May Dayschool "Capitalism Is Not Working For Us - Have We A Future?" The sub-text on posters and leaflets could be something like - "Millions unemployed, re-possession of homes, bankers paid extraordinary amounts of money while millions of chil-dren die from lack of clean water. Some-thing must be done . But what? This day school run by the Edinburgh and Glas-gow Branches of the Socialist Party has arranged three sessions of talks to exam-ine the problems and consider possible solutions." The school could be roughly organised like this: 1.00pm Chairman's introduction 1.10pm The Basic Cause of Present Day Social Problems 1.30pm Questions and discussion 2.15pm The Failure of Reformist Solu-tions 2.35pm Questions and discussion 3.20pm A break for tea, coffee and bis-cuits 3.35pm The Socialist Alternative 3.55pm Questions and discussion 3.40pm Close
	DISCUSSION GROUP This discussion group (See below)was attended by 10 SPGB members and 6 ZM supporters. Myra Graham opened the discussion on The Zeitgeist Movement at 8.40 pm she spoke for about 30 minutes. She stressed that the Zeitgeist Movement was in its infancy but was growing at a rapid speed. She claimed that it was possible for it to combine with other groups. She mentioned the Green Party as a possible ally. She praised people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandella. She also claimed that capitalism was in decline and spoke in favour of local currency schemes! The chair ruled that questions and points of view were to be brief and that Myra would answer them at the end. About 7 or 8 SP members and 1 ZM supporter took part in the discussion. Myra then replied to some of the points raised, but not all of them. She had to motor up to Aberdeen tonight so the proceedings ended at about 9.45 pm. It was generally agreed that the discussion had been worthwhile and conducted in a friendly manner. We will have to come up with new topics for next year. What would you like to see discussed? Get back to me with your ideas.
	Wednesday 18 November, 8.30pm THE ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT A member of this movement will open up the discussion. Community Central Halls, 304 Maryhill Road
	Wednesday 21 October THE ZEITGEIST MOVEMENT This discussion group was attended by 12 SPGB members and 7 ZM supporters. Comrade V.Vanni opened the discussion on The Zeitgeist Movement by reporting that he had attended with R.Donnelly and P.Hendrie one of their discussion groups in Glasgow where the main speaker had been Myra Graham. The meeting had varied in number but was about 10 in all. Much of what was said about present day society and the need for a moneyless, propertyless one to replace it we had to agree with. The main sticking point about their position and ours was the need for political action. Their speaker also seemed to think that capitalist philanthropists had a major contribution to make. He had since read through a lengthy document from the group much of which he agreed with. The plan for future cities seemed a bit SF to him and again how we would get from capitalism to their goal was unclear. The discussion that followed was extremely worthwhile and the next discussion group should prove to be even more rewarding now that we have cleared the air a bit. The ZM will be sending Myra Graham as the opening speaker and a good attendance of members is called for.
	Wednesday 16 September The Rise of the BNP Comrade R.Donnelly opened up the discussion on The Rise of the BNP. Most members took part in the ensuing discussion on the far right and the left wings response to it.
	Wednesday 19 August, 8.30pm Why the SNP Must Fail Speaker: V.Vanni Community Central Halls, 304 Maryhill Road.
	In his talk Vic will look at the birth of the SNP and why it’s nickname was  "The Tartan Tories” and he will explain how the SNP was transformed from the mere handful it had been until the late 1950s to the major political force it is in Scotland today. Vic will also look at the conflict which raged in the SNP for decades between the traditionalists and the pragmatists and why the triumph of the latter paved the way for this rags-to-riches transformation. The SNP can hardly wait for the next General Election when it expects to make the substantial gains, probably at the expense of Labour, which it hopes will be a major step towards their goal of a fully independent Scotland. Could this happen at some point in the future and would it be in the interests of the working class in Scotland if it did?
