Workers' Liberty

Implementing the decisions of the last AGM

1. Group building

Agreed at last AGM: regularise public meetings, monthly; regularise the production of publications and public sales.

Results: we had a centralised drive from the office in the middle of 1999 to get every branch to organise monthly public meetings-with some success up until the Xmas period.

We will have published 20 issues of Action in the period AGM to AGM and eight issues of the magazine, including two double issues, and a double issue in book format (ie, 11 issues in total) in the same period. There have been 6 centrally organised paper sales weekends.

Conclusion: re-state the need for monthly public meetings in each area and weekly public sales in which every member takes part. Monitor this activity centrally.

2. Education

Agreed: to renew our drive; regular education at every level and area in the group.

Results: education is still patchy. There has been some local progress-one-to-one educationals and a few local schools. We began a useful Capital email course in January (which has approximately 50 participants); a two-day national Capital school was held in December. The problem has been that this work only tends to take place when Martin T is in the country.

Conclusion: remit organisation of education work to the National Committee [NC].

3. The paper

Agreed: promote the re-launch of the paper.

Results: the paper has been re-launched. In addition some work has been done-most recently we had 35 new subs from a flyer-to get in extra subs. We could do a lot more and make the paper a more effective organiser and political tool.

Conclusion: see below

4. Union work

Agreed: regularise and extend bulletin production and distribution; take the United Campaign out to union branches; encourage comrades to get (T&G) jobs in transport in addition to rail, post, tube, etc.

see TU documents

5. Welfare state work

Agreed: seek openings for broad campaigning

Results: launching an anti-privatisation campaign, currently being discussed by Executive Committee [EC]/NC.

Conclusion: the incoming EC/NC should continue to discuss the possibilities of launching an anti-privatisation campaign.

6. Students

Agreed: continue the basic work; look for new activists outside the structures of NUS; pursue European contacts.

Results: student recruitment has been slow in a difficult period. We took a coachload of students over to the Euro-march, Koln, May 1999; we've had a couple of people over from the German anti-fees campaign to speak.

7. Youth

Agreed: do Further Education sales; produce pamphlets on workers' government, how to save the planet, capitalism and class; produce Bolshy as long as it attracts readers and sellers.

Results: the workers' government pamphlet has been done; the environment pamphlet is being drafted (it will be available at the AGM), an author has been found to write the capitalism/class pamphlet, but it will take a few more months before it is produced.

6 issues of Bolshy have been produced. We will now begin to publish it monthly.

Conclusion: publish Bolshy monthly; set up a nationally organised Bolshy youth organisation/fraction.

8. Labour Party

Agreed: get better national co-ordination of the work.

Results: a LP fraction now exists; Cathy is co-ordinating the work nationally.

see LP document

9. Organisation

Agreed: continue our policy of lapsing inactive or semi-active members.

Conclusion: continue this policy.

10. Socialist candidates

see documents

Some outstanding matters

The last incoming NC instructed the EC to sort out five areas of weakness:

1. Paper sales organisation

2. Education

3. Industrial Committee

4. Intervention into the SSP

5. A drive on AWL recruits and public meetings

Results: some good progress has been made on points 3 and 4. An Industrial Committee has been set up (members: John B, Tom, Mark S and Alan) and does meet (minutes are sent out by email) and has improved the co-ordination of the work. We have begun to sort out our work in the SSP: a Tendency platform has been published in the magazine and in broadsheet form; the comrades have joined and begun the work; we have started a section on the WL web site; a comrade in London is involved in the London SSP support organisation. Some work has been done on 2 and 5. Regularity of public meetings, in most areas, has improved; it is not clear that we're doing much better on the organisation of contact work. Paper sales: the problem areas are: not enough central pressure and monitoring; too little organisation locally (checking, week by week, how many are sold, where, by who); very few subs are sold locally. The same problems, it is now clear, affect magazine sales (in fact this type of sale needs more attention than the paper).

Conclusion: the incoming EC should present a report to the NC reviewing 1, 2 and 5, adding magazine sales to point 1.