John Morris' Manifesto for Campaigns & Membership

#MAKE IT

MORRIS

Campaigns & Membership

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Ultimately I want to make this the best year yet of Labour Students. I have my ten key policies which I’m going to work on should I get elected, but throughout the year I’ll be looking for ways to improve Labour Students both for those currently in the movement and for those coming in the future.

Please read through my manifesto and let me know what you think. You can contact me at the details at the bottom of the page.

Thanks for reading, let’s make it Morris!

Facebook: John Morris for Campaigns & Membership, Twitter #MakeItMorris @JohnJamesMorris

Who am I? I remember sitting by myself, in my kitchen, when I was 16 years old.

I was worried, I had just started living by myself after getting made homeless after my mother had gone to jail and my siblings were split up. I remember thinking that that was it. That I was never going to make it to university. That I was never going to achieve anything I’d set out to do. That my life was over.

Thankfully, not of this came true. Not only did I get to university but I managed to win the Young People of the Year competition for what I achieved whilst my life was crumbling down around me...but this is my manifesto, why am I mentioning this?

It’s because it’s at this stage my interest in politics started, I wanted to find the voice I was told I never had and after a brief flirtation with the Liberal Democrats in Sixth Form (I’m so, so sorry!) I joined Labour.

After heading to university I got myself straight onto committee as campaigns coordinator. Through that I started working alongside the local party, organising campaigning and learning more about the movement.

However, it wasn’t long before our club started struggling, all but dying by the end of my first year, as members refused to campaign and expected us to be a social only group. Shortly after I took the reins of the society and have been slowly rebuilding it since.

I’m running for this role because I feel I’ve had enough experience to do it justice. One of the major things I’ve done is my involvement with Team v, vInspired’s flagship program. With Team v I’ve ran eight major campaigns and currently planning a ninth! These have been on issues ranging from mental health, youth homelessness and food poverty, amongst others.

Throughout these campaigns I’ve slept rough in Stoke-On-Trent for three nights (it even snowed on the third night!), put on 20 events within a month, twice, for Feelgood February; a month where we tried to get students to think about their own mental health and how to improve it.

I’ve also been heavily involved in the organisational aspect of the more recent campaigns, taking a step back and helping others run their campaigns.

Facebook: John Morris for Campaigns & Membership, Twitter #MakeItMorris @JohnJamesMorris

Why should you vote for me?

Outside of this I’ve gained writing experience through organisations such as the Guardian, NUS, GeekSushi and plenty of others.

I hope to utilise the skills I’ve learnt through Team v, and experiences from other organisations, for this role. Although I’ve been heavily involved with Labour the experiences and skills I’ve gotten outside the organisation can only help to strengthen it.

And speaking of Labour, I’ve organised campaign days both with nearby clubs and with the local party. I campaign every spare moment I can, giving up most my summer to help in Nottingham, and work as hard as I could for my society and for national Labour Students, even getting elected onto policy forum at last year’s Council Elect me and I’ll work to make Labour Student events as accessible and open as possible. No one, No where, should struggle to engage with Labour Students. I want to work with regional coordinators to run more campaign weekends closer to home whilst buddying up clubs so that smaller ones still get the chance to go to events. This is only a small snapshot of what I want to do, I’ll go into more detail over the next few pages, but I can only do all this if I get elected. So, have a read, and if you agree, make it Morris!

Experience Chair of Keele Labour Students 2013— current Keele Campaigns Coordinator 2011-2013 Labour Students Policy Forum 2014-current Campaigner in Nottingham and Stoke

Guardian Blogging Student 2012-14, including Comment is Free.

Written hundreds of articles for dozens of other publications as well and won awards.

vInspired’s Team v—Ran eight campaigns with.

Year 1—Youth Homelessness, Mental Health and Renovating spaces.

Year 2—The Sustainable Generation, Healthy Relationships and Migration.

Year 3—Food Poverty, Young Carers and working on the third.

Student Minds, a group aimed at raising awareness of mental health. Campaigns Coordinator, 13-14, and Coordinator, 1415. Ran numerous campaigns with including ones on loneliness and Schizophrenia.

Feelgood February 1 & 2—A month long event getting people to think about their own mental health and how they can go about improving it and feeling happier. Ran over 40 events during the two awareness months.

Keele SU elected positions – On Campus Rep 11/12 Open Portfolio Officer 12/13

Esdevium Games—2011—current.

Racing around the country, going to conventions, festivals and stores playing board games with families and members of the public.

The Scouting Movement—Given over 3000 hours through being a leader and building teachers’ accommodation in Gambia, even winning the Young People of the Year Competition because of this.

Facebook: John Morris for Campaigns & Membership, Twitter #MakeItMorris @JohnJamesMorris

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uicker Clubs need to plan in a dvance and whilst thing s do happen out the blue where poss , ible I will giv e 2 weeks notice on a ll events, w ith the inten of getting b tion asic informa tion out at a month be le ast fore. Not on ly that but I full in a deta w ill iled form fo r each even and make th t at public, all owing clubs see where a to nd when we 're meeting and plans fo r the day.

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Extend #TeamFightBack Why stop rewarding members when it's not an election year? Bring #TeamFightBack back in a big way. Open it up for all campaigning – though weight core campaigning more – and keep the rewards flowing. #TeamFightBack is a great way to reward members and shout about the hard work students are putting into electioneering!

New Ways of Communications We need to look at more ways to talk to the membership. A simple solution is a Labour Students wide Facebook group.

This will allow another way for Labour Students to discuss events, unleash surveys or organise each other. It also fosters a greater sense of community! I’ll also look at creating a Labour Students blog to give members more opportunity to speak about the movement.

