For diffing purposes, the SRT file before and after my edits

srt.srt

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We have to move beyond the idea of just

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having kind of hope that something will happen.

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It's about time we do something

4
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since, you know, we're always saying

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someone surely is going to do this.

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This party needs to be built in a certain way

7
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in order to solve a lot of the problems

8
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that we face in our movement. In order

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to move past the limitations of the

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sectarian milieu of the socialist left,

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and in order to move past the

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limitations of work through social

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movements, through tenant unions and

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trade unions alone, through

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anti-imperialist organising alone, through the

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struggle for trans liberation alone, and

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so on and so forth.

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For me, the party has to be more than

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just an electoral vehicle and we have to

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also move beyond just social movements

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that are divorced from electoral

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politics. I'm in this along this line

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of thinking of the party as an

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articulator of social movements.

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I'm standing for the Central Executive Committee

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because I want to deliver for

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the 850,000 people who first registered

28
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interest in our party, what they were promised:

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a gigantic lever for popular

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political mobilisation backing all

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sections of the exploited and oppressed

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and providing a socialist perspective

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for real change.

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Hi, I'm Anahita Zardoshti and I'm running

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in London alongside Mel Mullings.

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My name is Chloe Braddock. I'm running in

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the North West of England alongside Haifa Alkhanshali.

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I'm Graham Jones.

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I'm standing in the West Midlands.

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My name's Max Shanley. I'm a writer and socialist

41
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organiser now of about 18 years standing.

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I've been political, I'd say most of my life.

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I grew up in a political family.

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I grew up amongst communists in Iran

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and I think just by the nature of

46
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where I was, it was very difficult to

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not be a political person - seeing kind

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of the effects of imperialism.

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I would identify myself as a

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socialist organiser first and foremost.

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I've got a background across the different

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struggles that the working class is

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engaged in our country, particularly in

54
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tenant unionism. I was the secretary and

55
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founder of the Southampton Tenants Union.

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I'm an organiser and author. In terms

57
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of political organising, I came up

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through housing activism, but other

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things like disability and LGBTQ issues

60
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have become equally important to me,

61
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but always through a socialist lens.

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I watched my union branch, which was quite

63
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militant, get smashed by management and it

64
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was coming up against the limits of

65
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industrial trade unionism that made me

66
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make a political turn and turn towards

67
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socialist politics. So there wasn't any Your Party

68
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branch in Islington so we decided to set

69
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one up and we thought, let's give this a go.

70
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And our big aim and our

71
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question was: how do we get this

72
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community - and let's focus on Islington

73
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for now within Your Party and hope sort

74
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of the national level things will get

75
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sorted. I sort came back into the

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political scene after having heard of

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various people I know, about what was

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going on in the kind of run

79
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up to Your Party being launched and

80
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being incredibly frustrated that history

81
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was about to repeat itself again.

82
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So I ended up writing a series of

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articles that kind of snowballedinto the

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formation of what is now known as the

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Democratic Socialists of Your Party.

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And we were the ones that got the question

87
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of collective leadership on the agenda,

88
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which was then adopted by the membership

89
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at founding conference.

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And so by sort of yeah, getting involved

91
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with Democratic Socialists meeting loads

92
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of people that were already like-minded

93
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about this kind of the getting beyond the

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difficulties of of the British left in

95
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particular, but the Western left as a

96
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whole. It's become

97
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clear to me that there is a huge

98
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amount of potential in Your Party to

99
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shape a new socialist vehicle that is

100
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unlike any other socialist party we have,

101
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certainly unlike the Greens and the

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Labour Party. And the Grassroots Left

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program is is the best shot we have

104
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at that. In fact, I think

105
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that's under selling it. If anything,

106
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I think it is it. It is it.

107
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In all of this, because the branch has been

108
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going, has been doing so well people have

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been so engaged, we've run campaigns for

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the hunger strikers in Palestine. We have

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book clubs we run, we're going to run

112
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screenings, we have socials. There's

113
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a host of kind of working groups that

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we've set up for tenants organising.

