Marxist Bulletin

Category: Statements

Organisational Structure / Statements / Unity bloc

A proposal on democratic organisational structure

We believe what needs to happen now is for branches to meet and elect delegates to regional committee meetings in the New Year. As the currently existing structure agreed at the conference has no place for such regional committees in official policy decision making, we suggest that initially the remit of these committees would be to discuss and coordinate region-wide practical activities by Your Party – perhaps best called Regional Organising Committees.

However, we also see them as a part of a future, more democratic structure for Your Party nationally. Any mass working class socialist party worthy of the name should be one with delegates from the branch base organisational level to the next organisational level and the next – up to and including the CEC. This goes hand in hand with recallability which becomes effectively impossible for CEC members if they are selected by OMOV as they are not accountable to any lower body, such as a Regional Committee of which they are an elected delegate from a branch.

Such a major change would of course require its own Constitutional amendments. But that, like most of our immediate tasks, is a subordinate part of the wider battle to turn Your Party into a vehicle capable of fighting for the interests of the working class and oppressed up to and including the overthrow of capitalism. We understand there is agreement that the left and most non-aligned members want a new kind of party, as opposed to a Labour Party 2.0 that would be hamstrung by a primary focus on elections and subsequent legal reforms within existing structures of capitalist rule. Regional Organising Committees would be a sensible part of an activist party of action, which we believe should be the primary focus of Your Party.

We present this as a proposal for discussion in Your Party.

Marxist Bulletin group
marxistbulletin@gmail.com

Elections / Greens / Statements

Why an alliance with the Greens is a question of principle, not a tactic

There has been much talk in the various Your Party (YP) Lewisham WhatsApp groups concerning how we should relate to the Greens, when it comes to the local elections in May 2026, with some suggesting that YP should stand down in certain areas.

This document will attempt to set out not only why we should do no such thing but also as to why we should be opposing the Greens as fiercely as we would Tories and Reform etc. We want to stress that this is not meant as a personal attack against any YP comrades who’re also in the Green Party.

For various political, historical and social reasons the Green Party has little if any purchase in the working class. The Labour Party in contrast, for all its sins, (that not even Adam’s fig leaf could hide) does still have a link via the trade union bureaucracy, and at least in the past, sometimes pretended to represent the working class. Of course, while we recognise this distinction, we are totally opposed to Starmer’s reactionary pro-capitalist government.

At the moment, the Greens are riding high in the saddle thanks to having a new, young, charismatic leader, and Labour and the Tories imploding with the Liberal Democrats sidelined, while YP is gripped by arguments at the top. This has meant that, almost de facto, some part of the left-wing vote and potential YP members as well as support in the polls, have gone to the Greens.

All of this is understandable, but is being taken as read by some in YP that this is sufficient for us to give our support to this capitalist party, either directly or indirectly through electoral pacts.

  • The Greens as a party have issues with certain aspects of capitalism, which they want to rein in – radical reformism, if you will. But that does not make them anti-capitalist per se; their mantra of implementing a “wealth tax” and other limited reforms are measures that more far-sighted capitalists might well advocate to shore up popular support for the system.
  • When in power in other countries, such as Ireland and Germany, the Greens have been happy to be incorporated into regional and state level structures that support capitalism and imperialism: for example, the Greens’ support for the Bundeswehr intervention in Afghanistan in 2001, and the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.
  • Just as serious have been their actions at local council level where they’ve tried to break local government strikes in Brighton and implemented significant cuts there and in Bristol. Zack Polanski is on record as saying, in the case of Bristol, that they need to implement cuts, because otherwise “the government comes in and then does all the cuts anyway”, which “can be even worse than actually making the cuts in the first place”. And this is in advance, when he is still in opposition – what would be his line if he were actually in power?!
  • Also, many of the Labour Party councillors who have defected to the Green Party over the last 18 months have done so over being asked to make one cut too many. This implies that their stance on cuts and their party allegiances are opportunistic. They clearly do not adhere to ‘no cuts’ on a principled basis.
  • Jeremy Corbyn and those around him keep on telling us that YP is a “New kind of politics”, and yet even before a ballot is cast, we’re already talking horse trading and backroom deals. So, this is not just about the Green Party, but about our attitude to electoral politics overall. We need to remember that class struggle activity should be our main focus if YP is to be socialist in any meaningful sense. It’s not just about the state of the roads, or the bin collections. But we will work alongside the Greens and other forces in actions where our interests coincide, for example opposing a fascist rally, even though we cannot give them electoral or any other form of political support.
  • The most important thing we should do is to build the branches, solidify our programme and make it known.
  • However, if the consensus is to stand YP candidates in Lewisham in the May elections, then an “anti-cuts” stance should be the no. 1 priority and everything else flows from that. (More on concrete electoral policies later).
  • We know that both Southwark and Lewisham councils are gearing up for yet another savage set of cuts. This in turn means a principled anti-cuts campaign has to go beyond that of the electoral cycle. Doing so: (1) not only stops the decimation of jobs and services but rolls them back (2) It also stems the racist, anti-working class poison of Reform (btw Reform are not big in South East London, but they should not be used as a bogeyman to frighten people: Halloween has passed).
  • If the “new kind of politics” is to have any meaning when it comes to fighting cuts and austerity then it has to start not from being ‘pragmatic’, nor from a “people’s budget”, based on the idea that we manage the local capitalist budget until the money runs out and then appeal to central government for more crumbs.
  • We should be able to say to people at the door that we’re not just here for elections whether local or national, that we’re defenders of the community, tribunes of the oppressed. For example, we should call for the nationalisation without compensation of Landsec and the landlords. That’s the sort of thing we should be talking about – not which ward to concede to the Greens or the Liberal Democrats.

