Ken Douglas, Socialist Party national treasurer
We are asking all our members to donate to the Congress 2020 appeal. Delegates and visitors from across England and Wales and internationally will be coming together on 29 February and 1 March for the Socialist Party congress.
At this event, we will be assessing the depth of the ongoing capitalist crisis and its effects in Britain, Europe and across the world. We’ll be discussing the movements of workers and young people fighting back – protesting against climate change, poverty, inequality and oppression.
A crucial aspect is the Socialist Party’s participation in these movements, putting forward a strategy and programme to unite the working class, and posing the need for socialist change. Without the necessary finance we will be constrained from trying to reach as wide an audience with our socialist ideas.
We continually need to renew our resources to enable us to be as effective as possible. For example, we have recently bought a new copyprinter costing £3,500.
Our old one had done over 4.5 million copies and was a bit worn out! We use it to enable us to quickly and cheaply print leaflets and posters for the many protests and strikes that occur on a daily basis.
2020 has also seen us establish ourselves in our new national headquarters, which we bought in July 2019. This has been a tremendous step forward for the party after renting for 20 years, and is a great investment in the future. After also having a separate printshop for that time, it has enabled us to bring all our operations together under one roof.
However, this has also come with extra costs. We have had to overhaul the heating system, replacing two units and installing a new one in the printshop, at a cost of over £7,000. We have also had to get the roof repaired, replacing a number of cracked and broken tiles, another £1,000.
We encourage all our branches to come and visit the new HQ and see the steps forward we have made for themselves. It would have not been possible without the tremendous £241,000 that our members and supporters raised over the last two years in the building fund appeal.
There will also be a subs appeal at the Congress – asking all our members to increase their regular membership sub. We are aiming for a 10% increase overall to strengthen the regular finance coming into the party.
This Congress will demonstrate how the Socialist Party’s programme shows a way out of this capitalist crisis. The amount of wealth in the world could ensure a decent life for everyone but only if the working class and poor can wrest the main levers of the economy from the hands of the super-rich capitalist elite and democratically control and plan society to meet the needs of the many.
That’s why building the Socialist Party and winning people to socialist ideas is so important – and why we are asking all our members and supporters to help provide the finance to put them into practice.
- Socialistparty.org.uk/donate