Communists to stand
in Welsh General Election

John Lent, Welsh secretary CPB, reports on the Welsh
Committee meeting held in Shotton on 19th January.

The Welsh Committee made a decision to contest
Three of the five Wales regions in the National
Assembly elections due to be held in May of this
year.
The regions to be contested will be North Wales,
South Wales Central and South East Wales; in
standing in three regions the Communist Party will
qualify for an election broadcast.
The election broadcast, which will be the first by the
Communist Party since Harry Pollitt’s day, will give
the Communist Party in Wales a great opportunity to
reach a mass audience and get our policy of uniting
the labour movement behind socialist policies over to
the people of Wales.
The Executive Committee of the Party will be
providing funding to fight this election but additional
moneys will need to be raised by comrades and
friends in Wales. As always the financial challenges
become a political priority, and all branches should
start to develop ideas on how to raise money towards
the party’s election fund.

Llyfrau 'Beca Rebecca Books
182 Habershon Street, Splott,
Caerdydd Cardiff, CF24 2LE
Tel/Fax 029 20490835
OPEN EVERY SATURDAY 11 AM - 4 PM
NOTE WE HAVE MOVED! - new address & new
telephone no.
After 5 years in Cathays the Communist Party’s office and bookshop has
now moved to Splott, along with the Cardiff Centre for Trade Union
Studies, into a very accessible shop fronted unit.
Please call in and check us out.
However, the move has not come cheep requiring a significant financial
investment, so please support the only socialist bookshop in Wales by
sending a donation to Rebecca Books (at the new address) or by filling out
the standing order below.

Become a supporter of the only socialist bookshop in Wales.

Rebecca Books is unable to operate solely on the revenue that it generates
from book sales, therefore we are also asking comrades and friends to pay a
standing order to Rebecca Books to help guarantee the monthly income
necessary to meet the costs of running the shop.
If you take out a standing order to Rebecca Books, you can become
involved in future organisational and decision making meetings of the
bookshop.
So, if you think you can afford to contribute £5 or more a month, please
complete the banker's order form and return it to:
Rebecca Books, c/o CCTUS, 182 Habershon Street, Splott, Cardiff, CF24 2LE.

Rebecca Books

BANKER'S ORDER

To: ..............................................................(Name of your bank)
....................................................................(Branch name and address)
....................................................................
....................................................................

Please pay to Rebecca Books, Account No. 70957840 Sort Code 08-60-
01
the sum of £.......... (amount in figures)/ .......................................(amount
in words) on the ........... day of each month beginning
.................................(name of month) 200...
until further notice, and accordingly -
Debit A/C No. ................................................... (Your account number)
In the name/s of .................................................. (Your account name/s)
Address ............................................................. (Your address)
..........................................................................
..........................................................................

Signed ............................................................... (Your signature/s)

Date ...........................

Branch News

New Branch Quotas

The Secretariat has drawn up new quotas (the money that each branch is
targeted to raise, so that the Party in Wales can meet its financial obligations
to the Executive Committee and at the same time have sufficient money left
over to run the Welsh Committee) for branches.
The quota have been calculated based on the numbers of members in
branches and the number of waged comrades, the targets set are challenging
but not impossible. Past ability to raise money has also been taken into
account, hence the high target for Pontypridd.
Branches can raise this money by:
¨ encouraging waged comrades to take out standing orders to the branch
or Welsh Committee or to pay directly to Party Centre in London
where the amount will be credited to the branch target.
¨ having collections amongst comrades and friends at meetings
¨ holding raffles, car boot sales ..etc
¨ hold fund raising socials, Bar-B-Qs (wait until the summer!)

What ever you do don’t send nothing, your Treasurer needs you!

Cardiff £30.00 per month
Cynon Valley £10.00 per month
Gwent £30.00 per month
North Wales £25.00 per month
Pontypridd £50.00 per month
Swansea £20.00 per month

All money to be sent to Brian Williams

New branch launched in the Cynon Valley

The new Cynon Valley branch of the Communist party will be formally
launched in February. The decision to set up this new branch was taken by
the Pontypridd branch and backed by the Welsh Committee, the intention is
to create a more local focus to the Communist Party’s campaigning.
Nigel Maskell, the secretary of this new branch, has led by the front by
declaring his intention to stand as a candidate in the Rhondda Cynon Taff
C.B.C. elections in 2004.
This move will also free up the Pontypridd branch to concentrate on
developing its work more close to home.
On a more sober note due to the deaths of a number of comrades in the West
Wales branch it will be necessary to merge the remaining comrades into the
Swansea branch.

List of branches and secretaries

Branch Secretary

Cardiff - Dave Rawlings

Cynon Valley - Nigel Maskell

Gwent - Carol Virgo

North Wales - Nikki Hardman

Pontypridd - Dominic MacAskill
Swansea - Roger Jones

Welsh Communist Party Headquarters
182 Habershon Street, Splott, Cardiff, CF24 2LE

Welsh Committee News in Brief

Stop the War
All comrades are urged to the Stop the War movement by joining in
the activities of your local group or if there is not a group working with
others to set one up.
The Communist Party will be holding a week of action in the week
beginning 1st February on this issue and a new CP leaflet will be
available to use in activities.
What ever it is public meetings, street activities, letter writing to the
press, collecting petitions branches are urged to take part.
Morning Star
Comrades are encouraged to start, where possible, work place
collection for the Morning Star Fighting Fund. This will benefit the
paper in two ways, raise much need extra finance and promote the
paper in the work place.
Readers & Supporters groups are asked to consider putting on public
meetings in support of the FBU strike, the dispute is entering a
crucial phase and every effort needs to made to build the support
amongst the public.
Industrial
There will be an All Britain Industrial Aggregate in the London
Headquarters on Saturday 8th February. Trade Union activists are
urged to attend.
A number of motions have been circulated by the Party in Wales as
model motions for the Wales TUC, the deadline for motions is the
end of February.
The party will assist in putting on a Wales Friends of Searchlight
fringe meeting at the conference in May.
Wales Friends of Searchlight
This new anti -fascist and anti-racist was launched in Cardiff at the
end of 2002, with the active involvement of Party comrades. the aim
is to build this group into legitimate all Wales fascist monitoring group
which will take anti fascist action into the organised labour
movement.
Wales Friends of Searchlight has already won the support of a
number of trade union branches, Assembly Members and activists
from Plaid Cymru and the Labour Party.
The Welsh Committee and the Pontypridd branch of the CP have
already affiliated and other branches are urged to follow suit.
To demonstrate the Communist party’s commitment to this new
group all branches are urged to actively support the convening of
local launch meetings in Bangor, Blaenau Ffestiniog, North East
Wales, Newport, Pontypridd and Swansea.
A new anti-racism leaflet is being developed.
European Social Forum
The Communist Party will be sending delegates to ESF events in
Belgium and Greece this year, anyone interested should contact the
Welsh secretary.
Charter for Women
The Communist party will be launching this charter on 1st February
and circulating widely in the labour movement.
Membership Dues
As you will be aware membership dues collection has been
centralised, all comrades who have a bank account and regular
income need to complete the direct debit (DD) form and return it to
London HQ. If you are unable to pay by DD (payments can be made
to your branch secretary) you must still complete the rest of the form
and return it, as the details will be needed to issue you with your new
card.