photo TaxRebate.org.uk (Creative Commons)

photo TaxRebate.org.uk (Creative Commons)   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Ken Douglas, Socialist Party Treasurer

Socialist Party members and supporters raised £44,171 in the final three months of 2018 – 147% of the target of £30,000! Because of this huge effort we also surpassed the annual fighting fund target, raising £130,632 altogether.

That means last year, alongside the Building Fund total of £159,000 paid in so far, we raised nearly £290,000. We have achieved this through the hard work, dedication and self-sacrifice of members and supporters. The Socialist party has no rich backers.

This dedication was evident at the beginning of the year as members campaigned in the snow, supporting the UCU strike and also battling cuts and privatisation in the NHS.

Members tapped into a huge mood of support for the NHS, with the 70th anniversary celebrations in the spring and the NHS demo. At the same time we helped secure notable victories with campaigns that saved Glenfield children’s heart unit in Leicester, Chatsworth ward in Mansfield and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary A&E.

We also celebrated one of our own anniversaries with issue 1000 of the Socialist. Our campaign to sell an extra thousand copies of that issue was so enthusiastically taken up that we sold nearly double that amount and raised a lot of fighting fund at the same time.

Members also raised big amounts from parties, social events and festivals throughout 2018. Burns night in Carlisle, curry night in Gateshead, music night in Salford, plant sales at local festivals in Sheffield, book sales and car boots in Swansea, a ‘Beef fest’ BBQ in Southampton, the Tolpuddle festival in the South West, and Christmas meals in London.

Now we need to prepare to make sure that 2019 is as successful as 2018. We need to raise the finance necessary to ensure we have the means to get our socialist ideas out to as wide an audience as possible.