Workers Solidarity Movement

This paper was retired at the June 2011 National Conference and has been replaced by the Membership & engagement paper.

 

1. The basis for membership is agreement with the WSM’s fundamental politics and practice as outlined in our join document: http://www.wsm.ie/join.

 

2. Responsibility for meeting and explaining the WSM’s politics as well as ascertaining whether potential members agree with them lies with a committee composed of the Internal Secretary and two others as chosen by DC on the basis of their political competence and capacity to interact well with a variety of people. They may delegate this responsibility to other members of similar competence.

 

3. In either case, where a potential member is not in fundamental disagreement with the WSM's basic politics, they will be invited to attend branch/internal meetings with a view to them becoming members after having attended three such meetings. Having done so, they may be proposed for membership which will be decided upon by the branch. For potential members in an area where regular attendance at a branch meeting is impossible at least two substantial meetings with two members should take place before they are proposed for membership. This proposal will go to Delegate Council. In either case, the potential member must, prior to joining, confirm that they are in agreement with the contents of the join document.

 

4. In situations where a member is in contact with a potential recruit and is confident of their level of political agreement and wishes to invite them to an internal meeting, the sequence of recruitment may be applied flexibly. It remains the responsibility of the committee to ensure that contacts have a good level of agreement with the WSM's politics.

 

5. Where there is general agreement with the organisation’s politics, but of a kind that is insufficiently in line with the organisation’s platformist orientation, further dialogue will be conducted with a view to persuading the potential member of our basic politics. They will be invited to the appropriate educationals and attempts will be made to draw them closer to the WSM through participation in activities such as paper delivery, postering etc.

 

6. Irrespective of levels of political agreement, membership may be refused where the individual exhibits evidence of inappropriate behaviour, e.g. misogyny, racism, homophobia, bullying etc.

 

7. Membership of the WSM is provisional until a new member attends the first national conference after they have completed the new member training program and filled all other membership requirements including regular attendance at branch meetings and payment of subs. The contents of the new member program will be determined by DC and will include modules on core politics, WSM structure and practical skills.

Provisional members have full voting rights but if they fail to complete the program by the first conference to fall 14 months after they have joined they will be considered to have resigned. Branch secretaries shall be responsible for tracking and reporting the progress of new members with Internal Secretary collating these reports for DC and Conference.

 

8. The decision as to wether or not someone who is not a member of the WSM may attend meetings of a particular branch will be taken by that branch.

 

This means that a branch can decide, by simple majority vote to exclude a non-member from its meetings.

 

It also means that a branch can by simple majority vote invite someone to attend its meetings as a guest without voting rights.

 

This may be someone who is a prospective member or someone who the branch finds it can work with constructively, for example an anarchist who does not currently see themselves as a prospective member. It
may be someone who is in full agreement with our politics but who is currently unable to offer the required level of time commitment.

 

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This paper was retired at the June 2011 National Conference and has been replaced by the Membership & engagement paper.