Anarchist Bookfair and TUC Mass Demonstration
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Despite the determined efforts of the organisers of this year's Anarchist Bookfair to not only deny the Party a stall inside the building but to ensure it did not have one anywhere near the fair's entrance, comrades finally decided to move off the Queen Mary's University premises entirely and set up the stall on Mile End Road outside its west entrance.
Notwithstanding the above, a fairly successful day with £16.70 of literature sold and plenty more given away.
Other members attended the TUC Mass Demonstration & Rally, both at its starting point on the Thames embankment and at its destination in Hyde Park where there was another stall.
Altogether 13 comrades spread themselves between the three locations.
However, in future we must ensure that there are suitable alternative means of transporting tables (chairs would have been nice too) and literature to where they are needed; comrades cannot be expected to lug these heavy and cumbersome items on public transport. As it was, members ran out of leaflets at the March's assembly point on the embankment.
Quote:Despite the determined efforts of the organisers of this year's Anarchist Bookfair to not only deny the Party a stall inside the building but to ensure it did not have one anywhere near the fair's entrance, comrades finally decided to move off the Queen Mary's University premises entirely and set up the stall on Mile End Road outside its west entrance.Could you elaborate on this so i can whinge on Libcom Was it the university building authorities who asked you to move or the actual bookfair "anarchist" organisers? What did they say and what did they say they'd do if you didn't comply?
Gnome, there was a 14th member who you probably didn't know about: a comrade from the North East down with his trade union and who said hello to us at Marble Arch.The Parks police have adopted the same policy as the Anarchists: not allowing stalls inside Hyde Park as one previous occasions (even though this was technically against the regulations). So all the stalls were outside the main entrance at Marble Arch. Apart from us, there were Militant (under various disguises), the SWP and the Revolutionary Communist Group (still banging on about imperialism and the imperialist Labour Party).Most of the time we had to put up with the Trotskyists using a loudspeaker to try to raise trade union consciousness. Not that theirown understanding was all that high since at one point one of their leaders Linda Taafe actually said that it was "even nnecessary for employers that we get a pay rise so we can have more money to spend". I can't remember how many times we heard the call go up for "decent wages" (apparently a £10 an hour minumum wage satisfies this). "Decent jobs at decent pay" was how it was often put. Not much change since Marx in 1865 criticised the call a "fair day's wage for a fair day's work".There's nothing wrong with demanding and struggling for better wages and conditions but this should be accompanied by an understanding that there's nothing "decent" or "fair" about wages and the wage system and of the need to abolish them altogether by making the means of production the common property of everybody.To make Speakers Corner more of a tourist attraction the Park authorities have erected a number of columns giving the history of the place. One of them has on it the iconic picture of a Party speaker (Steve Ross) speaking from one of our platform's on which is written Marx's alternative call "Abolish the Wages System".Pity not many of the marchers would have stopped and seen it, but quite a few did get our leaflet.
ALB wrote:Gnome, there was a 14th member who you probably didn't know about: a comrade from the North East down with his trade union and who said hello to us at Marble Arch.Actually I did. Comrade J.W. introduced himself to us at the literature stall there.
alanjjohnstone wrote:Could you elaborate on this so i can whinge on Libcom Was it the university building authorities who asked you to move or the actual bookfair "anarchist" organisers? What did they say and what did they say they'd do if you didn't comply?I'll have to confer with other comrades on this as I wasn't present at the time.
alanjjohnstone wrote:Could you elaborate on this so i can whinge on LibcomPersonally I don't think that's a good idea because we'd come across as, well … whingers. If they don't want us, fair enough. Fuck 'em.
There already exists a book-fair whinge thread and i intended to simply update it.My original whinge on Libcom resulted is surprising amount of sympathy for us (and the other non-statist groups excluded).You sound like Millwall supporter, ALB, "Nobody likes us – we don't care"
gnome wrote:Actually I did. Comrade J.W. introduced himself to us at the literature stall there.Apologies. By way of reparation I will recount your remark on a demonstration organised across the road outside MacDonalds by the bakers union in pursuit of this campaign. Bakers demand more dough.
ALB wrote:Bakers demand more dough.Better still; Bakers knead more dough. BTW, the Marble Arch stall sold £14.10 of literature in addition to the £16.70 sold outside the Anarchist Bookfair. Altogether not a bad day's work.
alanjjohnstone wrote:Quote:Despite the determined efforts of the organisers of this year's Anarchist Bookfair to not only deny the Party a stall inside the building but to ensure it did not have one anywhere near the fair's entrance, comrades finally decided to move off the Queen Mary's University premises entirely and set up the stall on Mile End Road outside its west entrance.Could you elaborate on this so i can whinge on Libcom Was it the university building authorities who asked you to move or the actual bookfair "anarchist" organisers? What did they say and what did they say they'd do if you didn't comply?
It transpires that it was campus security who asked our stall be moved from the area immediately in front of the building where the Bookfair was taking place. As there was no other suitable place it was decided to set it up outside the west entrance on Mile End Road. The ICC had a stall at the top of the steps immediately outside the entrance but they came much later in the day when security had gone home…
gnome wrote:ALB wrote:Gnome, there was a 14th member who you probably didn't know about: a comrade from the North East down with his trade union and who said hello to us at Marble Arch.Actually I did. Comrade J.W. introduced himself to us at the literature stall there.
JW also managed to attend the online meeting of the branch on the Friday and the Sunday and gave us a report.He said he introduced himself to a few comrades.
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