What does Socialist Sunday mean to you?

Despite what our opponents might say it isn’t about getting more followers for ourselves. On the contrary, I feel it incumbent on those of us with a sizeable following to give a boost to comrades who may be new to social media. We’re building a network in which we each contribute according to our ability that others might benefit according to their need!

I’ve reached a new milestone, 26k followers, but it’s not so impressive once you subtract the 5k I don’t follow back. Usually there’s a good reason for this, but it may be an oversight. What surprised me was finding I’m following a lot of people I’ve never heard of, I usually wait for people to follow me before I follow them. I don’t think that chasing this up this discrepancy is a productive use of my time.

I’m suspicious of accounts that have been on Twitter for a long time with few followers – it show how few people are interested in what they have say! I’m also suspicious of new accounts with lots of followers – where did they get all these followers?

Genuine new accounts are a problem for me, I often don’t know enough about them to decide whether to follow back. I also get requests for a donation or RT. I won’t RT when I don’t know they’re genuine.

Numbers mean nothing without context, I’ve blocked two “Labour” MPs and been blocked by four more, but I’m followed by even more.

Numbers aren’t important in themselves, but they provide a platform for promoting our campaigns. I asked you to support my York Walk and you helped me raise £600 for York Rescue Boat. I thank you for that 👍👏

Having many followers means that I get asked to RT stuff to reach more people. I’m usually happy to do so, but I need to be selective. On 2-3 occasions I’ve used my platform to support comrades in distress, but I’m frequently asked to support to donate or RT to someone I don’t know. I have an aversion to asking people to donate to a cause unless I can put my money where my mouth is. When I say I’ve donated to something it’s to encourage others to do likewise if they can afford to do so, not to brag about my generosity 😅

As I said above, I feel that those of with a large following have an obligation to help genuine socialists to build up a following, but we need to beware of someone purporting to be a socialist with the intention of undermining our solidarity. My #SocialistSunday lists are comrades I think worth following. It’s up to anyone to follow them or not, but no one is entitled to object to my inclusion of another comrade – which happened quite recently.I

We need to be careful though, the hashtag attracts trolls like moths to a flame! They’re not always identifiable immediately, that’s why I made a rule that I wouldn’t advise comrades to follow anyone I’d known for less than a month. I might be taken in for a while, I need to be sure before I pass it on to you!

The operative word is “Solidarity” If we don’t have that we have nothing! As my friend and comrade Chris Williamson said “Solidarity is essential not only when it’s easy!”

So I welcome discussion, not all socialists think alike, but we shouldn’t be arguing amongst ourselves when we need to be united against a Labour/Tory duocracy

Jeremy Corbyn is asking why we’re socialists and collating our stories for a book: Why are you a Socialist?

https://www.whywearesocialists.com/

I asked what #SocialistSunday meant to you, here are your answers

Bandiera Rossa @fran_b__ It’s a chance to be reminded that while we socialists often feel like a tiny minority of the population, there are about us rather more than we often suppose. Thanks so much Mike for taking the trouble to maintain this list and publish it each Sunday. 👏👏👏

Karen Owen @K4Owen Reaching out to like minded folk, to find the nuggets on twitter who are non toxic and believe in a better more kind world #SocialistSunday

Caroline @CazzaKabb It means a day of feeling the comradery and solidarity between fellow socialists in a society that mocks us. Happy #SocialistSunday to us all! ✊

Ann Johns @AnnJohn30914404 the remembrance of the hope we all felt from 2015 – 2019 & the determination to win it back ASAP!

Sussie @corbs536 #SocialistSunday means we are a group of like minded people, who want equal opportunities for all. Supporting OUR #NHS, wanting fair wages for all. Wanting a benefits system that looks after the most vulnerable. Wanting a trustworthy gov. Together we are stronger.