The times have been dark in Britain. Reform UK continues its march towards government, an authoritarian Labour places ever more limits to our freedoms, all whilst living standards continue to decline. A carve up ceasefire deal is imposed on the Palestinian people, then immediately violated. Nothing seems to work, our landlords and bosses tighten the screws more and more, people are tired and angry. Behind all of this, climate breakdown continues to unfold.

In that space, we face the reality that the forces of the left may continue to be splintered between Your Party, the Greens, and isolated activity. The so-called ‘leadership’ of the socialist left, whether around Corbyn or Sultana, have demonstrated they are not up to the task, their backroom shenanigans exploding into wasteful public spats.

Into this space, hope must come from the people themselves. There is a narrow window of opportunity to reverse this situation. And the tide may be beginning to turn.

From the 9-12th October, at The World Transformed, in Hulme, over 2000 people came together to discuss the way forward for the left. Prometheus was a partner at the event, organising a panel on what activities Your Party could engage in, as well as producing our first ever physical sheet.

Over the course of the three days, assemblies of several hundred people were held, debating how socialist politics can develop in Britain.

Around Your Party, several groupings from the left have declared themselves. In an unprecedented display of unity, seven of them came together to negotiate and declare an agreed ten point programme at the final assembly. In an indicative vote at the assembly, this proposal was resoundingly adopted by the over 300 people in attendance.

These groups have agreed they will work together to fight around the founding conference of Your Party on this principled basis. They ask that all Your Party members get involved in this work, bringing these demands back to their proto-branches, fighting for them at the regional assemblies and at the founding conference in six weeks. 

We reproduce their declaration below. You can sign the statement as individuals and proto-branches here. In the coming days, Prometheus will conduct interviews with these publicly declared groups, exploring their proposals, how to get involved, and more.

For a member led, Socialist party: United proposal from Your Party groups

Representatives from The Democratic Bloc, Democratic Socialists, Eco-Socialist Horizon, Greater Manchester Left Caucus, Organising for Popular Power, Trans Liberation Group and People’s Front.   met over this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Recognising how urgent grassroots coordination is at this moment, we, as individuals representing our organisations, have come together from different movements and orientations and been able to collectively come up with this proposal based on what all our groups align on and many of the contributions we heard throughout these assemblies!

We think this proposal represents the broadest possible unity for a mass grassroots programme for a genuinely member-led Your Party. 

Minimum political programme

1. Anti-capitalism & socialist horizon – Power to the people: Socialism is only possible through the struggle of the working classes to own and democratically control the means of production and the organisation of society for people, not profit.

2. Leave no-one behind: Solidarity with all oppressed groups, including but not limited to anti-racism and migrant solidarity, queer and trans liberation, resisting islamophobia and disability justice.

3. Anti-imperialism: Freedom for all peoples dominated by empire. We deserve a world where all people are able to determine their own lives free from the scourge of imperialism, whether through war, finance or trade. Socialists in Britain have a responsibility to fight for a free Palestine, weaken British militarism, NATO, Zionism, and all cogs of the British imperialist machine.

Constitutional demands

4. Workers’ wage: Elected officials and party staff should take a salary no higher than the median wage in the area they live. The remaining money should go either to Your Party or to local class struggle organising.

5. Sovereign conference: Decisions made at conference are binding, the parliamentary or council whip should be used to ensure MPs and councillors vote in line with conference decisions.

6. Mandatory reselection: Before an election there must be an open vote of Your Party members in the relevant constituency on who the candidate will be – MPs do not automatically get to run for their seat again.

7. A genuinely democratic and sovereign conference to be held no more than 12 months after the founding conference.

Branches demands

8. Branches are well funded: receiving a significant portion of members’ subs and any MP salary shares, with autonomy over branch spending.

9. Data access: After the founding conference, the party must own all membership data. Elected branch committees must have access to full membership data for the area covered by their branch. 

10. Base-building (meaning bringing new people into class struggle and movements) should be a core part of Your Party strategy.

Call for next steps

• We propose that the TWT assembly takes a vote to endorse these demands as minimum points of unity. All of us should take these demands back to our proto-branches and regional assemblies ahead to the founding conference. If you’re not part of a branch yet, join one or set one up! It will take all of us to build the pressure we need to get these principles adopted.
• We have started a network for our groups and will coordinate to do everything we can to see these demands win. You can join any of the organisations involved in this to coordinate for proto-branches, regional assemblies, conference to get these demands put in place. 
• And looking at the left media comrades in the room: critical, clear coverage over the next 6 weeks (and onwards) is vital to building meaningful democracy. We ask for support with platforms for our arguments and open space for these inter-group debates.
• We’ve all got a role in making this party member-led and socialist! 

Additional statements from each group: 

The Democratic Bloc: We are a campaign to organise for tangible democratic amendments to the constitution to be won at founding conference that will solidify member power. Join at dembloc.com 

Democratic Socialists: We will fight for these shared demands, as part of our full proposal for the party’s constitution and programme. The party must be built on free and open debate, member organising, and democratic deliberation. dsyp.org

Eco-Socialist Horizon: We are a group aiming to organise within Your Party around a minimum programme for rapid decarbonisation and maximum programme for eco-socialist transformation. Sign up: https://airtable.com/appmY2VMqkCMt8akz/shrOjMskm6Jqh6ftj

Greater Manchester Left Caucus: We are the Greater Manchester Left Caucus. We have a local focus, bringing together a wide range of activists to build a democratic, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist and anti oppression bloc in the area, with links in pretty much all GM proto-branches. In line with this we aim to assist in growing existing and founding new proto branches. If you are based in Greater Manchester and want to build this, please join us! Crucially: the first regional assembly is next weekend so it’s urgent that we cohere! Our only other demand is that the party doesn’t take a minority role in government; we will not administer capitalism or the imperialist state. 

Organising for Popular Power: We want to push for change through action. By combining Your Party organising with worker, tenant, Palestine solidarity organising and more, we will push for the party’s electoral work to always be subordinated to strengthening class power, not about getting into government by any means possible. The party should build the workers’ movement, tenants’ movement and anti-imperialist movement, but not seek to absorb or control them. It must advance and articulate the demands from every aspect of class struggle. SIGN UP & MORE INFO.

The People’s Front: We want to ensure the party is oriented towards revolutionary praxis and that as a faction, we can do mass work in the party. This will include systematic social investigation and class analysis, meeting people’s material needs and establishing a strong cadre program to develop leaders in Your Party. We wish to struggle through the demands listed above with other factions and tendencies in Your Party, and must take the time to commit to serious collective study to do this.

Trans Liberation Group: We are the Trans Liberation Group and we are fighting to ensure Your Party, in its current and future iterations, explicitly advocates for trans liberation, and encourages the political participation of trans people. Find out more and join us at transliberationgroup.org.uk