10 Minutes for Socialism
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I had some thoughts arising from Alan’s pessimistic post on the Climate Change on activity and Robbo’s proposal for 10 minutes for Socialism and not wanting to divert an existing discussion, I thought it best to start a new theme.
With regards to the 10 minutes for Socialism, I think it is likely we all spend at least 10 minutes every day putting forward the case for socialism, to family, friends, colleagues, etc.
To my mind what we are lacking is targeted activity which we can all join in on. If you take the example of ADM and Annual Conference, there is a huge amount of effort put into these activities, but important as they are they are primarily administrative activities not political ones. I enjoy getting to conference or to ADM when I can, it is a real boost to be able to meet up with fellow socialists, etc. but it doesn’t really produce socialists.
Surely we could organise 2 other weekends in a year for members to gather at Head Office and carry out actual work for the party.
I would put forward the idea of a weekend in the summer where we carry out political activities, for example organise a couple of meetings either at HO or elsewhere in London which would be National Party meetings, which could be accompanied by getting out into the streets of the area and doing a mass Standard sale, mass leafleting of one of the proposed Parliamentary constituencies, etc. We could then have another weekend, maybe in January where we concentrated on the practical things needed in HO. In the regional branches we hear that there is lots of practical work to be done at HO, I for one would be happy to come down a put a weekend’s graft in, if I was confident that the weekend would involve achieving something practical and was what needed to be done and there was a group of other comrades getting stuck in as well.
I presume such activity wouldn’t need to be approved by conference, EC might need to approve some funds and the propaganda, campaigns and premises, committees would need to be involved. We have several new members, surely this is the type of activity they would be looking forward to being involved in. I have a couple of people who are growing in interest in the case and would this kind of thing might be the way of tipping them from general agreement with the party case, into actually joining the party.
Some excellent ideas BD! I like also the idea of organising more social events like the recent event organised by Lancaster Branch which I understand was highly successful.
As an organisation the SPGB seems to be predominately internet-based these days (almost all new members come via the internet for example) and there is relatively little in the way of face-to-face interactions. As a consequence one can develop a quite misleading impression of the person with whom one is engaging indirectly via the internet which I suspect is the source of many of the conflicts that occasionally flare up between members.
So there s a strong argument for encouraging more face to face interactions. I have been thinking recently of something, prompted by Lancaster’s example, but on a more ambitious scale – a Socialist Summer Holiday Scheme. Perhaps a week or two abroad in a nice location. Living in Andalucía in Southern Spain I can think of plenty of fantastic locations around here which would be suitable. Group bookings can substantially reduce the average price of accommodation
To take a random example – although this one is slightly pricey – for 2 weeks you could hire this entire 1o bedroom villa accommodating 20 people for 13.7k euros which work at about 600 pounds person for 2 weeks
https://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/granada/77630
Or if you want something much cheaper there is this one near Cordoba which comes to about 260 pounds per person for 2 weeks
https://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/hornachuelos/6866581
Or how about this one closer to the Med which accommodates 22 people
https://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/malaga/9286686
There are plenty of other options . If you arranged it early enough you could get bargain basement prices for air flights or hire a large minibus and drive down. Of course there are other costs like food (though you have to eat anyway even if you didn’t go on holiday) but there again there are savings to be had in bulk buying particularly when it comes to the vino!
When I publicise an event taking place and suggest some action to involve ourselves, I am usually reminded that we have so few volunteers to undertake such simple campaigning as turning up at them
I would suggest that your proposal should coincide any party get-together with some national protest or demonstration and there are usually a number that we can target. An upcoming one is
https://globalclimatestrike.net/
But despite plenty of advance notice, we have left things rather late as usual.
We should do what we do for our own annual conference and ADM, provide accommodation at HO for non-Londoners and provide meals. Also reimburse bus or train fares. We need to get members to Londonand that is no longer easy considering age and health.
I am a pessimist…with justification… when some suggestions I make are never even responded to.
I have repeatedly advised the Party to acquire an outdoor projector, for instance. They can be used to project our slogans on to public buildings. They can also be used outdoors for screening our videos in a gazebo to draw more people to a rather unimaginative literature stall.
I’ve also suggested an complementary and supplementary strategy to leafleting by giving out Party logo flags.
Why not add cheap tin badges, too. A machine to make them aren’t pricey. Only enamel metal badges are expensive and hard to manufacture.
They are not too labour intensive or requiring great numbers to turn out to accomplish.
All that depends on members stepping up to the plate and I have to accept what I am told …no-one is committing themselves except the same old faces who rightly feel an unfair burden being placed upon their shoulders.
