Anti*Capitalist Resistance seeks to advocate for a politics that centres democracy and ecosocialism, and our suggested amendments to Your Party’s founding documents are in-line with these values and goals. In an age of environmental catastrophe, the return of fascism as a serious political force and disaster for workers everywhere, we need to remake human society for a future in which the needs of people and planet are reconciled. We ask readers who are members of Your Party to log in to the members area, go to participate and submit these changes.

Proposed alternative Your Party political statement 

We are in a time of crisis with threatened climate collapse, massive wealth inequality and a growing authoritarian far-right. We need a radical vision for a better world.  

Your Party is a democratic, member-led ecosocialist party that stands for peace, equality, social justice, and international solidarity. We a mass party for the many that represents and is rooted in the broadest possible social coalition with the working class at its heart.

Its goal is the transfer of wealth and power, now concentrated in the hands of the few, to the overwhelming majority in a democratic, socialist society. We want a social plan for the economy based on human need within planetary limits. 

Your Party’s aim is not only to win elections with a popular programme for real change, but to shift the balance of power at every level of society: organising and campaigning in communities and workplaces, trade unions and social movements across the nations and regions. We stand for workplace democracy and popular assemblies. 

Your Party is committed to equality across society and opposed to all forms of social discrimination and scapegoating, which are weaponised by the ruling elites to divide people and communities. We support the self organisation of oppressed people to fight for their interests. 

The party stands for freedom for the many – from poverty, war and oppression – and in defence of democratic rights and liberties.

It shares in the worldwide opposition to a global system of imperial domination, colonisation and exploitation, and supports movements for national liberation and self-determination. 

Both at home and abroad, Your Party stands against the war economy, and the neoliberal capitalist order fuelling the climate crisis and grotesque levels of inequality – and in favour of public and community ownership of key economic sectors and services.

Billionaires and corporations are in control of our country. Your Party aims at a democratic and ecosocialist transformation: by redistributing that power and wealth to all though social ownership and democratic planning.

Proposed Amendment’s to Your Party’s Constitution

ACR Note: Additions have been highlighted in green, deletions in red with squared brackets around them.

This document should be read as a working political draft, serving as the basis for democratic deliberation by members. Everything below will be subject to rigorous debate and amendment, in a process which will in the coming weeks produce a more exhaustive founding Constitution, then to be approved by the entire membership. This document should, moreover, be read in conjunction with the Standing
Orders options paper, and the introduction to both papers available on
the Your Party website.

Constitution Options Content:

1. Party Name
2. Party Structures
   1. Conference
   2. Central Executive Committee
   3. Leadership
   4. Rights and Appeals Committee
   5. Branches
   6. Nations and Regions
   7. Staffing
   8. Community Organising
3. Membership
4. Party Affiliates
5. Organised Sections

1. Party Name:

The founding name of Your Party shall be determined by the democratic choiceof members, to be made prior to the founding conference via an online vote.

2. Party Purpose:

The Party’s purpose will be laid out in the accompanying political statement, as
amended and voted on by members around the founding conference.

 3. Party Structures holds seven different areas for the purposes of this
constitution:

   a) Conference

   b) Central Executive Committee

   c) Leadership

   d) Rights and Appeals Committee

   e) Constituency and Ward-level Parties

   f) Nations and Regions

   g) Staffing

   h) Community Organising

a) Conference

The Party shall have an annual delegate-based National Conference held in an accessible venue and with arrangements for participation online. Delegates will be elected by branches of the party, in proportion to the size of the branch, and shall be answerable to the branch Officers and Executive members of the party shall make reports to the conference. National Conference shall be sovereign regarding both political and organisational matters, and its decisions shall be binding on the Party’s representatives and bodies. Arrangements for National Conference shall be laid down in the Party’s standing orders.

The Conference shall have powers to amend the Party’s Constitution, where [2/3]
more than half of delegates vote in favour of such an amendment, submitted in line with the standing orders.

b) Central Executive Committee

Basic Draft Proposal:

The Party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) shall be responsible for running the party, overseeing its staffing, guiding its operations, driving its strategy within parameters set by the National Conference, and determining its tactics.

The CEC shall consist of 16 [ordinary] members, representationally balanced in terms of gender, elected by the [whole membership] conference, the leader or co-leaders. No more than four members of the CEC shall be elected public representatives of the party. [and 4 public office holder representatives, 2 of whom shall be Members of Parliament, and 2 of whom shall be local or regional public office holders.]

