[Individual-members-EL] Prague Congress

Sun Dec 2 17:38:22 CET 2007

Comrades

A little concerned that there should be any opposition to individual
membership at all - I was under the impression this was supposed to be
inclusive. As to how individual member are organised is a different matter.

I agree with Francis, not only because he has an excellent surname but
because this issue needs to be taken forward and Stephen is clearly right
for the job.

As an aside, the website is up and running - I'm not a programmer so it's
the best I can do at the moment; anyone has suggestions, stuff they'd like
to see on the site, contributions, links etc please let me know.

Regards

Bob

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From: Francis King [mailto:francis at socialisthistorysociety.co.uk] 
Sent: 02 December 2007 16:26
To: Steve Spence; individual-members-el at listi.jpberlin.de
Cc: Andrew Stevens; Bob
Subject: Re: [Individual-members-EL] Prague Congress

Hi all

Thanks very much to Stephen for attending the congress, and for his very
useful interventions and approach on the question of individual membership.
I think that many of us who have joined as individual members have done so
because we think that, as time goes on, there will be an ever-greater need
for a genuinely European party of the left. This is necessarily a long-term
project. There will almost inevitably be occasional tensions along the way
with national parties who may resent the emergence of real or (more likely)
imagined rivals in "their" countries. But if we handle the process carefully
and diplomatically, it should cause any insurmountable problems.

For the moment, I think we should seek representation on the EB, and that
the matter should be discussed among the individual members so that we can
put forward someone who can genuinely claim to represent our viewpoint.
Stephen's approach here has been absolutely correct. I hope we have this
discussion soon, and that we reach some kind of consensus.

Regards

Francis King (individual ELP member, England)

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Steve Spence <mailto:stephen_spence at btinternet.com>  

To: individual-members-el at listi.jpberlin.de 

Cc: Andrew <mailto:andrew3am at hotmail.com>  Stevens ; Bob
<mailto:bob.g.king at ntlworld.com>  

Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 3:24 PM

Subject: [Individual-members-EL] Prague Congress

Dear All,

I attended the November Prague Congress of the EL as an individual member
from England.  There were a number of individual members from other
countries there.  Germany and Italy in particular.  

The Congress material and decisions can be viewed through the EL website.  I
wanted to report briefly to this list on some indivdual member matters.

Firstly the statute was amended to enshrine individual membership in the
Party.  The wording that related to a 'period of experimentation' was
removed.  Individual membership is now a firm part of the statute of the EL
although in countries with national member parties those parties have the
right to veto individual membership  

The German individual members network had organised an individual member
stall with a banner leaflets etc in the Congress registration area.

I got to speak at the Congress and did so on the issue of individual
membership, reported on the EL individual member network in England,
mentioned our new basic website www.theleft.org.uk and suggested the Party
needed to do more to encourage individual membership.

Some individual members at the Congress were very keen to run someone for
the Executive Board and I was asked if I would run.  The Congress has the
power to elect 'other' EB members.  In the discussions with the Secretariat
and amongst ourselves on this matter the following became clear.

1. The EB had had no chance to consider such an option.  It had not been
discussed.  Whilst 

    this was recognised there was a certain frustration as individual
members had submitted a

    number of issues to the Congress and none were placed on the agenda.
The EB question

    had arisen partly as a result of this.

2. Individual members had not canvassed whether this should be done and who
the candidate

   might be.  It felt unfair to seek to advance the question without such a
discussion amongst

   individual members.

3. There was a concern that the national parties which are opposed to
individual membership may

    react very negatively to such a proposal being 'dropped' on them.
Others thought we should

    press ahead, that the national parties needed to be challenged on the
matter.

It was agreed that if the Executive Board would give consideration to this
issue at its next meeting then we would be prepared to hold back from
nominating a candidate at the Congress and accordingly I declined to stand
for the Executive Board.  There was some discussion as to whether Uli or
Mike from Germany should run instead but in the end it was agreed that they
would not.  As I understand it the Executive Board will consider the
question in January.

Uli spoke on the floor of the Congress on Sunday morning to express the
concern of individual members that they should enjoy rights within the Party
structures.  Someone was supposed to give the opposite view but didn't turn
up so Uli got a clear run.

A number of speakers during the Congress supported individual members
including a comrade form 'The Left' in Luxembourg, with the Hungarian
national party in opposition. 

I am asking members of the individual member network in England whether they
are happy for us to seek representation on the Executive Board and I would
also ask members of this list to express their view. If anyone has an
objection please let it be known.

I don't know whether we'll be asked to send someone to put a view forward to
the EB in January. At the moment Uli, Mike and myself have taken the
opportunites to advance the individual member question in discussions
because we have tended to be the ones there and involved.  If anyone has a
view on this or thinks other should play a role, let us know.

At the moment the plan would be to advance the debate on the EB in January
and depending on the response to move the question forward from there.

Best wishes

Stephen Spence

Individual Member

The Left -

European Left Party

England

  _____  

_______________________________________________
Individual-members-EL Mailingliste
JPBerlin - Politischer Provider
Individual-members-EL at listi.jpberlin.de
http://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/individual-members-el

  _____  

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