May 2019 EC minutes

[Anonymous]

MINUTES OF THE 5TH MEETING OF THE 116TH EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN AT HEAD OFFICE ON SATURDAY 5TH OF MAY 2019

Present: C.Alvarenga, D.Chesham, M.Foster, T.Hart, S.Kennedy, M.Tenner, G.Thomas

Apologies: P.Shannon

Meeting opened at 1:24PM

1. Election of Chair: M.Foster
Chesham/Tenner – Agreed

2. Minutes of the previous meeting, business arising therefrom and the General Secretary’s raising of Notices of Motion and Business from previous meetings

(a) Amendment and adoption of the minutes of the April 2019 meeting

i. Re §2(b)vii (“That list C be accepted and appointed with the exception of L Stevens, R Cox, D Fabian, H Moss, M Znidericz”), the Assistant Secretary asks that the minutes be amended to indicate whether “R Cox” refers to Cde Robert Cox’s nomination to the Election Committee, Cde Robin Cox’s nomination to the Publications Committee, or both. (The rest of the Publications Committee is under the impression that Cde Robin Cox is supposed to be a member.)
(This latter was indeed the case)
Noted

ii. Further amendment to item 2bvii, to specify that members not appointed either declined or did not accept nomination.
(Cdes Robert Cox and Fabian declined, the remainder did not accept nomination)

iii. Item 2a remove subsistence and replace with slight movement in description.

iv. Form F’s to specify that they both resigned as reason.

v. 6di Letter of termination refers to a members letter of resignation.
RESOLUTION – Chesham/Kennedy: “That the minutes be adopted.” (Agreed)

(b) Form B’s for Comrades G.Thomas and M.Brown
RESOLUTION – Tenner/Alvarenga: “That the form B’s be accepted and the comrades take their place in the EC.” (Agreed)

(c) Matters arising from the February 2019 meeting minutes
i. Re §2.e (“That we look into costings for the WSM website from Dodgems and Floss from the Internet Committee”), no further updates from the Internet Committee
Deferred

ii. Re §6.b.i (“That [an introductory party pamphlet based on the Class War introductory pamphlet] be referred to the Publications Committee to see what they think.”), see §5b
Deferred

iii. Re §6.b.iii (“That [South West Re8gional’s] enquiry about the progress regarding the ADM resolution on audio streaming of Conference and ADM and an update on the Conference resolution on the Party’s membership profile] be referred to the Internet Committee.”), no further updates from the Internet Committee
Referred back

iv. Re §6(b)vi (“That Cde Cox be asked if he can look into [the state of the World Socialist Party of the United States] and thanks him for his input.”)
Comrade Tenner to liaise with Comrade Elbert regarding his correspondence. The report to be returned to next month to go over in finer detail.
RESOLUTION – Tenner/Kennedy: “That Comrades Shenfield and Robin Cox be advised we are supportive of the suggestion of duel membership for Comrades residing in the States, will confer with the MAC about their willingness to process members applications, and is willing to provide financial support, subject to clarification on the legalities and a break down of expenditure.” (Agreed)

v. Re §7(a)i (“That and ad-hoc committee consisting of no less than 3 be set up to investigate the ADM resolution [to restructure the Party in line with a regional structure along with activity groups] and to report to the next ADM on their findings. The time limit for nominations being set to the Friday before the April EC meeting.”), accepted nomination of Cde M Foster from West Midlands Regional (24 April, no voting figures provided)
RESOLUTION – Kennedy/Chesham: “That a call out be made to fill the ad hoc committee, with a deadline of the Friday before the June EC meeting.” (Agreed)

vi. Re §8(b) (“That a call out be made to fill committee vacancies with a time limit for nominations being set to the Friday before the April EC meeting.”), accepted nominations:
J Clark Blog West Midlands (voting figures not provided)
B Johnson Investment South Wales 6–0–0
P Bennett Membership Applications South Wales 6–0–0
P Botterill Membership Applications South Wales 6–0–0
H Moss Membership Applications South Wales 6–0–0
RESOLUTION – Chesham/Tenner: “That the accepted nominees be appointed to their appropriate committees.” (Agreed)

(c) Matters arising from the March 2019 meeting minutes

i. Re §7(b) (“That Comrade Kirk be lapsed from the EC with regret and that a call out be made to fill the vacancy with a deadline of Friday the 3rd of May.”), resolutions from South London (30 March, carried 5–0–0) and West London (16 April, carried 4–0–0) nominating Cde G Thomas to the Executive Committee. Cde Thomas informed the Assistant Secretary by e-mail on 12 April that he accepts South London’s nomination.
Appointed

