Central England CP Building School

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Building School The Communist Party Central England Building School is a milestone event - we need cadres from every village, town and city in the region to kickstart activity and grow the Party and the movement

April 20th Shaheed Bhaghat Singh Centre, Derby

Venue The School is set at the Shaheed Bhaghat Singh Centre in Derby which also hosts the offices of the local branches of the Indian Worker’s Association and the Communist Party

Dates The School be a one-day event on the 20th April to allow participants to attend without needing an overnight stay

How to get there The SBS Centre is at 191 Upper Dale Rd, Derby DE23 8BS. A shuttle service from Derby station (9.45-10.30am) will be available for participants who provide us with their arrival time in advance.

Parking is available outside the venue and directions are on the back of this brochure

Who can attend There are a maximum of 25 places available, and it requires advance registration.

Members of the CP or domiciled CPs who are based in the Midlands and surrounding area.

We’re looking for existing cadres and officers and newer members who want to develop Party activity

What to expect Group work, one-to-one and group training in campaigning and communications skills, discussions, and multimedia presentations.

What if I miss out?

If demand is high enough a second Central England Party Building School will be held at the end of May for comrades who couldn’t get into the first one.

Northern and Southern England Party Building Schools are being planned for later in 2013

Come to our Building School MIDLANDS SECRETARY GRAHAM STEVENSON WRITES: “After the success of the national Party Building School last year we knew that we needed to use this as a platform for expanding our work in every town and city in the region. The need to develop our cadres so they can apply Communist analysis to the work in their localities and develop our organisation as our Party has greatly expanded its reach and activity, recruiting new members and establishing new centres of activity.

The School is an excellent opportunity for you to develop as a cadre and to bring with you, members of your branch who want to become more active and develop politically.

The purpose of the school is to help sharpen our ability to collectively wage the battle against the ConDems and build the CP and the labour movement.”

Communist Party Central England Building School 2013

WHAT TO EXPECT How to organise more effectively in your locality Party organisation & campaigning priorities Practical skills to help you immediately expand your work FOLLOW US ON TWITTER at www.twitter.com/communists1920 1

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HOW TO PREPARE You can circulate this brochure to get comrades interested Discuss the event at your branch committee, branch, district and nation committee meetings Consider who might benefit most from attending

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WHAT IS OUR AIM? Building the Communist Party anew for the struggle Socialism

WHO IS IT AIMED AT?

Come prepared to listen, learn and engage

We’re looking for existing cadres and officers and newer members who want to develop Party activity in their area

Read the literature sent to you once you register to attend

WHO CAN ATTEND?

BRING ALONG CONCRETE EXAMPLES OF LOCAL CAMPAIGNING WORK

There are a maximum of 25 places available and it requires advance registration. Members of the CP or domiciled CPs who are based in the Midlands and surrounding area.

WHAT TO READ IN ADVANCE • Introduction to Britain’s Road to Socialism • John Foster on the role of the Communist Party • Liu Sha Chi “How to be a Good Communist” • Robert Griffiths and Kevin Marsh “Granite & Honey” biography of Phil Piratin Communist MP Plus the NEW EDITION of the Communist Party Handbook which will be circulated in advance to attendees

COVER AND OTHER PHOTOS By Mina Boromand

WHERE IS IT? At the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Centre, 191 Upper Dale Rd, Derby DE23 8BS

WHEN? Saturday 20th April 10.30am - 5pm, with an evening social event A second school will be held on Saturday 18th May for comrades who are unable to attend on the 20th April and if demand is high enough

WHAT WILL YOU DO? Take part in discussion, learn from others and feed in your practical and political experience. Bring along a laptop or tablet device if you have one.

Communist Party Central England Building School 2013

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PROGRAMME 10.30-11am Orientation - coffee.

Welcome from the Indian Workers Association and CP Midlands District Secretary 11am -12.15pm Why are communists indispensable to the Labour Movement?

