14.03.2013

Fighting fund: Members only

Robbie Rix says the popularity of the Weekly Worker is proof of its value to left-wingers everywhere

The Socialist Workers Party insists that its internal debates are just that - internal. So it heads its Pre-conference Bulletin “For members only”.

What, you might think, is so ‘confidential’ about a discussion on the way an aspiring revolutionary party conducts itself? After all, isn’t its aim to guide the whole class in its struggle for self-emancipation? Shouldn’t that class be informed, then, about all the important differences? Or perhaps the SWP leadership thinks advanced workers are just not interested.

Our online readership figures suggest they are. Last week, for example, we had 21,692 in total, but - unlike most weeks, when we get the biggest number of visits on Thursday, when the new issue is uploaded - last week it was Monday March 11 (4,333) and Sunday March 10 (3,971) which notched up the highest figures.

And the reason? You guessed it - thousands of leftwing partisans wanted to know what took place at the SWP’s special conference. Quite rightly - what happens to the SWP matters. Of course, the Weekly Worker does not have all the facts: we have to rely on sympathisers coming up with the information and sometimes they get things wrong.

But at least we know our efforts are appreciated. The regular donations we get tell us that. Mind you, at the moment the fighting fund is losing out a bit to our legal appeal - that’s where the big money is going. But those standing orders keep the total mounting, if a bit slower than we’d prefer. This week I have to thank AM (£50), GD (£25), DV (£20), ST (£15) and SM (£10), which adds £120 to March’s figures.

But we only have £502 with almost half the month gone and we need £1,500. Can you help?