Communist Party of Great Britain - Draft Rules

Draft rules

The Communist Party of Great Britain was founded on July 31 1920 as a militant vanguard. It united in its ranks the most politically conscious, most courageous, most organised section of the workers' movement. That made the CPGB the advanced part of the proletariat in Britain.

In its early years our Party undoubtedly suffered from a certain amateurishness and economism. This was a carry-over from the past. Despite that, because of its revolutionary political and organisational principles, the Party was able to take a lead in all the great struggles of the day and considerably deepen and widen its influence amongst the masses.

However, by the late 1920s signs of opportunist decay were all too evident. No doubt with the best subjective intentions many of our leaders began to see themselves as an extension of the Soviet Union's foreign policy.

To serve these ends the leadership as a whole was congealed into a faction and, citing democratic centralism as justification, it began treating the Party as its own property.

The claim to be operating democratic centralism was of course no hanger true. What the leadership was concerned with was not revolutionary clarity, but silencing opposition. Democratic centralism had become bureaucratic centralism.

Things follow their own logic. What began as persecution in the name of the monolithic Party ended as the liquidation of the Party.

In the 1970s the Eurocommunist Marxism Today faction emerged from within the leadership. By the 1980s, craving respectability in the eyes of bourgeois society, it determinedly set about liquidating the Party organisationally.

Minorities, above all the Leninist minority, were barred from 'official' Party publications. Instead, these were given over to liberals, churchmen, police chiefs and reactionaries of all hues. Minorities had no possibility of becoming the majority. Not only were the various opposition trends denied places on leading committees, they were subject to crude bans and expulsions.

The open, disciplined and principled rebellion by Leninists was an important turning point in the life of the Party. It was a rebellion against the bureaucratic centralist regime of the Marxism Today faction. It was also a rebellion against the entire history of opportunism in our Party.

It was understood that the Party had to be reforged. That meant a new revolutionary programme and new Party rules which were actually based on democratic centralism.

These rules have been prepared with the aim of securing the necessary centralism and democracy of the CPGB, if it is to organise around its programme and put it into practice.

1. Aim

Article 1. The aim of the Communist Party of Great Britain is the voluntary union of communists, the overthrow of the capitalist state, the establishment of socialism and the triumph of communism.

2. Membership

Article 2. A member is one who joins the Party, accepting its rules and programme, works in a Party organisation and regularly pays dues.

Article 3. Except in exceptional circumstances application for membership is submitted individually. An applicant must be recommended by a Party committee. Application is subject to the approval by the next higher committee. The proposing committee must supply reliable information on the member being accepted.

Article 4. Party members are required to fulfil all tasks assigned to them by the Party, to fight for the Parry's unity in action and use the Party's material resources in a responsible manner. Party members also have a right and a duty to study the science of Marxism and develop the Party's political positions.

3. Organisation of Party life

Article 5. The organisational principles of the Party are based on democratic centralism. The part is subordinate to the whole, lower committees to higher, all committees to the Central Committee and the Central Committee to the Congress.

Article 6. Except where the rules state otherwise, in all Party committees decisions are taken by the majority of members participating in the meeting. It is the right and the duty of Party members to participate in the meetings of the committee of which they are a member and to openly state their views on all matters concerning the Party. In between meetings the tasks assigned by the secretary must be fulfilled.

Article7. Party committees are established on the basis of task, locality or workplace. Within their sphere of responsibility committees are autonomous.

Article 8. Higher committees have the right to appoint representatives to participate in the meetings of lower committees and establish relations with their members.

Article 9. While fulfilling all directives. Parry members and lower committees can oppose the decisions taken by higher committees. Before and after a particular action they have the right to submit their views to higher committees up to the Central Committee for discussion and to the central organ for publication.

4. Structure of the Party

Article 10. The basic organisational form of the Party are cells. Cells should be kept as small as possible to allow the maximum flexibility and the maximum efficiency. Cells should as a norm meet weekly.

Article 11. The Central Committee has the remit to establish, where it considers necessary, area or city committees which are responsible for directing the work. of at least two cells. The Central Committee can also establish district committees which are responsible for the work. of two or more area committees.

Article 12. The Congress is the highest decision-making body of the Party. The Congress should normally be held every two years. The Congress should be announced by the Central Committee at least three months in advance. The Congress can be delayed by decision of the Central Committee, but the period between congresses should not exceed three years.

Extraordinary congresses can be called by a majority decision of the Central Committee. If more than a third of the membership through their committees demand it, the Central Committee is obliged to convene an extraordinary congress. It should be held within three months. Failing chat, the next highest committees calling for a congress have the duty to set up an organising committee to convene one. Preparation and representation is decided by the committee convening the congress.

Article 13. The Central Committee may invite delegates to the congress who have speaking but not voting rights.

Article 14. The Congress hears, discusses and votes upon all reports, resolutions and matters it considers relevant. Through simple majorities it also decides upon the numbers and composition of the Central Committee, changes in the rules and programme, appeals on matters of discipline, etc

Article 15. The Central Committee is the highest decision-making body between congresses. The Central Committee elects its own officers. If one third of its members so decide, the chair of the Central Committee must convene an extraordinary meeting of the Central Committee.

Article 16. Decisions of the Central Committee are taken by a simple majority of those members participating. The Central Committee has the power to dissolve and re-establish any Party committee or organ. The Central Committee may co-opt new members by a two thirds vote of its full membership.

Article 17. In important or grave situations a Party Conference may be convened by the Central Committee or a majority of district committees. The Conference cannot take the place of the Congress. It cannot elect the Central Committee nor change the rules and programme of the Party.

Article 18. The following are violations of Party discipline: failure to adhere to Party rules; revealing organisational information concerning the Party to anyone outside one's own organisation; trying to discover Party secrets; conducting political relations and activities without the knowledge of the Party; rebutting the Party; behaving in a way that brings discredit to the Party.

Article 19. Any committee of the Party can vote on a motion of censure against one of its members. The relevant higher committee must be notified. Votes by a committee to suspend or expel a member must be ratified by the Central Committee. A member who is suspended has no membership rights, only duties. The comrade's level of consciousness and experience should always be taken into account.

Article 20. The expulsion of a member of the Central Committee must be agreed by a two-thirds majority of its full membership.

Article 21. The Central Committee determines the level of membership dues. Dispensation can be negotiated in particular cases by the basic committees, but have to be ratified by the Central Committee.

Article 22. The rules taken with the preamble constitute the whole.

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