Book break-out (11-11.45am) “Granite and Honey” with CP General Secretary Robert Griffiths Group session - what are the lessons from the history of the CPs struggle in Britain can we apply to building the Labour movement in your locality 12.15-12.30pm Coffee Break 12.30-1.30pm The experience of building the Party in your area Group session looking at: People’s Charter and Anti-Cuts campaigning; Recruitment and developing cadres; Mobilising every section of our class; 1.30pm-2pm Lunch 2-3pm Cadres with Skills - the key to building the Party, Part 1 Skills sessions: giving a speech; drafting a media release; doorstopping and FAQs 3-3.15pm Coffee Break

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3.15-4.15pm Cadres with Skills - the key to building the Party, Part 2 Skills sessions: writing and designing leaflets; using social media; running a Marxist-Leninist education session 4.15-5pm What we’ve learned Feedback session One-to-one sessions 11am-1.30pm Using CiviCRM to organise the Party in your area.

CiviCRM is a powerful database system that the Party uses centrally to manage memberships, communications, subscriptions, fundraising and events. Party secretaries and/or a designated comrade from each branch will receive direct training on how to access and use the system for their branch.

1.45-4.15pm Setting up and running your branch website/blog.

A template Joomla website (£75 cost) and/or Wordpress blog (£25 cost) will be set up for your branch/locality with pre-loaded articles, links and some basic design features. Party secretaries and/or a designated comrade from each branch will receive direct training on how to create, submit and edit their site.

Communist Party Central England Building School 2013

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SESSIONS Book break-out A selected book is read in advance by participants, then discussed in the context of an overall theme. The session can be run by an author or pre-selected comrade with a focus on Q&A and guided discussion Group session A brief introduction to the subject is given by the session leader and attendees are broken into groups to discuss a particular theme or area of work. Groups are either randomly assigned or preferences expressed through advanced registration (with school organisers weighting participants). The group will be set a particular task (e.g. coming up with 5 ‘dos’ and 5 ‘don’ts’ or considering answers to a set of questions) and then report back to all participants at the end of the session.

Skills session Participants in the group are given a short overview and set practical tasks individually or in pairs to complete during the session

Communist News and Views is a regular publication sent to thousands of subscribers. We regularly send out special editions to subscribers in targeted localities. Essential if you want to advertise bigger open meetings.

Getting local supporters to subscribe is a key way to get your message out the local labour movement and to recruit.

Feedback Session Every participant is encouraged to share two things that they’ll be taking away from the school and putting into practice in their area One-to-One session Run in parallel with other sessions half an hour sessions with each participant repeated throughout the day. These are used for highly technical skills that requiring unique training adapted to specific local conditions or a comrades role in the Party

Party Organiser is a Bulletin for CP cadres.

It contains news, priorities, updates and reports that will not be found on the CP website.

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HOW TO GET THERE

WHAT IT COSTS

DERBY RAILWAY STATION IS A THIRTY MINUTE WALK AWAY FROM THE SBS CENTRE http://goo.gl/maps/Dqh0y

There is no cost for attending the School as it is being funded by the Party Centrally.

A shuttle service will be available for participants from Derby Railway station from 9.45-10.30am.You will need to send your arrival time to midlands@communist-party.org.uk by Wednesday 17th April FREE PARKING IS AVAILABLE ON UPPER DALE RD OUTSIDE THE SBS CENTRE DRIVING DIRECTIONS FROM: Birmingham (SW of Derby) http://goo.gl/maps/CQUkl Nottingham (E of Derby) http://goo.gl/maps/wuJyl Leicester (S of Derby) http://goo.gl/maps/tLnuR

Therefore the cost to you and your branch just involve transport costs.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided throughout the day to all participants.

We encourage you to raise attending the School in your local branch and seek to use local funds to help cover the transport costs.

Funding is available from the Party centrally if this proves to be necessary (this could be maximised by organising a car load from your area). Train travel to Derby should be between £7 and £18 using advanced ticket purchase without railcards. http://www.thetrainline.com/

HOW DO I REGISTER? You can either register online through the CP Secure Area https://secure.communistparty.org.uk/index.php? option=com_civicrm&view=Events&Itemid=247

Sheffield (N of Derby) http://goo.gl/maps/jEAbq

or by e-mailing midlands@communist-party.org.uk

Stoke (NW of Derby) http://goo.gl/maps/SJfbA

Please ensure your register before 5pm on Friday 12th April. If the school has filled up before the close of registration then please contact the Party Centrally.

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or by phone 02086861659

Communist Party Central England Building School 2013