Present: Browne, Bissett (Gen. Sec.), Carter, Deutz, Easton, Helps,
Miller
(Asst. Sec.), Stair, White.
Other members present: D and M Chesham, S Parker.
Chair: Miller
1. Amendment and Adoption of Previous Minutes
a) Browne & Carter moved a correction to the 3rd March Minutes, re
item 7b,
and with regards the two Forms A for D and M Chesham: “Add before the
motion
that Miller and Stair accept the Forms A the following: 'The 2 Forms A
for D and
M Chesham had not come from a branch but had appeared in the General
Secretary's in-tray with a photocopy of a page from the June 2005 EC
Minutes with a resolution from Wigley & Thomas viz: In the opinion
of this EC, the membership questionnaire is a means of an applicant's
subscription to the Party's political views, in the absence of
questioning by Party members. It is not a requirement where an
applicant's adherence to the Party's view is already known. Therefore,
in the case of ex-members rejoining the Party, a simple declaration
that they still hold to the Party's political views should be
sufficient unless there is significant evidence that their political
views no longer coincide with the Party's. Agreed 6-0.
No Forms F for the applicant could be found in the files at
HO and the EC report dated 7/2/1989, which was filed with the Form F
was also
missing (EC Minutes 7.2.89. Item 4 (iii).’” Carried: 8 for, 1
abstaining.
2. Matters Arising
a) Browne moved, seconded by Carter, a Notice of Motion: “That at the
next
meeting of the EC I will move to revoke the acceptance of the Form A
from D
Chesham.”
i) A four-page report dated 7/2/89, referred to at 1.a above was
circulated and
read out. Noted.
b) EC Vacancy. A resolution had been received from Central London
Branch meeting of 14th March: “Be it resolved that the Branch nominate
D Chesham to the Executive Committee.” (6-0-1)
i) Deutz & Carter: “That the matter be deferred until after the
Notion of Motion
is discussed.” Carried: 6 for, 3 against. Division: For – Bissett,
Browne, Carter, Deutz, Easton, White; Against – Helps, Miller, Stair.
ii) Stair & Easton moved urgency in the matter at hand. Stair and
White argued
that all relevant information was at hand and there was no need to
defer the
matter, Stair further commenting that the EC was aware of the facts
last month.
Browne argued that further info was needed, that the Form A from last
month had not come via the branch, having by-passed normal mechanisms.
iii) Vote on the motion of urgency was lost. 4 for, 4 against, 1
abstaining.
c) Re. item 5.d of March 3rd Minutes – nominations for the GPC. No
nominations
were received and it was agreed to put out another call for GPC
nominations, the deadline to be the next EC meeting.
d) Re. item 9.e of March 3rd Minutes – advertising in The Journalist.
Agreed to
defer until a draft text for the ad was available and a sample copy of
the
journal in question was before the EC. The EC deferred this matter
because of
the large advertising sum involved, the EC having previously been
informed of
the intention to take out a full page advert explaining what is/what is
not
socialism. The Journalist is distributed to 37,000 members of the NUJ,
many of
whom, it was argued, continually misrepresent the socialist case.
e) Re. item 10.d of March 3rd Minutes – regarding the overdue grant for
the
Zambian comrades. The resolution previously referred to by Cde Mulenga
came from the September 2005 EC Minutes: item 6.2.i ) Lambert &
Parker: “That £150 be sent to comrades in Zambia to facilitate
the setting up of a PO Box number and an email address and that the
central organizer and Treasurer be asked to Liaise with the Comrades.”
Carried 8-0. The Secretary pointed out that previously he had been
unable to find the resolution referred to by Cde Mulenga via a computer
search and had to go through the Minutes for 2005 by hand after the
March 3rd meeting.
i) The item was considered with item 6 of the Treasurer’s report to the
meeting.
Since the last meeting the Treasurer had tried contacting Cde Mulenga
by email,
but without response and would make an attempt to contact him via
surface mail.
f) EC Standing Orders. Browne presented the EC with the amended EC
Standing
Orders. Noted.
g) Re. nominations to the Public Access Committee. Cde Easton agreed to
remain
on the Committee.
i) The meeting was informed that the Committee would be meeting before
or during conference.
ii) Stair & Miller: “That Comrade Comber be invited to self
nominate to be a
member of the Public Access Committee.” Agreed.
3. Forms A
a) One Form A for Ray Carr, an ex-member rejoining.
i) Deutz & Stair “ That the Form A be accepted.”
