July 2007 Local Meeting
From SP Boston
The Socialist Party of Boston met at noon on Sunday, 29 July 2007 in the Lucy Parsons Center. We heard from Matt Geary, socialist candidate for Boston City Council (at-large), as well as Bruce Burleson, candidate for the Socialist Party's Presidential nomination. In addition to candidates, we addressed some upcoming actions and our own strategies and future organization. More information is available in the minutes below.
Agenda
- Introductions and agenda approval
- Reports on recent events
- YPSL convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee
- United States Social Forum in Atlanta, Georgia
- 6/26 ACLU March to Restore Law and Justice.
- 7/1 demonstration in Kennebunkport.
- Anti-imperialist fourth of July picnic and subsequent state meeting.
- Assembling Peace V.
- Stop the Wars Coalition antiwar strategy session.
- Review and approval of new membership applications
- Finances and bank account -- hopefully reporting everything settled.
- Platform -- proposal to add Massachusetts-specific planks to the national platform
- Proposal to look into placing ads in local or progressive publications.
- Electoral
- Socialist candidate for City Council (at-large) Matt Geary
- Take a look at his campaign -- do we want to help out, and if so how (flyering, events, endorsement, etc.)
- Maybe hear from the man himself -- to be confirmed
- Future events and actions
- Protest in Kennebunkport, ME on 8/25 -- do we want to endorse.
- Iraq Moratorium beginning on 21 September -- do we want to endorse.
- March on the White House, 29 September.
- The National Convention in the fall, 19-21 October in St. Louis, MO.
- Regional UfPJ antiwar demonstration, 27 October.
- Possible student walkout in November.
Minutes
- These minutes are arranged in thematic, not chronological order.
- Introductions and agenda approval
- The meeting was attended by Matt A., Bruce B., Chris F., Chas H., Billie M., Chris P., Angela P., David S., along with Matt Geary and Hank from Socialist Alternative for the first hour.
- Electoral
- We heard from Matt Geary about his campaign for Boston City Council (at-large), and about Socialist Alternative from both Matt and Hank.
- We voted to endorse Matt's campaign on the basis of an endorsement statement to be drafted ASAP.
- Members will get involved as individuals while we determine the best way we can contribute as a group.
- We also heard from Bruce about his candidacy for the SP's nomination as Presidential candidate.
- Review and approval of new membership applications
- Bruce's membership was approved (pending resolution of dues) without opposition.
- Chris P. will get in touch with John K. from Abington; David noted that the email address we have for him is most likely incorrect.
- We forgot to address Darren L.'s membership; Matt had some questions for him, and will therefore get in touch with him.
- Finances and bank account
- The bank account is (finally) set up and active. We have checks.
- Matt needs to reconcile the bank balance with our earlier records. According to our earlier records, we have $362.70.
- Matt has filled out the forms for online banking, but has not yet confirmed that it has been activated.
- The proposal to add Massachusetts-specific planks to the national platform was not addressed.
- Proposal to look into placing ads in local or progressive publications.
- There was some general discussion of the benefits of such work, but the logistics of what sorts of ads, where to run them, and how to fund them, were noted and left for the next meeting.
- Next meeting
- Chris P. proposed attempting to meet in two weeks' time in addition to our regular monthly meeting. He is looking into dates/times/locations.
- There is also the possibility it will be primarily a social gathering.
- Future events and actions
- Matt announced an upcoming IWW fundraiser for food stuffs workers, to be held 4 August in Encuentro 5 (33 Harrison Ave.), from 6-11 pm.
- We voted to endorse the 8/25 protest in Kennebunkport. David has contacted the organizers to let them know about our endorsement and the actions we are taking to promote the event, as well as to arrange for tabling and a donation. Our endorsement is not yet listed on their Web site.
- We voted to endorse the Iraq Moratorium, and keep an eye out for developing events in the area. David filled out their endorsement web form, but our endorsement is not yet listed on their Web site.
- We discussed the upcoming UfPJ antiwar demonstration, but felt that we did not yet have enough information about it to endorse. We will revisit the topic at our next meeting.
- We discussed delegates for the National Convention in St. Louis, MO, 19-21 October. David and Matt have other reasons for being there, so we agreed to make Chris P. and Angela our local delegates (pending credentials committee clearance for Angela).
- The possible student walkout in November was not addressed; its first organizing meeting had been held only the day before, and although Chris F. and Angela had attended we didn't get any information about it.