Organisation update
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gnome wrote:Marcos wrote:How the Bolsheviks were able to create so many political parties around the world ? How is possible that the Socialsit Party of Venezuela was able to obtain more than 5 millions of members in a few months ? How is possible that the RCP ( Maoist ) is able to move so many youngs peoples in the USA, and it is able to have a conference where more than 2000 peoples were present ? How is possible that the SLP had a much better articulated theory and now is completely dead ? The CPUSA is giving 'socialist" classes in the internet, and they are running a campaign to obtain more members. The WSP is publishing more than ten articles every day covering events from different parts of the world.
How? Simple. None of these outfits are socialist, are they?
That is not the answer for my questions. I do know the characters of those organizations, despite that they are not socialist that will not invalidate my questions either. I think Johnston gave a much better answer
Marcos wrote:gnome wrote:Marcos wrote:How the Bolsheviks were able to create so many political parties around the world ? How is possible that the Socialsit Party of Venezuela was able to obtain more than 5 millions of members in a few months ? How is possible that the RCP ( Maoist ) is able to move so many youngs peoples in the USA, and it is able to have a conference where more than 2000 peoples were present ? How is possible that the SLP had a much better articulated theory and now is completely dead ? The CPUSA is giving 'socialist" classes in the internet, and they are running a campaign to obtain more members. The WSP is publishing more than ten articles every day covering events from different parts of the world.How? Simple. None of these outfits are socialist, are they?
That is not the answer for my questions. I do know the characters of those organizations, despite that they are not socialist that will not invalidate my questions either. I think Johnston gave a much better answer
Support for all particular political parties fluctuates and some like Labour or the DSA have experienced recent surges in membership when they previously enjoyed much less support. It is not static. Why?
alanjjohnstone wrote:Received my survey and returned.Still waiting for mine. However, received the ballot paper for 2018 Party Officers and EC members – no nominations for General Secretary, Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer, only one nomination each for Auditor and Trustee and only five nominations for the Executive Committee, including two members who will only be able to attend half the meetings!
gnome wrote:alanjjohnstone wrote:Received my survey and returned.Still waiting for mine. However, received the ballot paper for 2018 Party Officers and EC members – no nominations for General Secretary, Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer, only one nomination each for Auditor and Trustee and only five nominations for the Executive Committee, including two members who will only be able to attend half the meetings!
just a thought, perhaps it would be an idea to have EC meetings in the North or in Scotland one year, followed by the meetings being held in the South or in London the following year. At least that way the members of the party in the North or in Scotland would be able to contribute or participate at least half of the time. Let’s face it Clapham s not the most accessible place in the U.K.
We could also include the famous Boro parmo with a brew for bait time. failing that maybe a greggs Pasty would sufice.
alanjjohnstone wrote:We are actually in better shape than many other parties so we can have a greater impact if we know what we are doing.I agree. It feels like much more should be possible now than actually seems to be occurring.
alanjjohnstone wrote:Shouldn't the Party be providing the tools for this.I think there needs to be an overall 'Project Socialism', which engages, educates, and provides a practical plan for getting from now to Socialism.There is also a need for organisational agility to be able to respond to the dynamic nature of societal trends.
Still waiting for my email survey, the postal one won't arrive here for at least 10 days, so some measure of impatience, as it wouldn't get back before the stated date for returns.
J Surman wrote:Still waiting for my email survey, the postal one won't arrive here for at least 10 days, so some measure of impatience, as it wouldn't get back before the stated date for returns.I'll look into making sure an e-mail survey is sent to you.
theneilkirk wrote:alanjjohnstone wrote:We are actually in better shape than many other parties so we can have a greater impact if we know what we are doing.I agree. It feels like much more should be possible now than actually seems to be occurring.
alanjjohnstone wrote:Shouldn't the Party be providing the tools for this.I think there needs to be an overall 'Project Socialism', which engages, educates, and provides a practical plan for getting from now to Socialism.There is also a need for organisational agility to be able to respond to the dynamic nature of societal trends.
It all comes down to the commitment and competence of our membership and, sad to say, we are currently lacking both. A party which hasn't been able to fill the post of General Secretary for several years, is likely to be without a Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer for the coming year and can only muster three 'full-time' and two 'part-time' nominees for the ten member 2018 Executive Committee cannot be said, by any stretch of the imagination, to be in good shape. That other parties may be worse off is no consolation.And, to boot, neither Marie nor I have received our surveys either!
gnome wrote:theneilkirk wrote:alanjjohnstone wrote:We are actually in better shape than many other parties so we can have a greater impact if we know what we are doing.I agree. It feels like much more should be possible now than actually seems to be occurring.
alanjjohnstone wrote:Shouldn't the Party be providing the tools for this.I think there needs to be an overall 'Project Socialism', which engages, educates, and provides a practical plan for getting from now to Socialism.There is also a need for organisational agility to be able to respond to the dynamic nature of societal trends.
