South West Branch
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A meeting is being held in Salisbury on Saturday, 16 March at 2pm with a view to reactivating the South West Branch of the Party.
Venue: The Railway Tavern, 131 South Western Road, Salisbury SP2 7RR
Nine members and friends turned up in Salisbury today and agreed to ‘reactivate’ the South West Branch. The aim is to meet on the third Saturday of each month starting Saturday, 18 May at the Railway Tavern, 131 South Western Road, Salisbury SP2 7RR @ 2pm. Literally one minute walk from Salisbury rail station.
Report of the above meeting
Meeting called to re-establish regular Branch Meetings
Held at The Railway Tavern, Salisbury on March 16th 2019 at 2.00pm
Present: South West Branch members: Ray Carr, Keith Graham, John Marter
Visiting Members: Adam Buick, Dave Chesham, Stephen Harper
Non-Members: Veronica Clanchy, Shane Roberts, Ann
Apologies received from Ben Malcolm and Mark Lansbury
Future Branch Meetings: Decision made to hold regular monthly meetings on the 3rd Saturday of each month. Due to difficulties travelling during the Easter period the next meeting will be in May, on May 18th. Start at 2pm.
After the business side of the meeting has been dealt with there will be a discussion on Reformism which will be led off by Keith Graham.Venue for future Meetings: It was agreed that Salisbury was the easiest place to meet for a majority of members. The Railway Tavern seemed to be the most suitable place. We spoke to Karen from The Railway Tavern about holding regular meetings in the Lounge Bar and she was quite happy with this without us officially booking it in advance providing we phoned her prior to the meeting to let her know the date and time. She said that the meeting on May 18th would be okay. Ray Carr will phone her a couple of weeks in advance to confirm the arrangement. The room could also be used for a public meeting with a speaker as the door could be bolted from the inside.
Sandwiches could be laid on by The Railway Tavern for the May 18th meeting but we would need to have an idea of the number attending prior to the meeting for this to be viable.Election of Branch Officers: Agreed that Ray Carr should act as Branch Secretary. This will have to be confirmed or other candidates suggested at a full branch meeting. A treasurer will also need to be elected.
Tolpuddle Rally: It was decided that the branch should have a literature stall on the Saturday and Sunday of this event in July. The expenses would be met by Head Office. We will need to contact the organisers to see if we can book a stall.
Party Conference: It was suggested that Keith Graham and Ray Carr will most likely act as delegates for the branch. Any other members who wish to attend should contact Ray Carr by the beginning of April so arrangements can be made.
There will not be a branch meeting in July as it clashes with the Tolpuddle Festival weekend. So the next meeting will be on the 3rd Saturday in August which is the 17th.
Comrades will be attending the Tolpuddle Festival on Saturday July 20th and Sunday July 21st. Be good to see others there on the Sunday when it is free and the busiest day.
I was a bit puzzled on reading the minutes of the first meeting that Veronica and Shane were listed as non members in attendance. I hadn’t realised that they had left the SP. Does this mean they might be re-joining?
“I was a bit puzzled on reading the minutes of the first meeting that Veronica and Shane were listed as non members in attendance. I hadn’t realised that they had left the SP. Does this mean they might be re-joining?”
Neither of them have been members for sometime but Veronica requested a Form ‘A’ at the first meeting which was sent to her but she subsequently changed her mind about re-joining. There is talk that Shane might re-join; he left the Party because of its “non-committal” stance on Brexit, particularly as at the time, he considered that without the UK’s membership of the EU, his German girlfriend would not have had the automatic right to settle in the UK. He also wanted to be free to support any concerted campaign that might be launched in favour of a second referendum, which he felt he would be unable to do if he remained in the Party.
Minutes of South West Branch meeting held on June 15th 2019 at the Railway Tavern, Salisbury SP2 7RR
Present: Ray Carr, Keith Graham, Stephen Harper (West London Branch) Ann French (non-member)
Apologies: John Marter, Graham Muirhead, Malhaar Shah
Reading of Minutes of May Meeting: read and accepted as a correct record.
Matters Arising:
Tolpuddle Festival Saturday and Sunday 20th/21st July 2019. We have now received 3 Wristbands, Stall Drop off Pass and a spare Parking Pass. There are now only 2 to person the stall on the Saturday as one person has had to drop out. So we have one Wristband and a Parking Pass spare. If anyone would like to help out with the stall on the Saturday please contact the Branch Secretary who will send a Wristband and parking pass to you by post. We would also be pleased to see members and supporters at the event on the Sunday when it is Free.
Tolpuddle Literature:
It was agreed that the Branch Secretary should order two copies of each available pamphlet and book as listed in the Socialist Standard. These will be for future events as well as Tolpuddle. We will also order 20 copies of the July Socialist Standard to cover Tolpuddle and from then on have an order for ten copies per month. This order will not be able to be placed until late June as the person responsible for sending out literature will be away until later in June. We still need to sort out the cheque signatures for our bank account and so in the meantime the expenditure will be met by national funds which we will repay when the bank account has been corrected.
