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WHAT IS THE SFP CONSTITUTION?




Like any membership-driven group, the Socialist Freedom Party has a document that expresses its basic principles. The SFP Constitution explains how our self-management style works, and provides some guidelines for our most important collective tasks.

Link to current SFP Constitution: https://sfp-erep.forumotion.com/h1-party-constitution . No login or is registration required.



A couple of real world examples of this kind of thing include ..

- The Preamble, Constitution and By-Laws of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World, an anarcho-syndicalist union)

- The Statement on Cooperative Identity, which guides the practice of co-ops like Mondragon, the real world’s largest co-operative enterprise.



This Constitution, turtle friends, as befits our game-pond, is a wee bit wittier than those real-life favorites mentioned above. LOL. Since long, long ago (2009) it's guided that vertigo mélange of hawk-eyed strategies that's been the long and winding flight path of the SFP. Mods, edits, and amends along the way've reflected changing game models as well as the ever-evolving desires, needs and creeds of the membership.




WHY DOES IT NEED MODIFICATIONS?


For a revolutionary palimpsest!

The game itself is designed and deployed by various Geniuses of the Carpathians, the Gnomes of Bucharest. The enjoyment of it is augmented by creative players.

Like e-sands through the hourglass, both the game and its container of wheel-life technologies shift shape over time. Likewise players’ expectations drift with respect to the need for and purpose of “game-meta” -- those social media softwares and community-defined procedures and tools which dance and shimmer outside of the boundaries of the game proper.


To synch up with modern sentiments, some relatively minor changes are proposed. They're aimed at opening up methods for participation in the SFP meta-procedures regarding...

• Monthly re-vamping of the Revolutionary Committee

• How the Party orders its List of Congressional Candidates

• How the Party chooses who to endorse for Country President (if anyone)




HOW THE SFP CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM WORKS



No offense intended, TheNorm! Hey boss, ping me, OK?


The process defined in the Constitution will be followed...

- Formal Aye/Nay voting on these proposed changes by Party members will commence on the 27th of December and continue until the 3rd of January, giving us time to make any further tweaks if needed. As far as I am concerned, Party members may also register an Aye or Nay prior the 27th if they wish to. The Constitution doesn’t say anything one way or the other about early voting, so I figure why not allow it.

- Votes are open and will be recorded in the SFP Forum. They may be cast on the SFP Forum, on SFP Discord, or via the in-game SFP chat.

- Those who were Party members at start of day when the Constitutional referendum was formally announced (Day 4778 / December 19th) may vote in the referendum. No parachuting into the SFP just to vote on the Constitution.

- A quorum of at least 12 votes need to be registered for the referendum to be valid.

- A 2/3rd majority of “Ayes” is needed for the proposed changes to pass and become effective. Using my incredibly advanced math skills, I've deduced that that means at least 8 "Aye" votes are needed if only the bare minimum of 12 members participate in the referendum. Hopefully it will be more than that!

- Results will be tallied and announced on the 4th of January.



I encourage all Party militants to vote “Aye”! But if you think these changes are wrong, kindly share your views and make alternative suggestions.





Below please find..

First, a quick summary.
Then, the full text of proposed changes.






SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES





Part II. GENERAL MEMBERSHIP and REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE


6. REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE

Proposed change -- Clarify language on non-voting members of the RC.


 
Part III. VOTING and NOMINATIONS


1. CP NOMS

Proposed change -- Preference voting for CP nomination can be registered via alternate means like in-game chat board or Discord.


2. CONGRESS NOMS

Proposed change -- Declaring intention to run & desire to participate in internal preference poll can be registered via alternate means like in-game chat board or Discord. All Party members who register in-game by the 20th of the month to run for Congress should be included in the internal preference poll.

Proposed change -- Require training for new Congress candidates.

Proposed change -- Recommend a process for naming Congress delegates.


3. RC NOMS

Proposed change -- Rewrite, simplify most of this section. Focus more on volunteering and nominating, less on voting.





DETAILS OF PROPOSED CHANGES




Items shown in strike-out followed by italics are minor improvements to the new text that were put forward during the discussion period.


II: GENERAL MEMBERSHIP and REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE

REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE


Tweak and extend this --

“e. The Revolutionary Committee may have as many additional non-voting members as desired.”

to this --

“e. The Revolutionary Committee may have additional non-voting members, who may either volunteer or be nominated to participate. There is no limit to the number of non-voting members.”



