Proposal for joint meeting to discuss possibility of standing a socialist candidate in Exeter at next general election. Letter sent to other socialist groups.

1st November 2009

Dear Comrades

The Exeter Socialists are proposing a joint meeting of the 3 main socialist organisations in Exeter to discuss the possibility of collaborating with a view to standing a candidate in Exeter at the next general election.

The view of the Exeter Socialists is that it would be good to have a socialist candidate in the election but we think this is unlikely to happen unless the 3 main socialist groups co-operate.

We suggest the following points as a starting point for discussion:

1. Socialism: The election campaign must be explicitly socialist. 2. Democracy: The policies and conduct of the campaign be decided by open joint meetings of the campaign. 3. Election of candidate: The candidate should be elected by a joint meeting of the campaign.

If others have alternative or better proposals or ideas then they should bring them to the joint meeting.

Clearly for a joint campaign to work there would have to be a degree of consensus across the participating groups - any group that feels it has had an unacceptable candidate or policies fostered upon them will most likely withdraw causing the campaign to collapse. Also it maybe that we collectively do not have the resources to stand a candidate - in which case maybe we can discuss how we can collaborate on other issues such as anti-fascism.

We propose a meeting open to any parties interested to discuss standing a candidate 7PM to 9PM on Thursday November 12th in the Heavitree room at Exeter Community Centre. We propose that day because we already have the room booked but an alternative can be found if need be. The meeting should be considered a joint meeting and it should elect an acceptable chair and agree an agenda.

Yours in solidarity

[DP]

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