'THE LARGE number of resolutions on inner-party democracy placed on the agend» of the 35th Congress by branches and districts, the submissions we received, and our examination of the party's procedures and structure confirm that there. are substantial operation of democracy within the Party which must be overcome.' So says the Inner Party Democracy', to be presented to the 36th Congress of the Communist Great Britain in November.
The report, solutions to these "substantial problems. recommends a series of cosmetic changes, but there is no guarantee that even these will be passed. The CP's proposes to make amendments before the Congress.
Even if Congress does adopt the proposals the report itself remarks commission on inner party democracy: 'Some of its recommendations had not been carried out, or only partially carried out.' Alternative Six of the 16 members of the present commission, including national organiser Dave Cook, have produced 'Alternative Proposals on Four Sections'. In their view, 'the lesson to be drawn from this discussion of the 1957 report's recommendation is that it is vital to identify those features of the party's present practice which provide obstacles to urgently What emerges from the report, but is never spelt out, is that the obstacle lies in King Street, the Party HQ. We are told that:
Since 1954 the overwhelming majority of EC (executive) members have been on recommended list proposed by the retiring EC, on the initiative of the political committee.
* 'Although there are a number of non-full time PC (political committee) members, in tact at many meetings they are not present since in practice it is impossible for most of them to attend regularly on a Thursday which is when the PC meets.
• PC members have copies of the main reports in any which disadvantage.
* 'EC members do not receive minutes of PC meetings.
* 'There can be very little change to what the PC proposes in the EC because normally all that is presented is a long verbal report not susceptible to detailed amendment.' The industrial advisory committees and industrial department have never made reports to the EC. Nor do the editors of the Morning Star The central Communist Party officials are accountable to no one but themselves One of the alternative proposals from the 0f ' the bombshell as far as many Communist parties are concerned:
Circulate "To enable comrades experiences and/or holding similar views to develop their positions and present them to the party in their strongest form, the concerned must be able to together at times when the whole discussing its policy.
therefore propose that period of pre-Congress discussion individual comrades.
organisations (branches and burgh, town, city, ares, and district committees) should have the right to circulate material to comrades and to problems in 'Report of Commission on Party however, has no substantial executive committee 1957 1977. A meeting of the CP's congress arrangements committee during the party's last congress in November Tory Party accountability leadership, are encouraged LIC UCL responsibilities and develop initiative wonder were political workplaces, the fullest the results evaluated, intervention particularly in small organisations Male alive members of leading CP "have the right The Special unions, communities, or of their own party.
In the leading bodies of the CP, individuals 'emerge' as full timers rather like leaders of the the past.
There is WILLSUCYCL recognition in the report of the need to train a and to have the means by which to take on new 'the number of comradés coming forward as candidates for the EC who based their as distinct from full-time trade Internal democracy has a further function which isn't based on an abstract right of the membership to discuss policy. It is only through internal debate that the tactics, strategy, and programme of a party can be developed. An EC with 42 members can be no substitute for drawing on all the experiences of a party's intervention in the class struggle.
A revolutionary party needs to be able to draw on the maximum experience of working class struggle, in every sector, and of oppressec lavers in society. In this way the fight for the party's programme can be most clearly tested and hence the party's advanced. Such democratic practices are no luxury, but a vital necessity, proposals argue that committees should explain in the party organisations to which they report, and in the party press, their reasons for disagreeing with used to have more information on debates in the CP leadership than party members, through the bug. that was found in the EC meeting room a couple of years The method of 'closed" leadership and Cabinet-style responsibility has had its most Communist - in the Soviet Union, for example, with the rise and fall of Khrushchev. Political differences remained hidden from the mass of Soviet people, let alone party members.
The authors of the alternative proposals correctly point out: "One of the major concerns of others on the left is what they regard as the undemocratic character of our internal life?
But it is not just the CP's internal life that is undemocratic; so is its practice in the labour movement. The manipulation of fronts, such as Liaison Committee for the Defence of repels many militants. In the the CP has allowed right-wingers like Boyd and Dutty to appear a the champions of democracy in the fight over amalgamation, because the CP has opposed the election of all full-time officials in TASS on th grounds that it would jeopardise the careers of The report on inner party democracy and the 'alternative proposals' which accompany it are destined to follow the course of the report on the Morning Star. The more things change, the more they remain the same. It's now two years since the congress that adopted the new British Road to Socialism, and meanwhile the membership and the Morning Star's circulation continue apace.
Commission on Inner-party Democracy', with alternative proposals, price 60p, from CPGB, 16 King St, London WC2.
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union officials, was relatively low' Internal
any decision of the leading committee to which they belong if they have been in a minority'