Vsc Flag Day in Glasgow

Tony Southall The first attempt by the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign to raise money by way of a Flag Day took place in Glasgow on September 2nd. The object was to raise money for medical aid to North Vietnam and the National Liberation Front, Two factors hampered our efforts. Firstly the city magistrates had allowed us to collect on the same day as the Society of St.Vincent de Paul, a Catholic charitable organisation who are reputed to be able to summon up more collectors than any other regular Flag Day organisers in Glasgow. Certainly our collectors were swamped by theirs - I think it safe to say that we could have doubled our takings without their presence, Potential organisers of Flag Days in other towns would be well advised to check that dates do not clash in this way. Secondly, the response from those we had counted on to come out collecting was very poor. We were limited to members of the VSC Committee, several sympathisers from out of town and the Pollok and Woodside Young Socialists who both brought a number of their members, Particularly disappointing was the absence of YPV members, The meetings of the latter organisation have been supported by VSC. The absence of members of the Young Communist League was elso noted. It is to be hoped that this does not denote an onset of sectarianism in a matter so important as the defence of the Vietnamese revolutionaries, In the event 22 people collected approximately £55, It is hoped to supplement this sum with pub collections in the next 2 weeks.