply to date had been received.
2.2) Wigley & Bissett: "That, regarding the June EC resolution
concerning the
formation of the WSM (Uganda), the recommendation to join this body be
suspended
pending their recognition by the party." Agreed 5-0.
2.2) Re. Treasurer writing to the owners of the premises next door,
regarding
the rooftop grille (which caused a flood last year, the Treasurer
reported that
the matter was still to be dealt with.
2.3) Re item 2.2.ii of June 4th Minutes. Request for a revised plan and
budget
from Adverts Dept. The Ads Dept had sent the EC specimen advert design
s and a
plan for future advertising. The ads would have a six week run in Big
Issue
London only, followed by a six-week run in Big Issue North only, and
followed by
a six-week run in Big Issue Scotland only. In September, the department
planned
to produce a magazine insert that would advertise our
literature/CDs/DVD.
2.3.i) Wigley & Bissett: "This EC continues to be concerned at the
reliance on
the Big Issue, and wishes that the long-standing advert in the Big
Issue be
terminated. However, this EC approves the plan for a six-week
advertising
campaign with new full-colour adverts for less than £600 and asks
that a report
on responses to these adverts be submitted to the September EC prior to
any
further expenditure on the Big Issue." Agreeed 5-0.
2.4) Re item 5.1.i of June Minutes. Progress of Internet Dept regarding
their
report to June's EC Meeting. The Internet Dept sent a further report to
the EC
(posted also on Spintcom on 25th June). This included: 1 Proposal for
departmental e-mail addresses. 2 Website re-design and online media
index. 3
Alternative Press Centre (maintains a free online directory of
"alternative''
newspapers and magazines). 4 Financial statement. The Internet Dept
reported:
"No correspondence has been received from any Committee or Department
with
respect to e-mail addresses. As per resolution 5.1.iii of the June 2005
EC
Minutes, the Internet Department asks that all Party Committees and
Departments
send a primary contact e-mail address as per the original text referred
to by
the EC's resolution. Be it resolved that, in the interests of
facilitating
communication between Committees, Departments, and the general
membership, every
Department and Committee which has one or more members with e-mail
access shall
be assigned an official e-mail alias of the form spgb.NAME@...,
2.4.i) Wigley & Thomas: "That the Internet Department be sent a
list of current
committees, departments and party officers, and asked to establish a
system of
recognisable and uniform email addresses, conveying the results to the
August
EC."
2.5) Re. item 6.1 of June Minutes. Nominations for an ad-hoc committee
to
investigate the
need for a Party discussion journal (as per Conference resolution). As
of the
26th June, self- nominations had been received from Tristan Miller and
Lew
Higggins. Cde Thomas, EC member, further self-nominated himself for the
committee.
2.5.i) Wigley & Bissett: " That the self-nominations be accepted."
Agreed 5-0.
2.6) Re. item, 7.4.ii of June Meeting. Request for the Premises
Committee to
resubmit a plan for the decorating of HO. Stair, present, outlined the
plan for
the redecoration of HO on all floors, a job that would take 3-4 weeks to
complete.
2.6.i) Wigley & Thomas: "That the Premises Committee's
re-decoration plan for HO
be endorsed, subject to a limit of £900.00. Agree 5-0.
3. ADM
3.1) Letter received (dated 23rd June) from Cde Browne of Standing
Orders, with
suggested dates for ADM and suggesting dates for return of departmental
and
Party Officers reports/Items for Discussion.
3.1.i) Carter & Thomas: "That ADM be held on 29th and 30th October
and that
materials be sent out as per the appropriate schedule." Agree 5-0.
3.2) regarding the call for reports and Items for Discussion, please
see end of
these Minutes (Gen Sec).
4. Accounts.
4.1) No accounts presented. Treasurer explained that the time he would
otherwise have spent preparing a report to the EC had been used in
sorting out
and querying bills.