 

Organisational Structure / Statements / Unity bloc

Socialist Unity Platform emergency motion to YP conference

For a reconstituted, democratic conference!

1. Conference believes

a) There is a desperate need for a proudly socialist and thoroughly democratic, member-led mass party of the working class, demonstrated by the 800,000 people who signed up when the party was announced.

b) There have been serious causes for concern in the run up to the founding conference. Whilst notional commitments to grassroots democracy and accountability are welcome, the founding process so far has failed to live up to these ideals; with a fundamental lack of transparency in the crowd editing process, a restriction of debate in regional assemblies, and no real mechanisms for members and proto-branches to make meaningful contributions to the founding documents. In addition to this, the departure from the party of nearly half of the Independent Alliance MPs signifies that a democratic change is necessary.

c) Conference is the sovereign body of Your Party and can decide to change the agenda of this conference.

2. Conference therefore decides

a) To hold a reconstituted conference in June/July 2026, with delegates elected by party branches and delegates elected by members at-large not covered by those branches.

b) Branches shall be eligible to submit and move motions and amendments, including on issues voted through at this founding conference. Individual members may also submit motions and amendments, providing they receive at least one hundred (100) signatures of their fellow party members in support. The individual member shall be able to propose a delegate to move the motion or amendment on their behalf should they themselves not be a delegate to the conference.

c) All questions are to be decided by a simple majority, including any changes to the four founding documents.

3. Conference further decides

a) To hold an interim CEC election before the end of January 2026 via online voting, in an all-member ballot, based upon the principle of One Member One Vote. The voting method used shall be Single Transferrable Vote under the Droop quota (most commonly known as Scottish STV), so as to ensure proportional representation and pluralistic leadership within the interim CEC. Alongside providing political leadership, this interim CEC will be tasked with organising the reconstituted conference in the summer and shall be dissolved at the close of said conference. Members of the interim CEC will be ineligible to run in the next election for the CEC.

b) To elect seven (7) returning officers by simple majority on the conference floor to steward these elections and that they be given the necessary tools such as access to membership data and requisite funds. The returning officers elected by conference will be ineligible to run for the interim CEC.

Organisational Structure / Statements / Unity bloc

Socialist Unity Platform supports the Sheffield Demands

These demands were ratified by a meeting on November 15 2025 attended by members and representatives of: Democratic Socialists in Your Party, Platform for a Democratic Party, Democratic Bloc, Communist Party of Great Britain, Socialist Alternative, Socialist Workers Party, Democratic and Socialist Network, Trans Liberation Group, Spartacist League, Greater Manchester Left Caucus, Bolshevik Tendency and the Campaign for a Mass Workers Party. There were also individuals present from Your Party branches in Sheffield, Doncaster, Lewisham, Cambridge, Bristol, Liverpool and Oxford.  

The following groups have since expressed their support for SUP: Merseyside Pensioners Alliance, Sheffield Left, Marxist Strategy, Haringey Socialist Alliance along with YP branches in Scarborough, Chesterfield and Newton Ayecliffe & Spennymoor.

