January, 1999
Labor Party Press
Organizing
&
Restructuring
(story continued from page six)
Since the Labor Party’s founding two and half
years ago, the party’s organizers and union and chapter activists have delved into
the complex and nitty-gritty work of organizing, educating, and building a viable
organization. From the beginning, LP activists knew that there were no tried-and-true
models to use in building a political party of working people in this country. Instead,
the Labor Party would learn from its own experience, and constantly refine its plans based
on what worked.
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Howard Botwinick, Ed Bruno, and
Carol lambiase. Photo ©Michael Kaufman, Impact Visuals |
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On Saturday, delegates debated and adopted three proposals aimed at
setting the Labor Party on a path of growth and activism. All were based on the
on-the-ground experience the Labor Party has amassed since its founding. The resolutions,
LP organizer Ed Bruno explained, came from a special "organizing committee" that
was mandated at the founding convention to "assess recruitment in the past two years
and make recommendations to this convention about what to do next."
Style of Work
The first resolution, entitled "The Labor Party Style of Work," describes
"disciplined, nitty-gritty, face-to-face organizing" as the party’s method
of "bringing millions of ordinary people into the fight for a new political
agenda." The resolution outlines four clear strategies for building the party between
now and the next convention: An "each one recruit one" effort by every member of
the Labor Party, which would result in an immediate doubling of the party’s
membership; the addition of new clearly defined national campaigns (like the ones
described in a previous section); an increase in the party’s outreach to unions
through training sessions, organizing kits, staff assistance from affiliated unions, and
increased use of the ‘Corporate Power’ workshop; and the active recruitment of
more worker-supportive organizations into the Labor Party.
Delegates discussed and adopted one amendment to the resolution, which
specified that the Labor Party would use both electoral and nonelectoral campaigns as a
means of doing organizing.
A member of the Pittsburgh Metro chapter called the resolution
"effective and necessary. In my chapter," said the delegate, "we set a goal
six months ago of doubling our membership. And we were able to do that by mobilizing our
60 members to mobilize 60 others. We held discussions on the Labor Party’s platform.
We strongly supported outreach to other unions and organizations. And what we need to do
now is to take the energy from this convention back home, and be systematic about
organizing both individuals and unions into the Labor Party."
Change the Structure
Delegates debated and passed a second resolution to "Change the Party Structure to Organize Faster and Meet
New Responsibilities." The resolution calls for "local organizing
committees," each with a minimum of 20 members, to be established, and to submit
organizing plans to the Interim National Council. Under the resolution, these organizing
committees will have the same standing at conventions as chapters currently have. To
constitute a new LP "chapter," LP organizing committees must accrue at least 250
members. Existing chapters with fewer than 250 members that want to maintain chapter
status must submit an organizing plan to the INC by January 15, 1999. The national office
of the Labor Party will assist chapters in effecting this reorganization.
Some delegates felt the 250 member minimum for new chapters was too high,
and there was substantial debate over a proposal to lower the threshold to 50. "I
don’t think 250 is an unreasonable number for people in metropolitan areas,"
argued one delegate from West Virginia. "But the party needs to be flexible to allow
chapters to develop in rural areas." Others argued the 250 cutoff would discourage
existing chapters.
A member of the Detroit Labor Party spoke against the amendment:
"When you call yourself a chapter, you give union members the impression that you are
a big organization with resources and staff. Then when they find out that what you really
are is a small organizing committee, those workers get disenchanted. It’s better from
the view of organizing workers to call yourself an organizing committee."
This was the first vote where opinion was divided enough to warrant a
display of delegates’ colored voting cards. But a visual show of the cards determined
that the amendment did not pass. The resolution passed as written.
More Campaigns
The third organizing resolution was "A Call for More Labor Party Campaigns."
The resolution sets criteria for selecting national Labor Party campaigns. It calls on the
Labor Party to launch the four new campaigns described earlier,
and to continue and refine the 28th Amendment Campaign.
Delegates easily voted down a series of proposed amendments to the
resolution. There was some discussion of a proposal to add a campaign for public financing
of elections to the list of Labor Party campaigns. Delegates who favored the change argued
that without public financing, getting LP candidates on the ballot would be extremely
difficult. However, in the end delegates voted to leave the resolution as it was.
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