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New York
April 5, 1983
To the Secretariat and the Political Committee
Dear Comrades:
I request a meeting of the PC as soon as possible.
The last PC meeting was, to my knowledge, held on March 11, that is, two days after the end of the Gelfand trial. Ever since that time I have repeatedly asked at the national office when the next PC meeting would be held, so that I could raise important questions there, but have been unable to get any definite answer.
On March 9, four weeks ago, I sent the PC and the NC a letter by Steve Bloom and me calling attention to a very grave situation developing in the party that threatens to undermine the preconvention discussion that soon should be opened. The PC has never met to act on this matter, despite the urgency, and copies of the Bloom/Lovell letter have not been sent to the NC, despite my request that this be done.
Another matter that requires immediate attention is the adoption of an official call for the national convention slated for Oberlin July 30 through August 6,1983. The party constitution stipulates that the convention call, along with a convention agenda and NC proposals, shall be issued “at least ninety (90) days before the date of the convention for discussion in the local organizations and the official publications.”
Two years ago the convention call was dated April 7 and set April 17 as the date for the opening of the preconvention discussion in the internal bulletin. This allowed the customary 90-day period (April 17-July 17) for articles to be submitted to the bulletin.
If the convention call is not issued soon, the preconvention period will be drastically curtailed. Since no date has been set for an NC meeting to issue the convention call, I request that the PC meet as soon as possible to consider proposals to hasten the issuance of the convention call and allow the customary and traditional period for preconvention discussion.
Comradely, /s/Frank Lovell
P.S. Please send a copy of this letter to the NC.
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New York
April 14,1983
To the Political Committee
Dear Comrades:
The Secretariat reported in a letter April 11 that there will be a PC meeting this week to act on its proposal for an NC meeting May 7-12, propose an agenda for the meeting, etc. I now request that the same PC meeting have another point on the agenda, devoted to setting the date of the coming national convention and other preparations for the convention such as the date for the convention call, the date for opening the preconvention discussion bulletin, etc.
Let me inform you in advance of the PC meeting the lines along which I hope to speak there. In my opinion, the party can only benefit from having a convention in August, two years after our last convention. The benefits would be both political and organizational- It is possible to have the convention in August without any strain of our resources. Postponing the convention until later in the year, after we already have obtained the Oberlin site in August, would be financially expensive and wasteful. I will, therefore, propose holding the convention July 30 through August 6.
The only problem I can see with this proposal is connected with the party’s constitutional requirement that national conventions be preceded by a discussion period of at least 90 days between the date of the convention call and the date of the convention. If the PC had taken this matter up earlier, as I requested and as it could have done (as it did for example two years ago when the convention call was dated April 7 and the preconvention bulletin was opened for discussion on April 17), this problem would not have arisen. It arises now because of the dates proposed for the NC meeting, namely, May 7-12; if the convention call is not sent out until after the NC meeting (May 13 or there after), obviously this will not permit a normal 90-day discussion period.
Although this problem would not have arisen if the PC had acted earlier and in accord with our customary procedure during the last 10-12 years, it can still be handled and need not block the holding of an August convention. All that needs to be done to assure both an August convention and a full preconvention discussion period is to have the convention call and the designation of the date for opening the discussion issued by the PC on behalf of the NC before April 30, rather than waiting for it to be done at a later date by the NC. I will be prepared to make suggestions at this week’s PC meeting on how the convention call, etc., can be issued before April 30 in a completely constitutional and simple way.
Comradely,
/s/Frank Lovell
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