Socialist Party

[PJ]

X PJ

[PJ]

We shall now start debating a party program, so go ahead and throw some ideas out.


My proposals:

Support for the democratic ownership of industry.
Support for worker's rights.
Support for the welfare state and it's expansion.

I support all of your proposals. I would also propose the following:

Fighting climate change and furthering environmental protection
Combatting racism, sexism, homophobia, and other hateful ideologies
Ensuring that the will of the people is protected through a fair and democratic political system (tentative, could be modified based on how the provisional parliament designs the game)
Opposition to imperialism and militarism, and support for democracy abroad

Since the party is pretty broad in terms of ideology, we should probably stick to general goals rather than specific policy proposals, unless any of you have some ideas for specific goals that the party should emphasize.

I can type up a more detailed manifesto later tonight if need be. Also, I'm not particularly skilled at this sort of thing, but someone should work on designing a party logo.

[PJ]

Incorporating the ideas suggested thus far:

Socialist Party Platform

• Industry: Socialists support democratizing industry and giving control of it to workers in order to free them from the chains of exploitation and end oppression in employment.
• Welfare State: The welfare state plays a vital role in securing people with the basic needs necessary for life. We support an expansion of the welfare state so that it adequately provides all with basic necessities, such as high-quality education, healthcare, housing, and employment.
• Rights of Workers: Socialists stand for the protection of the rights of workers to decent wages, benefits, and working conditions, and the right to collectively bargain.
• Equality: We strive for an egalitarian world free of the divisions imposed by class, race, gender, and orientation.
• Democracy: Socialists support a democratic political system representing the will of the people, and we seek to curtail corruption that stands in the way of this.
• Foreign Relations: We are opposed to imperialism and militarism abroad, and support encouraging democracy and human rights beyond our borders.
• Environment: Socialists are in favor of furthering environmental protection and protecting animal rights. We also believe in combatting climate change and the harms that it causes.

Taking Snowguy's suggestion into account, perhaps we could limit it to the first three for the sake of simplicity. What do you all think?

[PJ]

Well I wanted to make sure that any issues of phrasing were addressed before this is put up to a vote, but if we are holding a vote, I prefer option 1.

[PJ]

Murica, could you create a list of party members in the OP?

can i form a local affiliate party of the socialists?

What exactly would this entail? I'm fine with it in theory (not that my opinion holds any official weight here), but it doesn't seem like Parliament is big enough to sustain local politics.

[PJ]

I'm not comfortable with structuring party leadership until the provisional parliament structures the basic levels of the game. Party leader elections ought to be based off of actual parliamentary elections somewhat, and we have no idea how long parliamentary terms will be right now. Additionally, party leadership will look very different depending on if elections are conducted under PR or FPTP. Once these decisions are worked out by the provisional parliament, then we should look at party leadership and elections.

[PJ]

There are different structural models to consider anyway. As a general point I would recommend a division between the management of the party as an organisation and the party leader/prime ministerial candidate/etc.

I support the proposal in bold. My main concern is creating a party structure incompatible with the actual parliament if we act too early (two month party leader terms wouldn't make much sense if general elections were held every three months for example).

And I hate to be that guy, but I would also suggest a re-write of the platform. It currently reads like something produced by a Student Union and will be an open invitation from other parties to not take us seriously.

I have no problem with some changes if you have any ideas. What I presented was intended as a rough draft, but there were no suggestions for revision.

[PJ]

Now that we know elections will use closed list, another question to consider is whether or not we want to employ the use of primaries to decide the ordering of the list, and if so, how the primaries will be conducted.  

[PJ]

I like Al's proposal for the platform, and there haven't been any objections in the last 24 hours, so it should be adopted in the OP.

I'm under the impression that IRV is used for single member constituencies, so we should probably use STV for party list candidates.

This all seems reasonable so far.  I, of course, would be interested in being on the party list for parliament.

I'm planning on putting everyone on the list unless they say otherwise so you don't have declare your candidacy for Parliament.

I disagree with this. If we were to do extraordinarily well in an election, we might end up electing inactive party members who don't show up for parliament (they may not even log in often enough to say they are not running, for example), and that would reflect badly on our party.

Here's my proposal for a rough draft of the party constitution:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Article VI: Membership
a. Any person agreeing to the party platform shall be allowed to join the Socialist Party of South America.

Article VII: Conventions
a. A convention shall be called once per year by the General Secretary at a time of his or her choosing.
b. All members of the party shall be allowed to participate in the proceedings of the convention.
[/quote]

I'd suggest officially discussing this after the leadership elections, but I figured we might as well get a discussion started.

I will run for a spot on the party list.

[PJ]

Agree with Cranberry. The proletariat ought to be able to directly elect their representation. Also, I declare my candidacy for Deputy General Secretary.

[PJ]

I support Al's amendments and the use of the Chilean flag.

[PJ]

Slightly under half of South American (assuming that's what we call it) citizens are MPs now, so 5 out of 10 party members being part of the National Executive seems reasonable to me.

The timetable for conventions should probably be changed to once every three months. I'd introduce an amendment, but I'm on mobile right now.

Murica is functionally the presiding official right now, so I don't see the need to hold elections for a temporary position.

[PJ]

OK then if no one has anything to add, let's start the voting on the party constitution as presented by Al.

Vote Aye or Nay, 24 hours.

Aye.

umm

The timetable for conventions should probably be changed to once every three months. I'd introduce an amendment, but I'm on mobile right now.

I'd like to offer the following amendment, now that I'm not on mobile:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Article VI: Membership
a. Any person agreeing to the Party platform shall be allowed to join the Socialist Party of South America.
b. Any member who brings the Party into disrepute or who engages in anti-Party activities is liable to have their membership suspended or canceled by the National Executive.
c. Any member who runs in an election against a duly nominated candidate of the Socialist Party of South America shall be automatically expelled from the Party pending appeal to the National Executive.

Article VII: Conventions
a. A convention shall be called once per year every three months by the General Secretary at a time of his or her choosing.
b. All members of the party shall be allowed to participate in the proceedings of the convention.
c. Convention is absolutely sovereign over all Party matters when in session.
[/quote]

[PJ]

Assuming we are voting on the fully amended version, Aye.

e: text has been edited to add logo

[PJ]

I second the nomination of CrabCake for party leader, and nominate Cranberry for General Secretary.