5. Forms A
5.1) Two Forms A received for R Whitfield (requesting to join Lancaster
branch)
and J Lakin (South London, at request of Central Organiser). Agreed to
accept.
6. Forms F
6.1) One form F received from M Chapman (loss of contact).
6.2) As per item 8.1 of the June 4th Minutes. The 17 African comrades
who the EC
agreed forms F be processed for were: S Nywenya of Zimbabwe, R Muchemwa
of
Zimbabwe, K Chekwanya of Zimbabwe, A Chimbidzika of Zimbabwe, J
Chekwara of
Zimbabwe, Mashazhu of Zimbabwe, H Machangu of Tanzania, S Maduna of
Swaziland, L
Mulenga of Swaziland, R Mtembi of South Africa, A Amugongo of Nabimia,
M Taolo
of Botswana, D Wah of The Gambia, C W fula of Uganda and R Turyambuna
of Uganda.
With the exception of R Turyambuna, who had resigned, all others were
lapsed
through lack of contact.
7. Reports from Party Officers/Departments
7.1) Report from Publication Department outlining a plan for a new
introductory
book. The plan suggested that, with diminishing stocks of the pamphlets
From
Capitalism to Socialism and Socialism as a Practical Alternative, a new
book
could be published by the Party which would, in essence, be the two
aforementioned pamphlets fused together, updated and expanded where
necessary.
7.1.i) Wigley & Thomas: "That the proposal be accepted." Agreed 5-0.
8) Correspondence from Companion Parties, Branches and Members
8.1) WSPNZ Minutes for April and May.
8.1.i) Arising from the WSPNZ Minutes was EC discussion about the WSPNZ
website.
The WSPNZ comrades were further asking for clarification as to the
existence of
the WSPA
8.1.ii) Wigley & Bissett: " That the General Secretary write to the
WSPNZ asking
for confirmation that the WSP(I) and the Socialist Studies group had
been
removed from the website." For 3, Against 2.
8.1.iii) Agreed that the Gen Sec reply to the WSPNZ in accordance with
the facts
as to the existence of the WSPA.
8.2) Email from Bigboy Musemwa (13th June). Noted.
9. Any Other Business
9.1) Bissett , on behalf of the VPD, requested £270 from the VPD
budget for the
purchase of CGI (computer generate imagery) software. The VPD had been
using an
NTSC version (used in the USA), which meant that each scene produced
had to be
converted from the NTSC version to the PAL AVI (or UK) version. Not
only was
this laborious, but the former was of inferior quality.
9.1.i) Wigley & Stair: "That the request from the VPD be endorsed."
Agree 5-0.
9.2) Bissett raised the issue of a Party Blog site that could be
updated daily,
containing socialist analysis of the daily news and other postings of
interest
to socialists.
9.2.i) The EC was supportive of the idea for a Party Blog site.
Discussion
focused on who should be asked to set up such a site and if terms of
reference
where necessary. Stair & Thomas moved: "That there be terms of
reference for the
Socialist Party Blog site in the way that there are terms of reference
for the
SPC and hence endorsed by the EC. That these terms of reference could
be drafted
by the Internet Department." Agreed 5-0.
Meeting Adjourned at .4.15 pm.
Date of next EC Meeting: August 6th.
Chair for next meeting: Wigley.
ADM Notice
Date of ADM: 29th and 30th October 2005
Call for Items for Discussion/Reports from Party Officers, Departments
and
Committees for ADM.
Comrades,
This is a call for Items for Discussion at ADM. Would branches note
that all
items for discussion are to be accompanied by a supporting statement if
one is
needed to explain the item. The latest date for the return of items for
discussion and supporting statements to Standing Orders is Friday, 2nd
September, 2005.
In order to issue the Party Officer and EC Report to ADM on 4th
September, all
Party Officer reports and departmental/sub-committee reports for the EC
must be
received at Head Office by Friday, 2nd September, 2005.
John Bissett
General Secretary
28th June 2005.
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