1. Name and Introduction

1.0 The problems which face us, from unaffordable housing to the destruction of the planet's environment are due to the fact we have little to no control over the running of our lives. The reason for this is the class system, where we work for a wage while a tiny group of bosses live off the profit we create. This simple truth is more important than any single politician or ruler, and if we want to change things we have to accept it and fight along class lines. Changing sets of rulers without changing the system is like cleaning the windows of a burning house. If we want to decide our own future, we must organise with our fellow workers both against our bosses and against the state which seeks to protect them. We must build our own forms of organisation, to govern our movement and to replace the existing order. We oppose all forms of discrimination that divide us from our fellow workers. We do not believe the defeat of these forces will be an easy task, it will require hard work and dedication. The state will not simply give up when we become sufficiently powerful, but will attempt to fight us by all means and we believe we must be prepared to respond. We want a serious approach, combining theory and practice, where we set targets and assess our progress at regular intervals, and come up with new ideas based on our experiences. Our approach is based on what works. We believe in making pragmatic and tactical decisions, and not working to unbending principles. We come to agreement through open discussions, and once we have voted on a particular direction we work towards it together. We believe that the only way ordinary people successfully govern themselves is through democratic institutions built from the bottom up. We are very interested in involving anyone who agrees with these principles and is committed to seeing our side win.

1.1 The name of the organisation shall be ‘Liberty and Solidarity’.

2. Membership

2.1 New members may join in one of two ways:

• Attend two branch meetings and be accepted by a vote of that branch.
• After being recommended by a current member and accepted by a vote of a national delegate’s council.

2.2 Members are required to:

• Abide by this constitution, all current standing orders and policy.
• Participate in the democracy of the organisation.
• Uphold a level of activity in at least one of our two main areas of work, either the 'community strategy’ or ‘industrial strategy.’
• Publicly support agreed L&S policy, unless publicly acting for a supported organisation.
• Pay dues to the organisation.
• Respect that L&S takes political activity seriously, conduct themselves in an appropriate manner to the circumstances, behave responsibly towards themselves and others, not participate in political work while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and not otherwise damage the organisation unnecessarily.

2.3 To vote in branch meetings, members must have attended at least one of the preceding four meetings.

2.4 Members may take a ‘leave of absence’ (absolving the member of all responsibilities of membership) for up to 6 months and remain members with the permission of their branch or a delegate’s council.

2.5 Membership may be suspended by the vote of a branch, a delegate’s council or at national conference. The decision of national conference is final. Branches and members must make all reasonable attempts to solve internal conflict through the mediation process of the organisation.

2.6 Members without branches are required (wherever possible) to:

• Submit a report to each Internal Bulletin and attend each delegate’s conference.
• Create a personal strategy in line with national policy and submit this upon request or no less than every three months to the national secretary and delegate’s council.

2.7 Individuals who wish to either support the organisation financially but who cannot commit to the requirements of membership may become ‘supporters’. Supporters carry none of the rights or responsibilities of membership.

3. Conflict Resolution & Disciplinary Action

3.1. Where any member or group of members feels that any other member has not met the requirements specified in Point 2.2, they are encouraged to seek a private resolution but ultimately may make charges against this member to the national secretary.

3.2 Upon receiving charges, the national secretary is required to inform the member and require them to face an investigation by the standing branch delegates.

3.3. The branch delegates, upon reaching their conclusion, are required to report to the delegates council, making a recommendation on action to be taken.

3.4. Normally, action should be taken according to the following stages

a) Statement of concern and offer of support
b) Disciplinary action including removal of privileges and fining.
c) Suspension of membership.

3.5. The delegates council may skip stages by a super-majority vote.

4. Decision Making

4.1 There are three standard decision making bodies of the organisation. These are:

• The branch.
• The delegate’s council.
• The national conference.

