, but wished to act in good faith. In voting as the EC did on this matter (below) members observed that the resolutions drew attention to the fact that they were acting against a Conference resolution and on an issue branches felt strongly about. It was also pointed out that there were no previous party rules on sending money overseas as such and that the EC, in the past, had considered each request on its merits. EC members were sincere in their desire to encourage members to be active and believed there was a good group working on behalf of socialism in Uganda. The meeting, having voted as follows, announced its intention to learn from its mistakes and to not repeat this transgression again.
2.2.ii) Miller & Thomas: "That the grant to Kabale be sent with apologies for the delay".
2.2.iii) Lawrence & Lambert moved an amendment: "Delete 'with apologies for delay'".
2.2.iv) Miller asked to withdraw as mover of the original resolution, but the meeting was informed that this was now the EC's motion.
2.2.v) Vote on the amendment: Carried: 5 for, 1 against, 4 abstaining.
2.2.vi) Miller & Thomas moved and addition to precede their original resolution: "As the request was received months in advance of the Conference decision, the EC considers it appropriate to apply pre-Conference rules, and.". Lost: for 3, against 5, and 2 abstaining.
2.2.vii) Vote on the substantive resolution: Carried: for 5, against 3, abstaining. 2
2.2.viii) Division called for. For: Browne, Lambert, Lawrence, Thomas and Simkins. Against: Carter, Stair and White. Abstaining: Bissett and Miller.
2.3) Re. item 2. 4.ii of May EC Minutes, pertaining to discussion of the Standard's editorial for April/draft election leaflet and the resolution: Lawrence & Browne: "That the matter be deferred pending consideration of the SSPC's reply to Comrade Thomas." Carried 9-0.
2.3.i) The SSPC had replied in an email, dated 12th May to Cde' Thomas' email of 16th April regarding the real source of power. This matter had arisen at the April meeting with members expressing concern at the text of a draft election leaflet which also formed the basis of an Editorial in the April issue of the Socialist Standard. The SSPC replied thus: "It depends on what is meant by the word 'power'. If the editorial had said that wealth was the source of political power it would have been wrong, but it only says of power. And of course wealth does give those with it a certain amount of economic decision-making power, which was the point that was trying to be made: that decisions about what, where and when to produce are made by unelected people on the basis of them being wealthy. Of course their decision-making powers are limited by the workings of the market. But so are those of elected councillors and MPs who, in practice, as the editorial pointed out, have to act as managers of the general affairs of the wealthy and in their interest." The reply from the SSPC generated further debate at the table on the nature of political power.
2.3.ii) Lawrence & White: "That the SSPC be asked to print a clarification of the April 2006 editorial on the question of power, giving due weight to the decisive importance of political power." Agreed: 8 for, 2 abstaining.
2.4) Re. item 3.4 of May EC Minutes, pertaining to the Conference Floor Resolution: Lawrence & Martin: "This Conference recommends that the EC sets up an ad-hoc committee to construct models of Party decision making alternatives to the present procedures." Carried: 10-7. May's EC meeting moved (item 3.4.i): Thomas & Lambert: "Defer one month." Carried: 9-0.
2.4.i) Members discussed the democratic dilemma the Party had been facing in recent years, with fewer branches and inquorate branch meetings - all of which meant that the basis for democratic decision making was getting weaker. Members echoed the call for alternative methods of democratic involvement which had been raised by Conference delegates.
2.4.ii) Lawrence & Miller: "That a call be made for nominations to an ad-hoc committee to construct alternative models of party decision making and that the closing date be the next EC meeting. Agreed 10-0.
2.5) Re. item 6.2 of May EC Minutes, pertaining to the outstanding legacy from the Estate of G Pooley.
2.5.i) The ad-hoc committee, set up after the May meeting had agreed to pursue the matter via a solicitor. An exchange of correspondence between the solicitor acting on behalf of the Party (John Briggs) and the solicitors charged with looking after the Estate of G Pooley (Bennett Richmond Solicitors of Consett, Co. Durham) was presented to the meeting. The solicitors in Consett claimed that since October 2003, when the Estate was to go to the Party, they had experienced difficulty establishing the identity of the organisation to benefit under the will, citing a split in the party since the will was made. They had since identified ourselves as the rightful beneficiaries. Dividends relating to shares held by the Estate were also mistakenly paid to another shareholder which necessitated the hiring of an accountant to ascertain which shares be allocated to the Estate. The Consett solicitors enclosed a letter from Gerrard Investment Management stating that as of March 2006 the residue of the estate amounted to £105,736. Communication between the Party's solicitor and the solicitors in Consett was ongoing, one point of contention being that had the Party received the legacy almost three years ago, when it should have accrued to us, then the figure would have been considerably higher.
2.5.ii) Miller & Carter: "That the correspondence be noted and that the EC ask the ad-hoc committee to furnish further reports as information becomes available." Agreed 10-0.
2.6) Re. item 9.2 of May EC Meeting. Notice of business: Cde White raising the matter of members claiming expenses.
2.6.i) Cde White submitted a paper to the meeting entitled Controlling Claims for Expenses. Cde White referred to a recent case where a member was charged in relation to an expense claim, suggesting that procedures for claiming expenses are tightened up. Whilst in some instances members' expenses were essential, Cde White argued that most Party work should be voluntary. Cde White offered the following recommendations: A) Requests for ad hoc expenses be made to the EC for consideration in advance of the activity being carried out. B) That such expenses should not be paid from the various departmental budgets. C) That the request for expenses should include details of all intended costs. D) That only expenses agreed by the EC be paid and that receipts, proofs of purchases, be provided for the Treasurer before payment is issued.
2.6.ii) Members felt that although normal procedures could be abused, the suggestions were to restrictive and bureaucratic. In the past 18 months the Treasurer had produced a new expenses claim form. Other members believed that we just had to trust members, indeed, that the Party ran on trust, and that the case cited (above) was an exception. Often decisions on what expenses to pay had to be made on the spot and Cde White's proposals did not take account of this. The Treasurer said that most claims were for travel and sustenance expenses and that to date he was only aware of one fraudulent claim. The Treasurer was asked if he could refuse expenses claims, the answer being yes if the payment was not authorised or if it was not part of procedures.
2.6.iii) Agreed to note.

