"IT’S ALRIGHT, I can afford it", said a pensioner putting £10 into our
collecting tin in support of our petition to defend pensions. This money and
the other donations we collect, will be spent on producing leaflets, posters
and pamphlets explaining how workers are being robbed of their pensions and
how the trade unions can fight back.
Jane James, Socialist Party, national treasurer
At our stalls on Saturdays, when we leaflet workplaces and sell papers
during the week, many people can register their disgust at this government.
They can read about our campaigns and ideas and find out how to join the
Socialist Party to assist in our struggle against inequality and fight for a
socialist society.
Our plans for campaigns in the near future require a lot of money. We
intend to produce thousands of leaflets for the TUC day of action on pensions
and the planned public sector strike on 23 March. Our new pamphlet should also
be available for these events. The total cost for this material will be over
£1,000. But it is absolutely essential for us to publicise our strategy to
fight the pension attacks.
This is not the only material that will be needed in the next few months.
We will need posters, leaflets, banners, placards, extra papers and our famous
hoardings for the anti-war demo on 19 March. This is especially important
because we will once again be the only party putting forward a socialist
alternative to the occupation.
Other events coming up include the National Union of Students conference,
where we will be supporting two Socialist Students candidates standing for
positions on the 12-member executive .
We are a growing party with many young people now joining us and we need to
reach even more people. Over £1,000 has just been spent on new recruitment
material (joining cards and leaflets).
Members’ subscriptions ensure that we can maintain our headquarters and
print shop, pay for staff, both at the centre and in the regions, and produce
leaflets and other material.
Campaigns
However, in order to produce material for all the campaigns we are involved
in, we also rely on donations from our supporters, whether regular readers of
our paper or those who support our campaigning activity on our stalls.
The amount of material we can produce is determined by the amount of money
we can raise. Therefore we are asking all branches to draw up plans for the
remaining eight weeks of this Fighting Fund quarter, which ends on 8 April, to
enable us to reach our target.
Branches could do extra stalls, petitioning door-to-door and at workplaces,
asking everyone we know who supports our party for a donation. Parties and
other social events are also an enjoyable way of raising money.