	An aspect of Marxian economics : Capital Accumulation
	COMMUNITY CENTRAL HALLS, 304 MARYHILL ROAD, GLASGOW (5 MINUTES FROM ST. GEORGE’S CROSS UNDERGROUND STATION) Wednesday the 15th July 2009 8.30pm P. Hendrie will open the discussion on this subject.
	Out-dated Marxism ?
	We are all aware of the critics of Karl Marx who say that he may have had something to say about early capitalism, but his criticisms are old-fashioned and out of date. Away back in 1867 Marx wrote about the "so-called primitive accumulation of capital" wherein he showed how the capitalist class in England had obtained its great wealth by such acts as the enclosure acts to throw peasants off their land.   Today a similar process is taking place in Peru. "President Alan Garcia laboured Saturday to contain Peru's worst political violence in years, as nine more police officers were killed in a bloody standoff with Amazon Indians fighting his efforts to exploit oil and gas on their native lands. The new deaths brought to 22 the number of police killed — seven with spears — since security forces moved early Friday to break up a roadblock manned by 5,000 protesters. Protest leaders said at least 30 Indians, including three children, died in the clashes. Authorities said they could confirm only nine civilian deaths, but cabinet chief Yehude Simon told re-porters that 155 people had been injured, about a third of them with bullet wounds."  (Associated Press, 6 June) Far from being outdated Marx's view on the development of capitalist ownership is being re-enacted in today’s newspaper headlines.
	What is Marxian economics?
	At the moment output is falling, unemployment is growing, prices are rising in essential goods -all things that no one wants to happen, but which nevertheless do.  What this means is that the human social activity of producing and dis-tributing wealth is not under the conscious control of human beings. They do not control the condi-tions under which they produce and distribute wealth but, on the con-trary, are subject to laws which, while not themselves laws of nature, operate as if they were, as an external force governing human activities.  Economics is precisely the study of "the laws" which govern human activity in the field of wealth production and distribution.  An important point must be made straight away: economic laws only come into operation under certain social circumstances-when, in fact, the production and distribution of wealth is not under conscious social control. When, as today, the means of production are monopolised by a section only of society and are used to produce wealth to be sold on a market with a view to profit. In other words, economic laws are the laws of capitalist production and they will not operate when capitalism has been abolished through the establishment of socialism (when production will be for the direct use of the whole community). This is why we said that these laws are not natural laws.  To say that they are, would be to assume that capitalism was the natural form of human society. Which is the mistake made by the early theorists of economics or "political economy" as it was then called, such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo who Marx criticised for doing so. Indeed this is what Marx's Critique of Political Economy (the title of a book he published in 1859 as well as the sub-title of Capital) basically amounts to. Nevertheless, as long as capitalism exists, these laws exist and operate just like natural laws; they govern human activity in the field of wealth production and distribution and act as external constraints on what humans can do.  An understanding of these laws is very important; it is in fact a basic part of our case since it leads to the conclusion that capitalism just cannot be reformed so as to serve the common interest and therefore must be abolished if today's social problems are to be solved. Our interest in economics is simply to understand how capitalism works, and not at all to recommend policies for governments to pursue. This is an important point since "economics" and "economists" today are regarded, and regard themselves, as policy advisers.
	Don't recycle Capitalism, BIN IT
	Glasgow Branch of the Socialist Party