There shall be additional reserved seats for organised sections (no more than five), [and] devolved nation representatives (one for each of Scotland and Wales) when these structures have been properly established, and any other officers or representatives decided by the conference.

The CEC shall elect National Officers including Chair, Deputy Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Political Officer, and Spokesperson, who shall alongside the Leader make up the Officers’ Group.

Neither the Chair nor the Deputy Chair shall be Members of Parliament.

The Officers’ Group shall oversee the day-to-day running of the Party between CEC meetings, with the most senior staff attending and reporting directly to it, as well as being answerable to the wider CEC.

[All ordinary CEC members shall be elected bi-annually by the whole membership.] In the Party’s first year, the CEC shall establish two working groups, open to all CEC members, one aimed at thoroughly establishing all the Party’s structures, especially its regional structures, and the other at finalising all its core documents.

Regularity of meetings and the establishment of other groups, working groups, or subcommittees shall all be matters at the discretion of the CEC. The CEC should meet at least once every month.

c) Leadership:

Basic Draft Proposal:

A [L]leader, or co-leaders, shall be democratically elected in keeping with the proposals laid out in the Year 1 Organisational Paper. The constitution shall be updated thereafter.

The [L]leader or co-leaders shall form part of the Party’s Leadership Team, alongside the Chair and Deputy Chair of the CEC, and shall provide political and strategic leadership as the Party establishes itself.

[In the Party’s second year, the CEC shall commence a review into different options for the future leadership, with recommendations and a range of leadership structure options. To allow for continuity of leadership, this review will be put to a democratic vote of members under OMOV, in advance of elections to be held before the National Conference in late 2027, with changes then incorporated in the constitution.]

d) Rights and Appeals Committee

The conference shall elect a Rights and Appeals Committee of seven members, none of whom shall be elected representatives of the party, elected officers or members of the CEC. This committee shall be the sovereign body, between conferences, for resolving disputes between members, considering and ruling on claims of harassment or oppression within the party, and upholding members rights in any disciplinary procedure. Decisions of this committee shall be binding on members and representatives of the party, and will be subject to endorsement or rejection by the following party conference, to which the committee shall report all of its findings and rulings.

d) Branches:

Basic Draft Proposal:

The Party shall have branches across England, Wales, and Scotland, linked to Westminster parliamentary constituencies, Senedd constituencies and Holyrood constituencies, to local authorities, or to such other factors as may be agreed by the conference or CEC, as appropriate.

Branches shall be established through the holding of inaugural all-member meetings, which must be attended by [% to be established] of Party members in the [constituency] approved area to be quorate, and at which a minimum of 5 branch officers must be elected which must include Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, and Organiser, in a process overseen by the CEC or its appointed representative.

Branches shall, when a particular threshold is met, be able to form ward-specific groups [within constituencies], allowing more localised discussion and organisation.

Other officer positions could include representative (women, disabled, LGBT+, BAME) and liaison (trade unions, social movement) roles.

[In the Party’s first two years, provision shall be made for Provisional Associate Branches, enabling existing local and community independent groups, already registered with the Electoral Commission, to affiliate politically to the Party without immediately subsuming themselves to it.

Thereafter, the Party shall have a unitary structure.]

The Party shall have an Overseas Branch for members who remain eligible to vote in UK elections.

All Branches shall undertake workplace engagement and Party organising activities in the community as well as regular canvassing, and shall be appropriately resourced to do so.

All Branches shall undertake the necessary work to run regular public[-facing, local community assemblies] meetings. [These assemblies shall be democratic and contribute to community activity and party policy development.]

All internal branch meetings and public facing events should be held in accessible venues.

e) Nations and Regions:

Basic Draft Proposal:

i) Nations

Political Branches may be established in Scotland (Alba) and Wales (Cymru) as in England, but the devolved national structures – including governance and leadership – shall be determined by Scottish and Welsh members at their own founding conferences, to be held in the Party’s first year. These nations shall also consider issuing their own manifestos appropriate to elections in their situations.

Members in Scotland and Cymru shall, attendantly, have the right to a reserved section of the Party’s constitution, so as to respect their right to self-determination. Consultation for both these sections of the constitution shall take place as part of the 12-month strategic plan.

ii) English regions

In recognition of the necessity of first establishing branches, regional governance structures shall not be set up immediately.

