Bylaws

These are our bylaws, which formally define the membership, structure, and activities of Red Star Peoria.

Ratified April 9th 2026 by the Organizing Committee of Red Star Peoria

I. Preamble

1. This organization shall be named Red Star Peoria.

2. This organization shall be a Communist organization which adheres to scientific socialism as outlined in the Points of Unity.

3. This document is a living document and must be regularly reviewed at least once a year at a general meeting to determine the practical compliance of members of the organization to the bylaws and changes if necessary.

II. Membership

1. A member of this organization is one who is 21 years old or older, who accepts the organizational Points of Unity, abides by the Code of Conduct, contributes regular labor to the organization, submits to decisions made by the organization, and pays their dues.

   1a. Regular labor may be physical labor or digital labor. The minimum labor expectation is fulfilling two assigned tasks per month. Tasks may be assigned by any committee. Disputes over task assignment must go to the executive committee for deliberation and voting, with task disputes going to the general meeting agenda if necessary.

   1b. Dues may be paid on a sliding scale from as little as $2 per month or up to 5% of one’s monthly income. Dues may be waived with the approval of the executive committee. Dues must be paid to the treasurer.

2. Those who wish to be admitted into the organization will be interviewed by three current members, of which at least one is on the executive committee, and admitted upon a majority vote of the interviewer group.

   2a. If a prospective member is denied admission, they will be told why. They may attempt admission again after at least six months time from the time of their last attempt.

   2b. At least two of the members conducting the interview must not be the same people who interviewed a candidate last time.

3. Members have voting privileges in member-only meetings and elections.

4. Members may be placed on probation or expelled from the organization. These are described in detail in Section V.

5. No member may represent the organization to public or private media or other groups unless authorized to do so by the executive committee.

III. Structure

1. The sum of all members constitutes the general body of the organization.

2. The executive committee of the organization comprises of two co-chairs, a secretary, a treasurer, and a liason, comprising five officers in total.

   2a. The co-chairs work together to draw up agendas and run meetings on time and productively. They may take turns running meetings or share meetings. If the co-chairs disagree on an agenda point, they must bring it to the rest of the executive committee to arbitrate.

   2b. The secretary keeps the minutes of meetings, records elections results, and ensures that records are maintained and accessible, including records for the website. The secretary shall coordinate with the liaison for statements about other organizations that may be published on the website.

   2c. The treasurer collects and records dues and other monetary transactions, and gives regular reports to the general body at general meetings about the financial state of the organization.

   2d. The liaison serves as a primary, though not exclusive, point of contact between the organization and public and private media, as well as between the organization and other groups. The liaison may receive or delegate communication duties with external organizations to other members at their discretion. The liaison must know which communication duties are delegated to whom, and must report delegation decisions to the executive committee.

3. Any member in good standing may be elected to an executive office. Each executive office has a term length of six months. Executive officers may resign at any time.

   3a. No member may occupy multiple offices at once.

   3b. No member on probation may hold an office. A member placed on probation or expelled from the organization immediately vacates that office.

4. Elections for an office shall take place in the last two weeks of the incumbent’s term or within two weeks of a vacation of that office by resignation of that officeholder, disciplinary measures due to misconduct, probation, or expulsion from the organization.

   4a. Elections must be announced at least one week in advance, at which point members in good standing who wish to run for election may submit a platform no longer than 1000 words.

   4b. Elections must be conducted electronically with secret ballot over the course of 72 hours.

   4c. If no candidate wins a majority of the general body, run-off elections must occur until there is a winner. If an election is uncontested, the sole candidate must win a majority of the general body.

5. Organizational expenditures consist of regular expenses and extraordinary expenses.

   5a. A majority vote of the general body is required in order to take line items on and off the budget if voting asynchronously; the majority of quorum is required for synchronous votes.

   5b. If requested by a member, the treasurer must return a current report of the organization’s accounts within 48 hours.

6. New committees may be formed with an amendment to the bylaws.

IV. Activities

1. This organization shall use Robert’s Rules of Order to run all of its meetings.

   1a. This organization shall offer a virtual option for all in-person meetings.

   1b. This organization shall provide masks for in-person meetings and events held indoors and expected to exceed five in-person attendees.

   1c. All regular meetings shall have at least two weeks notice of their time and date.

2. This organization shall hold a public meeting every month. This meeting must have an in-person component.

   2a. Each public meeting shall consist of a reading of a short text and discussion thereof.

   2b. Members are encouraged to but not required to attend public meetings.

   2c. No binding votes may be cast at public meetings, only consultative votes.

3. This organization shall hold a private members-only general meeting every month.

   3a. At the general meeting, each member shall deliver a report. Members may delegate report delivery. Questions of strategy and tactics shall be determined, followed by study of a text.

   3b. Members must attend at least half of general meetings every year. Failure to attend meetings is grounds for a vote for placement on probation.

   3c. If there is a scheduling conflict, members must submit comments to be read to the meeting. Members may delegate their vote to another member in good standing for proxy voting. Submission of comments AND vote delegation excuses an absence.

   3d. If the majority of the general body is present (quorum) then votes may be conducted synchronously.

4. The executive committee of the organization must meet at least once a month. Executive officers are expected to attend at least two-thirds of executive committee meeting. The majority of the executive committee must be present for synchronous votes.

   4a. The same excused absence protocol applies to executive committee meetings.

5. Extraordinary meetings may be called by a majority of the general body. At least two weeks notice must be given, unless two-thirds of the general body vote to suspend that requirement or unless the meeting is a struggle session or investigative meeting (described in Section V.)

6. Unless otherwise specified to take place at a meeting, all votes may be conducted asynchronously and electronically, with named ballots unless otherwise specified. Electronic voting must be open for 72 hours.

