craziest fundraising methods left groups have used
Oct 16 2006
John reminded me with his idea about a premium rate line.
Whats the most amusing source of funding you've heard about then?
One left group that some people here will be all too familiar with apparently sent their younger members out with those red charity beaker thingies to random shopping streets for some non descript cause. Pretty funny.
Oct 16 2006
#2
Yes suppose 'selling class war' is a pretty crazy way of fundraising considering. If log on to london CW u get a collage of the best CW covers, pretty cool.
Oct 16 2006
#3
the socialist party had a lot of crazy ideas. at least when i was with them, the worst was getting longhaired members to cut their hair for the fighting fund. i got asked about that a lot, and told them to fuck off.
they also had those mis-spelt wristbands that said 'make capitilism history'. they were made in a chinese sweatshop.
hairmonster85
a militant longhair
Oct 16 2006
#4
ha ha, yeah sponsored member stuff.
'This week comrade Jill held a sponsored fun run to raise money for the fighting fund. Good work Jill - lets see some more supporters...blah blah'
Always made me cringe in trot papers.
Oct 16 2006
#5
Robbing banks and selling drugs are definitely two of the craziest fundraising methods that have been used. Thank fuck there's less of that these days.
(I say less because I know some greek insurrectionists fluffed a bankjob recently)
Oct 16 2006
#6
Guy, you can't just say it, you have to tell the story!
BTW, who sold drugs? I wondered if someone had. I remember hearing a discussion about whether to sell (or distribute) cannabis seeds was a more direct way of opposing the criminalisation of cannabis and the criminals than just having it as a clause...
But actually selling drugs 
Oct 16 2006
#7
Who sold drugs? Bad road to go down on an open forum and I value my kneecaps.
"Yiannis Dimitrakis, an alleged member of an anarchist group, was involved in shooting three people during a bank robbery. He denies being a member of any organisation. The greek anarchist federation have released a statement denouncing the actions of individualists groups operating in Greece."
Oct 16 2006
#8
oh i see what you mean, i was hoping for more silly stuff.
Obv heavy duty grouos have done all sorts of off key shit, stalin robbed banks for the bolsheviks, FARC pretty ran a large portion of the coke trade at times etc.
Oct 16 2006
#9
I am a little surprised this thread has been started by an AF member.
Surely everyone knows the strangest method used by a revolutionary group to raise funds was..........
Selling Jam.
Rumours that an AF/Womens Institute merger is still on the cards have been denied by the WI today, as they have told all enqurirers that a "2007 Naked AF/WI members calendar" would be a step too far.
Oct 16 2006
#10
PaulMarsh wrote:
I am a little surprised this thread has been started by an AF member.Surely everyone knows the strangest method used by a revolutionary group to raise funds was..........
Selling Jam.
NO WAY! Thats fucking brilliant
Right, i'm bringing some to the ABF.
I remember using selling jam as an analogy for leftist politics, when talking about how different groups try to get their ideas across/why the SWP had sold their press on MATB. Maybe there's something about the AF that makes jam merchantry a subconscious desire...
Oct 17 2006
#11
I have heard the BPP got guys on the street to do muggings. I heard it from an mp3 entitled "A Lifetime in Struggle: Critical Reflections on the Black Panther Movement with Ashanti Alston" which is avilable on the radio4all.net website. The site doesn't seem to be up ATM but Google thinks http://www.radio4all.net/podcast.php/A_Lifetime_in_Struggle.xml?series=A%20Lifetime%20in%20Struggle might be the correct URL for it.
Oct 17 2006
#12
I've heard that you can donate to libcom by buying certain books on amazon. Perhaps libcom should be supporting Freedom or Housman's instead of a multi-national, especially given the links some senior libcommers have developed with Angel Alley.
Oct 17 2006
#13
& I find it hard to believe that the AF successfully raised any money through the sale of jam. Last week, at the Antifa gig, the unfortunate youth on the AF stall was finding it next to impossible to give his wares away.
Oct 17 2006
#14
I would buy AF jam! Nothing wrong with that fundraising method
And a sponsored run - thats awesome. Would get me to give couple quid.
Oct 17 2006
#15
Quote:
Robbing banks and selling drugs are definitely two of the craziest fundraising methods that have been used. Thank fuck there's less of that these days
Durruti and Ascaso's bankraids seemed to be pretty bloody, usually resulting in a shoot out with the guardia civil and a couple of comrades lieing in pools of their own jam. Conversely it seems that Sabate usually single handedly managed to rob banks of billions of pesetas, drive the get away car and gun down a couple of hundred guardia civil as he left the seen of the crime.
Did the AF get their inspiration for selling jam from that lady who chris morris reduces to tears on the Day Today?
Quote:
MORRIS: Tomorrow sees the opening of the London Jam Festival, selling pots of jam, some made by celebrities, to raise money for the homeless. With me is one of the organisers, Janet Breen. Janet, good to see you - this must have taken a heck of a lot of organising.BREEN: Yes it has, actually, to get all the celebrities to contribute their jam has really been quite an operation.
MORRIS: How much of your time did you put into it?
BREEN: Oh, I would say at least six months.
MORRIS: Six months! To raise money for a jam festival? Isn't that rather stupid?
BREEN: [Surprised] No I don't think so, it's all in a good cause.
MORRIS: A good cause, yeah, but how much are you going to raise?
