Some ideas towards the making of a pluralist, democratic campaigning, members-led left party
UK
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With what authority?
With what mandate?
This is unacceptable. This is a sectarian power grab.
It is untenable.
We call on @thisisyourparty to reverse this undemocratic “rule” banning dual memberships immediately.
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This is a decision for conference, and only conference.
We want to work with pre-existing parties like @TheGreenParty and @Majority_uk.
It is unacceptable that this decision has been taken by the leadership.
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Official regional assemblies are set to take place THIS WEEKEND across the country.
But members are being kept in the dark.
Here is everything we know 🧵
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We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past.
The founding conference of the #YourParty is a huge moment.
We have one opportunity to get it right.
We have launched today to give you a platform to discuss what the new party should look like.
Join us: dembloc.com/join
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Politics isn't a lottery.
You can't leave decisions to a handful chosen by chance and call it democracy. Without mass participation, there’s no legitimacy, no accountability.
Join dembloc.com
Thousands of members will then be chosen by lottery to take part in our founding conference: debating, amending & voting on proposals.
They will be balanced for gender, background and region - truly representative.
We’re doing politics differently.
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MAJOR UPDATE:
Facilitators have just been told that East London regional assembly has been postponed.
We don’t know any more information at this time.
Official regional assemblies are set to take place THIS WEEKEND across the country.
But members are being kept in the dark.
Here is everything we know 🧵
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There should be no seats reserved for MPs. Merely because you occupy the privileged position of sitting in Parliament should not reward you with more say over how our party is run.
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We have read the leaked draft constitution, and we have a lot of thoughts.
Our first criticism is that in a party that almost split over issues of ownership of data – this constitution has no mention of who owns the data.
The party must own the data.
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5) We reject the requirement of members to have the right to vote or the right for residency. Our party should be open to anyone from the age of 14 and anyone who lives in the UK.
Refugees must be welcome in our party.
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BREAKING NEWS
Regional assemblies have been announced but no further details on East London, Norwich or Manchester that were planned for this weekend.
Only the people signed up via the Corbyn link can access the membership portal which shares further details on these events.
🚀 LAUNCHING: Your Party's regional assemblies🚀
In the coming weeks, thousands of members will come together to debate & shape Your Party at over 20 mass meetings. Deliberative democracy in action 🗣️
Get involved & take Your Party into Your Hands ⬇️
yourparty.uk/assemblies
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We have one opportunity to get the founding of #YourParty right.
We have to put the members in the driving seat.
Read @mish_rahman’s article in @M_Star_Online explaining why #DemBloc is THE space for open, democratic and inclusive discussion 👇
morningstaronline.co.uk/arti…
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We are pleased to see that regional assemblies have finally been announced. While we would encourage everyone to try to attend these assemblies and participate, we do have significant concerns around the planned meetings. 🧵
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We have no guarantees that any of these notes will be published.
There will be no votes in the regional assemblies. So there is no clear democratic decision making process.
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Facilitators have been told that regional assemblies will be taking place in Norwich on Saturday. Manchester and East London will follow on Sunday.
Yet members have not been invited yet!
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Even the facilitators haven’t been told the venue or the time.
And we are only a matter of days out from these events supposedly taking place.
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Membership rules can't be made on the fly.
Rules around dual membership should always have been a decision for the #YourParty founding conference.
If you want members to be in the driving seat, join #dembloc here 👉 dembloc.com
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4) There is no mention of recall procedures for leaders
Conference must have the right to recall the leadership.
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2) There is too much power awarded to the Central Executive Committee (CEC)
We must organise to ensure that the CEC does not appoint anyone and all positions are elected by the membership - including and especially The Party Chair and General Secretary.
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Apart from the obvious concerns, we have some serious issues with the plan for how regional assemblies are set to run…
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How they can do this is very unclear because no votes will take place at these assemblies. Where there is disagreement between breakout groups or within them, some unknown person will be deciding who is right and who is wrong.
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6) We are pleased to see that the door has been opened to the debate on dual membership. But we cannot let a proscribed list be instituted by the CEC.
Dual membership should be open with anyone who shares our values
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We said yesterday, nobody will come to save us.
It is only an organised grassroots that can bring transformation.
It's up to the grassroots to build the democratic proposals that can be the blueprint for a new left party
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In order to defeat the right we need to see alliances between the new party and The Greens, regional and local groups.
That means dual membership and letting other party members stand in our selection process.
Get involved in shaping our proposals today: dembloc.com/join
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Our founding committee have been carefully reading the four documents. We will share our analysis soon.
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Democracy matters and will be in crucial in the setting up of the new Your Party.
There must be all power to the members.
Join us 7pm on the 14th October to shape how we can achieve that.
Register here: bit.ly/DemBloc14Oct
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Join @zarahsultana and The Democratic Bloc founding committee this Monday at 7pm to organise for maximum member democracy.
Let's get ready for Liverpool!
