Fighting Fund target smashed!

Ken Douglas, Socialist Party national treasurer

Socialist Party members raised over £10,000 in the last two weeks of the March to June fighting fund campaign, smashing the national target and reaching the magnificent total of £28,207

This was a great effort - it shows that our members are prepared to pull out all the stops to ensure that we have the funds to step up our campaigns for a one-day general strike against the cuts and a socialist alternative to the austerity policies of the three main capitalist parties.

Branches put on fund-raising events as part of the Collectathon fund-raising fortnight. Mansfield and North Derbyshire branch raised £27 at a showing of 'The Spirit of '45' in a local pub.

Tower Hamlets branch has raised £260 so far from a sponsored bike ride and Newcastle branch raised over £90 at a barbecue for members, friends and family.

Sheffield South branch raised £124 at a local festival, including £100 from sales of plants grown by members.

Contrast this with New Labour, where the two Eds austerity-lite policies are sinking them in the polls.

What an indictment of Labour's abandonment of the working class that the opposition is losing popularity against one of the most vicious cuts governments in history.

Desperate for funding, they are currently contacting their existing members and asking them to take out additional direct debits.

One Usdaw shop workers' union member was rung and asked for £12 a month, then £10, then £8 until they got down to £4!

There is no enthusiasm for Labour among ordinary workers - that is the message that our members hear when we are out campaigning in the town centres, on the doorstep and on the picket lines.

That is why people are willing to make a donation to support our work and buy a copy of the Socialist.

One reader sent in £10 with the message: "I hope my meagre donation helps to fund resistance to the coalition and their nefarious cuts and realpolitik."

Every donation and all the amounts that are raised, no matter how big or how small, are important and help fund the fight for socialism.

Our members will now be gearing up for the new fighting fund quarter over the summer with the aim of ensuring that we again reach the target of £25,000.

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.