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hip Labour Stud ents offer a great chanc people of all e for walks of life to get involv and I will wo ed rk towards c reating a ev more divers en e membersh ip I want to ru n events an d campaign liberation gro s with ups, put on a diverse ra of panels an nge d speakers a nd speak to different typ the es of memb ers about ho can expand w we each section . I also want run a greate to r variety of socials to su types of Lab it all our Students .

Leave No One Behind It shouldn't matter if you live in London, Dundee or Keele, you should have the same opportunities as anyone else. And if there's not a club there, you should never be blocked from attending events. I want clubs to open their doors to nearby unis without ones and I want to expand Labour Students to those studying in other forms.

University is not the only way to go. Let’s build Labour Students and really show why we’re the best!

My Aims for running Campaigns Campaigning should always be at the heart of Labour Students. We should always be out knocking on doors and shouting about the issues we care about.

Elect me and I’ll expand the amount of campaigning we do. Every year we have the fantastic priority campaign which enables us to take one single issue and put our all into it. Our Living Wage campaign is what we should be basing it on.

I’ll make sure that the entire membership is consulted on the campaigns that we run. Close to Freshers I want to run a Labour Students survey that consults our members on what issues matter to them and how Labour Students can support individual clubs. Not only is this a great way to engender a sense of community and provide us with important information but it allows every member to have a say on what we do. At the end of my term I’d also like to send out a survey asking how we did and how successful the campaign was as a way to check what we’re doing is working.

I also want to promote Labour Students running campaigns in their own local area and give them the tools to do so. Area based campaigns are a great way for clubs to show they’re capable of more, link with the local party and get Labour Students out there.

We should actively encourage to groups to think beyond our priority campaign. I want to look at ways we can help clubs to run these campaigns to make them as successful as possible.

I also think we should look at new ways to campaign. I want to run Push Campaigns, these are short campaigns that focus on a single issue. These will not only lower the time commitment but allow us to run a greater amount of campaigns throughout the year. These campaigns will be stunt based with the intention of creating media interest and getting Labour Students out there, without the huge commitment of Priority campaigning.

On top of this I think #TeamFightBack is a great concept that should continue beyond this election year. I think it’s great to reward students for giving up their time doing, let’s be honest, what can often be a boring, thankless task. I think we should open #TeamFightBack so any campaigning counts, though giving more points for key campaigning, and make sure smaller clubs feel like they can also win prizes.

Finally, a key part of my job will be running campaign dates and weekends. I want us to keep this motivation we’ve got during a non-general election year (though we do have London and the devolved assemblies to worry about). We should always be out. I’ll work with regional coordinators to run campaigning across the country and, crucially will give information out two weeks before each session, with the intention of getting basis info out a month before. I’ll also be clear where we’ll be and at what times so members can work out the best route for them to take to get there.

Facebook: John Morris for Campaigns & Membership, Twitter #MakeItMorris @JohnJamesMorris

My Aims for the Membership

2015 is of course the important year, we need to get into government to get power. But, for us, it’s the year after us that will test us. Will we lose focus once there’s no longer a looming general election? Will we be in government and now face having to stand up for students whilst holding power? Will be fail to get in and need to keep the membership motivated after what will be an extremely hard fought election?

Regardless of what happens I intend to expand our membership. I want to look at buddying up smaller and larger Labour clubs to open up the range of events members can go to. I want to work alongside liberation groups to run events and campaigns to build a more diverse membership. I want to look at dead or dwindling Labour clubs and attempt to build them back up or re-establish them, either by myself, with the help of local clubs or through their local party.

I want to place a massive emphasis on Fresher Fairs and give clubs the tools, ideas and information to stand out from the crowd. I want to encourage clubs to open up to allow nearby members who might not have a Labour club to come to their events. Or for clubs to run evens other Labour Students can go to.

If I’m elected I’ll work hard alongside the various national Labour Groups such as Welsh Labour Students and Scottish Labour Students to make sure their voices are loud and heard on everything from building their membership to running campaigns that matter to them. After the referendum we need to work on rebuilding Labour in Scotland. Crucially, I want to make sure Labour Students have a strong presence during the elections in the devolved assemblies.

I also think the membership needs to know more about what we’re doing. I want literature that tells members about our national events, especially Political Weekend, so that clubs now when they’re happening from the get go. Ultimately I want to push for a huge recruitment to make Labour Students even stronger.

We also need to expand the range of socials we offer, both at national events and separately. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with a good night out, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Elect me and I’ll make sure we run a variety of socials. Be it bowling, or karaoke, or lasertag, or maybe even something bigger like a day trip to Alton Towers.

Elect me and I’ll make sure I’m there for the members. I want to do simple stuff like set up a blog to update Labour Students on what I’m doing and making sure club committees know they can contact me for help running campaigns or recruiting members. I’ll also set up a Facebook group for committees—and maybe one for all members—to chat to each other and stay in contact. Labour Students is only as strong as its members, so lets keep expanding, communicating and building up our membership.

My ideas don’t end here, but the page does, so please chat to me at conference, contact me on social media, and vote John Morris!

Facebook: John Morris for Campaigns & Membership, Twitter #MakeItMorris @JohnJamesMorris

My Ten Pledges Elect me and these are the ten policies which I will enact during my year. These are my main pledges but there’s plenty more I want to do. Look inside for more information!

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10

Push Campaigns Expand the Training given to Members Build Our Nation Extend #TeamFightBack More Information, Quicker New Ways of Communications Twinning Clubs Make Freshers Week Incredible Expand Our Membership Leave No One Behind

Facebook: John Morris for Campaigns & Membership, Twitter #MakeItMorris @JohnJamesMorris