Sign up here 👉 bit.ly/ZarahAndDemBloc
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We want Your Party's founding conference to be as open, as inclusive and as democratic as possible. So here is our message to the leadership - let every member get involved. We have five steps for how this can work:
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1) There is no mention of who owns the data
There cannot be a situation where the data is owned by any entity other than the party itself.
The party must own the data.
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3) Amendments
In addition, there will be an online amendment portal in conjunction with regional assemblies.
We are aware of facilitators who raised the question of how members that are on the MOU/Zarah membership list will be able to participate in the portal…
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1) Meaningful listening
Facilitators will run breakout groups of 10 members that are themed on the four documents and take notes which will then be fed back to the lead facilitators.
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All the power to all the members.
Join us on Tuesday at 7pm to discuss how we can win that at founding conference.
Register here: bit.ly/DemBloc14Oct
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The founding conference of #YourParty is our chance to change the future of politics.
We want every member to have a say, every member to have a vote. That’s why we aren't convinced that sortition is the right choice.
Our Conference proposals are here: dembloc.com/conference
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Someone in this process will then collate these notes to create new versions of each of the four documents.
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Our founding committee have written a response to the four documents published by #YourParty 🧵
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That would mean 4 out of our 6 MPs sit on the CEC.
That is ludicrous when the rest of our membership only share 16 representatives.
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Tony Benn once posed five questions for every socialist to ask of those in power.
These are the questions that The Democratic Bloc seeks to ask.
Help make the case that the new party is run by you and for you, democratically.
Get involved today: dembloc.com/join
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It is clear we are in a party where the leadership team can organise, but the lay members are not supposed to. But it is up to us to change that.
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MPs need to be accountable to their local communities.
That's why we're proposing Open Selection for candidates in the new party.
Get involved in shaping our proposals today: dembloc.com/join
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The subsequent assemblies will then discuss both the original documents and the revised documents. This means there will be multiple versions of the constitution by the time of the founding conference.
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2) Our second concern is that the four documents that these regional assemblies are supposed to be debating have not been published. Members deserve time to prepare their critiques of these documents.
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If all of this sounds worrying to you, then you know what to do…
Join The Democratic Bloc to organise ahead of founding conference so we can put ordinary members in the driving seat 👇
Dembloc.com/join
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2) Versions of the four documents
A new version of each document will be published after the first three assemblies on the basis of the notes taken by facilitators.
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But is not a reason to refuse to engage – it is a reason to organise like never before ahead of an amendments portal and to organise every member we can prior to the founding conference.
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We're one hour away from our meeting!
If you want to hear about how we can all make the new left party democratic, then join us at 7pm.
Sign up here 👉 zoom.us/meeting/register/wQG…
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Join Sarah Woolley and Mark Serwotka as we debate how the new party should relate to trade unions!
This meeting will only be open to DemBloc members so join for free today at DemBloc.com/join
When you join, you’ll receive a zoom invite via email
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3) The CEC should not have any elected representatives on it
If the leader is selected from our parliamentary group and the deputy leader is, we could see 2 MPs sit on the CEC as representatives of the leadership team and 2 MPs representing the other MPs.
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A new democratic project inside the new left party is about to begin…
Sign up to be the first to know here: dembloc.com
#YourParty #DemBloc
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11) The threshold for constitutional changes must be lower in the initial years of the party. We want to see constitutional changes only require 50% of conference in the first three conferences.
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Our co-founder, @Andrew_Hedges_, spoke to @Prometheus_Jrnl all about our campaign for democracy within #YourParty.
Read it here 👇
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A huge concern for us is that this supposed constitution does not feature any method of election process – we want to see single transferable vote as the option for leadership, deputy leadership and national officer elections.
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1) Our first concern is that these regional assemblies are simply too small. We have been told roughly 20 regional assemblies will take place. We are seeing that some of these assemblies are as small as 300 members – and on a first come first serve basis.
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Our co-founder, @Andrew_Hedges_, chaired @TWT_NOW session Against Labourism: the new left party and trade unions.
We’ll be organising a discussion on the same topic very soon. If you want to take part in the debate then join 👉 DemBloc.com/join
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"Now is the opportunity to build a party that outlasts its founders. It really is a potentially historic moment. Almost a million people have pinned their hopes on this project, we have to deliver."
@mish_rahman spoke to Byline Times yesterday.
bylinetimes.com/2025/09/19/y…
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Listen to our co-founder, @Andrew_Hedges_ , speak to @newpartypod about the founding conference, the Greens and more!
Episode 5: @Andrew_Hedges_ from the Your Party Democratic Bloc faction on organising around ideas and learning from history.
open.spotify.com/episode/2wU…
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8) We are pleased to see that conference will be binding on elected representatives but this must be strengthened through powers given to the CEC.
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3) We do not believe that there is enough transparency over how these assemblies will function. 13,000 facilitators were recruited from the 800,000 sign-ups. These facilitators will run breakout groups of ten people.
