Our Euroelection campaign
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Just walked past the Socialist newspaper sellers at Moor St, one was allowing somebody (looked homeless)- seemingly struggling to read the paper-to read it while keeping it in their hands. No donation,no paper it seems.
Pleading ignorance I asked him if they would be standing candidates in the EU election, they said no primarily due to time constraints, and that they would not stand against Corbyn in an election. To this I said to him good day.
Makes me wonder what exactly are they giving their Friday afternoons up for?
Also, the English Democrats leaflet a friend in Luton send me had the slogan “Not left! Not right! Just English!”
Perhaps this may amuse some of you after a long week. Utterly ludicrous.
ALB, yeah, it’s as if the Greens would have done any different in coalition (see Germany) or as if they’d turn down the chance of to be in one similar!
To get an idea of how far the Green Party would compromise its principles given the offer of ministerial Jaguars and the slightest sniff of power, have a look at what the Green Party in Ireland did when they went into coalition with Fianna Fail.
James, in all my experience at demos, I never once had an SWPer accept my offer of a swop. nearly all our rivals but never ever a Socialist Worker seller.
One of our “successes” at May Day rallies in Scotland was our practice of handing out free current issue Standards (and back-issues). The look of dismay on the other paper sellers was a treat to see. Nor did I see any discarded on the ground afterwards. They were taken home and read. Sad it never resulted in any further interest in ourselves, AFAIK. So in that sense, it was ultimately a failure.
Here’s the candidates’ one minute opening speeches at the Chesham hustings (we are about 5 minutes in):
For those who can’t access YouTube here’s a transcript:
“The way people are going on about it you would think Brexit was the only issue. But what about global warming, wars and the threat of war, mass population movements and, nearer home, growing inequalities, unaffordable housing and a crumbling heath service? These problems arise from the capitalist system of ownership by the few and production for profit. Capitalism exists in the EU and would still exist in a Brexit Britain. So, as far as most people are concerned, it doesn’t matter either way [heckle]. In or Out, the same problems are going to continue. The way-out is not some change — or not — in Britain’s trading arrangements but in replacing capitalism with common ownership, democratic control and production to satisfy people’s needs not profit.”
Message received from a Kent & Sussex branch member:
“Bought the i newspaper at St Pancras Station on Wednesday and it contained our green leaflet. The brown leaflet had been delivered by Royal Mail to my partner’s address in Brighton. I went into the Crown pub in Brighton later that day and saw that the green leaflet had been pinned to the wall in a position visible to everyone who went to the bar.”
Last night’s Oxford hustings went well enough. There were perhaps a hundred people there, along with most of the candidates (still no sign of the Brexit Party). As always, there was equal time given to each of us to say our piece, albeit with a crackling microphone. I used the same opening statement as at the Banbury hustings, and the questions followed similar themes to there, such as about the environment and how young people can get more politically engaged. I seemed to get a good enough reaction, and no noticeable heckling!
Replies so far to leaflets delivered by Royal Mail and from the insert in the i paper on Wednesday: 65.
Most are by letter from the insert including some negative ones who think we are the party led by their named bugbears Jeremy Corbett and Diane Abbott.
More to come no doubt in tomorrow’s post.
Off to Banbury on my day off to get all my remaining leaflets posted. Shall have to read up on the local area en route. Any advice as to where to head let me know
All done. Looked like UKIP had targeted the area, where any were stuck in the letter box I made sure ours hit the mat first. Also saw a few Green leaflets seemingly pushed back out the letter box.
Swapped leaflets with a couple of Samaritans fundraisers at the station.
Mike F is going to Banbury to distribute more another night this week. I’ve made sure to notify him of the areas covered.
Done all mine too. Drove a couple of miles to cross the border into Surrey, to Long Ditton which is in Elmbridge where the MP is slimy Tory Brexiteer (despite the area voting Remain) and would-be Prime Minister, Dominic Raab. I too saw some UKIP leaflets and took one for my collection. I bought a couple of local papers to see what they had to say about the election. The Surrey Comet, which used to be alright but is now a complete rag, had nothing. The Guildford-based Surrey Advertiser had this to say about us:
“Socialist Party of Great Britain pushing for ‘Lexit’ – a “pro-worker EU exit” – its lead candidate in the South East is Mandy Bruce.”
They are mixing us with someone else of course, but lazy journalism as they were sent a link to our manifesto. (And Mandy is only first on our list as it’s in alphabetical order and her surname begins with a B). Still, they will have to publish a correction, giving us a second bite of the cherry.
Actually, we had got our revenge in first as when we are in Southampton we deliberately leafletted a ward where SPEW, under its registered name of “Socialist Alternative”, had stood a candidate in the local elections earlier this month. If they want confusion they can have it.
Does anyone have a high quality image of the election flyer? I can send it to people I know living in the South East, either again or for the first time.
Well, until Thursday then. What would we/you consider a strong result?
Head Office has just emailed you pdf versions of both leaflets.
Last time, in 2014, we got 5,454 votes. That’s the figure to beat. But of course we not contesting just to measure support for socialism. It’s also to publicise the case for socialism. On that level, it has already been a success.
I posted the last of my leaflets in Banbury this evening, in a different area to where JClark96 went. I didn’t notice any leaflets for any of the other parties lying about. Back home, I’ve received addressed flyers from UKIP and the Brexit Party, so they must have a big enough budget for that…
By the way, typing in ‘Brexit’ autocorrects to ‘Need It’ on my phone. Someone at Microsoft or wherever is trying to push an agenda!
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