It all comes down to the commitment and competence of our membership and, sad to say, we are currently lacking both. A party which hasn't been able to fill the post of General Secretary for several years, is likely to be without a Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer for the coming year and can only muster three 'full-time' and two 'part-time' nominees for the ten member 2018 Executive Committee cannot be said, by any stretch of the imagination, to be in good shape. That other parties may be worse off is no consolation. And, to boot, neither Marie nor I have received our surveys either!
Personally I think the green shoots of receovery are starting to emerge. This year's EC have been far more imaginative and pro active than the ECs of recent years, we have seen the develpment of a range of different ideas about the way the party should organise and other kinds of initiatives, such as the inclusion of leaflets in newspapers.I do however agree that the mechanisms of the party need to be more responsive and dynamic. I think part ofo the problem lies with the way the party decision making aparatus was originally set up, which hasn't essentially changed since that time. Because of the experiences within the SDF a heavy emp[hasis was placed on democratic oversight of every action oft he party, so as to avoid a similar userping of poweer as had occured in that organisation. The difference is now, that with changes in communication and information technology, oversight of party activity, by party members is practically instant. what that means to me is that we can develop more situations where individual sub committees are trusted "just to get on with it", without having to report back to the EC, as their activities and outcomes are continually observable. So instead of the EC proscribing what each committe can do and when they can do it, we begin trusting fellow socialisits to o whatever it is they are attemptig to do, until they provie that they don't deserve the trust.THe other thing I think needs to change is to move away fromt he concept of centralising everything to Clapham High Street. We need to look urgently at ways in which activities can be devolved out to the regions. I have suggested a yearly rotation of the EC between the South and the North, but if the EC met every other month int he North, that might make it easier for Northeren based memebrs to consider standing for the EC. Just to take my own situation as an example, travelling to Clapham from Newcastle would take roughly 4 – 4.5 hours, to Central Manchester that would be 2 hours, to Leeds, just over an hour. Why can't some fo the functions of the Party be set up to make them more readily doable from outside London?
Two options. the first, is to reassess what it is we do, and see if we can cut back on some work.I'd agree that rather than abolish branches etc. the focus should be on cutting out centralised departments, and put the onus back onto branch activity, perhaps supplemented by more regular Delegate Meetings (Quarterly).The ermgency option is we should look to the 1st International's system of having a designated branch covering what used to be the EC's functions: I'd suggest that the incoming skeleton EC should dedicate its first meeting to calling an emergency conference.
Young Master Smeet wrote:I'd suggest that the incoming skeleton EC should dedicate its first meeting to calling an emergency conference.As it happens I've already prepared a motion to this effect.
As people know i have been pushing for a conference dedicated to re-appraising the Party and its functions for quite sometime. Yet, an emergency conference on what, is my first thought. i think we have to have a conference agenda develop from a rigourous online/branch exchange. And this was the part missing from the survey/questionnaire…No questions asking what members perceive as our weakness and how they can be addressed.We have to pin-point what is missing/lacking from our Party because progress has not just stalled but we are suffering a regression despite a host of advantages such as a healthy cash reserve and the ability to devote that to subsidising many other resources.If Tim detects the green shoots of recovery, i hope it is true. But we have to place things in perspective and we are not experiencing any growth in the Party but a contraction and for the time being, despite the attacks upon it, the working class are not offering any coordinated or even coherent defence or resistance against the capitalist class. In many parts of the World our fellow-workers have actually adopted the positions of the ruling class.From YMS post…and he can correct me if i am wrong -…but it appears he is asking simply for a conference focused on organisational structure. Isn't that as the saying goes, re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic? I fear our malaise which is reflected in many other organisations is far deeper than simply the way we are organised as a Party. A conference is there to bring forth discussion and debate on differences and hopefully to resolve or at least clarify them for the Party membership to have the final say on. I don't think there will be a magic bullet and to be honest, i don't think we can achieve it without incorporating cooperation from our rivals in what is called the Thin Red Line and that won't happen either, if they do not also re-prioritise their own politics and maeet us half-way. But i do know that our political positions cannot be reconciled until we or them reach out in comradeship. And i know some members will not consider various political groups worthy of the term comrade and i know other groups have their own hostility clause.
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