DRAFT 1 of Constitution

See “Comments” after the draft constitution.

This is a first attempt at a constitution. It is unlikely to be perfect. Please comment to leftlabour@yahoo.org or to the Comments section of the blog.

We, British and Irish democratic socialists, establish this Constitution for our democratic socialist party.

  1. The name of the party shall be “Left Labour”, herein called “the party”
  2. The purpose of “Left Labour” shall be by democratic means to secure for the workers by hand or by brain and our people the full fruits of our industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.
  3. For this purpose, we will contest elections and referendums of all descriptions.
  4. Membership shall be open to all British and Irish citizens aged fourteen years or more. It shall also be open to people legally present in the United Kingdom. People who are members of other political parties must resign the other membership before applying to join Left Labour.
  5. Members may be excluded, expelled, or suspended from membership by the National Committee or a subcommittee thereof for reprehensible behavior or for breach of the requirements of Rule 4.
  6. For the avoidance of doubt “reprehensible behavior” includes discrimination or abuse online or otherwise based upon sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, or disability. Supporting candidates standing against the party is also reprehensible.
  7. Membership fees shall be set by Annual Conference. Until our first Annual Conference, membership shall be set at £5 a year. Members who can pay more than £5 a year are encouraged to pay between £5 a month and £20 a month according to their means.
  8. Members shall be attached to the constituency party where they live or study. Exceptions to this must be approved by the National Committee or a subcommittee thereof. Members living abroad will be part of Left Labour International constituency party.
  9. To ensure the widest possible participation by members, all meetings will be virtual rather than physical. The party will pay to provide this facility.
  10. Constituency parties shall elect Organisers, Chairs, Secretaries and Treasurers annually. To ensure gender equality at least two of these posts must be held by women. The roles of these posts are in Schedule 4.
  11. Where constituency memberships are not strong enough to be effective, constituency parties may be amalgamated.
  12. Constituencies are to be banded into Areas. The constituencies in each Area will together elect by popular vote two National Committee members. To assure gender equality, at least one shall be female.
  13. The current list of allocations is Schedule 1 hereto. Amendments may be made by unanimous agreement of a quorate National Committee meeting or by a simple majority at annual conference.
  14. National Committee members shall normally serve for two years. In the first election held under these rules the person with the second highest vote shall serve only one year, but will be eligible to stand for reelection.
  15. The Party Leader shall be elected by membership ballot in December, serving for two years from January 1st. The Party Leader need not be a member of the National Committee, nor need hold any publicly elected office.
  16. An acting Party Leader shall be elected at the founding conference to act until 31st December.
  17. Two Joint Treasurers shall be elected by membership ballot in December. To assure gender equality, at least one shall be female. In the first election held under these rules the person with the second highest vote shall serve only one year, but will be able to stand for reelection.  Two Acting Joint Treasurers shall be elected at the founding conference to serve until 31st December.
  18. The Party Leader and the Joint Treasurers may attend the National Committee and speak. Any Left Labour Members of Parliament may attend as observers. The Chair may invite them to speak.
  19. The Party Chair and Deputy Chair shall be elected by the National Committee. The Chair serves for one year, and will be succeeded by the Deputy Chair. The Chair must wait for one year after the Chair’s term of office and then may be elected Deputy Chair. For reasons of gender equality at least one of the Chair or the Deputy Chair shall be female
  20. The National Committee shall appoint a General Secretary and a National Organiser.
  21. The National Organiser is responsible for electoral organisation, publicity, political education, and training. The National Organiser may appoint paid or unpaid organisers in each Area to work with the officers elected by the constituency parties. The National Organiser reports to the General Secretary and will normally attend meetings of the National Committee.
  22. The General Secretary is responsible for finances, properties, staffing issues, and the general conduct of the party including such statutory reporting as is necessary.
  23. The quorum for the National Committee shall be 50% plus one of those entitled to be present.
  24. The National Committee Standing Orders are Annexed as Schedule 2 hereto. Amendments may be made by unanimous decision of a quorate National Committee meeting or by a simple majority at annual conference. The National Committee shall meet at least once every two months.
  25. The National Committee shall appoint sub committees for Electoral Organisation, Finance and Property, Party Organisation and Technology, Discipline and Grievance, Parliamentary Liaison, Trade Union Liaison, and International. The National Committee and its sub committees may co-opt people with appropriate knowledge to give advice and guidance.
  26. Annual Conference shall normally be held in the autumn of each year, as decided by the National Committee.
  27. Delegates to Conference from constituencies shall be based on one delegate for each five hundred members or part thereof. Gender equality is needed. If a constituency has only one delegate then the following year the delegate must be of the other gender. The National Committee shall review this representation prior to each Conference and propose amendments to Conference to take effect at the following Conference.
  28. Motions to Conference shall be submitted three weeks before the date of the conference. Any motion proposed by 20% of the constituency parties shall be debated. In some circumstances it may be appropriate to go into private session. The Organisation Committee shall give priority to motions submitted by more than ten constituency parties. The Organisation Committee shall be proactive in leading compositing of motions.
  29. Amendments to this Constitution may be made at Annual Conference if they gain 65% of those voting.
  30. Political motions need only a simple majority.
  31. Both political motions and Constitutional amendments passed by Conference shall be voted on electronically by the membership generally – within one week of Conference having taken place. Should a motion not be endorsed by the membership generally the National Committee shall deem the relevant motion as not having been passed.
  32. The Interpretation of these Rules shall be by the Chair of each meeting. The Organisation Committee will resolve disputes and issue guidance.

COMMENTS

2. Suggest rewording second line to ” secure for our people and workers “
Reads better I think.
5. I think the grounds for exclusion, expulsion or suspension should include something about acting contrary to the Socialist aims of the Party. It should be clear from the outset that it is not a ” broad church ” ( you can see how that approach has failed disastrously in the Labour Party ). The last thing we want is infiltration by the ” soft Left ” or wreckers.
10 Gender balance. I have to declare that I have always believed, and still do, that a person’s politics is what matters, not their gender. Enforcing rules on gender can mean an excellent candidate losing out to a poor candidate. My knowledge of the Labour Party is that gender balance rules are not welcomed by large numbers of members. Such rules have meant good people being excluded from positions in the Party structure. Indeed, the Party itself ignored gender balance when it came to the last leadership election. The ticket of RLB and Angela Rayner for example was widely championed. My own MP was supporting it. I could go on but I hope you get my drift.
So, in terms of us, if gender equality is thought essential, I would suggest the wording at line 2 be changed from ” To ensure ” to ” To promote “
and line 3 be changed from ” must ” to ” where practical should “
12 replace last sentence with ” To promote gender equality and where practical,at least one should be female “
17 line 2 change ” assure ” to ” promote “
Change ” shall be ” to ” should where practical be “
19 line 4 change ” For reasons of gender equality ” to ” To promote gender equality “
Line 5 final 3 words be changed to ” should, where practical, be female “
27. Line 4 change ” must ” to ” should, if practical “

I note the draft does not mention specifically what we would expect from any of our elected MPs.
I am thinking about remuneration MPs receive
I would be in favour of our candidates committing to donate a good percentage of salary to Party funds.
Is that something to be included in the constitution?