We have a recent example at the Tolpuddle Festival, when a non-member had to help out at the book stall.
I think your proposal has to link to actual wider political actions taking place and help lighten existing members load.
That means no fixed time-table and being able to put into place flexible arrangements at quick notice, sometimes.
Isn’t Lancaster Br. supposed to be organizing some sort of social weekend gathering to address members inter-connection with the Party and other members. I’ve not heard anything about it since the initial idea being aired.
Re my earlier suggestion I quite like this one . Accommodates up to 18 people from around 3000 quid for 2 weeks. Very nice location also
https://www.groupaccommodation.com/properties/casa-la-negra-periana-malaga-andalucia-spain#location
“Isn’t Lancaster Br. supposed to be organizing some sort of social weekend gathering to address members inter-connection with the Party and other members. I’ve not heard anything about it since the initial idea being aired.”
Been and gone! A report appears on page 21 of the August Standard.
“Only enamel metal badges are expensive and hard to manufacture.”
Not the case. Kent & Sussex Branch are currently having 250 enamel metal badges made which will be sold through Head Office at £4.00 each including packing and inland postage (or £3.00 if collected).
“I would suggest that your proposal should coincide any party get-together with some national protest or demonstration and there are usually a number that we can target. ”
I would suggest the opposite, what we need to do is go out and create our own activity, not just hook ourselves on to the coat tails of whatever is the latest trend on the left. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have a presence at such events, but that in addition to this we need to plan in proper activity for the party which is run on our own agenda and which will fit into our own electoral strategy. We might not be a big party, but we can be a big party, for a short space of time, in a small area. If we chose the area around HO, that would fir in with where we are likely to stand candidates at coming elections. Do that every year over a five year election cycle and that creates the impression of a big party in a small area. We could plan out in advance what dates we want to use for the weekend and get high profile debates or meetings organised in that time.
I also think that the idea of a group of comrades coming together in the January period over a weekend and working in head office, in accordance with what the premises committee see as priorities (whether that be painting, decorating, cleaning, fixing, etc.) would give a greater sense of belonging to members based out in the regions.
I read your branch minutes on this forum and aware of this. I was suggesting give-away badges, and 3 quid is not a give-away price.
Producing our cheap tin badges on own machine can make it affordable to hand out free, along with the red SPGB flag to carry.
The purpose is to make our presence noticeable. Too often our message even if reduced to a catchy slogan is practically invisible.
But I recall in the IWW, I got a free badge when I joined, perhaps we could do the same with the new member pack, throw in a decent badge.
“what we need to do is go out and create our own activity, not just hook ourselves on to the coat tails of whatever is the latest trend on the left.”
The party’s most fruitful periods has always been when it was part of a larger broader social-cultural movement. I also do not believe the climate movement is the latest trend on the left. But a springboard for us to promote a steady-state sustainable socialist society.
“We might not be a big party, but we can be a big party, for a short space of time, in a small area.”
I can go for that. And if, as you suggest we centre activities around HO, it could be seen as an Open Day with free stuff to give away, a movie night, a Street Party by the Socialist Party.
“The party’s most fruitful periods has always been when it was part of a larger broader social-cultural movement.”
and what fruitful period was that???
I think there is very little evidence to back such a broad and sweeping statement.
“I can go for that. And if, as you suggest we centre activities around HO, it could be seen as an Open Day with free stuff to give away, a movie night, a Street Party by the Socialist Party.”
There are all kinds of things we could do, we could blitz a whole constituency with leaflets, we could do street stalls, like you say, a movie night, get the caterers in a put on a buffet, get a one off licence and open a bar up, etc. and if none of that works try something else the following years. In effect this is what momentum have been doing on a bigger scale and it appears to have worked so far for them.
“Producing our cheap tin badges on own machine can make it affordable to hand out free, along with the red SPGB flag to carry.”
We don’t have our own machine but even if we did we haven’t the members, especially with the expertise, to make them, or the inclination, “to hand out free, along with the red SPGB flag to carry”.
We struggle to find enough members to dispatch the Standard each month.
Pure pie in the sky.
I’m aware that we possess no badge making machine. It was one of those things I have previously proposed acquiring that was never followed up on.
One person can operate it and very little training is required. It isn’t rocket science.
Sometimes it is not logistics, but simply a lack of will.
The most basic model
https://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/badge-maker
There are better ones aroundAs I said before, if we cannot be a functioning political party which is one that engages with the public then we should seriously reconsider our role.
