19.01.2006

New SA council meets

The first meeting of the Council of Socialist Organisations was held on January 14. The council was set up by the Socialist Alliance at its conference last November. Its aim is to provide a forum for discussion and coordination between SA affiliated organisations, local SAs and the SA executive. Pete Mc Laren reports

The first meeting of the Council of Socialist Organisations was held on January 14. The council was set up by the Socialist Alliance at its conference last November. Its aim is to provide a forum for discussion and coordination between SA affiliated organisations, local SAs and the SA executive.

At the start of the meeting a brief report was given about the progress we had made in terms of rebuilding. There were existing SA branches in Coventry and Warwickshire, London and the south-east, Merseyside, Southampton, Stockport and Swindon. Last week Swindon, which had maintained an SA branch under the name of Socialist Unity, was the latest to affiliate. Stockport is due to meet soon and consider whether to join. We considered where we might encourage or support new branches. We hoped to be able to discuss with comrades in Birmingham, Manchester and Wales about the possibilities for local alliances.

A number of socialist organisations have agreed to affiliate, the CPGB, International Socialist League, Republican Communist Network (Scotland), the Revolutionary Democratic Group and the United Socialist Party. We are in the process of clarifying the position of the Alliance for Workers' Liberty and the Socialist Unity Network. We have begun to open a dialogue with the Independent Working Class Association and will be seeking further consultations with the Alliance for Green Socialism, the Socialist Party and the International Socialist Group.

The council meeting was positive and productive. We had two main items on the agenda: the question of democracy and the issue of the workers' party. Peter Tatchell addressed the meeting about the Charter for a Democratic Republic. This is a new initiative which intends to set up a campaign taking its inspiration from the Chartist movement in the 19th century. Universal suffrage in the original charter has been won, but the demand for annual parliaments has not. One hundred and fifty years later there is still a long way to go before the people establish their sovereignty and exercise effective accountability and control over the executive and bureaucracy.

The new Charter intends to campaign for a democratic, secular republic around six points:

l a written constitution with a bill of rights;
l abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords;
l proportional representation;
l annual parliaments;
l MPs subject to recall by a vote of their electors;
l devolved power to community-based local government.

The Council of Socialist Organisations agreed to accept the draft charter and circulate it amongst our affiliates and local alliances for consultation and support. The council expressed our general support and saw the draft as the start of further discussion.

The meeting was then addressed by Clive Heemskerk, national executive member of the Socialist Party. He explained how the RMT union conference had evolved, and stated that most of the speakers were likely to propose an agenda for reclaiming the Labour Party. He argued that, despite this, we should see the conference next Saturday as a step forward.

He then outlined the SP's Campaign for a New Workers' Party. Its declaration was gaining signatures, and an open conference would be organised on Sunday March 19 in London, to elect a committee to take the campaign forward. Clive stressed the need for a federal approach to avoid any central imposition - but added that the structure and programme are open to discussion.

It was generally agreed that both the RMT and Socialist Party initiatives were positive and should be supported. It was suggested that the SA consider affiliating to the Campaign for a New Workers' Party, although our first priority was to encourage members to attend the RMT conference. It was agreed to circulate the SA's paper on the party question amongst NEC members and discuss how we should intervene at the conference.

Pete McLaren
Socialist Alliance
national secretary