June 20th Anti-Austerity march
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It is billed as the largest mass demonstration since the anti-Iraq war and student demonstrations (the usual hyperbole) in Britain to drive home the anti-austerity message to a Conservative government they accuse of ‘punishing the poor’ in a show of public unity on June 20th.
What's the plan fpr the party's presence at this. Do we have a leaflet prepared and volunteers at hand to attend this event. As SimonW says…are the packed lunches getting made. Is our banner going to be static or will it be put on show?
I hope it is moving rather than static. Who's side are we on?
I just wish that those members living thousands of miles away would kindly refrain from reminding the rest of us remaining within these shores what we should be doing. You know, build the revolution in that part of the world where you reside… and we'll do the same here to the best of our abilities.
Are you telling me that there are now two tiers of membership, Gnome…the privileged local members who can comment freely on all aspects of the Party's activities and campaigns and those who may be located further afield who have their freedom of opinion curtailed and restricted? Perhaps you would like to formally move at next conference that members of the Socialist Party who are not resident in the UK should not have any say or participation in the activities of the Socialist Party and put your own viewpoint to the test, if you think you talk for others in the Socialist Party….i also note also with irony from a comment in a report you would apply your limitation of opinions on election messages only to those branches who stand candidates in elections…Now, would that be three tiers of memberships you seek ?Oh, and if i do carry out local activities where i live, a military dictatorship where republicanism is treated as a serious crime, which makes the content of another thread on political liberties all the more relevant to this comrade, would i be able to rely upon you to conduct a reformist campaign to get me out of jail and/or stop my deportation or to bring my family into the UK and that you would also expect that the party pays for my legal defence …i thought not…, comrade.But, of course, i was presently under the erroneous impression that what i do for the party right now contributes just that little bit to building the revolution everywhere around the globe…another misconception of mine, it seems…perhaps not as valuable as your own contribution but one that's best to my ability in conditions that are not ideal. Maybe i should now consider transferring membership to the geographically nearest WSM party (and strangely enough, i have also offered them my gems of wisdom , too in the past because I don't ration whatever knowledge i claim to possess) and cease playing any role within the SPGB, if your attitude reflects a popular one held within the Party that some foreign-based members should be seen but not heard.Until that position is clearly demonstrated to me as one that prevails, i will, however, still post whatever i believe to be worthy…as often (3 posts a day limit !!!!..Humpfff)…and as lengthy …as i choose to see fit…regardless of what i consider to be a minority view of one until proved otherwise …It is entirely up to you yourself if you wish to join the anti-austerity protest and it is up to you if you wish to take along a banner or not. My message was addressed to the Party collectively not to you personally and i would be disappointed if the Party does not intend to leaflet the event. I would criticise that as a failing if the party were not making a visible presence at it.I will certainly be putting forth online on our blog what i think is the party's view of the protest on the 20th….perhaps you might want to check it and see if it meets with your approval…after all, why should i have the nerve to comment on austerity policies in the UK when i don't live there…what's all this socialist internationalism coming to these days when socialists express opinions on wider topics than their own parochial back-yard
You contributions are welcome, Alan. We are a world movement, remember, 'workers of the world unite…' Scotland isn't that far away is it? Well not from where I stand in Sunderland lol
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Would the following conference motion have any significance for the SPGB at this and future demos, considering it highly likely that there will be a turnout of a number of "left wing" groups/parties advocating anti-austerity. Afterall anti- austerity is a non revolutionary request.As far as I'm concerned such protests are relevant to social-ists, as it demonstrates our solidarity with other workers and as a mass meeting place for the potential exchange of ideas.Motion 1. Kent & Sussex Regional Branc"Conference re-affirms that in accordance with Principle 7 of the Declaration of Principles there is an obligation on members to be hostile to parties which support capitalism."Vote 1 For 94 Against 22. Carried.
No. It was just a pious resolution which doesn't change anything. There tend to be a few of these from time to time.. We'll be there as usual handing out the same leaflets as before. This one in fact, left over from a similar demonstration three years ago:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2012/no-1298-october-2012/future-worksWe'll probably be distributing the same in three years time too. These demonstrations keep coming around.
