Kent & Sussex Branch Street Stalls
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Another good four hours in Canterbury today. Three comrades sold five pamphlets and 1 current Standard and gave some back numbers away. Four more names added to the branch's mailing list.Next stall on Saturday, 18 July at 12noon.
gnome wrote:Four more names added to the branch's mailing list.Mildly interesting snippet insofar as it transpires that one of these four contacts turns out to be the great-grandson of George Lansbury, one-time leader of the Labour Party.
Another good few hours in Canterbury today.Comrades sold £12 of literature, including 4 Standards.One new contact for the branch list.Had some useful conversations, including with someone from Swale who used to listen to our outdoor speakers in London. Another had seen the BBC website report this week and had visited the party's stalls at Tolpuddle (where Karl, the branch's latest recruit, is this weekend).And one of the 'tourists' visiting the stall today was ex-member Dave Flynn.Next stall will be on Saturday, 22 August from noon
Thanks for the report and well done comrades
Three comrades kept the stall going for nearly six hours this afternoon. (Saturday, 22 August)It seemed a bit quiet (seaside day!) so thought we wouldn’t get much interest. We were wrong.We had several useful conversations. Most people asked if we were supporting Corbyn.Sales: 4 Standards; 6 pamphlets (including 4 new ones – North London comrades please note), three books and three donations. Total £26.50. This may be a record for one stall for K&S.Plus leaflets and several back issues given away.Some interesting contacts included:Met new executive committee member of the socialist students society at Christchurch University. He is a LP member but would be interested in having a speaker/debate. He was given our email address. His father (also there but met him previously) is an ex-CP member and used to speak for them at Speakers Corner – remembers SPGB, Harry Young, etc.2 quite young girls made a second visit; bought a Standard.Met a live export activist from Margate; interesting information..Student who visited one of our election meetings bought a pamphlet.One of the last (after 5pm) visitors was an Iranian anti-Shah veteran (still with the scars!) – bought £9.50 of literature.
Regarding the previous post, please would any Comrades planing to turn up for the stall tomorrow look for The Parade in Canterbury. The photo is taken outside Folkestone Town Hall.
Street stall in The Parade pedestrian precinct, Canterbury, tomorrow, Saturday 26, September from 12 noon. My spies inform me at least five members and supporters will be in evidence….. http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/event/canterbury-street-stall-12-noon
robert.cox wrote:Regarding the previous post, please would any Comrades planing to turn up for the stall tomorrow look for The Parade in Canterbury. The photo is taken outside Folkestone Town Hall.Always the pedant; the picture was for illustration purposes only, as they say. One high street looks much like another so I simply cannot conceive of anyone looking at the picture and going to Folkestone by mistake particularly in view of the clarity of the bold text above the picture. Are party members really that stupid? Geez, I sincerely hope not….
Three members and one supporter ran the street stall in Canterbury last Saturday (26 September). A second supporter was unable to come at the very last moment.OK, not as much interest as the previous time, but it was a bit cold and a lot of people with time to spare were probably at the nearby food festival. However 6 Standards were sold and three books/pamphlets.There was a long conversation with a Russian visitor which lasted for about 40 minutes and she left with information about the party and back copies of the Standard. Members handed out the rest of the Corbyn leaflets they had with them.Unusually there were a couple of incidents of mild abuse. A reaction, it seemed, against Corbyn being transferred onto us rather than our views on him. Most of the Corbyn supporters we spoke to were actually agreeable with our political objectives if not our 'strategy'.One of the Standard purchasers, from Ramsgate, mentioned he had come across the Party before and commented about the membership 'exam' being a barrier to membership. He chose not to go on the mailing list, however.The final stall of the season will be on Saturday, 17 October. Same time and place.
Despite the best efforts of the BBC to scare us off with its forecast of heavy rain most of the afternoon, we held another successful stall in Canterbury town centre for nearly five hours today.As soon as the appointed time arrived, the rain stopped for us and, apart from drizzle and occasional showers, held off.Four members and one friend kept the activity going and we had several very interesting and useful conversations with mostly sympathetic by-passers.We handed out about 600 leaflets – most of them by Karl, our newest (and youngest) Branch member, who attended his first Party activity today. Karl said he enjoyed the experience.Six copies of the current Socialist Standard and one of the new pamphlets were sold. Several more back issues were distributed and six new contacts gained for the mailing list.
