27/01/2008

Minutes

 
The conference at St Martin’s Community Centre, London NW1 was held on the 24^th of November. Thirty members attended and one observer.

1.      Proposed constitutions

 
Draft constitution 2 (proposed by the CPGB) was carried by 22 votes to 6 for draft constitution 1 (proposed by the CMP committee)

 The amendments for Steve Freeman and Gerry Downing were defeated. The amendment from Barry Biddulph in the absence of the proposer was carried over to the next conference.

 
The following amendments from the floor were carried.

 From Moshe Machover

dd to section 4: “All meetings of the national committee shall be advertised in advance to CMP members and open to them as observers. The national committee will publish minutes that will be made available on the CMP website.”

From Chris Gray

Add to section 3: “Members are entitled to an up-to-date list of members of the CMP and their contact details.”

Add to section 4: “…and shall inform members of the names and functions of officers.”

The substantive CMP constitution as amended:

1. Aims

(a) To put forward the need for an openly Marxist Party at all opportunities.

(b) To promote debate and discussion of Marxism.

(c) To organise members locally and nationally

(d) To open discussions with potential collaborators internationally

2. Membership

(a) The Campaign for a Marxist Party will accept in membership those who agree with the aims of the Campaign.

(b) Membership dues will be:

£20 per year for wage

£10 for low waged 

£5 for unwaged

although we will encourage members to donate additional amounts via a monthly standing order.

3. Organisation

There shall be a general meeting of the membership at least annually. The national committee shall call other general membership meetings as it sees fit. A special membership meeting shall be called at the request of at least 25% of paid up members. Members are entitled to an up-to-date list of members of the CMP and their contact details. All meetings shall proceed on the basis of simple majority votes. General membership meetings have the power to change the constitution, pass motions, agree dues levels, close the campaign, etc.

4. National Committee

General membership meetings have the power to elect or recall a national committee of such size as it deems necessary. The national committee shall elect and replace whatever officers it deems necessary and shall inform members of the names and functions of officers. All meetings of the national committee shall be advertised in advance to CMP members and open to them as observers. The national committee will publish minutes that will be made available on the CMP website.

The conference decided to elect a 7-person committee. Every member at the conference was entitles to cast up to 7 votes with the following result:

Hillel Ticktin                             26 votes                       elected

Yassamine Mather                    25 votes                       elected

Torab Saleth                             24 votes                       elected

Chris Gray                                24 votes                       elected

Nick Rogers                             24 votes                       elected

John Bridge                              23 votes                       elected

Mike Macnair                           21 votes                       elected

Matthew Jones             11 votes

John Pearson                            9 votes

Phil Sharpe                               8 votes

Phil Walden                              5 votes

3.      Other Motions

Motion 1 (proposed by the DSA) was defeated by 20+ votes to 6

Motion 2 (proposed by the DSA) was defeated by 18 votes to 8

Motion 3 (proposed by Dave Spencer - a code of conduct) was defeated by 14 votes to 12: Terry Liddle’s amendment fell in the absence of the proposer and John Pearson’s amendment was defeated.

Motion 4 (proposed by Dave Spencer) was defeated by 20+ votes to 3: the amendment from the DSA was defeated by 16 votes to 5.

Motion 5 (proposed by Matthew Jones) was defeated by 14 votes to 8.