Published: New Age, No. 15, August/September 1979
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Sam Richards and Paul Saba
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The CWM has had to close down its bookshop, “October Books”. For years, this shop has played a useful role in promoting Marxist-Leninist ideas through its sales of revolutionary literature, and through meetings that were organised there. Comrades of our Liverpool branch as well as some supporters, worked hard to keep it going, putting in a great deal of time and money to maintain and improve it, and comrades in other areas have great respect for the good job they did at the shop.
Recently, however, costs have risen, while sales have not. Indeed, the shop has only been able to open irregularly in recent months, because we were unable to staff it. Unemployed comrades had previously helped out during the week, and now we have no members unemployed who could do this work.
A communist organisation to choose its priorities carefully, and work according to the resources it has; lately, the disadvantages of maintaining “October Books” have come to outweigh the advantages. That is why we have been compelled to close it down.
We apologise to readers and to users of the shop who have been inconvenienced by the closure and the accompanying problems. We pledge ourselves to work hard to build a stronger, united Marxist-Leninist party in Britain which will be able to sustain not one, but many bookshops and other services to the revolutionary movement, thanks to its popular support.