Week of action in Teesside – the winds of change are blowing
Daniel, Teesside Socialist Party
Teesside Socialist Party branch has been busy with three activities showing the winds of change are blowing on the Tees.
On 11 September, we held a stall in Stockton. Our campaign focused on the cuts to the winter fuel allowance, which attracted a lot of conversations from people old and young horrified at the treatment of old people by Keir Starmer’s government.
This was followed on 15 September when we had an eye-catching and busy stall at the Middlesbrough Unity Event held at a local working men’s club. We sold eight copies of the Socialist newspaper and met several enthusiastic people who wanted to join the Socialist Party.
The final event of this trinity of success came on 17 September with a fantastic campaign stall at Teesside University in Middlesbrough. We had a very busy stall, while others leafleted the library and students’ union. Plenty of students greeted us with enthusiasm, happy to see a socialist alternative to the establishment on campus.
Overall it’s been a busy few weeks for Teesside branch. We’ve gone from strength to strength in the last year and show no signs of ending our momentum. It’ll be a marathon not a sprint to turn Teesside red, but even these first steps have been utterly inspiring.
Birmingham: Northfield anger developing
Clive Walder, Birmingham South Socialist Party
Birmingham South Socialist Party branch decided to do the first stall for a while in the Northfield area of Birmingham on the subject of NHS privatisation.
It turned out to be an inspired choice of campaign. While we have sometimes had difficulty in getting people to stop and talk, not so on this occasion! There was a steady stream of people stopping to sign our petition and voice their opinion about things. A real hatred of Starmer and Reeves is beginning to develop, particularly over the withdrawal of the winter fuel payments. Our prediction that working-class people will begin to oppose the new government was borne out before our very eyes.
Interestingly, as we were campaigning on a bread and butter issue and making clear socialist demands, immigration was discussed much less than is usually the case.
It was the best stall I’ve done for ages, and importantly raised some much-needed donations for the fighting fund.
Help us raise £4,298 this week
Every quarter, the Socialist Party sets itself the target to raise £25,000 through our public campaigning. The money is vital to fund all our work, including things like the posters and leaflets that we take out with us when we are campaigning.
The deadline for this quarter is upon us at the end of September. We still have £4,298 to raise.
