Dire straits
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It seems like we’ve all been thinking along similar ideas.
The remains of North East Branch of the SPGB are in the process of organising a weekend for the Durham Miners’ Gala for 2025. If anyone hasn’t been to the Gala before it is a remarkable day. There were more than 200,000 people there this year, and it was absolutely pissing down. Given a better day it might have been 1/4 of a million. It has been said to be the biggest trades union gathering in Western Europe.
In my view growing interest in our point of view is not going to take place through having one particular way of spreading ideas, but by having lots of different ways of making contact with the Working Class. With some socialist using the internet may be the best way for them, for others giving out leaflets. So for example having set, face to face meetings does not mean we can’t also use on line propaganda meetings.
The plan for Durham (as it stands) is to hire a couple of AirBn houses in the Durham City area (rail and road connections for Durham City are very good). Gather for the Friday night before the Gala with a bit of a social night for comrades and sympathisers and get to the racecourse field for a bout 9.30am. We will book a pitch (which are very busy and very political) whilst also publicising a Saturday evening debate in Durham City Centre. It is a very busy day, believe me.
We can put out thousands of leaflets for the debate, (I have made contact with a local Tory who might be brave enough to put his head above the parapets), if we get 10 or so non socialists to turn out, it will be a success.
If there are enough people interested I would also organise a walking (and stopping in pubs and drinking) tour of the fair city of Newcastle upon Tyne on the Sunday dinner time.
Does that appeal to you Actual Socialist, we’d be happy to sort you out with a bunk?
It might not be summer sunshine in Malaga, but the crack should be canny. (there are cheap flights to Newcastle to and from Malaga Robbo, if you are prepared to cope with the cold, a warm welcome and transport from the airport is available and ham and pease puddin’ stotty may not be on the Michelin to do list, but they’re bloody lovely)
If anyone is interested crack was a Geordie word long before it became a loan word and tourist slogan in Ireland.
As proof the song “Dance to th’ Daddy” Starts with the line
“Cum hear me little Jacky, Noo I’ve smoked me Baccy
we’ll have a little cracky, til the Boat comes in”And, given enough ale, I’ll even sing the whole song as an encouragement for people to attend!
How’s that for marketing
“Message to Robbo – please organise a week in Andalucia!”
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Hi Paula,
That is doable but I would need somebody, or some committee, to liaise with to begin with – the central organiser perhaps. The concept would need to be advertised within the Party. Dates have to be sorted out (time of the year can be a factor as it can get very hot here in late summer), location (rural or urban?), transportation, money arrangements etc etc. It would be nice to imagine a group size of between a dozen or two dozen to hopefully include sympathisers as well…
Just out of curiosity what do people think of the place I linked to? Believe me, it’s very remote – but there is a tiny village with a bar that is within walking distance. The Alpujarras is a beautiful part of the world, mountainous and rugged, with lots of trails to explore and not too far from the great city of Granada
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“It might not be summer sunshine in Malaga, but the crack should be canny. (there are cheap flights to Newcastle to and from Malaga Robbo, if you are prepared to cope with the cold, a warm welcome and transport from the airport is available and ham and pease puddin’ stotty may not be on the Michelin to do list, but they’re bloody lovely)”
………………………………………….Bijou,
Thanks for the offer – I might well take you up on it. It sounds a fantastic event you’ve got planned there. I’ve only been once to your neck of the woods and it would be great to revisit. Dont think I’ve ever had “ham and pease puddin’ stotty”. What is that? A sort of pie?
Re the Durham Miners Gala, wouldn’t it be better to organise the debate against a Labourite rather than a Tory? Otherwise we would just be providing entertainment for the anti-Tory participants. It’s the Labour Party we need to hit and hard.
Thanks ALB, good point, well made, however all of the Labourites I know have gone well and truly to ground! I will continue to try and get one to break cover as a preference to a Tory, but I am not optimistic.
Robbo, it’s a kind of sandwich see the link below:
We had a comrade who would walk along a ‘bus queue of proletarians and proffer the Standard. When the ‘bus arrived he would get on, even if it wasn’t his, and continue proffering until thrown off by the conductor (yes, it was that long ago). He went on to join the Libertarian Alliance ( the comrade, not the conductor). Perhaps FactualSocialist might give it a go. Have to admit even we saw it as a wee bit eccentric.
Like many new members s/he is frustrated by the Party’s dire lack of progress. But given time will see that it isn’t the Party which is the problem, it’s the working class.“it isn’t the Party which is the problem, it’s the working class.”
This type of self-satisfied thinking is definitely part of the problem.
This type of self-satisfied thinking is definitely part of the problem.
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I agree. Although I think that, being such a comparatively tiny organisation, our future prospects are at this stage, largely in the hands of forces beyond our control (and that, for that reason, we need to develop a kind of stoic approach to our lack of progress), I can’t help also thinking that there are a number of things we could be doing to expedite that progress.
I can see the potential for progress – you just have to visit some FB groups like the one I linked to, to see this – but it’s as if there was a pane of glass that stands between us and making progress. You can clearly visualise the possibilities on the other side
There are stacks of people around who, if they are not exactly on our wavelength, are pretty close to it and it surely won’t take a lot to encourage them to join. In today’s political climate with the political Right and the death cult of nationalism in the ascendancy, a lot of people feel politically homeless
I think Rueben has started something very useful – to encourage the party to look at ways in which we can raise our profile. How can we go about doing this?
This type of self-satisfied thinking is definitely part of the problem.[/quote]
Yes indeed.
Sorry been extremely busy with work.
We mustn’t forget that we’re up against a media (even the “independent” ones) that are saturating the public with a capitalist mindset.
Everything that is cool as we’re growing up is capitalist dominated, the culture is capitalist, and the mindset is too.
So we really are up against it, hence why I personally think change is only possible during a massive capitalist crisis (think post ww1).
But there are things lacking on our side too hence my suggestions.
People like seeing a party that is active in their defense and defending their views, this is why other “socialists” are bigger than us.
Another HUGE problem with us is how impossible our vision seems.
For this reason I really think we direly need to brush up on our language surrounding money abolition and other things, specially on our website.We should remove the bit about money abolition and on the other bits such as socialism being a moneyless, stateless society have simple practical videos showcasing how it may come about and how it might work from a simple click.
I’d also suggest instead of having “how we are different” from other parties, instead we should have “Why X doesn’t work”.
For example “Why Social democracy (Labour, Greens, Corbynism) doesn’t work.
And then a simple video/article showing people.I test different methods when I talk to people and people are receptive when I straight up ask them “okay who do you support”, they usually say “well I don’t ‘support’ any of them but I quite like what Farage has to say”, then when I demonstrate how his policies won’t work they do listen and become interested in alternatives.
From my experience just saying how I believe something different doesn’t ever work, people just respond with “well that’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it”.
So I really think the “how we’re different” needs to be removed and replaced with “why (insert ideology or party) doesn’t work”.
I’d also suggest instead of having “how we are different” from other parties, instead we should have “Why X doesn’t work”.
Actually, we do have something on our website that does this (even if it is not very easy to find):
Wow ALB I love that!
That’s a great format for it too (if doing in text).
I recommend doing that for different popular parties and replacing the how we are different 🙂
Something like this in video format would be pretty cool.
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