What exactly does a political activist do?
December 18th, 2007As a seasoned political campaigner for the British Conservative
Party I am often fielding questions about what exactly this
involves. The description below is just that: the idiot’s guide
to politics, so to speak.
Let us start with the basics. The Conservative party is
currently the main party of opposition in the United Kingdom. We
are also the oldest and most successful political party in Great
Britain. Yet we have been out of power since 1997.
We lost in 1997 because we were seen as out of touch with the
public. We had been in power since 1979 and, as with any
government, the public had grown bored. They wanted something
new and were swept away with the promises of New Labour.
Promises that have now seen to be based on spin, but that were
believed by many in 1997. Since then we have suffered two more
election defeats, although we have cut down Labour’s majority
and become the largest party in local government and in the
European parliament.
With a few legal exceptions, almost anyone can be a member of a
political party. But there is a huge difference between being a
member (like 300,000 people are) and being an activist.
Members do not have to do anything. By paying 15 a year (3 for
under 22’s) they are already contributing to the party,
providing much needed funds towards the winning of elections.
But many chose to do more. They join the party because they want
it to win. For the very same reason many go out and help it in a
number of other ways:
Leafletting.
Canvassing (asking how people will vote, either at their door,
over the phone, or using surveys).
Putting up a poster at election time.
Holding house meetings, where neighbours are invited to meet a
candidate.
Fundraising by helping to organise social events and appeals to
raise money.
Standing themselves (usually for council, but also for other
positions of responsibility such as school governors).
Joining letter writing circles, getting mentions in the media.
Assisting on photo shoots and celebrity visits as part of the
crowd.
Those are most of the obvious ones. But why do we do these
things? Surely the national policies dictate a result, not to
mention the media coverage?
Wrong!
People vote for the person who they think will do the most for
them. That’s human nature after all. So, if the Conservative
candidate, at whatever level, is the one who organised the
litterpick next to your house, helped sort out your daughter’s
problems at school or just spent 20 minutes on your doorstep
listening to all of your problems, you are more likely to vote
for them. It works. I’ve seen rock solid opposition wards go
Conservative because of a hard fought, pro-active local issue
campaign and vice-versa.
Politics is about listening to people. Politics is about being
seen to campaign on the issues that matter to them in their
local area. And don’t forget, it’s usually our local area as
well: we do have some self interest in going about doing this!
In general, people get involved in politics because in their own
way they want to make the world a better place. That might mean
stopping a by-pass, protesting against a war or just getting the
drains in the neighbourhood cleaned. It doesn’t have to be big
things that annoy us, after all.
We campaign ourselves into the ground. We stuff envelopes for
hours on end, that most people only glance at on the way to the
bin when they arrive through their doors. We try and make things
as personal as possible: hand written envelopes (and on occasion
letters), personal telephone calls from the candidate, house
visits, single issue leaflets to cover just one or two streets.
Why do we do this? We work for change. Positive change. We don’t
always succeed, but at least we try.
