Minutes of the 57th meeting

Minutes of the 57th meeting of the Kent & Sussex Regional branch of The Socialist Party of Great Britain held on 14th August 2016 The meeting started at 2.17pm and was held at the Muggleton Inn, High Street, Maidstone, KentPresent: Dave Chesham (Secretary), Rob Cox (Treasurer), Dan FabianApologies for absence: Mandy Bruce, Marie Chesham, Susan Chivers, Hannah Dutton, Jacqueline Shodeke1. Election of Chair Motion 1. Cox & Fabian “That Chesham be Chair” AGREED 2. Minutes of the 56th Meeting held on 10th July 2016 were before the meeting Motion 2. Fabian & Cox “That the minutes be adopted” AGREED 3. Matters arising from previous minutes i) Party video – Motion to the EC The branch had been notified of a motion carried by the July 2016 Executive Committee – viz:“The EC welcomes Cde Vin Maratty’s draft video ('PartyIntroSPGBMay2016') and notes the reported offer made via the Secretary of K&SRB to add clarification to the opening sequences. The EC looks forward to receiving an amended version for consideration of authorising for publication.”NOTEDRob then gave notice of a Motion to the EC.“This branch notes the EC is reported on grounds of quality and content to have declined to approve a proposed introductory video. However, the EC has failed since May to take steps to encourage nominations in order to re-establish an effective Audio Visual Committee, following the resignation and removal of previous appointees. Is this action due to inertia or intent?”ii) Street StallsReport of 16 July stall in Canterbury – Another good day – sold a fair bit of literature. Got a new contact and gave details of June’s Folkestone Discussion Group meeting to a few people. Had some pretty good chats. It was baking hot.Final literature tally amounted to six copies of SOYMB, five Standards and three pamphlets. One 'customer' insisted on paying five quid for a Standard.Report of 13 August stall in Canterbury – Canterbury was very quiet on this occasion, which, judging by the traffic bulletins, was due to most of the local population being on Margate beach (apart from a handful of Lib Dems who also had a stall). We still managed to sell three Standards, two books and two pamphlets.Two hundred topical leaflets were distributed and several back issues of the Standard given away, mostly the July “US” issue, which were of particular interest to several US tourists and a young man we caught wearing a Eugene Debs election badge (even though he knew little about him).Report of 30 July stall in Folkestone – Unfortunately this stall had to be cancelled due to inclement weather.iii) Future stallsTwo more stalls are scheduled for Canterbury this season – 17 September and 8 Octoberiv) Report of Brighton Group meeting – 12 JulyA really good meeting on this occasion with 10 present, including 5 new faces (2 of whom were members who had not attended previously) – engaging, insightful & most importantly, active; unanimously agreeing to carry on, but differently…v) Brighton Group meeting – 13 SeptemberA public meeting will be held in Brighton on Tuesday, 13 September. The upstairs venue room of the Victory Pub, 6 Duke St, Brighton BN1 1AH has been booked between 19.30 and 21.30. The working title is ‘Post-Capitalism: what now?’vi) Report of Folkestone Group meeting – 17 JulyThis meeting was not well supported with only two members turning up this time. It was AGREED not to arrange further meetings for the time being.vii) 'Should the Party be more vocal about some issues?' – Motion to the ECThe branch had been notified of a response by the July 2016 Executive Committee – viz:“EC members welcomed the ideas, if we can find Comrades with time to develop them. It was AGREED to submit the suggestion to the Publications Committee and ask they report back to the EC, if possible as part of their report for ADM.” NOTEDviii) ‘Socialist Principles Explained’ – Motion to the ECThe branch had been notified of a response by the July 2016 Executive Committee – viz:It was AGREED to ask the acting General Secretary to inform the Publications Committee of the re-admittance of the WSP(I) into the WSM [EC Minutes May 2014, Item 2(c) – Motion 2: Cox and Craggs “that the WSP (India) be accepted as part of the World Socialist Movement”]. Further that the EC needs to take responsibility to ensure Committees are kept informed of its decisions.”NOTEDix) Party Logo The overall appearance of the new Party Logo in the August 2016 Socialist Standard was still far from satisfactory. Mandy had provided the SSPC with alternative formats in an attempt to resolve the issue but the member responsible for the SS layout had claimed not to have been able to open the attachment sent by her. It was AGREED to continue to monitor the situation.There then followed a long discussion about future prospects for the Socialist Standard.x) 2017 Conference date – Motion to the ECRob reported that the EC had accepted the branch’s suggestion that Conference be held on the weekend of 29/30 April, 2017.NOTED4. Autumn Delegate Meeting 15/16-10-16 – Items for Discussion At the last meeting it was AGREED to submit the following Item for Discussion:“Is Rule 17: a) relevant to the 21st century? and b) being applied correctly?” A supporting statement had been written and circulated to branch members prior to the meeting. Rob suggested the inclusion of an additional paragraph and, by a majority, this was accepted.A further Item for Discussion was submitted and approved. A supporting statement had altready been written.“Audio-Visual Productions -In addition to recordings of talks and debates, which will be of interest to many but not all, is there a need to provide more audio-visual content to get our message across to workers?  If so, where should the balance lie between utilising whatever in-house capacity we have, albeit the quality may be less than perfect, as opposed to commissioning external producers (as with the 2014 election video)?  What should be the measure of quality and how much money if necessary should the Party be willing to invest in such productions?”5. Forms 'A' & 'F'NONE6. Branch membership transfersNONE 7. EC minutes – July meeting – 2-7-16NOTED8. Future propaganda activitiesNONE other than those already mentioned.9. Any other businessi) Gay Pride event in Canterbury Rob mentioned that he seen a reference to this event and asked the Secretary to make enquiries.AGREEDMeeting adjourned at 4.33pmCollection taken: £7.00