Guerrilla paper selling tactics

[StephenR]

Hey comrades. I'm a member of the ISO. As some of you may know we engage in weekly paper sales selling Socialist Worker newspaper. For the past 2 months my fellow branch members and I have been setting up a table on the corner of our county's courthouse and selling SW, books, handing out free literature etc. This past Saturday a policeman stopped us and told us we needed a permit to sale the paper/set up a table and solicit.

I checked into getting a permit and to say the least its going to be a lot of hassle. However we are going to try anyway to get a permit and be legal about all this. But if we are unable to get a permit (all permits must be approved by the city's police dept) then we are exploring alternatives. More specifically guerrilla paper selling.

I was just wondering if any comrades here have had similar troubles and if so how you got around it.

[Holden Caulfield]

In the UK you can distribute political or religious literature without a permit (i think), dunno bout the states

[which doctor]

In the UK you can distribute political or religious literature without a permit (i think), dunno bout the states
You can usually hand out things for free without a permit, but if you are selling things (like newspapers), then a permit becomes necessary.

[Circle E Society]

This is so stereotypical not criticizing I just think its sorta funny. What we do here if if you have a free paper in town just put it in those boxes. If you're selling it its as simple as hiding the money a lot of times.

[Magdalen]

We've been receiving similar demands from police and the council's 'city centre ambassadors' for the last year or so. We did inquire into the possibility of obtaining a permit, but discovered that we would have to obtain public liability insurance to a maximum of £50 million as a prerequisite. We then decided, together with other left groups, to firmly reject any council or police demands for permits. The harassment continued, and eventually came to a head last month (http://www.revleft.com/vb/street-stall-attacked-t99471/index.html). In response to this, we organised a demonstration of approximately 20 people the following Saturday, with several stalls. The police and ambassadors were again present, but took no action, being clearly outnumbered. The comrade who was charged has received no summons through the post.

If a permit is easy to obtain, don't make martyrs out of yourselves by not getting one, but make very clear that you are doing so 'without prejudice', in that you don't recognise that a permit is legally necessary. If a permit cannot be obtained easily, then be prepared to argue that you are merely utilising your rights under the First Amendment in the US, or the Human Rights Act in Britain. Look for legal precedents if you can. If your stall is attacked by police, make as much noise about it as possible, and try to attract a crowd (a megaphone comes in useful here). Also have contact details for members of other progressive organisations in the area, and send out text messages urging them to come down help counter the police immediately. Decisions about whether to back down on threat of arrest, or whether to continue, should be made collectively by all present, with full view of the circumstances.

[StephenR]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll let you all know how this turns out.

[thinkerOFthoughts]

My idea is put a big bucket up front called "Donations" and tell the people that buy your stuff to simply put it in their :) when the cops or whomever it is, asks you about your permit simply say that you are giving them away for free, and are receiving donations for your generosity.:);)

[mykittyhasaboner]

My idea is put a big bucket up front called "Donations" and tell the people that buy your stuff to simply put it in their :) when the cops or whomever it is, asks you about your permit simply say that you are giving them away for free, and are receiving donations for your generosity.:);)
That's actually a good idea. :thumbup1:

[PoWR]

You don't need a permit to sell political materials in the United States. Cops sometimes say you do and your locality may even have some regulations, but if you're on public property and not blocking traffic, you are technically / legally within your rights.

In New York for example, if I set up a table selling underwear I am a merchant, and I need a permit. But if I set up a table selling underwear that say "fuck Bush" on them, it is now political and protected by free speech rights.

You have to decide if you want to take up the fight, but constitutionally, you are permitted to do it.

You have to let the situation dictate. In DC, they have restrictions against selling CDs. Even if they are political. Cops have literally tried to remove CDs from our tables that contained books, newspapers, etc. At the time we simply told them the CDs were free gifts to anyone who bought something else from our table. It allowed us to keep distributing everything without a problem.