Adopted by the Congress to Reconstitute the International Trotskyist Opposition
1 November 2022
I. Character and Purpose
1. The International Trotskyist Opposition (ITO) considers itself a transitional instrument, the goal of which is, within the perspective of the struggle for world socialist revolution, to contribute to the process of building the World Party of Socialist Revolution.
It is in this sense that the ITO considers its current role important, however modest its forces. The ITO is neither the nucleus of the future refounded International nor the orthodox Trotskyist international faction, but rather a transitional regroupment structure of consistently Trotskyist militants in a struggle to develop, without opportunism or sectarianism, the fight for the International.
Although the development of the ITO is today important to this aim, it remains our firm intention to dissolve ourselves not only when the International is refounded, but also when the process toward the refoundation leads to a broader regroupment than ourselves, on a politically and organizationally consolidated basis.
2. The programmatic foundations of the ITO are based on revolutionary Marxism and Leninism and on their historical development. In particular, the ITO, in its struggle for the Fourth International, affirms the theses and resolutions of the Conferences and Congresses of the Fourth International in 1936, 1938, 1940, 1946, and 1948, and the “Declaration of Principles of the International Trotskyist Opposition”.
3. According to the traditions of the Bolshevik and Trotskyist movements, which allowed factions based on clear political platforms to organize their internal lives on the basis of democratic centralism, the ITO organizes itself on the basis of the principles of democratic centralism. The purpose of these Rules is to determine the concrete application of these principles.
II. Membership and National Sections
4. All the supporters of the ITO in a single country shall group themselves in an organized body as a national section of the ITO. A national section may be recognized as part of the ITO by the International Conference of the ITO or, between International Conferences, by the International Executive Committee.
5. A member of the ITO who is living in another country for a period of time may become a member of the national section of the country in which the member is living. In all cases, however, a member of the ITO may vote only as a member of one (1) national section.
III. The International Conference
6. The highest body of the ITO is the International Conference, which has the responsibility of determining the political line of the organization; its strategy and general tactics; and organizational, administrative, and statutory questions. The International Conference shall meet normally every three (3) years at the call of the International Executive Committee, with at least six (6) months notice.
An Extraordinary International Conference may be called by the International Executive Committee, by an absolute majority vote, with at least two (2) and no more than four (4) months notice. An Extraordinary International Conference must be called when it is requested in writing by at least twenty percent (20%) of the full members of the ITO.
7. Delegates elected by the preconferences of the national sections, in proportion to the different political positions, may participate in the International Conference with voting rights. In the case of sections existing under conditions of illegality, the delegates may be chosen by the highest leading body of the section. National sections shall endeavor to ensure that their delegations reflect, adequately, the gender composition of their membership. A report of the social composition of Conference delegations shall be included in the general report of the delegations attending the Conference, at an early point on the Conference agenda, and this report shall also be included in the ITO Internal Bulletin as part of the general report of the Conference to members.
Members of the outgoing International Executive Committee who are not elected delegates may participate in the International Conference with consultative votes.
The ratio of delegates to members — which must be equal for every section, except that each section has the right to at least one (1) delegate — and the arrangements and location for the International Conference, shall be determined by the International Executive Committee, by absolute majority vote.
8. The International Conference, at the conclusion of its work, shall elect a new International Executive Committee.
IV. The International Executive Committee
9. The International Executive Committee (IEC) shall consist of seven (7) members. It has the responsibility of directing the implementation of the decisions of the International Conferences and the International Coordinating Committee; of adapting the policies of the ITO to concrete developments; and of generally overseeing and coordinating all the activity of the ITO and of any subordinate ITO bodies that may be created, such as commissions, editorial committees, etc.
10. The IEC shall be elected by the International Conference, taking into account the presence of any differing positions. The members of the IEC shall be elected by secret ballot on an overall proposal, which may be made by any delegate to the Conference. In the case of only one proposal, the election shall be by the approval or non-approval of the proposal itself, which must receive at least an absolute majority of the delegates. In the case of more than two proposals, where none obtains an absolute majority, the election shall be by ballot between the two proposals with the most votes.
11. Between International Conferences, the composition of the IEC may be supplemented in the following ways:
- In the event of resignation or removal from the IEC for any reason, the vacancy shall be filled by the IEC by an absolute-majority vote of its members.
- The IEC shall have the power to co-opt new members in the event that supporters of a motion expressing a particular political position are not adequately represented, in the event that the gender composition of the ITO is not adequately represented, or in the event that a clear need arises for the work of the ITO.
12. The IEC, by absolute-majority vote, shall elect a Secretariat of three (3) members. The Secretariat has the responsibility of the organizational coordination of the ITO. In the event of the resignation or other termination of office of a member of the Secretariat, the member shall be replaced by the IEC, which always maintains the right to replace the Secretariat.
13. The IEC shall normally meet every two (2) months. The Secretariat may convene the IEC on its own initiative, if it deems that the situation requires it. The IEC must be convened in extraordinary session if this is requested by at least two (2) of its members.
