Branch News
In perfect weather, the warmest, sunniest day for many weeks the party held its first meeting in Trafalgar Square. Some had reservations as to the wisdom of such a meeting with our limited resources, but doubts were dispelled emphatically. Hundreds of people were in the well of the square listening to our speakers and many asked questions. Hundreds more were listening through the amplifiers which were at the National Gallery end of the Square. On the plinth of Nelson’s Column our platform was set , gaily decorated with banners (one—a really professional affair, large, bold, colourful—made for the occasion by our comrade Helen Rose).
Party members—old, young, new, long standing—were selling literature and fund collecting. The meeting was excellently conducted with a most attentive audience. Good questions were put to the speakers.
An attractive literature stand was well placed for all to see, and apart from sales members were in attendance to answer queries. A number of enquiries were made. Names and addresses were left for forwarding literature etc.
The collection amounted to £18, literature sales totalled over £13.
The success of the meeting was stimulating beyond measure. Not for a long time have so many members been seen together in such a happy and enthusiastic mood. The Committees and Party officials who were responsible for the arrangements must be well pleased with their work and are to be congratulated on one of the most exhilarating displays of Party propaganda.
This, the first rally of its kind held in London by the Party certainly won’t be the last.
October 5th and 6th (Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday) is the date of the 1963 Delegate Meeting which is being held at Head Office, 52, Clapham High Street, SW4. Monday October 21st at 8 pm Hampstead Town Hall. Please make a note of the date and come along with as many visitors as possible. Fuller details of the meeting elsewhere in this issue.
Glasgow Branch are keeping up their good work. Having rented a Branch room which is available all the week, members are busy decorating it in order that they can make the most of it, especially as they want to be well prepared for the next General Election campaign.
The EC had a gay post card from our comrade Grant (only just now back from America) who said at the time he was just off to the WSP Conference, had had 1½ hours tape recording for radio and had attended the Washington March (where he regretted that for this first time ever he was at a demonstration without Party literature). It is hoped that a full report of his trip will be ready for the next issue of the SOCIALIST STANDARD.
P.H.