4. Accounts
a) Two Reports received from the Treasurer with accompanying accounts.
i) Accounts received were:
Amended Accounts for the period 1st August to 31st August 2006,
Reconciliation
of Current Account for August 2006, Accounts for the period 1st October
to 31st
October 2006, Reconciliation of Current Account for October 2006,
Accounts for
the period 1st November to 30th November 2006, Reconciliation of
Current Account for November 2006, Accounts for the period 1st December
to 31st December 2006, Reconciliation of Current Account for December
2006
ii) The Treasurer reported that: 1) Cde Moss (Party Auditor) had
examined the
accounts for 2006 and his report was awaited, 2) That the Accounts were
ready
for Conference delegates to examine (Gen Sec’s note: these will be
circulated at
Conference).
iii)) A further report from the Treasurer referred to the Accounts for
November
and December 2006 and which recorded the expenditure of £1459.00
per month under the heading “Electricity”. The fault lay entirely with
British Gas and their
handling of our Direct Debit, and the money had since been reimbursed.
iv) Bissett & Helps: “That the reports be adopted.” Agreed.
5. Conference
a) Forms C were still awaited from Manchester and South London
Branches. It was agreed to note this in the EC Minutes because of the
ruling on delegates taking up seats.
b) Agreed that the Auditor’s report to Conference be considered by the
next EC
meeting also.
6. Reports from Party Officers, Departments and Sub-Committees
a) Copy of a letter from the Electoral Commission, dated 15th March,
confirming
that the registered Party name was “The Socialist Party (GB)”. Noted.
b) Report of the Publications Department, dated, 24th March. The
photocopier had been repaired and stocks of pamphlets were now being
replenished. A French translation of Socialist Principles Explained was
being typeset. The new ecology pamphlet was being re-drafted and the
Keracher and Luxemburg pamphlets were still in the pipeline. With the
old hard drive from HO pc now repaired, it was possible to re-typeset
and re-design several pamphlets. Discussion focused on who approves
pamphlets. It was acknowledged that the Publications Dept. Prepares
them and the EC approves them. Miller reported that the French pamphlet
was a faithful translation of the English version and the meeting
approved the publication of the French version.
i) Deutz & Easton: “That the report be adopted.” Agreed.
c) Report from the Asst. Sec. on “Actions Taken…” Deutz informed the
meeting
that she had attended a recent meeting of the Socialist Studies group
and that
no banner was visible and a disclaimer was made at the meeting as to
who they
were.
i) Helps & Bissett: That the report be adopted.” Agreed
d) Report from the Internet Department, dated 24th March. Miller
expanded on the reference in the report to the department’s agreement
to convert the Party
website to a wiki, a type of website which allows for collaborative
authoring
and which would allow more members to add and remove content from the
website.
The SPGB website would be restructured soon.
e) Election leaflet. Bissett presented meeting with the draft of the
election
leaflet for the Monkton Ward, South Tyneside seat in the May elections,
pointing
out it was a merger of two previous election leaflets. Bissett further
requested
£50.00 expenses for the election campaign.
i) Browne & Deutz: “That the text for the election leaflet be
accepted.”
Carried: 8 for, 1 abstaining.
ii) Deutz & Easton: “That the £50.00 expenses request be
granted.” Agreed.
f) Report from Asst. Sec., dated 30th March, re. scanning of the
Standard and
pending work. The Asst. Sec. informed the meeting that the LSE who had
the
Standard on microfilm were intending to digitise their archives and the
Standard
could be included at our request and a small cost, The Asst. Sec
requested
deferring further discussion on scanning the Standard until further
info was
available from the LSE.
i) Deutz & Helps: “That the report be adopted.” Agreed.
g) Report from Ballot Committee. Ben Malcolm had written self
nominating for the post of Central Branch Organizer and the Ballot
Cttee proposed that Cdes Johnson (CB Sec) and Malcolm liaise re.
writing to all CB members asking for items for ADM and calling for CB
delegates to ADM.
i) Bissett & Deutz: “That Cde’s Malcolm’s self-nomination be
accepted.” Agreed.
ii) Deutz & Miller: “That the report be adopted.” Agreed
7. Correspondence from Branches, Companion Parties and Members
a) Letter, dated 18th March, with two resolutions from Central London
Branch’s
meeting of 14th March, namely:
i) “Be it resolved that the EC be requested to appraise Cde. Allen of
the
circumstances surrounding the Socialist Studies organization, to inform
him that
this organisation is not part of the Socialist Party of Great Britain,
and to
request that he desist from referring to them as such.” (6-0-1)
ii) “Be it resolved that the Branch ask the EC for details of Stovold’s
Form F
and ‘inactivity’”. (7-0).
iii) Bissett pointed out that he had recorded verbatim what was written
on the
Form F for Stovold as the reason for leaving the Party – that being
“inactivity”. An accompanying letter from Cde Stovold informed the CB
Secretary that she was resigning because she could no longer be active.
