There is a huge range of organisational forms; different ways of distributing power in an organisation – more or less democratic, centralised and hierarchical.

Effectiveness: What is the most effective organisational form for pursuing particular purposes? For example, winning elections might be best achieved by a relatively centralised organisation, while cultural production or organising might go better with a more decentralised one.

Principle: What role should the left’s principles play in determining its choice of organisational form? To the extent that the left is committed to an expansive form of democracy in society, should our organisations also all be maximally democratic? Does extensive internal democracy make it easier or harder to achieve our goals?

Membership: The left should also consider what it’s like for people to be ordinary members of its organisations. Should members be highly active and engaged or mostly passive sources of income and occasional involvement, such as in election campaigns?

Formalisation: These questions must also be considered in relation to the need to engage with state bureaucracy, which is needed to legally raise money, employ people, etc. Most left organisations achieve formal recognition by setting themselves up as (non-profit) corporations, which is a necessarily hierarchical form with legally designated directors. This is presumably the easiest way to formalise, but is it the best?