26.05.2004

Pushing the party forward!

June 1 sees the launch of the 20th Summer Offensive of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Anne Mc Shane explains this annual funding campaign, and relates it to the wider political struggle.

The Summer Offensive is the annual fundraising drive of the CPGB, this year lasting through June and July and with a minimum target of £30,000. It is an important event for our organisation, an opportunity to build financially and politically. It is a chance to push forward the strategic aim of our organisation, the fight for a reforged Communist Party.

Our £30,000 target is the minimum necessary to carry out our tasks in the next year. Currently, we are having to move office in order to consolidate our finances. However, once again we have ambitious plans. We preparing to publish two new books this year - one on Europe and the other on religion. Then there is a multi-volume work on the Soviet Union. Besides that we are trying to support new local branches. We are an organisation with strong political ideas - but we still lack an effective infrastructure.

We can have pride in the role that the Weekly Worker plays in the struggle for a partyist project. As one of the widest read papers on the left, it has played a pivotal role in publishing openly the views and activities of the main protagonists. But nowadays our equipment is positively antique. We urgently need new computers, new scanners, new printers, virtually new everything. The Summer Offensive is therefore vital for the continuation of the Weekly Worker.

The left is undoubtedly in a pitiful state. As Blair and Bush flounder over their disaster in Iraq, political space opens up in society for new ideas.Respect does not have the programme needed. Nor do the myriad confessional sects. What is needed is a democratic centralist Communist Party. As presently constituted, we are not a Communist Party - in the sense of being the advanced part of the class - but we do unremittingly fight for a Communist Party. That is why we must step up our efforts to increase our size and effectiveness. And that requires finances.

Over the next two months we will be asking comrades to set targets, give or increase standing orders, and generally get involved in fundraising. So get your thinking caps on and let's get going!

Summer Offensive background

♦ The first full SO was in 1985 (we organised a mini-Offensive the year before). This year's is therefore our 20th full campaign.

♦ We took the idea from Marx's Neue Rheinische Zeitung, the Subbotniks of the Bolsheviks and the Iscinin Sesi wing of the Communist Party of Turkey (all had a robust approach to fundraising).

♦ The organisation sets itself a collective target to raise in two months - this year £30,000 - and individual members set a personal minimum.

♦ The range of pledges amongst members varies considerably, but some comrades will be outstanding. Last year, one comrade set herself £1,200 to raise in the two months of the SO and two other comrades pledged £1,000 each. We anticipate similar heroics this year.

♦ Non-members participate at whatever level they feel they can - all donations to the campaign are gratefully received.

♦ The SO ends with a celebratory meal, where we announce the final amount raised and commend comrades' individual achievements (for years this was dubbed "the Offensive meal", until someone pointed out this may be a little off-putting …). This year's celebration takes place on the evening of August 14, the first day of Communist University, our annual school