'I never thought it would be you.'

A first for the blog . . . and it was a long time coming.

With the completion of the October 1937 issue of the Socialist Standard, that means that every complete October issue of the Socialist Standard (1904 thru' 2026) is now on the blog. The first month to be completed in its entirety. 

One caveat, though. When the blog originally appeared in 2006 it was not fully formed, and bore little or no resemblance to the blog it is today. It has continually been a work in progress over the years, and the way I have approached digitising the Socialist Standards has changed over that time accordingly. 

That means that in the early years of the blog I did not make a point of including screen grabs of Party meetings listed in the Standards. I didn't originally see the point of posting such information, thought it wouldn't be of interest, but I've revised my opinion on that matter in recent years because I've come to realise that the Party's activity at indoor and outdoor meetings was so central to its identity. A reader of the blog cannot get a full sense of the history and vibrancy of the Party in its past if the reader is unaware of how much activity was going on, how many meetings were being held, both indoors and outdoors, and where.

So, unfortunately, some of the earliest completed Standards on the blog don't include the Socialist Party meetings info. I may revisit those old Standards to correct that mistake but it's not a priority right now.

'I never thought it would be you.'

What's with that post title? Well, apart from it also being the title of an excellent short story by the Scottish writer, Gordon Legge, it refers to the fact that October shouldn't have been the first month to be completed on the blog. It should have been July or August . . . definitely August. I don't know what happened . . . 

. . . but I know what's happening next.