Fighting fund target smashed – now plan for next quarter

Tories fractured… election possibility… give us the resources!

photo Paul Mattsson

photo Paul Mattsson   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Ken Douglas, Socialist Party national treasurer

Socialist Party members raised a magnificent £8,453 in the final week of the fighting fund campaign for the April to June quarter, with the London region raising £2,500 and North West £1,500 in the last few days. With this last huge effort we reached our national target, raising a grand total of £30,606.

The Socialist Party has no rich backers. We depend on the support of ordinary working class people to finance our day-to-day campaigning.

Our members raise fighting fund by campaigning on the streets, with fundraising events and also through donations to our website.

In the weeks leading up to the recent NHS demo in central London and the NHS 70th anniversary celebrations, our members clearly tapped into a huge mood of support for the health service, anger at the Tories and enthusiasm to build for mass action to get them out.

We are calling on the trade union leaders and Jeremy Corbyn to fully mobilise that support which, so far, they have failed to do.

Issue 1000 success

Our campaign to sell a thousand extra copies of issue 1000 of the Socialist also helped as Socialist Party branches held many extra sales that week and raised more fighting fund as a result.

For example, Swansea and West Wales branch raised £424 over the course of the week, while selling 230 papers. Overall an extra 1,755 copies of that issue have been sold.

Branches also held many fundraising events to make sure that we hit the national target. Lewisham/Southwark branch held a BBQ after the NHS demo and a sale of Roger Shrives’ books raised £284.

Southampton raised £101 from a Beefest BBQ and book sale, and Leicester £67. Also, Leeds branch raised £55 with a book sale.

Cardiff West raised £98 selling sandwiches at the recent branch organisers’ school held there.

East London raised £58 with a clothes party and Tower Hamlets £60 with a guided walk around the places in central London that Karl Marx frequented.

Car boot sales continue to be a useful source of funds – Swansea branch raised £104 and Waltham Forest £70 on theirs.

We have to make sure we maintain this momentum on the fighting fund going into the July to September quarter. With the current turmoil in the Tory party there could even be a general election in the next few months!

We have to make sure that we have the funds to build support for a socialist alternative and for a Corbyn government that carries out socialist policies.