BREEN: We hope to raise at least fifteen hundred pounds.
MORRIS: Fifteen hundred pounds?!? That's a *pathetic* amount of money! You could raise more money by auctioning dogs!
BREEN: Well I don't think so, I, I, I think it's all in a good cause and very worthwhile-
MORRIS: You persuaded these celebrities to waste their time donating to it?
BREEN: Yes-
MORRIS: Well, who?
BREEN: Er, Glenys Kinnock we've got, and Sebastian Coe-
MORRIS: I *hate* Sebastian Coe!
BREEN: [Getting upset] Well I feel he's made a very worthwhile contribution-
MORRIS: What, to the paltry sum of fifteen hundred pounds?
BREEN: Yes!
MORRIS: Is that worth six months of your time?
BREEN: Well I think it is-
MORRIS: I don't think it is at all! I think the only reason you've done it is to make yourself look important! How dare you come on this programme and say "Hey look at me, I'm raising fifteen hundred pounds for the homeless"! You could make more money sitting outside a tube station with your hat on the ground even if you were twice as ugly as you are, which is very ugly indeed!
[Breen breaks down in tears. Morris adopts a low, sympathetic voice.]
MORRIS: Has this been upsetting for you? Have you anything else to say in your defence?
[Breen shakes her head. Morris turns smugly back to the camera - another media lamb slaughtered on the altar of news!]
MORRIS: Janet Breen, thank you!
Oct 17 2006
#16
Fuck jam, the real money is in cake. If AF had a cake sale, I'd spend myself into the poor house.
Oct 17 2006
#17
Jack_Ketch wrote:
I've heard that you can donate to libcom by buying certain books on amazon. Perhaps libcom should be supporting Freedom or Housman's instead of a multi-national, especially given the links some senior libcommers have developed with Angel Alley.
Hi - please see this thread.
http://libcom.org/node/7025
When we have time we are working on a deal with Frontline books. We are working on something similair with Freedom. If Housman's approached us with a decent proposition we would consider it.
The crux of it is - amazon make this easy for websites to do, independent stores (the ones who can benefit most from stuff like this) havent really put any thought into it.
Oct 17 2006
#18
Only problem is that we are all so lazy, when buying books it's easier to log on to Amazon and buy from there, even though they are as anti-union as Starbucks, Bodyshop or Wal-mart. 
Well of course i don't buy from amazon (where's a smug smilie when you need one) but if you are going to buy from Amazon anyway, might as well send some dosh LibCom way (the ket stash is getting low[at least that's what Jack said last night on his way to Jimmer's 
])
Oct 17 2006
#19
Wasnt one lefty group using a charity shop?
Oct 17 2006
#20
Refused wrote:
Fuck jam, the real money is in cake. If AF had a cake sale, I'd spend myself into the poor house.
Couple of years ago we sold cakes on the libcom stall.
Oct 17 2006
#21
Fuck that gives me an idea! 
Libcom sponsored cake baking - if you pledge us a minimum of £5, I'll bake the hell out of a personalised cake for you.
Refused, how many can I put you down for?
Oct 17 2006
#22
bring on the cake and jam to the bookfair, i am easy pray for everything remotely edable and vegan.
Bookshops and charity shops sound like a good idea as well if you are big enough to sustain it. Same goes for mail order book & pamflet etc merch selling.
Hey, simple fact: this shit needs money and i am tired of this punk shoestring DIY bullshit where we look like hobbyists 
(no offence to punks who like DIY mags etc)
Oct 17 2006
#23
rkn wrote:
Refused wrote:
Fuck jam, the real money is in cake. If AF had a cake sale, I'd spend myself into the poor house.Couple of years ago we sold cakes on the libcom stall.
Hmmm were they ones jodie made?
Didn't/doesn't one of the CPs own Sketchleys Dry Cleaners?
Oct 17 2006
#24
Jack wrote:
Fuck that gives me an idea!Libcom sponsored cake baking - if you pledge us a minimum of £5, I'll bake the hell out of a personalised cake for you.
Refused, how many can I put you down for?
I'd just to remind all cake lovers out there that Jack is notoriously unreliable when it comes to cakes, that may only be when he is afraid of the competition
Didn't the IWCA do a sponsored walk recently? I thought it was a joke at first but apparently not.
Oct 17 2006
#25
JDMF - a vegan one will cost you as tenner cause I'd need new ingredients, and to degrade myself also.
Oct 17 2006
#26
i owe libcom a tenner anyway, pledged it ages ago and never bothered to send it through
Oct 17 2006
#27
20 it is.
Oct 17 2006
#28
Quote:
Didn't the IWCA do a sponsored walk recently? I thought it was a joke at first but apparently not.
The IWCA or the sponsored walk?
Oct 17 2006
#29
jef costello wrote:
I'd just to remind all cake lovers out there that Jack is notoriously unreliable when it comes to cakes, that may only be when he is afraid of the competition ;)
*gasps*
CAAAAAAAKE OOOOOOOOOFF!
Will I receive back-cake for past donations?
Oct 17 2006
#30
Refused wrote:
jef costello wrote:
I'd just to remind all cake lovers out there that Jack is notoriously unreliable when it comes to cakes, that may only be when he is afraid of the competition ;)*gasps*
CAAAAAAAKE OOOOOOOOOFF!
Will I receive back-cake for past donations?
I think it's spelt "bukkake."
C'mon CWF - speak up!