4.2 A branch is formed by any three or more members in a given location. Branches are required to:

• Meet at least monthly.
• Make all decisions by majority vote.
• Minute all meetings including members present and decisions taken.
• Elect at least a secretary and a treasurer. Elect a chair unless rotated at each meeting. Elect other officers as necessary.
• Hold a ‘general meeting’ at least once a year where elections will take place.
• Create local strategies in line with national policy and submit these upon request or no less than every three months to the national secretary and delegate’s council.
• Submit a report to each delegate’s council.
• Vote upon national Liberty and Solidarity business and mandate a delegate to each delegate’s council.

Any branch that does not meet these requirements will not be allowed to vote in delegate’s council and the branch will be required to explain this to the next delegate’s council. Repeated failure to meet these requirements may result in further action, up to and including disbandment.

4.3 The delegate’s council is formed by (at least) elected delegates from each branch, the national secretary and disparate members (members without branches). Only the branch delegates may vote in a delegates council. The delegate’s council is required to:

• Meet at least monthly.
• Make all decisions by majority vote.
• Hear any motions submitted by branches
• Hear any motions submitted by individual members which have been seconded by another member
• Review national strategy and branch strategies at least every three months.

The delegate’s council may discuss items not on the agenda and make non-binding recommendations to the organisation. The delegate’s council may pass motions initiating branch level and/or organisation-wide discussion.

4.4 The national conference is the sovereign decision making body of the organisation. These are held at least every six months, typically in March and September. The March conference will be primarily focussed on organisational issues (elections, etc) and the September conference will be primarily focussed on strategy and policy issues. All members in good standing are encouraged to attend national conference and may submit motions. Decisions are made by majority vote. Members who cannot attend may vote via proxy vote. National conference may overturn any decision made by a delegate’s council. Only a subsequent national conference or emergency national conference may overturn decisions made in national conference - all other decision making bodies are subordinate.

4.5 The organisation also makes use of the following extraordinary decision-making bodies:

• Emergency delegate’s poll.
• Extraordinary national conference.

4.6 An emergency delegate’s poll is used to allow a rapid national response. The last person to serve as branch delegate would serve on the poll and a decision is made by a super majority vote of these delegates. It may be called in one of the following ways:

• By the vote of a branch.
• By three or more members.
• By any two national officers.

4.7 An extraordinary national conference would have the same powers as a standard national conference. At least 2 weeks’ notice must be given. It may be called in one of the following ways:

• By the vote of a branch.
• By the vote of a delegate’s council.
• By any two national officers.

4.8 The organisation also makes use of the following non-decision making bodies:

• Working groups/commissions.
• Internal seminars, education sessions and debates.

4.9 Working groups are formed to work on a specific task and make a report and/or recommendation to the organisation. Working groups can be established in one of the following three ways:

• By the mandate from national conference.
• By the mandate from a delegate’s council.
• By any three or more members.

4.10 Internal seminars, education sessions and debates are intended to strengthen organisation wide analytical, strategic and tactical unity and effectiveness. They may not make decisions, but may make reports and/or recommendations to the decision making bodies of the organisation.

5. Officers

5.1 The organisation will elect officers to carry out specific tasks.

5.2 (b) The responsibilities of the Officer Bearers are:

Secretary
(i) To keep a record of all organisation-wide correspondence.
(ii) To produce the Internal Bulletin. (iii) To be responsible for maintaining the mailing lists and web pages.
(iv) To place a report in each IB.

Treasurer
(i) To keep a record of all funds and financial transactions at an organisation-wide level.
(ii) To place in each IB a financial statement.

International Secretary
(i) To establish and maintain contact with similar organisations abroad, and to send them our publications and news of our activities.
(ii) To organise the translation of articles from foreign papers, and to be responsible for the writing of articles when requested by contacts abroad.
(iii) To place a report in each IB.

