25.06.1998

Keep it coming

Summer Offensive ’98

Comrades are booking places now for their families and friends to join our celebration meal to mark the completion of the CPGB’s 15th Summer Offensive fundraising drive. The event is in London on the evening of Saturday July 11 - places should be booked quickly. The minimum price is £20, but a solidarity price of £50 per head is recommended to help push the total raised up to and beyond the £20,000 target.

As anticipated, this is proving to be a tough target for our organisation to raise in the present period of reaction. Only a few new comrades have joined in the Offensive for the first time, and established veterans of previous campaigns have, in the main, been slow off the mark. This is not only because we all have the same personal needs as anyone else - the rent has to be paid, household bills have to be met, and so on. It is also true that political tasks cannot be put aside for the two months of fundraising. Above all, the Weekly Worker must still be written and produced, week in and week out. Prioritising fundraising work for the duration of the campaign is easier said than done.

Nevertheless, I know that comrades have taken extra shifts, in some cases second jobs. Others have organised street stalls, or collected goods and sold them in car boot sales. Some have parted with personal possessions, or simply gone without a few luxuries. Party printshop comrades have significantly raised their output of commercial work in a way which promises well for the future.

All of this shows a microcosm of the future communist society - from each according to their ability: selfless collective work for no personal gain, all for the common good. The effort many put into building themselves a private haven to escape the insecurities of this dog-eat-dog society, we communists channel towards the project to liberate humanity.

The campaign has certainly suffered from the late start syndrome, and that seems to have developed into a late finish syndrome. I know of one or two comrades who have only just got themselves sorted, and look set to raise more in the last week of the campaign than they have done in the previous seven. So far we have reached 38% of target, with a total of £7,638 in, and pledges still standing at £14,100. I shall be counting both pledges and moneys raised right up to the celebration meal. So keep it coming!

Stan Kelsey