Minutes:

CS executive meeting – 25/02/07

Present: James Turley, Tina Becker, Dave Isaacson, Jamie Linney, Ben Lewis.

Also present (as observers): David Sabbagh and Huw Grocutt.

Ben chaired and Dave took minutes.

Agenda
1.    Review of minutes from last exec meeting
2.    Finance
3.    Communist University (Student)
4.    Website
5.    NUS conference
6.    Iran campaign (HOPI)
7.    Executive co-option
8.    CS3
9.    Work on campuses
10.    Next meeting

1.    Review of minutes from last exec meeting.

All the minutes were deemed fine and correct. There were however some tasks which remain to be completed and others that logically followed on from our review:

-    many of the tasks regarding the website remain unfinished (more on the website below however)
-    Ben to check to see if we can still propose our NUS amendment on Iran at Sheffield uni UC
-    Dave to check the progress of the amendment at Leeds Met [Done. It seems it has been passed and will go to NUS conference]
-    Room for NUS conference fringe meeting booked by Jamie (cost £300)
-    Tina to check if NUS conference stall booked [Done. It is booked]
-    Ben to chase Yassamine up over factual corrections to Mohsen's Iran fact sheet
-    Tina to design leaflet based on HOPI statement
-    Ben to contact Mark re. Database of supporters

2.    Finance

Jamie reported that there is around £50 in our account and around £50 to be paid in. However, we have a number of bills to pay and need to raise some money a.s.a.p.

-    Jamie to open new bank account with 'CS' name. Try Unity or Co-op
-    We need as many comrades as possible to set up standing orders so that CS has some regular income. All comrades present agreed to get standing orders set up
-    Dave to remind membership that we agreed on a £5 membership fee at launch conference – only those who attended conference have so far paid this
-    Discussion of holding a social during the Communist University event at Sheffield University. It was felt that it would be better to have a post SU election party in Sheffield at which we try to raise some money

3.    Communist University (Student)

It was agreed that we will sponsor/organise a weekend education school at Sheffield University on April 21-22. This will be open to all, but with a special focus on students.

-    Comrades to ask Chris (Sheff) to draw up general leaflet for CU a.s.a.p.
-    Ben to book room. It will cost £180 for two days
-    Agreed to have four sessions over the weekend – (1) Debate on communist student/youth work with CS, Permanent Revolution and Education Not for Sale [Huw to invite speakers]. (2) Iran's 1979 revolution [Ben to invite Yassamine to speak]. (3) CMP and revolutionary programme [Hillel? Tina to ask; also ask Nick about contacts]. (4) What was the USSR [Ben to ask Mandelite lecturer, Tina to invite Hillel].

4.    Website

Agreed to move over to new website layout designed by Chris. We discussed a number of features that we want added to or renewed on the website.

-    Section on Iran
-    Section with educational resources
-    Section with activist resources eg. CS political platform leaflet, CS standing order form, HOPI statement leaflet, etc.
-    Blog/other easily up datable format
-    Links page
-    Re-do contacts page with either full regional links or one central one
-    Change top lettering of new web design
-    Join us! Form

5.    NUS Conference

We discussed how comrades had got on with getting delegated and passing our amendment. We also discussed how we would intervene at the conference.

-    Dave to email Toby to see if he is delegated
-    Dave to check out how to be observers [Done. Tina has beat me to it! Let her know if you want to be an observer]
-    Dave to check who is going to NUS conference [Ben, Dave, James, Tina, Sabbagh and Emily have already said they will be there for some or all of the conference]
-    Ideas for some kind of publicity stunt?
-    Leaflet for NUS conference - 20th March deadline (1) James to write general piece on NUS and student politics, (2) Dave to write more specifically about the motions that will be discussed at conference
-    HOPI fringe meeting – Ben to ring Nina and Yassamine about speaking; Ben to speak for CS; Jamie to pay for room

6.    Iran (HOPI)

There are a number of tasks regarding Iran mentioned elsewhere here. Additional to those we urge all CS members to initiate HOPI launch meetings in their local areas. Contact CS centrally for help with getting speakers, publicity, etc., sorted out.

We also want to encourage comrades to write letters/articles on HOPI for their SU publications.

7.    Exec co-option

The exec agrees to co-opt Laurie McCauley onto the exec to bring our numbers back up to six.

8.    CS3
We have agreed that it would be too difficult to bring out another (good) edition of CS before NUS conference. We need to time publishing editions of CS with big events to enable proper national distribution so we have agreed to wait and see when it would be best to bring out our next edition. The G8 in Germany was discussed as a possibility, as were any future anti-war demo's.

9.    Work on campuses

As well as organising HOPI meetings it was agreed that we need to find ways to help isolated comrades to be active. We also need to encourage these comrades to come to national events such as NUS conference and Communist University.