3. Conference Voting Results:
3.1) The close of ballot being the 2nd June, Cde Browne of the Standing Orders Committee presented the meeting with a report on voting figures on Conference motions and statistics pertaining to the ballot.
3.1.i) 369 voting papers were issued and 150 ballot papers returned - or 41% of members returned ballot papers, up from 121 last year. Three overseas members (Uganda) had voted by email. One ballot paper was not signed and thus not included in the count.
3.2) Motion 1. "That no money be sent to overseas groups" (Manchester Branch).  
Vote 1.  For: 69    Against: 74  Abstain: 6   MOTION Not Carried.
3.2.i.) Agreed to note.
3.3) Motion 2. "This Conference rules that the Party shall cease sending money grants to overseas groups or individuals, but shall continue to give every assistance to socialist activities abroad by way of printing and dispatching campaign material from Head Office."  (South London Branch).
Vote 2.   For: 79    Against: 63.    Abstain: 7    MOTION Carried.
3.3.i) Agreed to note
3.4) Motion 3. "That no more by-elections be contested as they appear to be a waste of money."  Lancaster Branch.
Vote 3.  For: 72     Against: 70    Abstain: 7   MOTION Carried.
3.4.i) Agreed to note
3.5) Motion 4.  "This Conference is in favour of Head Office being used for the purposes of regular evenings of musical/cabaret/political events."  South London Branch.
Vote 4.  For: 129   Against: 16    Abstain: 4    MOTION Carried.
3.5.i) Agreed to note.
3.6) Motion 5. "This Conference rules that 2002 edition of the pamphlet Socialist Principles Explained be withdrawn and that the 1975 edition be re-issued with appropriate minor amendments."  South London Branch.
Vote 5.   For: 66    Against: 66    Abstain  17  MOTION Not Carried.
3.6.i) Agreed to note.
3.7) Motion 6.  "This Conference rules that it is policy that any socially useful law will be retained in Socialism."  South London Branch.
Amendment to Motion 6: "That the word 'law' be replaced with 'regulatory measures'." West London Branch.
Vote 6.   On the amendment.   For: 83 Against: 50  Abstain 16  Carried
Vote 7.   If amendment carried.   For: 87  Against: 46 Abstain: 17 Carried
Vote 8. If motion unamended.  For: 53  Against: 81 Abstain: 15
MOTION AS AMENDED CARRIED.
3.7.i) Agreed to note)
3.8) Further to the Standing Orders report on conference voting, the returns of votes from Branches was: Birmingham 6, Central London 8, East Anglia 10, Edinburgh 4, Enfield & Haringey 3, Glasgow 9, Lancaster 6, Manchester 10, North East 7, South London 9, Swansea 8, West London 13, Central 55. Total 149

