Party News from the March 1910 issue of the Socialist Standard
Our SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE will be held at Easter and promises to be satisfactory in every respect. A splendid suite of rooms consisting of two halls, cloak rooms, etc., have been secured at
FAIRFAX HALL,
PORTLAND GARDENS,
STANHOPE GARDENS,
GREEN LANES,
FINSBURY PARK,
for Friday and Saturday, 25th and 26th March. Conference will commence each day at 10.a.m. On the Friday evening a SOCIAL EVENING will be held (doors open 7.30, commence at 8) and our North London Comrades guarantee a triumph.
The Hall adjoins Harringay Park Station (Midland), and is a 1d. tram ride from Finsbury Park Stations (Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Tube, and Great Ninth and City Tube).
Teas will be provided at the Conference at 6d. each, and catering will be continued throughout the evening.
* * *
Socialists willing to join the proposed Kennington Branch are invited to communicate with
W. McCartney,
20, Manor Place,
Walworth Road, S.E.
* * *
Socialists in Croydon who desire the formation of a branch of the Socialist Party in that district, are requested to communicate with
P. G. Barker,
7, Corporation Road,
Woodside.
* * *
The debate between Mr. P. Alden, M.P., and our comrade Anderson has been arranged to take place on Friday, April 1st, at the Earlsmead Road Schools, Tottenham.
* * *
Our Tottenham comrades are again contesting two Wards in the forthcoming District Council Elections and will win—ultimately, of course.
* * *
Our exposure of the Social Democrats in our February issue seems to have caused a more than usually lively flutter in their camp, and while the truth of our statement is not denied, the endeavour is being made to discredit its worth by shouting “Tory newspaper ! ” It may therefore be as well to state that the “Coventry Sentinel’’ which we quoted is no more a Tory paper than is “Justice,” the “Clarion” the “New Age,” or the “Labour Leader.” The following, taken from its leaderette on the S.D.P. will make this clear.
“Our readers will share the regret we feel that a wing of the Socialist party which once wielded a fair amount of influence has suffered the humiliation of rejected proffered services. In attempting to run in harness with a Liberal at Northampton, Mr. Quelch and the Social-Democrats have made an unwise step. Their resolve not to fall from grace again comes too late. . . . Jealous as we are for the honour of the movement, we deplore the decadence of the S.D.P., which appears to be due to a determination to secure office at any price.”
—“Coventry Sentinel,” 25.12.1909.
* * *
The receipt of a copy of this paper is an invitation to subscribe.
2 comments:
The W. McCartney, mentioned in connection with the proposed formation of an SPGB branch in Kennington, is the same Wilf McCartney who left of the SPGB over the 'W.B. of Upton Park' affair, and who was later active in Anarcho-Syndicalist politics. At this moment in time, I'm not sure if the Kennington branch got off the ground but I do know that McCartney originally joined Peckham branch of the SPGB in 1909.
Why McCartney is of especial interest is because the Kate Sharpley Library reprinted his 1945 pamphlet (with a preface from Orwell, in fact) 'Dare To Be A Daniel—A History of One of Britain's Earliest Syndicalist Unions' in the early 1990s, and it was reviewed in the March 1993 issue of the Socialist Standard:
Robbed blind (1993)
It's wee obscure snippets like this that keeps you coming back to the blog, innit?
More background info on McCartney - and the text of the pamphlet - over at the excellent Libcom website:
Dare to be a Daniel! - Wilf McCartney
Orwell's introduction is not included. I'll see if I can hunt it down.
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