Summer School 2008
Audio files
Religion

- Sandy Easton on 'The Real Meaning of Religion'

- Mike Foster on 'End Times beliefs'

- Howard Moss asks 'Is Socialism a Faith?'

- Gwynn Thomas on 'Islam, Politics and Revolution'

- Adam Buick on 'Evolution and the God Hypothesis'



 This selection of audio files was first made available by Darren O'Neil  on his Blog.
Talks from the 1982 'Socialist Thinkers – People Who History Made' lecture series.

The speaker/lecturer is Steve Coleman, the socialist thinker under discussion is Ernest Belfort Bax.

Down the years, Bax is someone who has been pretty much written out of the history of the nineteenth century British Socialist Movement.

Whilst Hyndman is always on hand to take on the role of the Victorian villain for the failure of the Marxist Left in Britain for not fully integrating into the wider Labour Movement, and William Morris gets rediscovered every generation via a new biography and/or a new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Bax, who was a comparable heavyweight figure in the Social Democratic Federation in the 1880s and was a major player - alongside Morris, Aveling and Eleanor Marx - in the Socialist League split from the SDF in 1885, if he is known at all, is best known these days for his virulent anti-feminism in the latter years of his political life, and his capitulation to British chauvinism at the outbreak of the First World War.


The Historical Place of the SPGB'

First Part

DOWNLOAD LINK: The Historical Place of the SPGB
FILE NAME: 01 Historical Place (Part 1).mp3
FILE SIZE: ~58.31 megabytes
LENGTH: 1:03:13

Second Part

DOWNLOAD LINK: The Historical Place of the SPGB
FILE NAME: 02 Historical Place (Part 2).mp3
FILE SIZE: ~51.39 megabytes
LENGTH: 55:42


1854 – 1925



Further Reading on Ernest Belfort Bax:


First Part

DOWNLOAD LINK: Belfort Bax and the "Ethics of Socialism"
FILE NAME: 02 Belfort Bax and the Ethics of Socialism Part 1.mp3
FILE SIZE: ~59.47 megabytes
LENGTH:1:04:33

Second Part

DOWNLOAD LINK: Belfort Bax and the "Ethics of Socialism"
FILE NAME: 01 Belfort Bax and the Ethics of Socialism part 2.mp3
FILE SIZE: ~41.88 megabytes
LENGTH: 56:01







1854 - 1938

Further Reading on Karl Kautsky:


Karl Kautsky and the Socialist Critique of Religion


First Part

DOWNLOAD LINK: Karl Kautsky and the Socialist Critique of Religion
FILE NAME: 02 Karl Kautsky and the Socialist Critique of Religion.mp3
FILE SIZE: ~46.17 megabytes
LENGTH:50:07

Second Part

DOWNLOAD LINK: Karl Kautsky and the Socialist Critique of Religion
FILE NAME: 03 Karl Kautsky and the Socialist Critique of Religion Part 2.mp3
FILE SIZE: ~51.61 megabytes
LENGTH: 56:01



1834 - 1896


Further Reading on William Morris:

  • William Morris on the Marxist Internet Archive
  • The William Morris Society
  • William Morris: Life and Times (From the Socialist Standard, 1984)
  • Morris and the Problem of Reform or Revolution (From the Socialist Standard, 1984)
  • Art, Labour & Socialism by William Morris . . . With a Modern Assessment (SPGB pamphlet from 1962.)
  • 1828-1888


    Further Reading on Dietzgen:

  • Jospeh Dietzgen page on the Marxist Internet Archive website
  • 'Joseph Dietzgen - The Workers Philosopher' by Adam Buick, which originally appeared in the journal, Radical Philosophy (1975).
  • Centenary Of Joseph Dieztgen by Frank Roberts, which originally appeared in the OBU Bulletin (1928).
  • 'Cosmic Dialectics, The Libertarian Philosophy of Joseph Dietzgen' by Larry Gambone

    Joseph Dietzgen and Dialectical Thought
    Another talk from the 1982 'Socialist Thinkers – People Who History Made' lecture series and, again, the speaker is Steve Coleman:

    First Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Dietzgen and Dialectical Thought
    FILE NAME: 01 Steve Coleman Dietzgen Part One.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~53.24 megabytes
    LENGTH:57:47

    Second Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Dietzgen and Dialectical Thought
    FILE NAME: 01 Dietzgen Part Two.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~48.46 megabytes
    LENGTH: 52:36

    A debate between David Senior, (Conservative Party)
    and Clifford Slapper, (SPGB),
    held on 26/07/1995 at Conway Hall.





