09.04.2008

Fighting fund

Gordon Brown agrees with the call for military training in schools. Jim Moody puts the communist view

“I do wonder why you publish letters from people who clearly do not subscribe or make financial donations to the Weekly Worker,” writes comrade AN, who has sent us a £20 cheque for our April fighting fund. “It feels like they are taking a considerable liberty by asking you to publish their material and yet do nothing to help support your existence.”

Well, comrade, we do this because we are convinced that the best way to win the ideological battle for a Communist Party is via open debate. We have confidence in our ideas, but they can be further refined and where necessary corrected only by the exchange of contending views. Our opponents may think they are getting a free ride, but the publication of their criticisms serves a purpose.

However, we know that this approach in itself pulls in support from those who appreciate what we are doing. This week, for instance, we also have donations from CW (£10) and AC (£5), who says that a close comrade considers the Weekly Worker to be the “living heart of Marxism”.

Even better news comes in the form of substantial new standing order donations this week. LW has arranged for a magnificent £35 monthly SO, while comrade MH has increased hers by a very useful £20. And comrade JD has found an additional £2 a month. That takes us to within touching distance of our £500 target for extra SOs - we now have £486 (admittedly £40 of that is in pledges which have not yet been matched by action - come on, comrades!).

Nevertheless, it is clear that we will not only reach that target within a very short time, but should get considerably more. Our decision to go for commercial printing has been vindicated and we should soon be able to start making yet more improvements in our paper - thanks to our readers’ continued support. And our readership is starting to go up again. Last week there were 32,948 visitors to our website.

Including standing orders, our April fighting fund stands at £521 towards the £1,000 we need for the month.