V. The International Coordinating Committee
14. The International Coordination Committee (ICC) is the ITO’s broadest political structure between one congress and the next. It is responsible for determining the general policy of the ITO, discussing and reviewing the activities of the IEC and the Secretariat, approving financial budgets, and developing discussion on general issues.
15. The ICC shall be composed of the IEC members and members elected by the highest leading bodies of the ITO national sections on the basis of one (1) for every thirty (30) members or fraction above fifteen (15). In any case, a section with at least five (5) members has the right to elect one (1) ICC member. Sections with fewer than five (5) members may have one (1) of their members attend IEC meetings without voting rights.
16. The election of ICC members by the highest leading bodies of the ITO national sections of the ITO shall be by secret ballot on the basis of unitary or differentiated lists, according to the presence of one (1) or more political positions. In the case of a list electing at least three (3) members, one-third (1/3) of those elected must adequately represent the gender composition of the organization.
17. Between International Conferences, the membership of the ICC may be supplemented in the following ways:
- In the case of a new section joining the ITO, or an increase in membership of an existing section that results in the right to additional seats on the ICC, the highest leading body of the section shall have the power to elect one (1) or more members to the ICC, until the representation of the section is brought into accordance with the established proportion.
- In the event of resignation or disqualification from the ICC for any reason, the replacement of the vacancy shall be made by the highest leading body of the section of the disqualified member.
- The ICC has the power to co-opt new members in case supporters of a motion expressing a particular political position are not adequately represented, or in case the gender composition of the ITO is not adequately represented.
18. The ICC shall meet at least two (2) times a year, one of which shall be in person. The IEC may convene the ICC on its own initiative, if it deems that the situation requires it. The ICC must be convened in extraordinary session if this is requested by at least thirty percent (30%) of its members.
VI. Democratic Centralism
19. The internal life of the ITO is governed by international democratic centralism. This implies maximum freedom in internal discussion and maximum unity in external action. In all cases, relations between the international leadership and national sections must be political and not bureaucratic. No member or national section of the ITO may in any way be subjected to bureaucratic repression for expressing dissenting views. Decisions made by the ITO International Conferences and IEC and ICC meetings must be brought to the attention of the members of each national section for discussion and possible voting. ITO members and national sections are under no obligation to publicly express agreement with the positions of the majority of the ITO, when in fact they clearly disagree with them. They may publicly express the nature of their disagreement, but not publicly develop a campaign against the ITO majority positions.
20. ITO members who express particular positions have the right to struggle and organize within the ITO to try to win the majority to their positions, with the possibility of forming themselves into a tendency if there are at least five (5) of them. A tendency may form only on the basis of a political document. In all ITO meetings, those expressing different positions are entitled to equal speaking time. Those expressing different positions have the right to use the organization’s facilities to argue their positions, publish their documents, etc. In particular, in the period leading up to the International Conference, tendencies composed of at least three percent (3%) of the ITO’s total members on an international scale have the right to send their own spokespersons to participate in the pre-conferences of national sections in which they have no supporters, with financial help from the organization, if this is possible and necessary.
21. The IEC is responsible for publishing the International Internal Bulletin (IIB). The purpose of the IIB is the development and circulation of internal discussion, internal information about the life and activity of the ITO and its national sections, and the publication of national and international drafts and documents. The IEC may decide to open the IIB to contributions from the leading bodies of national sections, groups of members, or individual members on specific topics, setting space limits for their publication. In any case, the IIB must be open to debate in the run-up to the International Conference, in the manner determined by the IEC. A tendency may always publish its programmatic document in the IIB, within the limit of forty thousand (40,000) characters (including spaces). In the phase preceding the International Conference, each tendency may have in the IIB a space of at least fifty thousand (50,000) characters (including spaces) for the publication of its documents.
22. ICC members may communicate between meetings through a mailing list maintained by the Secretariat.
VII. Clarifications and Miscellaneous Points
23. Meetings of any ITO body are valid for deliberative purposes when they have been properly convened and a majority of its members are present. In this text, the term “majority” without any other specification is always equivalent to the concept of “relative majority,” that is, a majority of valid votes cast. The term “absolute majority” without any other specification always refers to the majority of those present and voting, including abstentions.
24. The leading bodies of the ITO have the right to appoint, by absolute majority vote, analogous reserve bodies without any current function, whose purpose is to substitute for the current bodies if they cannot function.
25. The rules of each national section of the ITO must be consistent with the principles of the ITO Rules. The IEC may ask the leading bodies of the national sections to modify the provisions of their national rules that it judges to be inconsistent with the ITO Rules. The IEC may propose to the International Conference or national conferences of the sections modifications to the national rules.
VIII. Finances
26. Each national section is required to pay to the international organization at least ten percent (10%) of the dues received by the national leadership from the local branches or sections. The management of these dues and any other income is the responsibility of the International Secretariat, which reports to the IEC and the ICC.
IX. Amendment
27. The amendment of all or any part of these Rules may be decided only by an absolute majority vote of the elected delegates at an International Conference.