Witney by-election and the Problem leaflet
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In calling a referendum, losing it and then resigning as Prime Minister and MP, Cameron has caused a problem for us. One of our stock leaflets "The problem is not the Tories … it's capitalism" has his photo on the front and so has become outdated. There are over 3000 copies left at Head Office. Fortunately, in resigning as MP (for Witney) he has provided an opportunity for us to make use of them.
The Witney by-election is being held on Thursday 20 October and members from West London and West Midlands branches are planning to distribute the leaflets in the area (at least the people there will recognise who he is before he rots in the dustbin of history). We willl be holding a street stall in Witney this Saturday 8 October, near or in the Market Place or High Street, from 12 noon to 3pm. We will also be leafletting other places in the constituency such as Chipping Norton.
Witney, for those who've never heard of the place, is in the middle of Oxfordshire. It is a neighbouring constituency to Oxford West & Abingdon that we contested in last year's general election. So this is also a follow-up to our election campaign. Burford, where we have a stall each Levellers Day, is also in the constituency. So is William Morris's Kelmscott.
Being from the North, I always wondered where the constituencies electing Tories were, then I visited Witney.
You're right. It's a typical Tory heartland but there are a couple of Labour councillors, one from Chipping Norton which has a history of working class struggle:http://country-standard.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/other-chipping-norton-set-chippy.htmlAnd of course it was workers who made the blankets.
They were all there of course. Outside the Woolgate Centre in Witney. The Tories, Labour, LibDems, UKIP, Labour and the Greens, even the Elvis Bus Pass party (advocating "Better daytime television for those on Benefits"). Not present was the National Health Action Party which is also standing a candidate.We arrived late and had to set up next to the Tories. Which was unfortunate as we were handing out a blue-coloured leaflet with Cameron on the front. (I don't know who thought up this idea but it was counter-productive as more than one refused it as they thought it was a Tory leaflet). The Labourites packed up early and the Tories and Ukippers thought that we should take over their space as "the Socialist Party" had taken over the Labour Party. We smiled but didn't.The LibDems are making the biggest effort, no doubt because if they can't beat Labour under Corbyn for second place (their leaflets specifically denounced Corbyn) their credibility will remain damaged. Labour came second at the general election, with the LibDems 4th behind UKIP.. You'd have thought that Labour would also realise the importance for them of beating the LibDems, but they didn't seem to be making much effort. We were told that their candidate was an anti-Corbyn Blairite. Maybe this explains why we didn't see any of the young, enthusiastic new members Corbyn has attracted to the Labour Party. Anyway, enough of conventional, capitalist politics.Although our main effort was to distribute "The problem" leaflet before it became outdated, we still sold three pamphlets. One person immediately recognised us as "The Socialist Party of Great Britain". Another had received our leaflet through her letter box the day before, liked it and wanted to know more. Most of the conversations were about socialism, though there were a couple who had voted Brexist (in the minority here as the constituency was one of those that voted to stay in) and wanted to discuss this (they assumed that as socialists we would have favoured Brexit).It can't be denied that people are more interested in discussing politics when there's an election. We saw 8 or 9 posters in the window each for the Liberals, the Greens and Labour and one for the NHAP. Only one Tory one. Presumably as this is a safe Tory seat those who are not Tories want to show this. Can't blame them but this makes the title of our leaflet "The problem is not the Tories … It's capitalism" relevant. Naturally, they all got one put through their letter box.After the stall and door-to-door leafletting in Witney and Eynsham only 250 remain of the 2500 West London took. Others are due to be distributed by Midlands members in Chipping Norton and Woodstock. When it's over less than 1000 should be left at Head Office.
Well done to all those involved.It is obvious that having a visible presence brings recognition as you demonstrated in your examples. As the nights are drawing in now, branches will have to think about alternative publicity to the successful street stalls. Perhaps, an increase in advertising in local/community/student papers if financially feasible.Perhaps those with the requisite artistic skills could design some imaginative eye-catching ads as a template.The blog is always on the look-out for graphics and i am sure the twitter and facebook activists likewise would also appreciate new and thought-provoking images for memes.
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