Vol. 75/No. 23      June 13, 2011

Through the appeal, some 470 people across North America today give $57,200 a month to support the political work of the Socialist Workers Party. So far this year, 243 contributors have raised their pledges, for a net increase of $2,400 per month. In addition, 20 new contributors have been won to the effort. That brings the annual total to $686,000.

These monthly contributions are a mainstay of the party’s activity, as they have been for more than a decade. Today—with a marked increase in political responsiveness to a revolutionary perspective among workers and farmers, in face of the consequences of three years of the world capitalist crisis—the need for the funds is growing in step with the political opportunities.

Organizers of the Supporters Monthly Appeal in 20 cities across North America have set plans to win $1,100 a month in increases in June and July to surpass $58,300 in regular monthly donations. That will bring the yearly total to $700,000.

The appeal got a boost in New York and New Jersey in early May. Organizers met with more than 60 contributors, and 49 raised their contributions. That’s an increase of $731 a month.

As part of the New York effort, many contributors, including organizers of the appeal visiting from elsewhere in North America, took part in a Saturday, May 7, dinner and program sponsored by the Militant Labor Forum. Steve Clark, editor of the Militant, spoke about the capitalist crisis and the political response communist workers are finding as they reach out broadly in the working class to win new subscribers to the paper.

Contributions to the appeal, Clark said, “are indispensable to the work of the Socialist Workers Party today, and to the place of the Militant in the weekly political activity of party members. Week in and week out, what the funds make possible politically comes through in the pages of the paper.”

“The discussions we had with contributors at their apartments, in coffee shops, and elsewhere made a big difference,” said Jane Harris from Newark, New Jersey. “We were able to talk politics, point to articles in the Militant about what the party is doing, and in that way explain the need to increase monthly contributions to meet new openings. People responded. That’s why supporters contribute—communist politics.”

Raises by contributors in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Chicago totaled $770 a month. Most recently, six contributors in Toronto, five in Vancouver, two in Atlanta, and eight in San Francisco raised their pledges a total of $276. Party supporters in Montreal, Boston, and Miami are setting an example by organizing to meet with every contributor by mid-July.

If you would like to make a regular monthly contribution or increase your pledge—in order to help build the communist movement and bring closer the day when the working class ends the dictatorship of capital—contact a local appeal organizer through the closest center listed on page 8.  
 
 
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