Last quarter's fighting fund target smashed, now make our voice heard in elections

Fighting fund helps pay for leaflets and other campaigning material photo Samantha Smith, photo Samantha Smith (Click to enlarge)

Ken Douglas, Socialist Party national treasurer

Socialist Party members throughout England and Wales are out campaigning in support of Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates standing in local and mayoral elections.

We are appealing to all readers and supporters of the Socialist to make a donation to help support those candidates.

Although the majority of councillors are not standing for re-election this year, we believe it is still vital that there is an electoral challenge to the Tories' cuts, which amount to a demolition of local authority services. Jeremy Corbyn has said that he is opposed to austerity but Labour councillors should be organising now to fight these cuts instead of meekly carrying them out.

We say that these cuts can be fought and defeated. Labour councillors should refuse to pass on the cuts and instead launch a campaign in defence of jobs and services, which is what all TUSC candidates pledge to do. Far from there being no money for services, the NHS, housing and jobs, there is plenty.

The richest thousand people in Britain have doubled their wealth since the financial crisis in 2008. A recent Oxfam report highlighted the massive profits being made by the rate-rigging banks which they are salting away in off-shore tax havens, while we are still paying for the economic crisis caused by the greed of those same bankers.

Mersey metro-mayor

But to make our voice heard we need your help!

We depend solely on the support of ordinary people - the Socialist Party has no rich backers. Standing in the Merseyside metro-mayor election for instance costs �5,000 for the deposit and �3,000 for the booklet which goes to every household, costs which the Socialist Party, as part of TUSC, has to make a contribution to. Then there are the leaflets and other material that we are producing.

Please help us build support for the fightback against austerity and for a socialist alternative. Can you donate �5, �10, �50 or �100 or more? We can guarantee that every penny will be used in the fight for socialism.

Socialist Party members beat last year's record for the amount of fighting fund raised in the January to March quarter of the year.

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to click here to donate to our Fighting Fund.