4. Accounts
4.1) Treasurer presented meeting with accounts for the period 1st January - 31st January 2006 and 1st February - 28th February. The report on the Deposit Account was delayed because The Treasure had had a bout of illness and also because of PC problems.
4.2) Treasurer reported that meetings with the Cde Worker, who the EC had appointed as assistant to the Treasurer on a three-month trial had proved problematic, with Cde Worker only turning up for one of three scheduled meetings.
4.2.i) Browne & Lambert: "That Cde Workers' trial appointment as assistant to the Treasurer be terminated and that a new call be made for an Assistant Treasurer." Agreed: 10-0

5) Forms A
5.1) One Form A received for Cde John Helps via the Membership Department.
5.1.i) Thomas & Miller: "That the Form A for Cde Helps be accepted." Agreed: 10-0.

6. Reports from Officers, Departments and Sub-Committees
6.1) Letter from the Advertising Department, dated 25th May 2006. The Department was seeking EC authorisation to place three more ads in Private Eye magazine over the next three issues at a total cost of £300. They also sought authorisation to place ads on the events page of the New Statesman, combining notices of meeting and offers of free literature, every two months over the next six months at a total cost of £105.75 (3 x £35.25).
6.1.i) Miller & Stair: "That the grant be accepted." Agreed: 10-0.
6.2) Report from the Publications Department, dated 2nd June 2006. The Department reported that Marie Chesham had been busy at HO, phoning various booksellers and asking them to stock Socialism or Your Money Back. The campaign had proved quite successful and orders were already coming in. The Department further reported that a new Party pamphlet, comprising two short pamphlets by John Keracher - Producers and Parasites and Economics for Beginners had been drafted and was under review.
6.3) Report of the Premises Committee, dated 2nd June, 2006.
6.3.i) The Committee had nominated Cde Howard Comber for the Premises Committee. Cde Comber attended HO several days a week and did valuable work with regards the upkeep of the building. Cde Comber's acceptance accompanied the nomination.
6.3.i.a) Agreed to accept Cde Comber on to the Premises Committee.
6.3.ii) The Committee reported that shortly after midnight on 31st May a burglary was carried out at HO, the thief taking two red cash jars (containing £60.00), the Party's MiniDisk recorder, Cde Miller's digital camera and PC power supply. The Committee further reported that several times in recent months members had arrived at HO to find the premises empty and with the outer front door open and the back door open, other members in the building having popped out to a shop. Members urged that the outer door be locked at all times when the ground floor and balcony are unoccupied and that the last person to leave the building checks windows and doors. Various proposals were discussed by the meeting, including the use of a key book detailing who the HO key holders were, with members signing for keys, and the production of a security checklist that could be strategically placed around HO.. Members also raised the possibility of getting HO insured for contents.
6.3.iii) The Committee reported that since Cde Smith had left HO the building was far less tidy. Members who came to HO tended to be occupied with other tasks and hence had little time to clean up. The Committee asked that the EC grant a budget for employing someone to clean HO thoroughly on a regular basis, and were prepared to source quotes from various individuals and agencies. Cde Stair presented the meeting with a letter from Global House, inclusive of a specification of the work they would carry out at HO and a quote for cleaning HO for one day per week for £120 per month. The meeting was further alerted to the fact that a comrade was prepared to come into HO and clean the building thoroughly one day per week for £50.00 (this being raised at a previous EC meeting) and that other members had offered competing bids. The ensuing debate focused chiefly on the difficulty in keeping such a large building clean and whether the Party needed outside contactors coming into clean HO when in the past this work had been carried out on a voluntary basis by members.
6.3.iii.a) Lawrence & White: "Next business." Lost: 4 for, 6 against.
6.3.iii.b) Browne & Simkins: "This EC grants the Premises Committee £500 for a three-month trial for cleaning HO." Lost: 3 for, 5 against, 2 abstaining.
6.3.iii.c) General agreement that the Premises Committee seek help in cleaning Head Office from within the Party's membership
6.3.iii.d) Lawrence & Browne: "Next business." Agreed: 6 for, 2 against, 2 abstaining.
6.3iv) Re. the deferred item 2.1 (above). The EC had had time to consider the deferred letter that Cde Lawrence had presented to the May meeting relating to possibility that the Party investigate the re-lisiting of HO for residential use and thus having to pay Council Tax and perhaps applying for a reduction in our business rates. Cde Miller informed the meeting that as he was no longer eligible for Housing Benefit the local council would not be querying his living arrangements.
6.3iv.a) Agreed to note Cde Lawrence's letter.