Part III: VOTING and NOMINATIONS


CP NOMS


Change and extend this –

“a. The Party President shall nominate or endorse eUSA Country President (CP) candidates based on the results of a General Party Membership poll conducted on the SFP Forum in the week prior to elections. CP elections are held on the 5th of each month. Results of the Party CP Primary should be concluded no later than the first day of each month.”

like this –

“a. The Party President shall nominate or endorse eUSA Country President (CP) candidates based on the results of a General Party Membership poll conducted on the SFP Forum in the week prior to elections. CP elections are held on the 5th of each month. Results of the Party CP Primary should be concluded no later than the first day of each month. Alternatively, Party members may participate in the CP endorsement preference poll by indicating their choice in the in-game chat, or on the Congress-related SFP Discord channel.  All such votes must be recorded in the Forum by the RC Chair or delegated RC member.“



CONGRESS NOMS


Modify and extend this paragraph --

“Interested SFP members should answer this Call by stating is desire to be a Congress candidate, declaring their intention both by using the in-game mechanism and by having their name added to the internal poll.”

comme ça –

“Interested SFP members should answer this Call by stating their desire to be a Congress candidate, declaring their intention by using the in-game mechanism to run for Congress and/or by adding their name to the Call thread on the Forum. Alternatively, members can indicate their desire to participate in the internal poll by posting on the SFP Discord or the in-game chat Party feed. In all cases, it is the duty of the RC Chair or delegated RC member to make sure all SFP Party congressional candidates (or 6th Party candidates running under the SFP list) who have declared their intention by the 20th are included on the internal preference poll.”



Extend this –

“Candidates should campaign for the Congressional primary, providing a manifesto on why Party members should vote for him/her and why the SFP should be represented in Congress.”

thusly –

“Candidates should campaign for the Congressional primary, providing a manifesto presentation on why Party members should vote for him/her and why the SFP should be represented in Congress. Candidates who have not previously served in Congress should are required to demonstrate their knowledge of US Congress procedures, for example, by having served as a delegate, by having been mentored by a veteran representative, or by having studied the appropriate guides.”



And, extend this –

“RC Chair ranks the candidates in-game according to the results of the primary vote. Failure to follow the results of the internal pool is a serious breach of responsibilities.”

to be like this –

“RC Chair ranks the candidates in-game according to the results of the primary vote. Failure to follow the results of the internal pool is a serious breach of responsibilities. Once the in-game election for Congress is concluded, two Congress delegates from the SFP may be assigned, above and beyond those who were elected.  Preference should be is given to candidates who participated in the list but were not elected, especially to those who have not previously served in Congress.  The final decision on who to send as delegates is made by the Revolutionary Committee.”


RC NOMS

Replace this entire section. I am not bothering to restate the whole thing here, turtle friends. You can read the original document if you want to compare. It details a rather cumbersome process – which has never really been followed – for campaigning and electing voting members of the Revolutionary Committee.


Proposed replacement for this section --


"Party President elections occur in-game on the 15th of each month.

"Candidates for Chair of the RC (Party President) should announce their intention, along with their proposed in-game "cabinet" selections, no later than the 8th of the month. Obviously they should also register as PP candidate in-game.  The candidate’s in-game 'cabinet' will be appointed by the Chair as voting members of the Revolutionary Committee should the candidate win the PP election.

"Between the 8th and the 13th of the month -- the week prior to PP elections on the 15th -- Party members may volunteer and put forward nominations for voting and non-voting members of the next Revolutionary Committee.  A nominated person may decline to serve, if they wish. But there is no need to formally accept a nomination.  If more than 6 people have volunteered or have been nominated as voting RC members, then a formal internal ranked-preference poll should be conducted, no later than the 15th of the month, to determine the top six voting members above and beyond the four appointed voters.

"All Party members are eligible to participate in the Revolutionary Committee on a non-voting basis. There is no polling for non-voting members of the RC.

"Once the result of the PP election is clear, the six additional voting members of the RC beyond the four appointed as part of the in-game 'cabinet', as well as all non-voting members of the RC, should be clearly identified by the incoming PP.  The relevant in-game RC message list, as well as Forum and Discord roles should be modified to reflect the make-up of the Revolutionary Committee for the next one-month term."