The first of the branch's 2016 street stalls will be on Saturday, 19 March in the Parade pedestrian precinct, Canterbury from 12 noon.http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/event/canterbury-street-stall-12-noon-0Another one has been fixed for Saturday, 16 April – same time and place.And it is hoped to have regular stalls in other places, particularly Folkestone and perhaps Tonbridge.
gnome wrote:And it is hoped to have regular stalls in other places, particularly Folkestone and perhaps Tonbridge.A stall has been arranged in Folkestone by the Town Hall on Saturday, 12 March from 12 noon
Despite a cold day three members held a literature stall and display outside Folkestone Town Hall for four hours today.Four Socialist Standards sold and several useful conversations held with local residents, some of whom were active in leftist organisations.About three hundred leaflets were also handed out.Date set for next Folkestone Stall: Saturday, 30 April @ 12 noonDate set for next Canterbury Stall: next Saturday, 19 March @ 12 noon
Three comrades had to share the area with stalls from the Labour Party (campaigning on EU and the police election) and 2 of the EU out groups. The Tory MP was out there today, also the UKIP candidate from last year who came over to our stall for a chat after he recognised Rob.. Mandy and Rob also got recognised by a couple of other people from last year’s campaign.Had some very interesting discussions, and have a new contact (politics student from the Uni) who may get us a speaking invite. Several people wanted to know our views on the EU referendum (we may do a leaflet for next time).We kept stall going for 4 hours, despite rain, wind and cold weather; sold nine Standards and a pamphlet, and handed out lots of leaflets and back issues.
gnome wrote:Several people wanted to know our views on the EU referendum (we may do a leaflet for next time).The Election Committee has already prepared an EC Statement and a leaflet to go before the 2 April EC Meeting. Here's the text of the leaflet. Branches don't need EU authorisation to produce leaflets, so you needn't wait till after 2 April if you want to use it. Anyway, here's the basic text:
Quote:EU referendum: an irrelevant sideshowWe face months of debate over Britain staying in or leaving the European Union. It will dominate headlines and all political discussions, yet it is not the most pressing issue facing us by a long shot,In the UK thousands of early deaths each year are related to poor diet, fuel poverty and inequality. Wages have only just returned to the same value they had in 2008, before the Great Crash, and are growing slowly. 1.7 million people are unemployed (according to official statistics) and millions more are in insecure and stressful jobs.In reality, it doesn’t matter for the vast majority of us. Yet the politicians and journalists are full of discussions about whether or not Britain should be part of the EU.Those who own the productive wealth of society aren’t going to willingly let their capital lie idle. In or out of the EU, they will need workers and seek profits in pretty much the same way. They will always seek to make the most profit they can, and they will need the labour of those of us who work to make their profits for them.In order to do business, there will have to be arrangements with other governments, especially those that neighbour Britain. Pretty much all free trade agreements have an arbitration process, which will mean courts telling the British government what to do in order to comply with the treaties it signed.They’ll still need to ensure that goods and workers can get from A to B without massive queues, delays and bureaucracy. The only countries with truly controlled borders are the likes of Cuba and North Korea, whose example is hardly worth following.The owners of capital will still try to ensure that they get privileged access to the corridors of power, so that the rules and terms of trade are in their favour. Most of us will continue to have as little control over the laws of the land as before.Worldwide millions die due to lack of available medical services. Starvation exists in the midst of plenty of food. Man-made climate change is changing eco-systems across the world. Millions are displaced by war. These are Human problems, that we must confront on a worldwide scale.If we want practical control of our own lives, if we want to confront these problems, we have to organise on a worldwide basis, not a national basis. We need to join with the vast majority of the world who do not own a single square inch of it, in order to bring the wealth of the world under the democratic control of everyone, rather than taking sides in a factional dispute between memebers of the propertied class.Obviously a bit will be added at the end about going to the polling station and casting a write-in vote for world socialism.
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