Media Officer
(i) To chair any editorial groups established by the organisation
(ii)To ensure the L&S 'Media Policy' is carried out by the organisation to the best of its abilities through liaison with branches, officers and members
(iii) To produce, edit, re-phrase and reject public written material as necessary to achieve task (i)

Industrial Organiser
(i) Keep a schedule of branch battle plans and targets and help the National Secretary ensure these are submitted.
(ii) Compile and distribute a monthly L&S industrial bulletin to all members, based on branch reports and other information, including standing sections on the IWW and NSSN. This will include a quarterly ‘context’ report.
(iii) Convene national meetings, at least yearly, to discuss L&S ‘Industrial’ activity and relevant issues. These meetings may be ‘executive’ with the authorisation of the DC and create working groups with ‘executive’ power. Members must be given 28 days notice of ’executive’ meetings and 14 days notice of ’non-executive’ meetings. Branches are required to send delegates to ’executive’ meetings
(iv) Keep a record of members relevant skills, training and competencies

5.4 Officers are elected by a vote of the national conference and serve for a term of one year.

5.5 Officers are subject to recall via any ordinary or extraordinary national conference.

5.6 No officer position, at national or local (branch) level, may be held by the same member for more than three years in succession.

6. Finance

6.1 Members must pay dues to the organisation as a minimum of 1% of income after tax.

6.2 Members may be allowed, with the permission of their branch or a national delegate’s council, to pay a lower rate should the standard rate cause hardship and/or where the member is paying substantial dues to supported organisation/s.

6.3 Any member who has not paid dues for three months is considered to have resigned from the organisation.

6.4 Of dues paid by members in branches, 50% is kept by the branch while 50% is remitted to the national organisation.

6.5 The organisation may, via a vote at a national conference or delegate’s council, place a special levy upon members to finance specific work.

6.6 Members may claim back all reasonable expenses incurred while carrying out the work of the organisation (see National Treasurer rules & procedures).

7. Policy

7.1 The organisation recognises four main forms of policy. These are as
follows:

• The constitution.
• Standing orders.
• Position papers.

7.2 The constitution is the governing document of the organisation. It may only be changed by a 2/3 majority vote at a national conference.

7.3 Standing orders consist of organisational and other current rules, regulations and policies. These may be enacted by vote at a delegate’s council or national conference. Standing orders enacted by national conference may only be altered by national conference, those enacted by the delegates council may be altered by either national conference or the delegates council.

7.4 Position papers set out the political analysis and goals of the organisation and the strategies by which we aim to achieve our goals. They are split into the following two sections:

• ‘Long term’ positions.
• ‘Short term’ strategy.

7.5 The ‘long term’ position section outlines the organisations analysis of context and broad/long term aims. These sections are publicly readable unless national conference deems otherwise. These sections may only be changed by a vote at national conference.

7.6 The ‘short term’ strategy section outlines the concrete strategy of the organisation, setting out our immediate goals and work. These must remain private to members unless the organisation decides otherwise. These may be changed by vote at a delegate’s council or national conference. These may be deleted by a 2/3 majority vote of a delegate’s council.

7.7 Only activity in line with organisation policy may be automatically carried out in the name of the organisation. To carry out any other activity in the name of the organisation requires the permission of a delegate’s council or national conference.

8. Communication

8.1 There are three standard methods of organisation wide internal
communication. These are:

• The internal bulletin.
• The national email list.
• The internal online discussion forums.

8.2 The internal bulletin is the central communication tool of the organisation. It will be produced at least monthly and be distributed to all members before each delegate’s council or national conference. It will carry, at least, reports from each officer, branch and disparate members, as well as all current motions for voting on. It may also carry news and discussion documents, etc.

8.3 The email list is for announcements and urgent business. Any call-out, event, news or other announcement of relevance to members should be posted to this list. Discussion should be kept to a minimum.

8.4 The internal forums are for discussion (both on and off topic). The organisation will use the forums to host the following:

• A calendar.
• All current and previous internal bulletins.
• All current and previous standing orders.
• All current and previous policy, position and strategy papers.
• Minutes of all previous national meetings.