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If you want to shape our positions then join DemBloc today at dembloc.com/join
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Every member should have the opportunity to make amendments to the draft #YourParty constitution. It's crucial.
Agree? Sign up to #dembloc here DemBloc.com
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Membership should not be limited to those with only the right to vote or those with permanent residency.
Say it loud, say it clear – refugees are welcome here. In our party, in our communities and in our country.
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Our second criticism is that this is not a constitution or even close to a constitution.
This document cannot be the basis of discussions in regional assemblies.
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We will publish further, more in-depth positions soon with draft amendments.
We will also offer advice on what we see as the most democratic choices on offer within these documents.
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Throughout the document there is a reference to 12 month strategic plan. What is it? Who wrote it? Who voted for it?
These questions need to be answered.
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Want to know when the first OFFICIAL regional assemblies are taking place? And how they are going to run?
What events are happening in your area?
DemBloc’s newsletter has all the latest. Sign up before 3pm Friday to get the latest newsletter. DemBloc.com/join
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Facilitators will take notes of the discussions and feed them back to an unknown group.
They will then re-draft the four core documents on the basis of all of these notes.
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#YourParty should be ready to transform the future.
Labour is open to 14 year olds, so are the Greens.
So why, when we are trying to shape the future, would we cut young people off from politics?
Sign up if you agree 👉 dembloc.com
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Join Sarah Woolley and Mark Serwotka for a discussion and sharing of ideas as to how Your Party and trade unions can work together.
We're meeting on 29 October at 7pm.
Click here to register: zoom.us/meeting/register/47b…
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Our secondary concerns (those where a debate has been opened where we expect the bloc will take a firm position) are as follows:
The proposed exclusive membership rules are problematic and risk introducing a proscribed organisations list. We cannot tolerate that.
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Today @TWT_NOW opens!
We’ve submitted a paper that argues democracy must be written into the very DNA of the new Your Party.
Find out more about the Your Party-themed assembly and read our paper 👇
theworldtransformed.org/twt2…
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Our @TWT_NOW event starts at 630pm where @mish_rahman, will be speaking about the urgent need for democracy in Your Party.
Join the event
We want to hear your views!
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Don't wait to build change! Do it now.
Sign up to our newsletter to hear about all the Your Party events across the country.
Our newsletter drops at 5pm today - sign up now so you are in the know! Click here to join: dembloc.com/join
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We are also pleased to see that the leadership have accepted there should be a debate as to whether the general secretary, i.e. the most senior bureaucrat, is elected or appointed.
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We should also be inclusive of our would-be international members who should be welcome in this party.
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We can be better than other parties.
If we are serious about defeating Reform then we have to start working with The Greens, not against them.
You can read our proposals for how to build a party that can transform the country here: DemBloc.com
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It shows that democracy in this party can be won, that we can organise to win these positions but that we need to get organised now to be ready to win these votes and to amend this very limited document.
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We would add that we expect to be campaigning strongly for 14 year olds to have the right to join.
We are pleased to see that the leadership appear to be opening up this debate.
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We welcome giving the freedom for local people to organise in either ward, constituency or cross constituency groups.
But people’s assembly structures should also be up to local members. The current proposals feel confused and unclear.
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We like the emphasis on community organising – it should be the centre of party activity.
But the proposed structures are unclear. We prefer any approach that puts community organising decisions in the hands of those in the community.
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We will campaign as hard as possible to ensure that the post is elected and subject to democratic scrutiny.
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If we are trying to transform society, we need to be more than just another political party.
Our proposals, which you can read at DemBloc.com , suggest a new way of doing politics that puts non-sectarian, member-led principles at the top of the agenda.
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We have concern over the confidentiality clauses.
If they are adopted it could create the same culture of fear that pervades The Labour Party’s internal disciplinary procedures.
Members must have the freedom to speak out if they face poor treatment.
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There is no mention of how future conferences could/will function.
That is simply astounding for a so-called draft constitution.
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Every member needs significantly more detail on affiliation models that are being referenced within this document.
There is nowhere near enough clarity on this issue.
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We have no guarantees that any of these notes will be published.
There will be no votes in the regional assemblies. So there is no clear democratic decision making process.
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All members, prior to conference beginning, should have the ability to vote on the priority of amendments.
That means regardless of how delegates are selected, every member can set the basis of debate on the conference floor.
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We have a full set of proposals for the founding conference - but we do not see that the leadership has any mandate to set rules on its members until after that conference.
Read our proposals at DemBloc.com
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We support the first option in the governance section to use sortition of local officers to decide disciplinary committees – it seems open, transparent and fair.
But we still need to understand how sortition for conference will be administered.
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Conclusion:
This document that has been leaked is not a right off. It has positives in it. But crucially it is not a constitution.
Huge issues are missed out entirely.
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Option 3 on community organising is very unclear. We are unsure whether this proposal would set up an SWP-style front building approach or whether it would prioritise working with pre-existing organisations like ACORN or LRU.
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