Banks:Who needs them?

Capitalism in Crisis: 1.00 -  2.15pm 2009: The Year of Economic Crisis. 2.15 -  3.30pm The Environment in Meltdown? 3.30 -  3.45pm Tea break 3.45 -  5pm Can Socialism Solve the problems? All details here Community Central Hall 304 Maryhill Road Glasgow

REPORT OF ORGANISER ON JOINT GLASGOW/EDINBURGH DAY SCHOOL Saturday 9 May 1pm to 5pm Maryhill Community Central Halls (Restaurant) 304 Maryhill Road, Glasgow There was a total attendance of 19 made up of Glasgow branch members 10, Edinburgh branch members 2, Manchester branch members 2, Lancaster branch member 1 and 4 non-members. This was a very disappointing attendance considering that we had distributed 100 free SS at both the Edinburgh and Glasgow May day demos and given out another 200 or so leaflets advertising the event. We had also posted out leaflets to all members and sympathisers.The weather had been atrocious but it was still a poor turn out. Glasgow branch members in particular should do better that a third of the membership attending what is quite often our only propaganda effort in the year. The financial details are as follows:- Hall rent £60.00, Refreshments £5.00, Print cost £11.00, Postage £12.00, Collection £97.10, Literature sales £16.50. We had on display two excellent banners - One attached to the literature table the other on the window blinds. We must thank Comrade Alan Johnstone for providing these from India. They will be a valuable propaganda tool in the future. Despite the poor attendance the school itself was a lively affair with lots of discussion and questions. We must especially thank Comrade Paul Bennett of Manchester branch for coming up and giving an excellent talk. In the evening we had a social at Comrade Terry Ross's home with about 12 members and sympathisers in attendance. As usual Terry provide a first class buffet meal with refreshments. R.Donnelly, Organiser

BRANCH DISCUSSION PROGRAMME

 Venue  Community Central Hall, 304 Maryhill Rd 8. 30pm

 21 January, "Banks, Boom and Bust", speaker V.Vanni.

What came first, the recession or the credit-crunch? There appears to be some confusion about this but the fact is that the credit-crunch is happening because of the recession. The recession has produced a big increase in redundancies, not least among people with low credit rating, especially in America, who bought sub-prime mortgages and are now defaulting on them, and this ac­counts for the huge number of repossessions. What are these sub-prime mortgages? They are mortgages aimed at people who have low incomes and/or low credit rating, many of them were led to believe that they were buying a mortgage at an affordable rate of interest but they weren't told that the rate would rise after a year to a level they couldn't afford. Sub-prime mortgages are a product of the need for banks to pay dividends to their shareholders, pay interest to their depositors and on borrowings from the wholesale money markets. To do all this banks must find new ways of making money and that's why they've come up with Junk Bonds, Derivatives, Hedge Funds and now the risky sub-prime mortgages. Sub-prime mortgages have been around since the 1960s and were very profitable until now and this is why banks and other lenders have bought them by the million, hence the enormous losses. So what is the credit-crunch? Because of the recession banks are reluctant to lend to would-be house buyers (may lose their jobs), to businesses (may go bust) and even other banks which could turn out to be insolvent, and that's what has produced the credit-crunch.

 For over a century the objective conditions necessary for the establishment of socialism, i.e. the development of the means of production and distribution of wealth to a level which first permitted
abundance and now superabundance, have existed. So, why has it not happened? When will it happen?

 These questions are obviously much easier to ask than they are to answer

Subjective Conditions, a majority of socialists.

To answer these questions, it would probably help to look at some indicators within society which might
show us what progress, if any, has been made in the last century or so towards increasing socialist consciousness, and consequently towards socialism itself.

Some Indicators within society

What does the decline of belief in religious superstition during the last century tell us about the state of
consciousness amongst wageslaves?
Has this decline been accompanied by a correspondingly better understanding of the society
in which they live?
What effects do globalization and  improved. communication systems, such as the internet, have upon the
potential for greater class consciousness amongst workers?

Globalization is not new: it is a development which has been in progress for at least several hundred years,
but its effects have become much more noticeable as a result of modern  communication systems. Globalization has joined the lexicon of buzz-words used by our bosses' media machine.

What are the effects of this media machine upon the minds of the working class

We are often told that certain events should be seen as "important", or signifi-cant", or even "historic". The recent presidential elec-tion in the United States of America was reported as such an event.
The fact that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were both seeking to be candi-dates for the presidency, we were told, was in itself an "historic achievement".Now that Barack Obama has become the new President of the United States, we are invited to see this as some kind of great event. There is much goodwill, and sadly adulation, for this latest disappointment-to-be who now occupies the White House. Will those who support this man today be ready for socialism any time soon?

These are some of the items Comrade John Cumming will be discussing at our 18th February branch meeting, looking forward to seeing you all there.