Workers' Liberty

Saturday

11:00 - Registration
11:45 - Standing orders report
12:00 - World economy [document 1]
- Workers' representation after Bournemouth [document 2]
- Addition: Workers' representation and the LRC [amendment 2.1]
- Summings-up and voting: amendment 2.1, document 2, document 1.
13:30 - Lunch break [includes women's commission meeting]

14:45 - Review of the year [document 3]
- Addition on young workers [amendment 3.1]
15:45 - Addresses to conference

16:00 - Break

16:15 - Addition on anti-fascist activity [amendment 3.2]
- Summings-up and voting: amendment 3.2, amendment 3.1, document 3
17:00 - Feminist document [document 4]
- Summing-up and voting: document 4.
18:00 - Close.

Sunday

10:00 - Iran/ Iraq [document 5, document 6, amendment 6.1]
- Summing-up and voting: amendment 6.1, document 6, document 5
12:30 - National Committee hustings
13:00 - Lunch break

14:15 - Climate change [document 7]
- Nuclear power amendment [amendment 7.1]
- Summing-up and voting: amendment 7.1, document 7
16:00 - Internationale.

Amendments to documents in Discussion Bulletin 278, and further discussion contributions.

* Motion on organising young workers (Dan R)
* Amendment to "counter-motion" on Iran and Iraq (David B)
* Amendment to addition on anti-fascist activity (EC)
* Workers' Representation and LRC (Chris F)

Discussion:
- A transitional programme for iraq (Dan R)
- A note on Dan's contribution (Martin T)

This bulletin includes the documents already circulated in DB 277, plus the motion on the feminist movement and amendments circulated to date.

*The world economy
- includes proposed additions from Martin T
* Iran and Iraq: AWL NC submission
- incorporates amendments from Sacha
* Iran and Iraq: counter-motion from Daniel R, David B, David K
* Climate change and socialist politics
- incorporates amendments from Tom U; Dave B; Max M; and Paul H
* Amendment on nuclear power (§33) from Martin T
* After Bournemouth
* Review of the Year
- Addition on anti-fascist activity from Tom U
- Addition to Tom's addition from AWL EC
* The feminist movement and us (from Sofie, Cathy N, and a discussion at AWL EC)
Discussion documents:
- Four Thoughts On Iraq (Daniel R)
- Nuclear power: fight the class and democratic issues around its development, not against its development (Martin T)
- On the Middle East, imperialism, and the Third Camp (David B)
- Iraq: don't let the tail of sloganising wag the Marxist dog (Martin T)

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Click here for website debate starting from this bulletin

Download pdf.

1. The decisions taken at the 2007 Labour Party conference at Bournemouth have disenfranchised the affiliated trade unions and Constituency Labour Parties. Unless the major unions can be turned round, and forced to push through a reversal of Bournemouth and a restoration of Labour Party democracy, this marks an historic turning point in the process of change that has taken place in the Labour and trade union movement over the last decade.

For all the contributions, click here.

1. Under the rule changes tabled by Gordon Brown at the end of June, and ratified by the Labour Party conference on 23 September, unions and local Labour Parties are banned from submitting motions on current political issues to Labour Party conference. All the formal powers that conference once held to determine party policy have been transferred to the leadership, which will only have to "consult" with the National Policy Forum, itself a well-controlled and largely impermeable body.

October 2007
From SW
From MR
"Still a workers' party if Bournemouth is consolidated?" - MT
Six notes - MT

October 2007: After Bournemouth
Motion on the Labour Party from AWL EC 21/09/07
What to do with the LRC - CF
London Transport RMT votes for independent candidates - SI
Marxists and the Labour Party - ME
Beating the retreat - MF
Trades Councils - MT
Letter to M - MT

Amendment 1.3 (on changing name of the paper) from Stan C
Amendment 5.2 (on general election) from Maria and Tom R

Standing orders

Discussion contributions:
* Working with the LP as it is, not as we wish it to be, by Tom U
* Iraq again, by Clive
* Three letters, by Martin T (on LP; on Iraq; on "Inside Organising")
* Restarting our women's work (background document by various others, edited by Cathy)

Documents from AWL NC for AWL conference 19-20 May 2007:
Assessment and Orientation
Education
Feminist work
Iraq
Labour Party
"Inside organising"

Draft motion on the Labour Party, February 2007

By Martin Thomas

This is a reply to comments on the Labour Party question by Chris Ford and Tom Rigby posted on the awl-chat list in January. I've reproduced Chris's and Tom's comments below for easy reference. For previous rounds in this debate, click here and here.

By Bruce R

On the TGWU-Amicus merger, by Tom Rigby
Critical comments, by Martin Thomas

Discussion document adopted at the AWL National Committee 2 December 2006.

Motions passed, defeated, and remitted: click here.

EC note on anti-racism
Aide-mémoire on “building a Marxist presence in the unions”
All or nothing? A response to Martin (and others) on the cartoons (Bruce R)
Response to Mark and Duncan (on hijab) (Alan T)

Questions and answers on the hijab (Mark S/ Duncan)
Explanatory gloss to motion on Welfare State campaigning (Mike F)

Further responses on Iraq and on cartoons.

Compendium of motions and amendments received for AWL conference 2006. The material in this bulletin has all appeared in other bulletins but is here collected together tidily.

Final few motions and amendments to AWL conference 2006:
- Amended student report
- Counter-motions and amendments on cartoons
- Amended motion, and further additions, on anti-racism
- Amendment to trade-union document.

Amended motion on cartoon and hijab

Amended motion on Iraq, plus further amendment from Bruce; response to Bruce on Iraq; response to Mark S and Duncan on cartoons/ veil.

Compendium of submissions and amendments to AWL conference, as of 31/03/06, collected from DBs 256 to 260. (Includes correction of typos in DB 256).

Motion on anti-racist work, four additions to trade union document, amendment to cartoon/veil motion, plus discussion contributions on student work and on the cartoons.

The cartoons and the veil, by Mark Sandell and Duncan Morrison