06.09.2018

Success!

The editor congratulates comrades on a cracking Summer Offensive

I am delighted to report that we got there! The CPGB just managed to reach the £25,000 target set for our annual fundraising drive, the Summer Offensive, thanks to the £7,913 raised in the last week of the campaign - almost entirely at our week-long school, Communist University. Our final total stands at an excellent (and much needed) £25,149.

We didn’t exactly have a lot to spare and in fact we only broke through the £25K barrier at all thanks to a last-minute collection at the celebratory meal on the final evening of CU! Lots of comrades fulfilled their Summer Offensive pledges during the week, managing to donate what they said they would - some at the cost of considerable effort and sacrifice.

There was also the cash raised through the sale of refreshments and so on - not to mention the alcohol consumed during the evenings of relaxed and informal debate amongst comrades. Five of them made total personal donations to the SO of over £1,000, while others made more modest contributions that nevertheless greatly boosted the total.

In this context, special mention must be made to our youngest comrade in attendance, OP, who raised a tremendous £500 - a good deal of commitment from a school student, it has to be said. And the same amount came our way from the contingent of comrades from the Netherlands. Thanks to one and all.

This success will allow, in particular, the publication of the Weekly Worker to go ahead without the constant worry of suddenly having to meet unexpected expenses - not to mention a couple of books that are in the pipeline. As regular readers will know, our paper relies on its regular fighting fund to meet its running costs, but the boost provided by the SO provides a good deal of back-up over and above what is raised by that monthly fund.

One thing we will not do, however, is take a leaf out of the Morning Star’s book and introduce a pay wall (set to be imposed in the very near future on those visiting the Star website) for those who read us online. No, our first priority is to get our message out to the largest number of people - the commitment of our readers, supporters and team of volunteers will ensure that this paper continues to appear.

Anyway, with the Summer Offensive having reached its successful conclusion, it is time to hand over this weekly space in the paper back to comrade Robbie Rix, who will be urging readers to ensure the Weekly Worker’s monthly target of £1,750 is reached. He tells me that £460 has already been raised for the September fund - thanks in particular to TDB (£100!), JT and PB (£50 each), and EW and MS (£40). Please continue to support your paper.

Peter Manson