V. Discipline

1. This organization and its members shall exhibit restraint with the use of alcohol and other judgement-affecting substances during organizing work. Violations of these prohibitions are grounds for criticism and discipline.

   1a. This organization shall not host events or meetings at locations which primarily or exclusively serve alcohol. Members of this organization shall not purchase or consume alcohol at or during this organization’s events and meetings, including virtual meetings.

   1b. Members of this organization shall not smoke or vape indoors in public spaces (or in private spaces without permission of the owner AND consent of all present in-person) during this organization’s events and meetings.

   1c. Members of this organization, if consuming cannabis or other non-alcoholic substances during events and meetings, must do so in a non-disruptive manner. Members must exercise good judgement in relation to their use of judgement-impairing substances during organizational work.

2. Members of this organization may be subject to the following sanctions for violations of organizational discipline including the Points of Unity and the Code of Conduct:

   2a. A written warning, to be recorded internally. A warning carries no inherent punishment; it is simply a mark on a member’s record and may be referenced for further disciplinary actions and investigations.

   2b. Removal from the executive committee or other committees, projects, or duties.

   2c. Probation, which suspends a member’s voting privileges, and ceases their activities and work with the organization, for a set period.

   2d. Expulsion from the organization with or without blacklisting.

3. Sanctions against members may be mitigated by the disciplined member admitting wrongdoing, cooperation with an investigation (if applicable), active efforts to prevent breach of discipline in the future, active efforts to mitigate the consequences of a breach of discipline, and other meritous behaviors.

   3a. Warnings may be struck from a member’s record by resolution upon the submission of a self-criticism to the general body and two-thirds approval thereof.

4. Anyone may lodge a criticism against a member of the organization. If the executive committee or the majority of the general body finds the criticism to be valid and in need of redress, then the executive committee must schedule a criticism and self-criticism meeting (struggle session) with the criticized individual and with relevant parties. Votes on criticisms must be secret.

   4a. At a struggle session, the criticism will be presented to the criticized member to be answered. Other members may give testimony to the criticized behavior. The criticized member is also permitted to bring criticism themself, as long as it is directly related to the criticized behavior and does not create a secondary trial of another member.

   4b. If there is a criticism to be made against another member it must be handled in a separate struggle session.

   4c. At the end of the meeting, those present will vote on whether the criticism was valid and if so, what sanction to levy against the criticized member.

5. Serious misconduct is behavior which actively endangers other people, regardless if they are members of the organization or not, including physical violence and sexual misconduct. Votes regarding the handling of serious misconduct must be secret.

   5a. The previous procedures which apply to non-serious misconduct do not apply to serious misconduct.

   5b. Failure to report serious misconduct to the executive committee is itself serious misconduct or at least a criticizeable error.

   5c. A member accused of serious misconduct shall be put on probation immediately, suspending all work within the organization.

   5d. The executive committee must appoint at least one investigator to investigate the accusations. The executive committee must inform the general body of the investigation and ensure that the organization does not facilitate contact between an accused member and a victim, if possible.

   5e. The investigator must meet with witnesses, complainants, and the accused member to gather evidence. All meetings must take place within two weeks of the accusation. There must be an extraordinary meeting scheduled for the presentation of evidence to take place within one week of the end of an investigation. Within the investigative meeting, the general body has the power to extend the investigation for at most seven days by majority vote with another extraordinary meeting at the end of that period.

   5f. Once all evidence is presented, the general body must vote on the credibility of the accusation. If a majority of quorum vote and find the accusations credible, the accused member shall be instantly expelled and blacklisted from the organization. The results of the investigation, the accusation, and all related materials must be published publicly within one week of the credibility vote with approppiate redactions.

6. The organization shall maintain a publicly available blacklist of individuals who are not welcome to this organization’s events or communication channels. Votes on blacklisting must be secret.

   6a. Non-members of the organization may be placed on the blacklist with a two-thirds vote.

   6b. Non-members who were placed on the blacklist for reasons unrelated to an expulsion may contact the liaison to appeal their placement after at least six months from the date of their initial blacklisting. The liaison must bring the appeal to the general body, with a two-thirds vote requires to take an individual off of the blacklist.

7. Probation may be used to relieve a member of duties to the organization for non-punitive reasons. A majority vote at a general meeting is required to restore a member to good standing after placement on non-punitive probation.

   7a. A member who ceases activity AND communication with the organization for at least one month will automatically be placed on a vote for probation at the next general meeting, to be confirmed by a majority vote. Probation for inactivity is for logistical, not punitive, reasons and must be recorded as such.

   7b. Members may voluntarily go on probation for extraordinary circumstances. Upon their return to the organization they may be restored to good standing. Probation for extraordinary circumstances is for logistical, not punitive, reasons and must be recorded for such.

VI. Amendments

1. The bylaws and Code of Conduct may be amended at general meetings by the general body with at least two-thirds majority vote. The text of an amendment must be accessible at least one week before the vote.

2. The Points of Unity may only be amended by the line struggle process. Any member of the organization may request a line struggle session. If the executive committee or the majority of the general body finds that line struggle is necessary to resolve a question of the Points of Unity, a line struggle session must be scheduled.

   2a. Each viewpoint must write a position paper to be presented in the line struggle meeting.

   2b. The line struggle session must begin with a summary of the current position of the organization followed by addressing the dissenting viewpoint(s).

   2c. This must be followed by a round of arguments and evidence presented by the dissenting viewpoints(s).

   2d. The final phase of the line struggle session is summing up the positions presented by all viewpoints.

   2e. After the line struggle session, each viewpoint must write a position paper to be reviewed by the general body. Post-meeting position papers must be accessible at least one week in advance of a vote to change Points of Unity, which requires a two-thirds majority to ratify.