iv) Browne & Deutz: “That it be suggested to Central London Branch
to take up
their complaint directly with Cde Allen.”
b) WSPNZ Minutes for 8th February. Noted.
c) Letter from A Misach Arinaitwe, Uganda, dated 15th March, requesting
sundry
expenses and a video camera.
i) Agreed the Secretary would reply in accordance with the facts,
namely the
Conference ruling on money being sent overseas.
d) Letter from the Asst. Sec., dated 30th March. Miller tendered his
resignation
from the Premises Cttee, citing the need to spend more time on work for
the
Publication’s Dept, the website and the digitisation of the Standard.
i) Deutz and Helps: “Agree to accept.” Agreed.
e) Leaflets for the Party Summer School at Fircroft College were
presented to
the meeting. 1700 leaflets had been produced and they would be placed in
bookshops in Birmingham.
f) Letter from Central London Branch, dated 28th March, with three
resolutions
from their meeting of 14th March, namely:
i) “Be it resolved that the Branch nominate D Chesham to the Executive
Committee.” (6-0-1)
ii) “Be it resolved that the Branch request that the EC consult a
solicitor in
order to investigate the options open to the Party in relation tot eh
Socialist
Studies organization.” (4-0).
iii) “Be it resolved that the draft letter to the EC be approved, sent
to the EC
and copied to all Branches.” (4-0-1).
iv) A three page letter from Central London Branch accompanied the
aforementioned letter and referred to “a pattern of behavior in the EC
which has given us a cause for concern.” The letter, posted on spintcom
and sent to Branchsecretaries, cited examples of the EC deferring
matters without explanation and instances of indecision, and offering
suggestions as to how the EC could reduce its workload.
v) General discussion followed, EC members citing that the EC has far
more
circulars to consider nowadays from the Asst Sec, sometimes 40 pages of
reports,
and that the EC had some quite difficult decisions to make, not least
in regards
to Cde Brady-Smith staying at HO and who was referred to in the letter
and were
reluctant to make decisions on contentious matters. Miller explained
that the
letter was simply offering constructive criticism.
vii) Browne & Bissett: “That the matter lie on the table.” Carried:
for, 1
against, 2 abstaining. Division: For – Bissett, Browne, Carter, Easton,
Helps,
White; Against – Miller; Abstaining – Deutz & Stair.
vi) With regards the suggestion that a solicitor be consulted in the
matter of
the Socialist Studies group, Browne & Easton moved: “That the
matter be deferred until consideration at conference.” Agreed.
8. Outside Correspondence
a) Email received from Siamak Haghighat, dated 22nd March, re. renting
the
top-floor room at HO,
i) Agreed that the General Secretary reply in accordance with the facts.
b) Letter from D Woods, ex member, dated 26th March, referring to item
3.b of
the March 3rd Minutes (the motion of Browne and Bissett amending the EC
Standing Orders) and critical of the vote on the motion.
i) Easton & Deutz: “That the letter be noted.” Carried: 8 for, 1
against.
9. Forms F
a) Forms F were received for: Masoud Arya (resigned – disagreement),
Tom Jones
(lapsed – loss of contact), Paul Azzario (transferred to the WSPUS),
Roy Pitts
(lapsed – loss of contact), Donald Woods (resigned), Anthony Gregston
(lapsed –
loss of contact).
i) Deutz & Easton: “That the six Forms F be accepted.” Agreed.
10. Any Other Business
a) The matter of Cde Brady-Smithy staying at HO was raised. The EC had
previously asked Cde Brady-Smith to inform the EC of his further plans
(item
5.b.vii of March 3rd Minutes) , but the Gen. Sec. pointed out that no
time scale
was asked for re. the said plans.
i) White & Browne: “That Cde Brady-Smith be reminded that he is to
vacate HO by the end of May 2007.” Carried 9-0.
ii) Bissett moved ‘next business’. Agreed.
b) Stair, as HOO, reported that the boiler at HO had broken down during
the week and it had been necessary to call out a gas appliance repair
man, the charge being £293.60. Approved.
c) Stair reported that a member, recently leaving HO, had left his set
of keys
in the outside door. Stair informed the meeting that he was taking the
keys from
the member and sought EC approval.
i) Browne & Easton: That the actions of the HO in withdrawing the
set of keys
from a member be endorsed.” Carried: 4 for, 1 against, 4 abstaining.
ii) Browne & Miller: “This EC reaffirms the authority of the HO to
carry out
their duties as specified in the HOO Terms of Reference.” Carried: 8
for, 1
abstaining.
Meeting adjourned at 6.40 pm.
Date of next Meeting: 5th May, 2.00 pm Chair: Carter
|
|