If you are part of a group that supports the Sheffield Demands and you want to send a rep to our regular meetings, please email democraticunityyp@gmail.com

-> Please join us for our all-day fringe event on Saturday November 29 at the:
Roddick Rooms, 54 St James Street, Liverpool L1 0AB – details tbc, from 12noon.

Your Party: Our joint key amendments

We hope that Your Party will become a truly democratic, socialist and member-led mass party of the working class. This requires a culture of open debate, free speech and the right of members to get together in platforms and tendencies. In order to stand up to global capitalism, it needs to be thoroughly internationalist, anti-imperialist, and anti-racist – which means it should be explicitly and uncompromisingly anti-Zionist. It must also stand in solidarity and actively fight for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, women, trans people and all other oppressed groups of people, recognising the overlapping and interrelated struggles these groups face. Your Party must actively empower marginalised voices to fight for their own liberation – a fight that is embedded in class struggle. In this spirit, we campaign for the following changes to the draft constitution, standing orders and document on organisational strategy.

  1. FOR A PARTY OF THE WHOLE LEFT

All left groups, large and small, should be positively welcomed into the party.

* Delete: “Members may not hold membership in any other national political party, except if specified by the CEC.”

* Delete: “Members may not affiliate with or participate in organisations undermining Party values.”

* Add: Members should have full rights to organise openly into tendencies or platforms, permanent or temporary, and advocate publicly for political positions, even if they differ from the current majority.

  1. FOR ACCOUNTABILITY, FREE SPEECH AND OPENNESSF

Democracy requires transparency. Members cannot exercise control if decisions are hidden behind confidentiality rules.

* Delete: “Members must accordingly respect the confidentiality of internal Party matters.”

* Add: Detailed minutes of all CEC and officers’ group meetings should be published within seven days, for members to review.

  1. POWER TO THE MEMBERS AND THE BRANCHES

We cannot wait until after the leadership elections in March 2026 before YP branches are officially set up. There are dozens of vibrant proto-branches that have been meeting for many months.
* Delete: the CEC must “oversee” the establishment of branches.
* Add: Branches should be established immediately by inviting all local members to a foundation meeting. If there are rival groups or other problems, HQ may facilitate such a meeting, if requested by at least one of the branches.

* Delete: “Members must be UK residents or have the right to vote in UK elections.”

* Add: Membership is open to anyone who lives in the UK or has the right to vote in UK elections. We should not exclude migrants and refugees who do not hold residents’ rights.
* Add: Branches should receive at least 50% of local members’ fees.

* Add: Branches should be formed along real community lines, not just electoral boundaries – the decision should rest with the branches themselves.

* Add: Local branches should decide how they organise, if they want to set up local assemblies – and how those should be run.

* Add: There should be a proper first conference in 2026, with democratically elected delegates from properly constituted branches.
* Add: The sovereignty of the Party resides with the membership, whose collective democratic participation in branches and at conferences determines the Party’s policy and programme. Guaranteeing members an equal right to participate in the democratic process requires that this right be reserved exclusively for individual members. While organisations and trade unions are welcome to affiliate by accepting the Party’s programme and are invited to organise as caucuses, they shall not have special voting rights or any other special privileges as organisations.

* Add: All officers should be elected, accountable and subject to recall.

  1. FOR A COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP

We should avoid a replica of Labour’s unaccountable structures.

* The party’s leadership model should be democratically determined by its founding conference, thereafter the entire leadership body should be elected at annual conference, by branch delegates, through Single Transferable Vote under the Droop quota (more commonly known as Scottish STV)

* There should be no unelected officers’ group running the party, no automatic seats on the leadership body. All officers should be elected from within the CEC, so they can be held accountable.

* All CEC members should be recallable – at conference and by branch petition.

  1. FOR A FAIR AND INDEPENDENT DISCIPLINARY PROCESS

There is no mention of a disciplinary process in the four documents. We need clear rules focusing on an independent process, with natural justice, clear timelines and easy appeals procedures.

  1. HOLDING OUR REPRESENTATIVES TO ACCOUNT

The current proposal that it would require 40% of all local members to sign a recall petition is impossible to meet.

Add:

* Branches should be able to decide by simple majority vote to start recall proceedings.

* MPs and all public officeholders should receive no more than the average wage of a skilled worker, with the rest being donated to the party.