17.04.2020

Correct course

The last seven days must be one of the worst ever for contributions to the Weekly Worker fighting fund, with just £95 received.

There are two reasons for that, I think. First, it just so happens that those seven days coincide exactly with the time of the month when we get virtually no standing orders - incredibly there were just two, both for £5 (thank you, MF and SN). In fact on the 16th of each month, we always get two substantial SO donations, so the week ended one day too early!

The second (possible) reason is that because of the lockdown we haven’t yet received this week’s mail, which means that any donations by cheque won’t count until next week. But we did get three PayPal contributions - thanks go to RL (£50), US comrade PM for his usual $25 monthly contribution and DB (£10). So our April running total is only £557, with exactly half the month gone. That means we need almost three times as much in the second half if we’re going to make our £2,000 target.

Mind you, comrade DB helped compensate for that shortcoming with his praise for what the Weekly Worker does. He writes: “I was a Labour Party member and over four years witnessed in real time, as your clear-headed analysis was proven correct with the unfolding of events. Appeasement of the right and the failure to radically democratise the party were fatal errors, as you predicted.”

He adds: “I cannot but admire your tenacity in sticking to your principles despite all the flak that must have been thrown your way. It is deeply frustrating and exhausting to see the left buckle, bow down and make the wrong choices. You comrades have steered the correct course, but unfortunately the wrong people were at the helm of the rest of the left.”

Kind words, comrade, but just a thought: maybe it’s not so much the people that are wrong, but the overall politics they’ve inherited. For instance, where is the commitment not just to transforming Labour, but to the establishment of a genuinely democratic-centralist Communist Party, where open, public debate is not just tolerated, but actively encouraged?

Well, that’s the message of the Weekly Worker week after week - with or without.

Robbie Rix