Wednesday January 10 2007 Subscribe to the Weekly Worker

Emergency motion

Dear friends, colleagues and comrades

Communist Students are looking for your support for the following emergency motion to the Socialist Youth Network launch conference on January 13 in London. If you support the following statement (the first two paragraphs are taken from the SYN homepage), send an email to info@communiststudents.org.uk. Please let us know if you are a member of SYN, the Labour Representation Committee and/or the Labour Party.

"SYN is for anyone who wants to fight for a working class voice in British politics, whether or not you are a member of the Labour Party. It is open to people under the age of 30 and to students of any age.

We want to reach out to young people in the student movement, in trade unions and in precarious jobs, those who feel disillusioned and marginalised by the lack of opportunity for socialist debate in British politics. We aim to be a vibrant campaigning force on a number of fronts, revitalising youth activism, sweeping away apathy and creating a strong sense of class consciousness.

Everybody, whether they are members of other organisations or parties or not, is welcome to become a full SYN member, with speaking and voting rights at conference. We are against bans and proscriptions."

The reason for this motion:

A number of members of Communist Students have been banned not only from attending the SYN founding conference as delegates - but also from becoming members of SYN. That after some of us have already joined SYN months ago, without any objections.

The reason for our ban is apparently that some of us are (highly critical) members or supporters of Respect and the Communist Party of Great Britain. Contrary to what is says in the SYN draft constitution, the interim SYN steering committee has recently decided that only those should be able to become SYN members who are "members of the Labour party or those who are a member of no party". The promise to allow us a stall has also been withdrawn.

All of this seems nonsensical to us. Surely campaigns like John McDonnell's bid for the leadership of the Labour Party need the support of the widest possible working class movement? Surely, the stronger our organisation is, the better?

We are now in the ridiculous situation that at launch conference we cannot even protest against our exclusion – because we have no voting or speaking rights!

Also, some of us are indeed members of the Labour Party as well as Communist Students. Not even the thought police in the Labour Party has felt the need to exclude us - but the 'opposition' does! This self-censorship is not only wrong. It is also very dangerous for the future of the SYN. There are plenty of examples from the history of the organised left to show us where exclusions, bureaucratisation and a lack of democracy lead. If we want to build a left that turns its back on Stalinism and the degeneration of the Labour Party, we need to organise on the most democratic level possible.

No exclusions, no proscriptions!

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