Embedded in the wider movement

SOCIALIST Worker supporters threw themselves into publicising last Saturday’s anti-war demonstration-and at the same time they sold the paper. Leafleting in the run-up to the demo, over 140 papers were sold in just one hour at Tottenham Court Road in London. On the march itself around 2,500 copies were sold.

That’s the theme of all this week’s contributions to this column-selling Socialist Worker fits perfectly with campaigning over issues alongside other people.

Campus protests boost the sales

JONAS, a student at the London School of Economics, talks about success at the college last week. ‘For the first time this year (except during the Stop Bush protest) we sold 40 papers. ‘This was largely due to a shut down Guantanamo protest LSE Stop the War Coalition held in the run-up to a Tony Benn meeting on Tuesday, as well as the demonstration on Saturday. ‘Students wearing orange suits kneeled down in the main campus street, while others gave out leaflets and got people to sign the shut down Guantanamo petition.

‘One student gave a £5 donation, saying, ‘I really appreciate what you’re doing.’ The protest really hit the mood. ‘We had another paper sale on Monday and a sale at a Tony Benn meeting on Tuesday evening. Lots of people were especially interested in the interview with Hani Lazim (Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation).’

Doing more than one thing at a time

MARY FROM south London writes, ‘We did a sale outside King’s College Hospital last week with the latest petition about the occupation in Iraq and the deaths in Madrid. Our argument that these were more victims of Bush and Blair’s war was very well received.

‘Two of the women who stopped and signed the petition gave me £5 and said they really wish the troops would get out of Iraq. We sold eight copies of Socialist Worker and received many words of encouragement for the campaign and the march on Saturday. We also collected money for the nursery nurses in Scotland. People think it is scandalous that they live on poverty pay, and there was a lot of support for them. The sale went so well that we stayed 20 minutes longer than usual!’