First Published: The Call, Vol. 8, No. 28, July 16, 1979.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
Copyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.
I would like to share some thoughts with our readers on the question of finances. The Party is presently in a critical financial situation, and prospects for the immediate future appear even more difficult.
Of course, communists are used to operating on a tight budget. Considering the fact that we have an extremely small central staff, the Party’s publications department, for example, produces a significant amount of material. In the past year alone, it has put out a good number of books, pamphlets and other vital pieces of literature, not to mention The Call/El Clarin, which has not missed its schedule in over six years. Because we are in the U.S., we are asked and often volunteer to publish materials for our fraternal comrades in other countries, who are unable to print their own material due to the difficult conditions.
And this only begins to touch the surface. Even without the giant bureaucracy of other institutions, the Party must support some full-time people, both in the center and in the field. Since the last meeting of our Central Committee, there has been a shift in Party resources towards supporting more full-time cadres in the field, and especially in the new areas of Party work outside the big cities.
This is a positive development and a reflection of the Party’s new growth and mass ties. But it must be backed up by financial support.
An important measure of our seriousness and that of any political party is the stand it takes towards fundraising. It does little good to come up with grandiose plans about expansion of the newspaper and of our mass work without a systematic plan to build financial support, support which can only come from below, from the base, from the masses. For the communist movement to be a real force in U.S. society, to develop from relative isolation to a mass party that can influence the political events in the country, will take a lot of money.
While the costs of operation have spiraled because of inflation and growth, we are able to maintain the low price of The Call and other literature only because of the generous contributions of the working people, who have always been our real pillar of strength.
It is because this particularly difficult economic crisis comes into conflict with the enormous tasks faced by our Party and our movement that I call on our readers to make a commitment. I ask that you consider making an immediate contribution to get us over this hump, as well as becoming a monthly sustainer of The Call to support our long-range work.
Our cause is just and we are determined to succeed.
–Michael Klonsky