    A debate between Steve Coleman and Labour Party member 
    Laurence Spigel, recorded on 4th April 1985 at The Prince Albert,
    Islington.








    It's in two parts - the first is Steve Coleman's talk, 
    and the 2nd contains the discussion plus a 3 minute interview
     the next day on local radio. It's been converted from tape
    cassette, so the sound quality isn't ideal but it's perfectly
    listenable.


    DOWNLOAD LINK: Is a 3rd world war inevitable part1?

    DOWNLOAD LINK :Is a 3rd World War Inevitable part 2
    'Is a 3rd World War Inevitable' - Steve Coleman 31-07-1980 pt.2.MP3


    Edgar Hardcastle

    1900-1995

    Further Reading on Hardy :



    The son of a founding member of the SPGB, Hardy joined the party in 1922. He studied at the LSE and did considerable work on political economy, in particular a Marxist critique of Keynes and other work on political economy.

    The talks date from the early eighties -  when Edgar Hardcastle, himself, was in his early eighties, and I'm pretty certain that these Economics Education classes were organised by the old Islington Branch of the SPGB.
    Hardcastle was in his early eighties when he gave the talks. As his obituary outlines, he was the:
    ". . . son of a founder member, he went to prison as a socialist conscientious objector in the First World War, formally joining the Party in 1922. After studying at the London School of Economics under Professor Edwin Cannan he worked all his life as a researcher in the trade union movement, first for the Agriculture Workers Union, then for a short while for the international trade union movement in Brussels, then till his retirement for the Post Office workers' union where he was chief adviser to a succession of UPW General Secretaries."

    He served on the Editorial Committee of the Socialist Standard for over forty years, and represented the SPGB on many occasions in debate. His pen name, when writing articles for the Standard, was 'H', and when he spoke for the Party he was listed as 'Hardy' in the meetings pages of the Standard.

    The use of 'H' as a pen name dates from time in the SPGB's publishing history when the overwhelming majority of Party writers would sign their articles with either their initials or with a pseudonym. I can only guess that he used the Party name of 'Hardy' when speaking for the SPGB because of work commitments.

    To give some sense of the span of his political life, speaking as a representative of the SPGB, he debated an Economic League speaker in 1927; a New Party speaker in 1931; Dr Edward Conze (speaking on behalf of the Labour Party) in 1937; Sir Keith Joseph in 1975; Arthur Seldon in 1981; Paul Hirst in 1983; and Kelvin Hopkins in 1988. (That's from an incomplete wiki list here.)

    E. Hardy on Crises And Depressions

    First Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Crises and Depressions (Part 1)
    FILE NAME: 27 Crises And Depressions.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~58.16 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 1:03:05

    Second Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Crises and Depressions (Part 2)
    FILE NAME: 28 Crises And Depressions - Part Two.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~50.87 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 55:11

    E. Hardy's lecture on the Labour Theory of Value

    The second economics lecture from Edgar Hardcastle:

    First Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Labour Theory of Value (Part 1)
    FILE NAME: 12 Labour Theory of Value.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~59.58 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 1:04:40

    Second Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Labour Theory of Value (Part 2)
    FILE NAME: 13 Labour Theory of Value - Part Two.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~33.49 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 36:21

    E. Hardy's lecture on Rent, Interest and Profit

    The third economics lecture from Edgar Hardcastle:

    First Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Rent, Interest and Profit (Part 1)
    FILE NAME: 04 Rent, Interest And Profit.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~57.81 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 1:02:43

    Second Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Rent, Interest and Profit (Part 2)
    FILE NAME: 05 Rent, Interest And Profit.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~38.25 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 41:29

    E. Hardy's lecture on Productivity

    The fourth economics lecture from Edgar Hardcastle:

    First Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Productivity (Part 1)
    FILE NAME: 43 Productivity.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~56.15 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 1:00:55

    Second Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Productivity (Part 2)
    FILE NAME: Productivity - Part Two.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~15.28 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 16:39

    E. Hardy's lecture on Monetarism

    The final lecture from Edgar Hardcastle's series of talks on economics:

    First Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Monetarism (Part 1)
    FILE NAME: 02 Monetarism.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~58.36 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 1:03:21

    Second Part

    DOWNLOAD LINK: Monetarism (Part 2)
    FILE NAME: 03 Monetarism - Part Two.mp3
    FILE SIZE: ~ 48.76 MB megabytes
    LENGTH: 52:54


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