July Branch meeting:
This will fall on the Saturday of the Tolpuddle Festival and so it was agreed to cancel it rather than try to rearrange it as some members will also be unavailable during late July
Any Other Business:
Stephen Harper gave a brief report on the Hustings event he attended in Brockenhurst as part of our European Election campaign.
Facebook Group:
There was a discussion about this group and it was felt that anyone who is on Facebook could make a post outlining our regular face to face branch meetings. We also needed to make contact with Mike Tavener who set up the Facebook group as the normal emails to him about branch activities normally get returned marked Inbox Full.
Discussion on Reformism:
Keith Graham led off a discussion on this outlining the party’s position, the reason for it and the difficulties it presented. This provoked an interesting discussion amongst the few of us present. We hope to continue this sort of discussion period at meetings and if members have a subject they feel we should discuss please contact the Branch Secretary.
Forthcoming Events:
As mentioned no Branch meeting in July but please remember the Tolpuddle Festival on July 20th and 21st.
Next Branch Meeting:
Saturday, August 17th at the Railway Tavern, Salisbury SP2 7RR
Latest from the Secretary of the Branch, Ray Carr:
“Just an update on Tolpuddle, yesterday I received our literature order 2 copies of each pamphlet and book as listed in the Socialist Standard and 20 copies of the July Standard.
If anyone wishes to help out of the stall on the Saturday 20th of July we have a spare parking pass and wristband so contact me and I can send these to you. Hope also to see some members and supporters there on the Sunday 21st when it is free to all.”
The Party’s stall in the foreground at Tolpuddle yesterday, which was manned by two comrades. Comrade Ray Carr will be there again today (Sunday) but needs support. Admission is free today for anyone who can get along.
Comrades took £75 over the two days the stall was there. £13 in sales of the Standard, most of this was due to Ray E (a sympathiser) who took 4 with him on the march and gave a donation of £10. He sat with Comrade Carr for a while, they had a chat whilst doing some selling which was good as he was the only help that turned up on the Sunday. Book sales amounted to £13 and over the two days the Party took £39 in pamphlet sales.There’s a Radical Book Fair in Dorchester on September 7th. Comrade Carr has the details and is going to try and book a stall.From the Branch Secretary:
“We are currently trying to re-establish branch responsibility over our branch funds. The current position, following the period of inactivity of the branch, is that the party treasurer is effectively doing the job of the branch treasurer whilst a branch member is the second signature on cheques. This is unacceptable as this position should be filled in branch and Rob C has plenty of other work to do as party treasurer.
I am therefore asking for a member of the branch to volunteer to take up this position. This person would need to be someone who can attend branch meetings on a fairly regular basis. Once we have someone for this position I will contact members again to ratify the appointment.
I look forward to hearing from some of you soon.”
South West Branch will have a stall at the Dorset Radical Bookfair 3Saturday, 7 September – 11.00am till 18.00 – Free entryThe Corn Exchange, Municipal Buildings, High Street East, Dorchester DT1 1HFOffers of help please to the Branch Secretary. Contact details can be found here:Minutes of South West Branch meeting held on August 17th 2019 at the Railway Tavern, Salisbury SP2 7RR
Present: Ray Carr, Graham Muirhead, Malhaar Shah, Leon Rozanov, Stephen Harper, Keith Graham.
Non-Members: Veronica Clanchy, Ann French
Apologies: Cameron Kane, John Marter, Stef Marshall
Minutes of June Meeting: Read and agreed as a correct record
Matters Arising: Facebook Group, South West Socialists to be mentioned to members on email mailing list in future correspondence. Secretary will contact Mike Taverner to find out how many members are in the Facebook grouping.
Correspondence
Mike Browne: Outlining the timetable for items of discussion and reports to be submitted for Annual Delegate Meeting which will take place on Saturday/Sunday October 19/20th 2019. Noted.
General Secretary: Regarding nominations for Ad hoc committee to look into ways of encouraging more female membership; to report to 2020 conference. NotedCentral Organiser: On the setting up of a buddy system for new members who had recently joined the branch. This was now in operation.
Darrell Whitehead: Offering to give a talk at a public meeting organised by the branch, the subject most likely being ‘Marxism and Feminism’.
It was felt that this should be put on hold for the time being whilst we worked on getting the branch established on a solid basis. It was also noted that the way this topic was being presented was the cause of some dispute within the party at present. Although the topic itself was very worthy of discussion.
Dave Chesham: A copy of an email he had sent to the General Secretary resigning from the Executive Committee. The reasons he had given which were the behaviour of a particular member were explained by a branch member who had some knowledge of the circumstances. It was also added that it was a shame that he linked this behaviour with the issue of feminism.
