04.03.2021

Not a moment too soon

Robbie Rix reports on the Weekly Worker fighting fund

Unfortunately we didn’t quite manage to make that extra £307 in the last four days of February. In fact we only got just over half of what we needed to make our £2,000 monthly target, meaning that we ended up with £1,853.

That was despite the efforts of some keen supporters of the Weekly Worker - notably comrade BK, who made a last-minute bank transfer of £50. There were also monthly standing orders from DG and MM (£20 each) and GT (£15), while comrades DB (£50) and AR (£5) made their usual donations via PayPal. But all that only came to £160, leaving us with a deficit of £147.

The consolation is, of course, that February is the shortest month of the year, so logically we might expect to receive a slightly smaller number of donations. Also, recently we have been reaching that £2,000 more comfortably than in the past, so what’s one month between friends?

Well, let’s see how we get on in March. So far it’s OK, but not much better - after the first three days of the month all we have are those regular standing orders (plus one PayPal contribution). Mind you, the 15 SOs we got are obviously very much appreciated - thank you, comrades JT and AC (£50), EW (£40), ST (£30), MS (£20), MT (£15), TM (£12), MM (£11), VP, AN, RL, YM and DI (£10 each), BG (£7) and PBS (£5). And that PayPal donation was a one-off from comrade NJ for £15.

All that came to £305 - not bad. But, of course, the start of the month is the time when we get most standing orders (although some later in the month are for very substantial amounts).

But let me end with the message that accompanied NJ’s £15 PayPal gift. He wrote: “In anticipation of the return of a print edition of WW, sending small amount to support the paper.” I think you’re right to ‘anticipate’ that, comrade, although it’s likely to be just another couple of months yet. But, seeing as we’re now approaching a full year since we last printed the paper, it can’t come a moment too soon!

Robbie Rix