6.3.v) The Premises Committee further reported on renovations completed at HO. The entrance to the basement was fitted with a new door, door frame and staircase. A new door was fitted in the utility room. A new thermostatic cylinder was fitted in the utility room. Broken thermostatic valves had been replaced on the radiators and the system has been balanced. Furniture has been rearranged in the archive room, library, bedroom (previously Gen Sec's office) and the top floor landing. This had freed up much space in the archive room and improved access to the cabinets on the landing. Various doors and walls had been painted and touched up. Further improvements would include the painting and touching up of doors, walls and furnishings and the fitting of a light-switch near the basement entrance. A new large poster advertising the DVD would be produced and installed in the wall hoarding fixture outside of the building and other posters would be prepared for the front window display.
6.3.vi) The Committee queried when Cde Lambert would be available to perform repairs to the outside of the building so that scaffolding could be erected and were informed in one month's time.
6.4. Report received from Internet Department, dated 2nd June 2006.
6.4.i) The Department referred to the recent break down of one of the PCs at HO, citing that the likely cause was static electricity. A replacement hard drive was installed and Cde Miler was trying to obtain the necessary parts to enable us to extract info from the damaged one. As per the EC's previous instruction, SUSE Linux 10.0 had been installed on one of the office PCs. The other PC had been disinfected and still ran Windows XP and would do so until the membership database could be transferred to a standard format. Microfilters had been installed on telephone jacks at HO to prevent a previous and ongoing glitch which meant the internet connection was severed when the phone was used.
6.4.ii) Pursuant to last month's Internet Dept report, Cde Miller had since contacted the registrar for the socialiststudies.org.uk domain name and had the domain deactivated. Cde Miller presented to the meeting a letter he had sent the Socialist Studies group, informing them that the use of the name was not sanctioned by ourselves and offering to transfer the domain name. A response was received on 31 May, presented to the meeting, in which the Socialist Studies group demanded that we cease using the domain name spgb.org, the URL http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/, and the email address spgb@worldsocialism.org.
Heated debate focussed on whether Cde Miller was indeed authorised to write to the Socialist Studies group. Reference was made to item 6.3 of the May EC Minutes when mention was first made of the communication with the Socialist Studies group and the disputed domain name. Cde Miller, at that meeting, had offered to sort the matter out, and indicated that he would be contacting the group.
6.4.ii.a) Lawrence & Thomas: "Any future official contact with the Socialist Studies group be made by the General Secretary in conjunction with the EC." Lost: 3 for, 7 against.
Division called for. For: Lawrence, Thomas and White. Against: Bissett, Browne, Carter, Lambert, Miller, Simpkins, Stair.
6.4.ii.b) Stair & Browne: "That the Internet Department continue to deal with the matter relating to the Socialist Studies Group's domain name." Agreed: 5 for, 4 against, 1 abstaining.
6.4.iii) The Department's report also informed the EC that several Party members had brought to their attention the fact that other organisations had registered domain names identical or similar to our own. Moreover, these organisations' websites identified themselves as "The Socialist Party" and/or "The Socialist Party of Great Britain". The Department had been asked if it were possible to persuade or enjoin these organisations from using the domain names and/or have them transferred to ourselves. The Meeting was briefed by the Internet Department on various methods of disputing the use of the domains, including the domain registry's dispute resolution services. The registry provides a free service for filing a complaint and for mediation, plus an optional £750 + VAT arbitration service. According to the registry, 55% of complaints are resolved through mediation and therefore without cost.
The ensuing debate focussed on whether the Party should dispute the domain names and whether the cited possible £750 was a cost that needed to be paid.
6.4.iii.a) Stair & Lambert: "That the Internet Department be instructed to dispute the suggested domain names." Agreed: 5 for, 3 against, 2 abstaining.
Division called for. For: Bissett, Browne, Carter, Lambert, Stair. Against: Lawrence, White and Simkins. Abstaining: Miller & Thomas.
6.4.iv) Audio Digitisation. Cde Miller was investigating the costs of a MiniDisc player which can output digital audio to a PC. The Sony Walkman MiniDisc player, previously purchased by the party, was incapable of digitally copying the audio data from the MiniDisc, the device having only an analogue headphone-out jack and USB connection.
6.4.iv.a) Agreed to note.
6.4.v) The Internet Dept recommended the Party maintains regular off-site back-ups of data stored on the computers at HO. Cde Miller volunteered to make periodic back-ups on DVD-ROM, but another member would be needed to periodically collect the back-ups discs at HO and store them at their home or in another safe location.
6.4.v.a) Members who regularly attended HO would be asked if they would look after the back-up discs.
6.4.vi) Work planned or in progress and mentioned in previous reports. Cde Miller was preparing to sell books, deemed too valuable to be sold via the second hand bookshelves at HO, on eBay. The anti-static mats ordered by HO did not function as advertised. For the moment the static problem seems to have abated with summer's increased humidity. For the moment the efficiency of the mats could not be tested
6.4.vi.a) Agreed to note..

