How can the working class be at the heart of Your Party?

Editorial of the Socialist – England and Wales – issue 1341

In the last few days, everyone who has signed up to the new party being launched by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana has received the draft documents around which the party will be founded. The documents have been uploaded to the Your Party website (yourparty.uk).

The massive response to the party’s initial declaration, with more than 800,000 signing up, is a clear indication of the huge potential. Since then, the public divisions at the top of the party have dampened some of the initial enthusiasm. Nonetheless, the party is on course to be founded at a national conference at the end of November, and has the potential to be a significant step towards the creation of a mass workers’ party with a socialist programme.

It is welcome that the introductory political statement describes Your Party as a “democratic, member-led socialist party”, with the task of building “a mass party for the many not the few”, with the “working class at its heart” and the goal of “the transfer of wealth and power, now concentrated in the hands of the few, to the overwhelming majority in a democratic, socialist society”.

Mistake

Unfortunately, however, the initial proposals for the structure of the party do not put the working class at its heart. It is inevitable that at this stage many things are left to be decided in the future. But it is nonetheless a mistake that there are currently no proposals in the draft constitution for how trade unions and other workers’ organisations could affiliate to the party and play a central role in its functioning at local and national level, but only a promise for that to be discussed over the next twelve months.

The proposed constitution also states that “members may not hold membership of any other political party, excepted if specified by the Central Executive Committee”. This is a not dissimilar approach to the Labour Party constitution which states that members cannot be members of political parties or organisations declared by party conference or by the National Executive Committee “to be ineligible for affiliation to the Party”. As a safeguard against infiltration by parties representing hostile class forces this is reasonable, but only on the basis that in Your Party all members of all socialist organisations are accepted by the Central Executive Committee, which is due to take office in March 2026.

Central Executive Committee

However, it is the proposed character and method of election of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) which most clearly shows the problems with the draft constitution. It is to be made up of the leader, four public office holder representatives (two of which are to be MPs), and 16 ordinary members. The CEC would elect officers who would be responsible for the day-to-day running of the party, including the appointment and direction of staff. The CEC would be elected every two years by an online ballot of the entire membership.

This is a clear example of a ‘horizontalist’ approach which, while it can superficially appear ultra-democratic, actually centralises power in the hands of a small leadership, with very limited means to hold them to account.

This is a consolidation of the mistaken approach taken for the party’s founding. Regional ‘deliberative’ meetings are being followed up by the founding conference with those attending selected by lottery. Following this, final votes will be taken online with all members voting on a one-member-one-vote basis.

In our view, these proposals are not an effective means to build a democratic workers’ party. A democratic conference should be based on representative and accountable delegates, including from affiliated organisations.  At the moment, the draft constitution leaves open whether future conferences will be delegate-based, including whether local branches will get to elect delegates, but it makes clear that they will have no part to play in the election of the leadership.

Of course, even finalised constitutions are not set in stone. These are draft documents which will be debated in the coming months. Socialist Party members have joined Your Party and will take part in those discussions, raising these and other points on what is needed for Your Party to develop as a mass workers’ party with a socialist programme.