Selfish readers

Unlike the Tory Party, the Weekly Worker cannot rely on huge donations. We are not expecting our cash-strapped readers and supporters to come up with £5 million (or will it turn out to be £10 million?).

Again unlike the Tories, we do not pretend there is no quid pro quo for the donor. People give to political parties (or political papers) because, at the end of the day, they hope to gain something in return. In the case of an establishment party the pay-off could take the form of legislation favouring a particular sectional interest, the possibility of access to future lucrative contracts or perhaps an eventual peerage.

Our readers too expect a return on their investment. What they have in mind though is something far more inspirational than the grubby desires of gambling tycoons or stock market speculators. They share the aspiration of the Weekly Worker to see the birth of a single, democratic centralist Communist Party and understand that their own interests as partisans of our movement are inextricably bound up with those of the working class itself. The birth of this Party will be their ‘reward’.

In this spirit, comrades GI, OP and FD have all come up with ‘selfish’ gifts for their paper this week. Their donations have helped give our fund a much needed boost after the slow start towards our monthly £400 target. January’s total now stands at £215. But we still need £185 in less than a week. Are there any more ‘egocentrics’ out there?

Robbie Rix

Number 368

Thursday January 25 2001

Towards a common Socialist Alliance draft programme - A discussion document submitted by the Communist Party of Great Britain

For an SA paper
"A Socialist Alliance paper would also surely act as an invaluable and ongoing vehicle to bring about the organisational and ideological con-vergence between the principal supporting groups"

Letters
Hate figures; CPGB idiots; Dogmatic; Tailism

Socialist Alliance reports

• Welsh Socialist Alliance conference: Changed balance of forces
  SPEW is clearly upset that it has lost its dominant position, writes Cameron Richards
• Scottish Socialist Party conference: Control over SWP
  "... our executive has been doing its utmost to curb any influence the SWP may have after entering"
• Vauxhall fightback: Start made
  "... that a representative of Britain’s most consistently anti-working class party could even be invited onto the platform by the organisers speaks volumes"
• Bedfordshire: Building solidarity
  "... solidarity in turn points the way for more far-reaching developments towards a European TUC and a Communist Party of the European Union"
• Vauxhall and the political alternative: Learning from Thatcher
  Text of speech made by comrade Steve Freeman to the Bedfordshire Socialist Alliance
• Brent and Harrow: Anne McShane to fight Boateng
  "Boateng is arrogant, dismissive of the needs of his working class constituents and no good for black people"
• Nottinghamshire: Sullen SP still on board
  "Many comrades fear that this signals growing SWP exasperation at SP wrecking tactics and, following the recent stitch-up between the two organisations, is the start of an SWP grab for control"
• East London: Good and bad
  "... the meeting was characterised by the active, constructive and enthusiastic participation of all those present"

CWI crisis: Distortion and misrepresentation
Weekly Worker (January 18) carried the Committee for a Workers’ International press release responding to the International Socialist Movement split from them. We publish the forthright reply in which the ISM also rounds on Hannah Sell

Socialist Party: ‘Damaged’ by principled criticism
As previously reported, long-standing Socialist Party member Harry Paterson lost his appeal against expulsion (see Weekly Worker November16). The SP’s appeals board has finally produced this report of its November 11 hearing

Party and programme
Darrell Goodliffe reviews Paul Le Blanc's Lenin and the revolutionary party

Rail nationalisation campaign: Take control
"There should be no question of placing any faith in the Labour government"

Ours or theirs?
"Even such reactionary luminaries as Lynda Lee Potter, editor of the Daily Mail, has been calling for the railways to be renationalised, worrying about the effects of the current chaos on the profitability of British industry"