11.12.2014

No guarantees

Robbie Rix has a touching faith in you, dear readers

According to Ed Miliband, balancing the books and cutting the budget deficit is an “essential test of credibility”. Which is why Labour will implement a programme of cuts every bit as horrendous as what George Osborne’s autumn statement foretold.

Here at the Weekly Worker we have no plans for cutting back. Quite the contrary. We want to increase our output, in terms of more supplements and better and more varied articles, and also continue to take measures which improve our overall quality. That obviously includes our switch to full colour on the outside pages. True, it means spending more money, but we have a drastically different approach to this, compared to the chancellor or his Labour opposite number.

We do not start with the notion that we can only spend what we have already received or are guaranteed to receive. Unlike the exchequer, we cannot compel people to pay us what we need, so there are no guarantees. Yet we are confident that our readers and supporters will come up with the goods, because they know that our consistent campaigning for a single Marxist party matches what is required.

The Weekly Worker has no reserves or willing lenders to fall back on, should we fail to raise what we need to spend through sales and, much more importantly, through the commitment of our readers and supporters. But we know that they won’t let us down in the long run (although they don’t always deliver as speedily as we’d prefer!)

So when we decided to go for full colour we knew that would mean relying on our comrades, readers and supporters to reach the new £1,750 monthly target. In the first month (November) we were £65 short, but I know in the long run we will ‘balance the books’ - preferably by December 31!

Last week saw £320 come our way in donations. That included cheques from RG (£50), BV (£40) and KF (£25), PayPal donations of £10 from MD (and he also made a bank transfer for £15 a couple of days later!), £20 each from NW and FC, plus a tenner from WS. Then there was the total of £130 that came in via standing orders - thanks go to regular donors RK, DV, ST, GD, SM, DG and CG.