25.06.2015

Mood of optimism

The CPGB summer fundraising is off to a good start, says Mark Fischer

There is a cautious but tangible sense of optimism around this year’s Summer Offensive, the annual fundraising drive of the Communist Party of Great Britain. The target is again £30,000, to be raised over the coming eight weeks or so, and I’m pleased to report to comrades that we are off to an excellent start in this, our 30th SO campaign. Well over £19k has been pledged from participating comrades and we have already received a total of £6,312.

This - give or take a few hundred here or there - is comparable to the start of last year’s opening SO week and, as I pointed out seven days ago, our 2014 campaign came “eye-wateringly close” to its target. Particular individuals to be congratulated at this early stage are FM, a 17-year-old Croatian comrade who has coughed up his £150 fee early for this year’s Communist University; DT, one of the many young people politicised by our deceased and much-missed comrade, Cameron Richards, who was also quick off the mark with his £100 PayPal donation; MC, a lowly paid comrade in Sheffield, who is showing a clean pair of heels with his £515. That includes remuneration for a number of stints of extended cat-sitting, which is not as brutal as it sounds, I’m assured; YM and MM stumped up £500 each; and last, but never least, PK, who brought his cheque book out at the end of our June 21 aggregate to dent his account balance to the tune of £1,000.

Our collective approach to this intense period of work and activity is always exemplary and, individually, very often inspiring. This year, however, the political scene has also been positively charged by veteran Labour leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn’s inclusion in the Labour leadership election. The front page of last week’s issue, with its unequivocal ‘Vote Corbyn’ front page banner and comrade Charles Gradnitzer’s enthusiastic inside article, made it clear where our organisation stood. Encouragingly, as reports elsewhere in this issue make clear, our upbeat message chimed with the mood of a great many who took part in the June 20 People’s Assembly demo.

When we have found the time to add up all the ‘shrapnel’ (ie, loose change of various denominations), I’m confident that comrades will have raised something like £1,000 on this action. Yes, our ‘Vote Corbyn’ badges did a brisk trade - many saying that they intended to join the Labour Party or become a registered supporter specifically in order to support him. Not that surprising on a lefty demo, you may think, but other comrades noted similar reactions from rather more surprising quarters - appreciable numbers of the Young Greens contingent, for instance.

Even more encouraging was the truly excellent reception the paper received - large numbers were shifted and, again, our comrades report genuine political enthusiasm from the punters.

Our Summer Offensive is a gauge of the intensity of the work of the organisation and - because, unlike so many tendencies, we have never operated as a self-absorbed, insular sect - also a snapshot of the condition of the left that surrounds us, with which we make dogged efforts to interact. We have remarked on the left’s political, organisational and programmatic decline for years now, so our annual fund drives during this period have perforce had to take the character of maintaining past achievements, or Holding a line’, as I titled last week’s article. Corbyn’s candidacy and a serious campaign to win could change everything - Summer Offensives included.

Let’s maintain the momentum, comrades!

Mark Fischer