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Originally Posted by Q
Are any of these organised as tendencies? If I remember correctly, you once told me there are no organised tendencies/factions in the party. Maybe this has changed.
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No one's wanted to. I'm sorta surprised about it myself. We have a whole new Article in our Constitution on tendencies, caucuses and factions, which includes a "bill of rights" for organized minorities. Maybe that will let comrades feel even more secure in organizing. Then again, I just don't think members really care if a specific doctrine or viewpoint dominates right now, since it's not impeding their work.
P.S.: Here's the new Article in the Constitution:
Article XI: Political Tendencies and Factions
1. The Workers Party in America recognizes four general types of organized internal political oppositions and minorities, for the purposes of intra-Party discussion and debate:
- A Caucus is an organization of members that represents a specific viewpoint, seeks to educate the Party on specific issues, or is the continuation of the existence of a Charter Organization within the Party. Caucuses derived from former Charter Organizations may ask for a continuation of their rights as such a body from the Party.
- An Ideological Tendency is an organization of members that represents a particular doctrine or subgroup of communist politics. As a rule, Ideological Tendencies are discouraged, but not forbidden, from organizing for the purposes of taking leadership of the Party as a whole.
- A Platform Tendency is an organization of members that is organized to amend or replace all or part of the Party’s basic documents, or oppose decisions of the Convention, C.C. or other Party organizations. It is expected that Platform Tendencies will organize to take a political leadership role in the Party.
- A Faction is an organization of members that organizes to enact a fundamental change in the political and organizational character of the Party. It is expected that Factions will organize to take political and organizational leadership of the Party in its own name.
2. Any member of the Party has the right to organize any of the above bodies as they see fit and at any time.
3. Organized political oppositions and minorities, whether structured as platform tendencies or factions, have the right to become the political and organizational leadership, and the majority, of the Party.
4. All of the aforementioned bodies have the right to present their views to the Party as a whole through membership meetings, including Unit, Local and Regional gatherings, through open sessions of the Central Committee, through membership Aggregates, Conferences and Conventions, through the membership’s electronic discussion list, through the organization of its own meetings and events, through the circulation of documents and materials, and through the establishment of their own journal.
5. No embargo may be placed on the right of these bodies or the members thereof to communicate with other members of the Party or other Party organizations.
6. In the case of Platform Tendencies and Factions, the C.C. is required to open space in the Party’s political journal for the purposes of exchanges and open polemic.
7. In the case of Ideological Tendencies and Caucuses, the C.C. is encouraged to maintain open space in the Party’s political journal for the purposes of exchange and open polemic.
8. The Party may not close down a political discussion or debate except by consensus at a Convention or Assembly of the Whole.
9. In the case of organized opposition to Party decisions, members retain the right to continue or renew discussion and debate on the decision after it is made, although it is expected that all members will act in such a way that the implementation of the decision itself is not sabotaged.
10. In the case of organized opposition to the Party’s political or programmatic documents, members retain the right to continue or renew discussion and debate on the decision after it is made, although it is expected that all members will, at a minimum, present the Party’s majority viewpoint if they decide to present their own.
11. National Office staff members are expected to render technical assistance to organized oppositions and minorities seeking to communicate with other Party members or distribute their materials internally. The National Office is not expected to aid in the publication of public journals or literature.
12. The pages of the Party’s Central Organ are open to submissions from members of organized oppositions or minorities, as long as they conform to the technical style and reportage that is normally carried in it.
13. No journal created by a Caucus, Tendency or Faction shall attempt to replace the Party’s Central Organ. They are, however, encouraged to supplement or complement the Central Organ.
14. Any organized opposition or minority found to be consciously working as agents of another political organization without the approval of the Convention, Assembly of the Whole or C.C. will be considered in violation of the Constitution and subject to administrative action.