(d) Matters arising from the April 2019 meeting minutes

i. Re §5(b) (“The EC is in favour of contesting the European Elections (if held) in Wales and the South East and asks the elections committee to begin preparations.”), e-mail and resolution from South Wales Regional (13 April):
At its meeting of 13 April, South Wales Regional Branch discussed putting up Party election candidates for the (possibly) forthcoming European elections. After considerable debate a vote was taken on whether the Branch should participate and the outcome was a vote of 4–0 against standing. It was agreed that the reasons should be communicated to the Party. They were as follows:
• The timescale was too short for effective organisation to take place, especially given that any work undertaken might well prove wasted if the election were not to take place
• One of the main advantages of a campaign would be the TV broadcast the Party would be entitled to, but it was unlikely there would be time to produce one of professional standard in the time available. The branch would not be happy with using the same one as produced in 2014 (as has been suggested), since it would not relate sufficiently to current political issues
• Given the possibility of the election not being held, the production of a large number of leaflets, which could not then be used, would represent a significant financial loss to the Party. At the same time the Branch expressed its desire to participate in future elections held under normal circumstances.
RESOLUTION – Kennedy/Chesham: “That the EC approve the expenditure of the elections committee for the I insert for the upcoming EU elections and that the colour grade be converted to a green background with white text and colour logo, to the costing of between £2600 – £3000 to the printing of 315,000.” 2-2-2 (Falls)
RESOLUTION – Tenner/Alvarenga: “That the elections committee report be approved and that the discussed changes to artwork be approved.” 4-0-3 (Carried)

Adjourned for break at 2:42 PM / Returned at 3:06 PM

(e) Notices of Motion
None

(f) Notices of Business
i. Cde Alvarenga: Franking machine expenses
A brief discussion took place. It was generally acknowledged that the machine was saving the party money and comrades’ time.

(g) Matters outstanding from previous minutes
None

3. Forms A and F

(a) Form A for Joe Pearce, Alan Sears, Daniel Tinkov, Graham Muirhead, A H, (via Membership Applications Committee)
RESOLUTION – Chesham/Tenner: “That the form A’s be accepted, apart from the form A for A H, which will be deferred until next month.” (Agreed)

(b) Form F for Jeanie Moyo (formerly O’Brien) (West London; resigned)
RESOLUTION – Kennedy/Chesham: “That the form F be accepted.” (Agreed)

4. Treasurer

Electoral commission returns dealt with on time. Still to chase up water company on expenses and Opus. BT on phone book listing N power.

5. Reports of Party Officers, Party Appointees, Subcommittees, and Departments; discussion of advertising, campaigns, and The Socialist Standard

(a) Report of the Publications Committee (3 September 2018, via Cde Robin Cox): [. . . ] On another matter, what is the situation regarding the rejected pamphlet on Gender? I believe there were proposals about revising the text to make it acceptable for publication.
RESOLUTION – Tenner/Hart: “That an edited version of the text for the unapproved Gender Pamphlet be put on the website under the education section. To be referred to the publications committee and that it be specified as a topic of discussion and not party policy.” 5-0-1 (Carried)

(b) Report of the Publications Committee (19 April):
The Publication Committee currently has five projects in hand four of which are pre-approved by the EC. The four subjects are:
Human Nature writer: Cde. Cox
Religion writer: Cde. Deutz
‘Class War’ style writer: Cde. Slapper
Technology & Capitalism writer: pending
There are questions that need to be answered for the following pamphlet: ‘The Socialist Party on War’. Cde. Gwynn Thomas has volunteered to write this with others if available/willing. Cde. Thomas makes the following points that need clarification.
i. Conference 2009 carried the following resolution: “The EC should commission an updated edition of the pamphlet The Socialist Party and War” – it is not clear if the EC actually got around to doing so.
ii. Conference 2009 favoured a greater emphasis on 21st Century conflict with only a nod to earlier capitalist wars. Will the EC please confirm their preferences on the above in order that the writer and Pubs Comm can move this important topic forward?
RESOLUTION – Tenner/Hart: “That the report of the Publications Committee be approved, and that the content of the proposed War pamphlet be at the discretion of Comrade Thomas and the Committee.” (Agreed)

6. Correspondence

(a) Matters of urgency
None

(b) Correspondence from or concerning Branches, the Party in general, and members
i. E-mail from Cde Whitehead (18 April): “Please charge Anthony Walker with action detrimental for requesting I sign a petition to stop the extradition of Julian Assange”.
RESOLUTION – Hart/Thomas: “The EC is of the opinion there is no breach of Party rule 31, as the content of action is not in the aim of changing or influencing Party policy.” (Agreed)

(c) Correspondence from Companion Parties and Groups (available on the “World Socialist Movement” forum of the Party’s website)
i. Socialist Party of Canada Secretary’s Report, 1 April 2019: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/topic/spc-apr-2019-report/
Noted
ii. World Socialist Party (India) Executive Committee minutes, April 2019: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/topic/wspindia-apr2019-ec-minutes/
Noted

(d) All other correspondence
None

7. Any other business
(a) Resignation of Comrade L.Stevens from the EC
RESOLUTION – Hart/Kennedy: “That it is with regret the EC thanks Comrade Stevens for her contribution and accepts her resignation.” (Agreed)

8. Nomination of Chair for the next meeting
None

9. Electoral Commission returns
None

Meeting adjourned at 5:40PM

[Author]

Posts