Just maybe, just maybe, we don't get the response we hope for when we leaflet protests and demonstations is that we don't make the effort to actually communicate the best we can with those participating on them. An anti-austerity leaflet that fails to even mention the word austerity nor explain the reasons why it is being imposed, nor refer to the detrimental impact that it is having on fellow workers (and yes many people do need reminding of these) is deemed fit and proper contribution to the party's campaigning. I have previously said that we should use various leaflets with different text on protests. If you wish to off-load leaflets left over from previous demonstrations, do so by all means, but i think we should have written a much more relevantly themed leaflet than re-cycle old ones (and to make a virtue out of the fact that we will persist in such a practice! ) Being thousands of miles away and relying only on the occasional snippet of information but we do possess a printer, don't we,(and if we don't have a working one , we do have funds for them to be professionally produced, don't we?) and there are articles from past Standards that require the minimum of re-editing, for example, much of this recent leaflet http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2015/no-1328-april-2015/why-just-fight-austerity but to go back to 1998, we could quote parts of this editorial http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/1990s/1998/no-1122-february-1998/editorial-welfare-cuts-governments-austerity-proBut i a teaching my granny to suck eggs for we have several skilled writers who could construct an original text and make a very presentable up-to-date leaflet. Or am i so out of touch being so far away that i don't realise that the party is no longer capable of meeting a limited expectation, that i am aiming for the stars, and that we cannot innovate anymore, but more importantly, we don't have the fervour or passion to make the socialist case wherever and wherever an opportunity arises and to do so with eagerness and gusto….Are we become that jaded in our politics that old leaflets suffice and little effort is put into their thought? Perhaps, everything was in hand to have volunteers at the demo but again it is possible Gnome has something when he wondered if the secrecy of our public events might be the cause of nobody turning up !!Is it no wonder i sometimes feel that something is missing and lacking within the Party's membership that it is necessary to upbraid comrades over a thing as basic and as simple as going on a demo to hand out the socialist message. And, of course, there will be many more in the future so let's try and get the right approach and attitude towards them to give ourselves even a bit of a chance of being seen and heard at them.
I'm afraid you've missed the point or even the joke and will no doubt prefer the leaflet we handed out for the exact same event in 2013:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2013/no-1306-june-2013/socialism-only-alternativeAll we need do is change "22 June" to "20 June". Or we could wait till they organise one on a 22 June again. I'm sure they'll be saying the same old thing themselves. These events are rituals anyway but, don't worry, we'll be there.You don't like our leaflet. You should see theirs, telling the new Tory government to end austerity !
We will be meeting at Mansion House tube station at 12 noon, to pick up leaflets and Standards, before dispersing to hand them out and try to sell them to the demonstrators gathering up the road outside the Bank of England (because the organisers think, or say they think, it was greedy bankers rather than capitalism that caused the crisis).
Seven members distributed all our leaflets (so there will have to be a new leaflet for the next one) to a small portion of the demonstrators. Some (the organisers) are saying there were 250,000.That can be doubted but I don't know how you estimate such things, but there were a lot, more than we'd expected, mainly public sector trade unionists, a lot of Greens and some local Labour parties as well as the usual suspects (SWP, Militant, etc). We leafetted both the start outside the Bank of England and the end in Whitehall and Parliament Square but it was raining at the end.The star speakers were Russell Brand and Charlotte Church but we didn't hear them as we stopped off at the Wetherspoons pub in Chancery Lane for lunch. As we approached the Savoy Hotel in the Strand we saw a group outside who appeared to be shouting "The Ritz, the Ritz, We've gotta get rid of the Ritz". But on getting nearer saw they were not performers hired by the Savoy to do down a rival, but Class War shouting "The Rich, the Rich …" A dozen or so of them then set off down the Strand accompanied by the same number of police. We could have mounted a bigger "march" than this (after all, we got more votes than them in the general election). In Whitehall the cenotaph was boarded up, providing a convenient space for grafitti. We added one calling for the abolition of the wages system (photo available) as well as adding "and Labour" to one which said "Down with Tory scum".
Just been listenting to Labour's Andy Burnham on sky news. He said, and I quote:"Bla bla Bla bla Bla bla crap more crap, some lies and bullshit, obfuscation more obfuscation, more bullshit and crap Bla bla Bla bla Bla bla" And oh yes "I was at the anti-austerity march". Andy Burnham for leader!
ALB wrote:In Whitehall the cenotaph was boarded up, providing a convenient space for grafitti. We added one calling for the abolition of the wages system (photo available) as well as adding "and Labour" to one which said "Down with Tory scum".
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