As we go to press, all those who have signed up to ‘Your Party’ have received an email entitled ‘Be part of history’, giving an outline of how the current leadership grouping are planning to found the new party in the coming months.
Transforming an 800,000-strong mailing list into a democratic socialist party is a difficult task, but the process outlined is not a way to achieve it. There appears to be no place for elected representatives of trade union bodies, socialist organisations or working-class community groups to be represented at a founding conference. Nor is it proposed that members of the new party at local level will be able to elect delegates via local branches. This would have allowed them to choose the delegates who best represent their collective views but instead ‘delegates’ are proposed to be randomly chosen by lottery.
The Socialist Party will engage in the proposed debate on these issues, including at the regional assemblies, putting forward the steps needed for the development of a workers’ party with a socialist programme, and for the federal structure that would best enable that at this stage.
We will step up our campaigning for a workers’ party in the trade union movement, arguing for trade union organisations to put proposals to ‘Your Party’ on the steps needed for it to develop in that direction.