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We've helped strikes. We've helped guard

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picket lines for NEU and UCU workers

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who actually won a 7% pay rise

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and thanked our efforts a lot and

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we just thought there's so much that we

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can actually be doing and getting on with

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and the absolute kind of contempt that

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we've had from from the, I guess from

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the center of the party, is what what

124
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has made me personally kind of think,

125
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well, we need to replicate this

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everywhere. And we can't allow this to

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just be something localised here, and we

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can't allow the structures of the party

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to be as undemocratic as they are.

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We champion having a party of the whole

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left and the reason that this is really

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important is that we need to encourage

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the formation of open factions, and

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that's really vital to keeping

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debates open, lively, and being able to

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basically get as many voices as possible

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heard which is only going to

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add to a healthy, healthy ideas being

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generated and a healthy amount of debate.

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We can't act like we don't have any

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differences. And if we try to suppress

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those differences, they don't just go

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away. We want to be able to have our

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voices heard and to debate that in an

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open way rather than having people doing

146
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in kind of shadowy backrooms. If we

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discourage people for joining, especially

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if we start, if our aims to have a mass

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socialist party and we start expelling

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socialists and communists, then then it's

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never going to end well. We need to

152
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encourage people to work together. We

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need to encourage people to be able to

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openly debate these things.

155
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The whole founding process of your

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party was a farce. It wasn't

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democratic, it was a joke.

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People were promised this grand

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democratic experiment of mass

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participation and what they received

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was mass disempowerment. And as

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a result we have ended up

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with a party that is incredibly

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top down and that reflects in its

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structures, practices and modes of behaviour

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the type of society it comes

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from and and it has inherited

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that from the Labour Party.

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One of the key questions then

170
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is if you can't democratise your own

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party, how are you going to democratise

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the state? If you can't democratise the

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state well then you probably can't

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democratise the economy and if you can't

175
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democratise the economy can you

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actually have socialism, right? So rather

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than being abstract questions, they are

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expressly political. One of the things

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that the grassroots left slate is

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committed to is the creation of the

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Democracy Commission to basically go

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through a kind of refounding process over

183
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the course of six months that

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delivers on what was promised to people,

185
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which was this radically democratic,

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mass socialist party of the working

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class. The Democracy Commission would be

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brought into being as a result

189
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of the Central Executive Committee

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passing a resolution to that effect.

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It would be made up of

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members of the CEC, some

193
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people with certain expertise appointed,

194
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who have knowledge of different

195
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mechanisms of socialist organisation and

196
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political theory and so on, and

197
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potentially some people from amongst the

198
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membership chosen by sortition.

199
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Its aim would be to

200
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spark that refounding process, but

201
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also to create a framework

202
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through which members can seriously

203
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engage with the

204
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real fundamental questions of political

205
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organisation.

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Empowered democratic branches are

207
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essential to the empowerment of members

208
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and the establishment of a vibrant

209
00:10:19,849 --> 00:10:22,535
internal democracy within our party. But

210
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for most people in the working

211
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class in this country, politics is

212
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generally something that is very

213
00:10:30,027 --> 00:10:31,980
alienating and participation is limited

214
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basically to a vote every few years, maybe

215
00:10:34,714 --> 00:10:37,448
some door knocking if you're very, very

216
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keen, but very little actual democratic

217
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input because - of course - that's how

218
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capitalism works. It seeks to disempower

219
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the working class. The local branches

220
00:10:46,822 --> 00:10:49,755
have to be the foundation upon which

221
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our party is built. And I mean

222
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specifically democratic participatory

223
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branches in which members don't simply

224
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receive directives from on high about

225
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going out and doing this or that

226
00:11:01,922 --> 00:11:04,859
in the local community to back this

227
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or that electoral campaign, but in which

228
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members actually set the direction.