I have also addressed the issue of dispatching the Socialist Standard each month, as is well known. I have made the very unpopular proposition that we cease the publication of it in hard-copy except the occasional printing to offer at those large events Bijou thinks we should not attend or attach ourselves to.
I have suggested we shift our format to an online e-zine, that can become weekly and have daily updates. I know this does not get the approval of members but it is not only the mail-out which is an issue in getting help with but the days of members street selling or going around the pubs selling are long past. Fewer and fewer bookshops stock it, and the days of workers frequenting library reading rooms have gone too.
As you have said to me , it is time to get real
If very rudimentary propaganda is now beyond our capacity anything else may well be pie in the sky. The time for memories and nostalgia have gone. It is very much the time to get real.
Alan – Although you regularly call for more organised activity, your response when I suggest a format for more organised activity, which can utilise the support of regional members, is to go off on a tangent about your own personal hobby horse of badges and flags. I cannot for the life of me see what the use of having a group of non socialists walking around with SPGB flags would be. If any one came up to them and asked them what the flag meant, what would they answer? As to badges, the trend for wearing badges to publicise a political viewpoint went out with punk rock. Nowadays the sight of someone wearing sloganised badges is a sign either of a nutter or a train spotter.
You also stated that I am of the view that we should not attend large events, which part of the statement: “I’m not saying we shouldn’t have a presence at such events, but that in addition to this we need to plan in proper activity for the party which is run on our own agenda and which will fit into our own electoral strategy.” were you reading??
My proposal was a simple, low cost suggestion. We identify two weekends for comrades to gather around the head office area. One in the winter to undertake practical work at HO and one in the summer to look at what propaganda events we can undertake in the area of HO, as an aid to electoral activity in that area.
To move the suggestion along, can I suggest that we look at the weekend of 1st and 2nd February 2020 as a weekend to do work in HO?
Bijou, my concern is one which I consider to be of genuine worry and an attitude that was indeed echoed by your own response that somehow we should not be involved in protests and demonstrations as you wrote just before the part you cite.
“…what we need to do is go out and create our own activity, not just hook ourselves on to the coat tails of whatever is the latest trend on the left.”
But more serious an issue, even if we do, Dave has suggested that we cannot mobilise enough local members to make any impact on political events.
It is for that reason I have countered that numbers are NOT an essential requirement if we choose various ways to gain attention to ourselves what you call a hobby-horse. I gave an example that still occurs of the SWP swamping protests with their placards and when shown on the news they are very clearly highlighted. I also posted on how projected images are also a useful technique of conveying a message.
We make very little attempt to encourage non-Home County members to get involved in what are mainly London events. I suggested subsidizing them to come. I saw merit in making special appeals by coordinating with your own plan.
As for badges going out of fashion since the punk era one of us is showing our age. It may have been a few years but I still see many demonstrators using them and in fact during the 2014 referendum, they were adorned to declare voting intentions by huge numbers in Scotland. But perhaps I am old fashioned, many were actually sticky adhesive badges and maybe that is what we should be distributing. It seems we only venture to use that type sparingly during an election and not regularly.
And I was supportive of your suggestions of localized events. We have become a feature and fixture on Clapham High St and should take advantage, maybe stage a small exhibition of photographs of HO and get the local history society interested.
I think the word you are overlooking in my statement is the word “just” as in “not just”, i.e. do this as well.
I think what Dave is saying, and he might correct me on this, is that we should not be getting a badge press for HO when we struggle to get the Standard posted out. Given the choice of posting out to members and sympathisers a magazine full of high quality Socialist articles and news about the party or producing a few badges with necessarily limited information on them, I am pretty sure which way the majority of members would vote.
As to badges, I don’t wish to comment on the fashion sense of the average Scot, the kilt does that for me. 😉
We are all agreed that we need to get some activity going in the Party. The apparent success of the recent social event in Lancaster was a demonstration of that.
HO is a tremendous resource for the party. As you say it has a history which could be used to publicise what is going on there. However to me, and London based members can correct me on this if I am wrong, the London/SE based membership is overwhelmed with the current work load and adding more is not going to improve morale.
I would love to be able to go to HO once a week and help out, but it would involve a 600 mile round trip and God knows what in rail costs.
A more feasible way for regional members to help out with HO would be to have set times for us to turn up mob handed and get some graft done.
I don’t think it is for us to decide what those involved should be doing, rather it should be decided upon by those involved, with guidance given by the London based comrades and party committees who have a knowledge of what will work on their patch.
There are also, as far as I can tell, a number of inactive members and ex members in the London area, who might be motivated to get involved if there was something planned on this basis.
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