24.04.1997

Summer Offensive ’97

Party notes

Communist Party comrades should by now have preparations for this year’s two-month fund drive - the Summer Offensive - well in hand. With a £25,000 collective target, priority must be given to these arrangements, despite the fact that the launch date has been brought forward by a few weeks and comrades will have their hands full with the last stages of the general election. The Summer Offensive is an important political campaign of our Party and must be treated accordingly.

A degree of mystique surrounds the SO. Opponents of our organisation tend to regard it as generally admirable but slightly wacky. I was once seriously approached by acquaintances in another left organisation and told that I was looking ‘peaky’ during the course of one campaign - “Are you sure you’re not overdoing this year’s Offensive?” one asked, genuinely concerned. In fact, I had hay fever.

Certainly, the amounts that individual comrades are able to raise can be quite prodigious. This is our 14th SO. They originated in the struggle of Leninists against the old opportunist leadership of the Communist Party in the 1980s. Thus we were able to directly contrast the levels of commitment and sacrifice of our comrades with the members of other factions in the Party. One comparative statistic that sticks in my mind from the time was our discovery that some of our lower totals being raised by individuals were more than those managed by several whole districts of opportunists during their annual limp ‘appeal’.

Thus, a serious approach to money has always characterised this organisation. Given the nature of the tasks we set ourselves, how could it be otherwise? The SO is the highpoint of our fundraising, yet day-to-day the Party takes serious money in the form of dues from its comrades. Members give 10% of their income as a required minimum. Of course, comrades in dire financial straits are not driven to the workhouse, but in general we regard this as perfectly reasonable. Moderate, even.

Comrades in some organisations on our periphery have balked at this level of membership quota and the annual SO. While the Open Polemic group scuttled away from last year’s SO claiming that it was ‘premature’, others have even tried to theorise their opposition to high levels of financial commitment to the Party. Put crudely, this amounts to little more than the idea that we will ‘put ordinary workers off’ by demanding heavy financial duties from them.

In fact, history shows that masses of workers are more disposed to building serious organisations in a serious way. ‘Ordinary’ people have flocked to organisations from the Communist International to the Catholic Church on the basis of their deeply held beliefs, not who was cheaper to join. Did the miners of the Great Strike of 1984/85 sacrifice anything financially? What about the heroic stand of the Liverpool dockers - what has that done to their bank balances?

The project for world communism demands commitment on a higher level than that of the most militant workers. Certainly those who fail to even aspire to such levels should not insult militants by blaming their failings on the whimsical and shallow nature of the working class itself.

‘What now for the left’ discussions of one sort or another are bound to be a big feature of political life in the aftermath of the Labour victory. An energetic and successful SO will have an excellent exemplary effect on many sections afflicted by a sense of anti-climax and disorientation.

Comrades should be now drawing up lists of names of contacts to draw into the campaign with a view to making them members during the course of it. The 14th Summer Offensive of the Communist Party must be our most all-encompassing and biggest yet.

Mark Fischer
national organiser