Danger plateau

After the soaring success of October we seem to have run into a bit of a plateau. The last week has produced the lowest total for a seven-day period that I can remember for some considerable time - only £45, taking our November fund to £130.

Already alarm bells are ringing. We need the full £400 each and every month just to meet our running costs, but with over half the month gone we are seriously lagging behind.

Unless comrades make a big effort to push us back onto our ascent, we will never make the summit. We are in danger of squandering the magnificent achievement of last month, when we all but eliminated the entire shortfall for the year.

Amongst the dearth of donations the £25 from comrade HK stands out like a beacon. "Your coverage of the Socialist Alliance is excellent," he writes. "Keep up the good work."

We will, comrade - but only if we keep getting the cash to fund it.

Robbie Rix

Ask for a bankers order form, or send cheques, payable to Weekly Worker, BCM Box 928, London WC1N 3XX

Number 360

Thursday November 16 2000

Expelled for speaking out   —   Harry Paterson, a long-standing member of the Socialist Party/Militant, has had his appeal against expulsion turned down. He speaks to Peter Manson

Anti-sectarians booted out   —   Simon Harvey of the SLP reports that two secretaries of West Yorkshire Socialist Labour Party branches have been expelled for throwing their weight behind the Socialist Alliance

Step forward for unity   —   Will McMahon, secretary of Hackney Socialist Alliance, speaks to Marcus Larsen about the unfolding crisis in Hackney council, the role of the LSA, and the prospects for the Socialist Alliance nationally

Socialist Alliance roundup   —   London; Coventry; Brent & Harrow; Hackney; Haringey; Southwark

Petty bourgeois protest shows need for workers' independence   —   Michael Malkin puts the latest events in context

Celebrating the lessons   —   Mary Godwin reports last weekend's 'Lessons of Bolshevism' CPGB school

Letters   —   Global warming; Socialist Alliance reformists; Socialist Worker cave-in; RCN double travesty; Leninist repression; A question of ownership; After Hatfield disaster