Branch Funds: The Branch Secretary reported that payment had been made for the Tolpuddle Festival Stall and passes, 20 copies of the Socialist Standard and party literature including postage which came to a total of £282.15. A cheque had been paid in for literature sold at the Tolpuddle Festival to the amount of £65.00. Also the Secretary had paid for a stall at the Radical Bookfair which is due to take place in Dorchester on September 7th at a cost of £25.00 and this covered the amount he owed the branch for 4 Socialist Standards per month from July to December 2019.
Branch Treasurer: Two members Graham Muirhead and Leon Rozanov had volunteered to take on this position. After a brief discussion it was decided that rather than have a Treasurer and an Assistant Treasurer they would act as Co Treasurers and the Secretary was to contact the party treasurer Robert Cox to inform him of this and put him in touch with the two members concerned.
Tolpuddle Festival: Ray Carr and Stephen Harper reported on our stall at this event. The Saturday was fairly busy but as usual the Sunday, when the procession takes place was much busier. Whilst it was not a great event for getting people interested in the party and it activities as most people attending were already committed to other organisations, it was good for selling literature and over the weekend we took £65.00.
Summer School: Keith Graham and Ann French had attended this event and they gave members an overview of the talks that had taken place. Overall their view was that it was a positive event which gained interest from members with a fair amount of non-members also in attendance. Many non-members seemed to have expressed an interest in reformist issues as they felt this amounted to doing something now and this indicated a dilemma the party has always faced.
Future Events: As previously mentioned the branch was to have a stall at the Radical Bookfair on September 7th 11am to 6pm at The Corn Exchange, Municipal Buildings High Street East, Dorchester and several members indicated they could attend for at least some of the day. It would be good to see other members there if they are able to attend. If interested please contact the Branch Secretary.
Items of Discussion for the Annual Delegate Meeting (ADM) in October (see correspondence for dates)
Item 1 moved by Ray Carr: The party’s approach to protest movements with special reference to anti climate change groups such as Extinction Rebellion XR.
There was a lively discussion on this whole issue especially in regard to the anti-climate actions due to take place in September which of course would precede the ADM. Much discussion centred on the positive and negative aspects of XR. Leon Rozanov gave a detailed analysis of XR and their aims, problems of organisation and limitations. Malhaar Shah added an interesting suggestion that alongside our slogan “World for the Workers” we could use “Workers for the World”. With regard to the item of discussion for ADM this was seconded by Stephen Harper and was passed by 6 votes to 0, six members present.
Item 2 Moved by Ray Carr: Should the party consider amending clause 6 of the Declaration of Principles to include other forms of democratic action to take place alongside and to complement political actions?
1) For example after the words “taken from the workers” it could read “ the working class must consciously organise in various ways, including politically for the conquest of the powers of government, national and local” …
OR
2) “ … must organise consciously and politically for the conquest of the powers of government, national and local” add “ as well as in other ways …”
Ray Carr opened up the discussion pointing out that the object of this was not intended to diminish the role to be played by using the limited democratic political process that exists in many countries but to recognise the role that could be played by other democratic forms of organisation which would supplement and strengthen the political movement. He went on to say that both recent and older articles in the Socialist Standard had supported this view and in many ways this was the view of the party which should be expressed in clause 6.
Other members Stephen Harper in particular suggested that this amendment might well clarify the situation in parts of the world where there was not a system of political democracy.
However Keith Graham although recognising the reasons behind discussing this amendment suggested that using terms such as “in various ways” or “as well as in other ways” could be interpreted as including forms that were non-democratic or even violent and he was opposed to this as an item of discussion from the branch to ADM.
After further discussion this item was seconded by Stephen Harper and put to a vote. It was passed to go forward to ADM by 4 votes to 2, six members present. Those in favour were; Ray Carr, Stephen Harper, Malhaar Shah and Leon Rozanov; against Keith Graham and Graham Muirhead.
The Secretary was to send the items of discussion to Standing Orders along with supporting statements.
Any Other Business: There was a brief discussion about Promotional goods such as Tea Shirts, Baseball Caps and Mugs and Veronica Clanchy raised the idea of rainbow coloured pencils. There were no concrete conclusions.
Stephen Harper raised the idea about more email communications between members on a more general basis. It was agreed that more communication could only be a good thing.Next Meeting: The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday September 21st and the Landlady of the Railway Tavern has placed this in her diary.
The next South West Branch meeting will be on Saturday, September 21st. Usual place – The Railway Tavern, Salisbury (quiet bar) and usual start time – 2.00pm.
Hope to see some of you there, as usual it will be good to have some idea of the numbers attending so I would appreciate an email back indicating whether you can attend or not.
Ray Carr
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