09.05.2001

Offensive success

Just a few days to go before this year's Spring Offensive ends on the evening of May 12, and our total stands at just over ?19,000. We are well within striking distance of our ?20,000 target and if comrades simply fulfil the outstanding deficits on their targets, we will be home and dry. The successful SO now provides the sinews of war for us to play a full part in the Socialist Alliance and Scottish Socialist Party's bold challenge to Blair and to energetically take forward the fight for a single all-Britain party in the aftermath of the election.

We entered this year's SO a different organisation. We have experienced some growth and find ourselves in a far more fluid political situation than previous years. How have we collectively risen to the challenge?

Longer-term members have responded reasonably well to the SO and turned in 'solid' performances. All set their targets high and all have more or less got there. However, a degree of conservatism was perhaps evidenced - no real drive to increase the amounts being raised. Given our involvement with the SA project, this was perhaps a missed opportunity, reflecting some routinism in our ranks.

In general, our newer comrades have risen to the challenge and hit targets. It will be an extended process to teach comrades how to raise funds as communists, but novices to the campaign have made a good start and now have a much clearer idea about our serious approach to money-raising.

However, there is a massive imbalance in the totals this year, with a relatively small number of comrades in and around centre raising a large percentage of the total for the Party as a whole. This reflects a few things. First, our national centre has started to function effectively, with new staff being drafted in, improving both the quantity and quality of its output. Second, the comrades concerned have shown some real imagination and drive in identifying fundraising opportunities and chasing them down.

So, a good SO for us as the general election looms and the demands of campaigning step up. Congratulations to all participating comrades. We will feature more detailed statistics and breakdowns next week.

Mark Fischer