07.07.2004

Summer Offensive: Twitchy

Ian Mahoney calls on friends and supporters of the CPGB to help with our intervention in this year's Marxism (the SWP's annual 'festival') - to raise money for the Summer Offensive

After last week’s surge, a relatively quiet week for the Summer Offensive, our annual fundraising drive. Just over £1,685 came in, bringing our total so far to £12,144.

No need to hit panic buttons yet, however. The last two to three weeks of the campaign normally see a small blizzard of cheques and postal orders, as comrades around the country finally pull their fingers out and get their contributions in. But that does not stop me getting a little twitchy. Let’s not get too complacent about it, comrades.

Amongst the select few who sent donations this week, special thanks to the following: The useful £100 from JB; the always generous MM for his £40; JS from the north west for £25; London’s DB for £5; MM (same initials, different bloke) for £20; Longstanding supporter FJ for his £20; £10 out of the blue from a DB, a comrade we seem to have no previous record of; a Communist Party of Britain comrade for his £10 and - via PayPal on our website - a second bite of the SO cherry for comrade GT with his £20 (one of 7,738 visitors to our website last week).

Of course, this week London comrades will be hard at work in and around the Socialist Workers Party annual school, Marxism. This brings together thousands of people for a week of revolutionary politics - both at the official event and, just as importantly, amongst the plethora of stalls, paper-sellers and leafleters from other political tendencies. In particular, our comrades will be working to build a series of fringe meetings at this year’s school, exploring in more depth some of the subjects that the official organisers will steer clear of.

This year, Marxism is being billed as “a socialist festival”. Now my dictionary defines a festival as “a joyful celebration”, which frankly does not quite square with last year’s experience of petty harassment from politically brittle SWP apparatchiks (“You can’t sell your fucking shit-rag paper here”); the blankly hostile middle-distance stare from loyalists (under the baleful scrutiny of full-timers, of course), as they swept past, ostentatiously ignoring proffered leaflets. Then there was that physical attack on two of our comrades (see Weekly Worker July 17 2003). So no, ‘festival’ is not the word that suggests itself when I cast my mind back 12 months or so.

Hopefully, SWP comrades will be in a more reflective mood this year after the failure to make the breakthrough to the big time promised by their leadership. We anticipate a brisk trade on and around our stalls during a week that can both boost the coffers of this year’s SO and spread the political influence of our organisation to what ought to be a receptive audience.
Marxism 2004 starts on Friday July 9 in central London and there will be meetings and activities every day until the following Friday, July 16. if you can help us out any time during the week, contact the CPGB on 07950 416922 or 07941 083011.