7) Correspondence from Branches, Companion Parties, Members.
7.1) Minutes of the Kabale Socialist Club (Uganda) meeting held on 30th April. Minutes had been posted on spintcom.
7.1.i) Agreed to Note.
7.2) WSPNZ Minutes for 11th May.
7.2.i) Agreed to Note.
7.3) Letter from RE Hainsworth, dated 24th May 2006. This letter was from the son of the late Arthur Hainsworth, a former long time subscriber to the Socialist Standard, and included a cheque for £70.00 which Mr Hainsworth wished to be used to pay for a year's Standard subs for 10 people who could not afford a subscription.
7.3.i) Agreed to Note. The General Secretary would send a reply to Mr Hainsworth, thanking him for his donation..
7.4) Letter from Patrick Ndege, Kenya, dated 24th May 2006. Cde Ndege expressed his personal views on the Conference motions pertaining to sending money overseas.
7.4.i) Agreed to note. General Secretary would send a reply to Cde Ndege.
7.5) Self-nomination from Cde Howard Comber for the Library and Archives Committee.
7.5.i) Agreed to accept the self-nominations.

8) Forms F.
8.1) The meeting received two Forms F for Kevin Lennon of North East Branch (deceased) and Euan Duthie (resigned).

9) Any Other Business.
9.1) Cde Bissett informed the meeting that he would need travelling expenses shortly as he wished to travel to Cde Taylor's home in Alfreton near Derby, so they could work together on editing new video based on film taken of a Party day school. Cde Taylor had specialist editing software and hardware.
9.1.i) Noted.
9.2) Cde Bissett informed the EC (the matter also posted in spintcom) that Cde Taylor no longer wished to look after the socialist-tv.com website, on which the film Capitalism and other Kids' Stuff could be viewed, as much of her time spent looking after the site had been with regards the site's forum. Cde Bissett suggested that the socialist-tv.com site is closed down and a separate page opened up on the Party website from which the video could be accessed, which would mean that we only have to pay the streaming costs of the video.
9.2.i) Stair & Thomas: "That the Party instructs the Internet Department to take over the running of socialist-tv. Agreed: 8 for, 1 against, 1 abstaining.
9.3) Cde Stair presented the meeting with the INC leaflets as first reported in the February Minutes (item 10.1). The three-way folded leaflet advertised the Socialist Standard on the front and inside. The circulation of this leaflet was 250,000, being inserted in various magazines.
9.3) Cde Stair informed the meeting that he would shortly be away from HO on holiday and that arrangements were being made for someone to cover for him at HO.
9.4) Secretary reminded meeting that a call was still to be made for departmental budgets for the next 12 months - these in the past usually having been made by the June EC meeting.

With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 20.30

Next meeting: 2.00 pm, Saturday, 1st July at Head Office.

Chair for next meeting: Carter

PLEASE NOTE:

1. That a call is made for nominations to an ad-hoc committee to construct alternative models of party decision making and that the closing date will be the next EC meeting on 1st July.

2. A call is made for an Assistant Treasurer.

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