Rather, the Party’s CEC shall institute a working group tasked with generating recommendations as to the shape of the Party’s regional governance, with appropriate feed-in from all the English regions.

The CEC shall then report on this matter to National Conference and the wider membership, providing a range of options which can be voted on.

f) Staffing:

Basic Draft Proposal:

In keeping with the principles laid out in the Year 1 Organisational Paper, all of the Party’s hiring procedures shall include fair employment standards and processes, with strong safeguards against conflicts of interest, and shall be run democratically by the CEC. Any interim arrangements apply only to the period December 2025 till March 2026.

The most senior party staff shall be answerable to the CEC Chair, Deputy Chair, and Officers.

Appointed staff shall refrain from factional or political activity internal to the Party.

[g) Community Organising Units:

A key differentiator of our party shall be its codification and implementation of community organising as a core part of party activity. This shall serve as an anchor between the party and local communities, giving people on the ground the resources to campaign at an autonomous, local level.

Below are a set of key considerations for community organising units (COUs), along with a set of proposed options for each. These are not exhaustive, and should be added to or evolved, merged, reconsidered at every stage of consultation.]

Structure Options (choose one):

1. COUs and their goals are defined and run by the local parties (at constituency level, or where deemed appropriate, ward level or combined constituency level), with dedicated officers elected at said level with a remit and duty to ensure community organising and action take place. Regional or national community organising units would exist to lend support and advice, as well as distribute resources according to criteria agreed with local parties.
2. COUs are defined and run at a regional/national level, with a central office identifying where COUs would be most effective, according to criteria agreed with local parties. Local parties would determine what sort of organising needs to take place in their area. Dedicated officers would be elected at a local level to ensure that COUs are operating at the local level.

Options for additional consideration (choose as appropriate):

• A potential additional option, for local level parties, would be for those parties to join up to or assist already existing community organising in their area, at their discretion, to avoid duplication of work.
• An option for additional resource distribution could be based on the level of activity in COUs, with spare resources distributed favourably to the most active local units or units that make a case for expansion of activities. This should not affect base resource distribution for COUs overall.

Key questions and considerations for members:

• What level of party organisation are COUs tied to (national/regional, constituency or ward level)?
• How should resources be allocated towards COUs, both to start with as party launches, as well as beyond?
• How should COUs, their campaigns, etc. tie into other aspects of the party’s mission, structure and procedures?
• Which party officers at different levels are responsible for supporting COUs and ensuring they remain compliant?

4. Membership:

Basic Draft Proposal:

The Party is a membership organisation. Ordinary Members shall be the core of the Party, with membership granting them rights to make party policy, partake in governing structures, select candidates for their area, and shape the life of the Party at all levels.

Every member must pay a monthly or annual subscription fee, to be set by the Central Executive Committee.

Robust democratic debate among members shall be central. The Party shall, at the same time, always seek to remain united, disciplined, and outward-facing. [Members must accordingly respect the confidentiality of internal Party matters.]

Members consent to their data being processed under the Party’s Privacy Policy, set according to General Data Protection Regulation.

Breaches of rules may result in suspension, expulsion, or public disassociation according to Accountability and Standards Procedures.

Publicly elected members of the party, as well as party officers, will be required to agree to and adhere to a Code of Ethics in Office.

Members affirm their adherence to the Purpose, Aims and Objectives of the Party.

Members must comply with the Party’s Constitution, Membership Rules, Standing Orders, and Disciplinary Procedures.

Members must act in a respectful, comradely, and non-abusive manner in all Party contexts, including Party meetings and on social media.

Members indemnify the Party against any liabilities arising from their application or membership.

[Members may not hold membership in any other national political party, except if specified by the CEC.

Members may not affiliate with or participate in organisations undermining Party values.] Members must be living in Cymru, Scotland or England or have the right to vote in UK elections. Members must be at least 16 years old.

5. Party Affiliates:

A comprehensive consultation exercise and work plan for prospective Party Affiliates will take place as part of the party’s opening 12-month strategic plan.

Affiliates encompass organisations such as trades unions, tenants unions/associations, campaign groups, etc. This list is not exhaustive.

6. Organised Sections:

Development of a membership-led body of work for Organised Sections will take place as part of the party’s opening 12-month strategic plan to determine the best way for these to be organised within the party.

Organised sections encompass social groups such as the LGBTQ+ community, the disabled community, minority ethnic communities, women, young people, etc. This list is not exhaustive.

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