The Socialist 31 March 2021

Unite and fight - For the right to protest

Mobilise Liverpool workers to defy Tory commissioners and austerity

London - We need socialists into City Hall

Warning: Labour Party cutters - careful who you phone!

Domestic Abuse Bill: So much still to fight for

We will not be the lost generation

Shrewsbury pickets exonerated after almost 50 years

'Chingford skinhead' spills the beans over government surveillance of union activists

Freeports spell deregulation, low pay and a new race to the bottom

No start for life

Unite and fight - For the right to protest

Defending the right to protest

Preparing for the revolts to come

Cumberland hospital workers fight for stolen pay

NHS pay: 15% now!

Trade union fighters rally to support victimised workers

BT Openreach engineers step up the pressure with five-day strike action

Asda equal pay ruling victory - now fight for equal pay for all

SPS Technologies workers strike against potential pay loss of £3,000 a year

Deskilling protests by sparks electricians continue

Beal academy strikers demand equal sick pay

Goodlord strike starts to bite

Nationalise Liberty Steel to save jobs

British Gas workers strike ahead of 'fire and rehire' deadline

Online rally - 150 years since the Paris Commune

Selling the Socialist

Donate now to fuel our election campaigns

Football abuse scandal: Reclaim the game for justice and democracy

Socialist Liverpool City Council inspired me

Women, violence and defiance

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Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1127/32285

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Selling the Socialist

Martin selling the Socialist (Click to enlarge)

Waltham Forest

In the last few weeks, since the partial relaxing of lockdown restrictions, I have put on my mask and resumed regular sales of the Socialist in Waltham Forest, east London. I have sold 91 copies of the paper in seven sales so far, 51 of those have been using a card reader - every seller of the Socialist should have one!

Most of my paper sales are at tube and bus stations, areas where workers are on their way to and from work. There are four tube stations in my area that I rotate around.

I take posters with me and stick them on lampposts 50 or 100 metres in front of and behind me so that people know that they are approaching someone selling socialist ideas.

Hopefully they read as they approach, see the Socialist Party logo, and then they see our paper. Sometimes I write the slogans on the posters myself, but the Socialist Party produces lots of really good and relevant posters with slogans that resonate and get distributed for our members to use.

It is important that we do everything we can to try to make people feel comfortable, I try to start a conversation and talk to people about what they do for a living and so on. I always make sure that I have in my mind what kind of articles are in the paper so that I can relate it to what people tell me.

The main advice I would give to new sellers, is the same that was given to me years ago. And that is to remember that you don't need to know everything. It is fine to say that you don't know, and I often point people to our website where they are likely to find articles that the Socialist Party has published on the issue.

Martin Reynolds

Enfield

We have recently begun a weekly sale at Brimsdown train station - serving the nearby industrial estate. The area includes some big workplaces including an Amazon warehouse, two largescale bakeries, and many more distribution centres.

By selling in the morning before work we are able to meet workers both on their way to work, and finishing night shifts. So far we have sold to Amazon workers interested in getting organised, an electrician who had just been laid off, and a worker on her way to an interview.

With attacks on workers' pay and conditions set to further increase, we hope to be able to give confidence to workers to struggle by arming them with the ideas in the Socialist.