229
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We are in favour of a vibrant

230
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participatory democracy which starts in

231
00:11:15,817 --> 00:11:18,362
the branches and culminates in a

232
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sovereign conference at a national level

233
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of delegates elected and instructed by

234
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their local branches and those delegates

235
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together collectively inform the strategy

236
00:11:28,542 --> 00:11:31,318
and the development of the party. Now

237
00:11:31,318 --> 00:11:34,026
how do we build those branches to be

238
00:11:34,026 --> 00:11:36,734
able to do that? Well they need

239
00:11:36,734 --> 00:11:39,103
some things that they haven't been given

240
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yet: They need funding. 50% of members

241
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dues in each area should go towards local

242
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organising, should go towards local

243
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branches to facilitate things: basic

244
00:11:47,564 --> 00:11:49,594
things like, for instance, room hire.

245
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Various parts of the Grassroots Left

246
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program want to have

247
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focus on marginalised members of our

248
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communities. As it comes to sort

249
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of, you know, differentiation with other

250
00:12:07,387 --> 00:12:10,369
parties, other organisations, I think

251
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it has to go beyond merely sort

252
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of a defense of the marginalised, which

253
00:12:16,332 --> 00:12:19,156
could often be kind of, you know,

254
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presented in a sort of a chartiable

255
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kind of frame rather than one of

256
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solidarity.

257
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Now, to make

258
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an organisation broadly accessible is not

259
00:12:34,743 --> 00:12:37,713
just a nice addition for, you know,

260
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because we're being charitable

261
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to a marginalised group. It is

262
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actually very much about creating a

263
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genuinely democratic party.

264
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Organisationally, not many people are

265
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really having these conversations,

266
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we're still in a mode where a lot

267
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of people have moved into this more

268
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sort of, you know, intersectional way of

269
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thinking, but organisationally it's

270
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still, you know, you're on the

271
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left and then you kind of tack on these

272
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kind of identity issues - as they're still

273
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there to be thought of. And for me, it

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has to be much more central to

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our way of sort of analysing

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the systems that are in front of us.

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It has to be thought of as

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core to actually creating a genuinely

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working class democratic party.

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And integral to that is also the notion

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that it's not just about, you

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know, protection of the marginalised,

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it's not even just about this kind

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of more this stuff of analysing

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capitalism more deeply and understanding

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the the interconnectedness of these

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different oppressions and capitalism.

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It's also about actually allowing people

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to organise in the party and that's why

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we are, we have a specific

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demand of organised

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sections around oppressions such

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as race, gender, disability,

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immigration status,

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LGBTQ issues,

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but also

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different forms of

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organised sections like the youth section

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that we'll be supporting. We don't

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just want to be rhetorically supporting

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LGBTQ people or disabled people, we

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want to be supporting people to

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organise autonomously around the issues

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which are effecting them the most.

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If you're not able to, you know, gain

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experience of governing through governing

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your own organisation, how do we ever

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expect the working class to be able to

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rule society? It's really as simple as

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that. You know, one of the primary

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tasks of the party moving forward is

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digging trenches in society. You were

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entirely correct that over the past kind

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of 50 years, because it's coming up to

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50 years now since

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(they now call it neoliberalism)

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came into being, you know,the working

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class movement has been smashed.

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The working class has been fundamentally

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changed through a process of

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de-industrialisation, it ain't what it used

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to be. You know, there might be

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6.5 million trade union members in this

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country, but you only need to look at

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turnout and union elections to realise

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that maybe 650,000 of them are actually

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active, and the rest of them simply

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consider it a form of workplace insurance

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rather than as an

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act of class organisation and class solidarity.

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When we talk about democracy, democracy

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has to mean more than

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voting. It's about how you go

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about achieving: A) your political ends,

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but how you go about projecting

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your vision of society. You know,

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we very much need to be

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digging trenches in society.

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There's no hop, skip and a jump.

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Vote Grassroots Left.

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Vote Grassroots Left.

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Vote Grassroots Left.

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Vote Grassroots Left.