Party News: An Urgent Appeal

The Party is in urgent need of money. Being dependent entirely on the small amounts which our members and sympathisers can afford to contribute, we have always had a struggle to keep our organisation intact and carry on our propaganda. For years we were never out of debt, and this in spite of the fact that, with the exception of printing and a few similar items which had to be paid for, we depended on the willing and unpaid services of our members, who acted as speakers, writers and workers in the branches and at head office. We are not disturbed because we have no accumulated funds. We do not wish to save money. Any that comes our way is immediately spent on printing literature and selling it at prices sometimes below cost, and always within the reach of even the poorest worker. For various reasons our financial difficulties have become acute, and we are compelled to make a special appeal for donations. The position is that we owe our printer about £100, and it is essential that this hampering debt be discharged once. The position has arisen largely owing to the strikes of last year. Heavy expenses and fines had to be paid on behalf of members prosecuted under the Emergency Powers Act.

Fewer propaganda meetings could be held, so that sales of literature and collections both fell off, and we have had to face the loss of a considerable and dependable income formerly derived from meetings in the London parks. Under new regulations, collections and literature selling are both permanently prohibited. These difficulties can be met and are being met, but it takes a long while to develop new street corner propaganda stations, and in the meantime we are compelled to ask you to dip into your pockets once more.

And apart from these unexpected drains on our income, we are ambitious. During 1926 we made really encouraging progress in membership, and a sustained effort during the summer months would give us half-a-dozen new branches in London. We are in touch with comrades in numerous centres in the Colonies and the U.S.A., and are hopeful that within a year or two the efforts which are now being made there will lead to the formation of vigorous bodies propagating principles in line with our own. We have at last got a strong foothold in Vienna. We want to be able to put full-time organisers into the field to develop our organisation in the provinces; we want new pamphlets. There is no limit to what we want, but lack of money very effectively delays the carrying out of many promising schemes of development. You can help us financially by pushing the sales of the Socialist Standard, and our pamphlets, but those who can afford to do so are also urged to make a special effort to send along a large or small donation, and to send it quickly.