20.07.2005

SA open letter

To Nick Wrack and Rob Hoveman, chair and secretary of the Socialist Alliance On February 5 the final conference of the Socialist Alliance voted by a clear majority to carry out the following actions, within closely defined timescales. 1. The Socialist Alliance's remaining funds should be used to pay off debts and the bank account closed. Any remaining funds should be distributed between supporting organisations of the Socialist Alliance. The supporting organisations of the Socialist Alliance are: Alliance for Workers' Liberty, Communist Party of Great Britain, International Socialist Group, Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform, Socialist Solidarity Network, Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Unity Network. Any remaining funds should be distributed equally between these seven organisations. 2. The Socialist Alliance national executive elected at annual conference in 2003 will continue in office until the debts are paid off and remaining funds distributed, which must take place no later that February 28 2005, at which point the Socialist Alliance ceases to exist. The national executive should meet immediately after this conference closes to elect a sub-committee to carry out the winding up of the Socialist Alliance. 3. A final treasurer's report will be prepared, audited and published on the website www.socialistalliance.org. This will be posted no later than March 31 2005. A printed version will be available to any member or former member who requests one before that date by sending an email to socialistalliance2000@yahoo.co.uk. 4. The electoral commission shall be advised that the Socialist Alliance is dissolved by submission of form RP9, 'Application for deregistration', no later than February 11 2005. Closing financial accounts will be submitted to the electoral commission no later than March 31 2005. In addition, conference voted that £3,000 should be paid to Walsall Democratic Labour Party (this being a debt to be discharged prior to the bank account being closed and the remaining funds distributed). It is of grave concern to us that the officers of the Socialist Alliance do not seem to have carried out any of the agreed policies, nor have they advised the national executive members - who in the closing motion continue in office until the closure of the organisation is enacted - of any reason for this failure. The Socialist Alliance is still registered with the electoral commission, although it should have been deregistered by February 11. And Walsall DLP have not received the funds that conference voted to them, nor have closing accounts been posted - all this should have been completed long ago. In January 2005, Will McMahon wrote to the SA executive list and estimated that the residual standing order income of the SA was around £500 per month. He estimated at that time, and taking into account the cost of conference, that by the end of January there would be up to £1,000 in the account. This means that, had the account been closed within the timescale agreed, probably all the remaining funds would have gone to the Walsall DLP. Transparent financial probity is indispensable in workers' organisations, as we rely upon our good reputation for the funding we receive from our supporters, who are often on modest incomes. We note that by failing to distribute the funds as agreed by conference the officers of the alliance prevented this money from being employed by the recipient organisations to promote the socialist case at the general election. We trust that all of us have an interest in this matter being swiftly resolved, and we look forward to the prompt reply from Rob Hoveman and Nick Wrack, outlining their timetable for implementing conference decisions in full. Matthew Caygill, Dave Church, Jim Jepps, Pete McLaren, Andy Newman, John Nicholson, Declan O'Neill Current and former members of SA national executive