Pieces Together
WARREN’S WALLET
"Castles in France. Islands in the Caribbean. Private jets. With a collective $1.27 trillion at their disposal, the members of The Forbes 400 could buy almost anything. How about a country? A quick glance at the CIA Fact Book suggests the individual fortunes of many Forbes 400 members are as big as some of the world's economies. Bill Gates, America's richest man with a net worth of $50 billion, has a personal balance sheet larger than the gross domestic product of 140 countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia and Uruguay. The Microsoft visionary's nest egg is just short of the GDP of Tanzania and Burma. Warren Buffett, who lost $10 billion in the past 12 months and is this year's Forbes 400 biggest dollar loser, still has a fortune the size of North Korea's economy at $40 billion." (Yahoo Finance, 2 October)
SILENT TORNADO
"Tens of millions of the world's poor will have their food rations cut or cancelled in the next few weeks because rich countries have slashed aid funding. The result, says Josette Sheeran, head of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), could be the ‘loss of a generation’ of children to malnutrition, food riots and political destabalisation. ‘We are facing a silent tsunami,’ said Sheeran in an exclusive interview with the Observer. ‘A humanitarian disaster is unrolling.’ The WFP feeds nearly 100 million people a year." (Observer, 11 October)



BOMBS WA-HEY!
"The Pentagon comptroller sent a request to shift the funds to the House and Senate Appropriations and Armed Services Committees over the summer. The comptroller said the Pentagon planned to spend $19.1 million to procure four of the bombs, $28.3 million to accelerate the bomb's ‘development and testing’, and $21 million to accelerate the integration of the bomb onto B-2 stealth bombers. The notification was tucked inside a 93-page ‘reprogramming’ request that included a couple hundred other more mundane items. Why now? The notification says simply, ‘The Department has an Urgent Operational Need (UON) for the capability to strike hard at deeply buried targets in high threat environments. The MOP is the weapon of choice to meet the requirements of the UON.’ It further states that the request is endorsed by Pacific Command (which has responsibility over North Korea) and Central Command (which has responsibility over Iran)." (ABC News, 6 October)

Contact  Details

UK Branches & contacts
London

Central London branch*
  2nd Wed ,6.30pm
The Coffee Republic (Travelodge),7-15 City Road,EC1Y 1AG.Nearest tube and rail stations,Old St.& Moorgate. Bus stopepworth st. is outside the venue.buses,21,43,76,141,205,
214 and 271.
tel.Tristan 0207 6223811

Enfield and Haringey branch*
   Thursdays 5th November 8pm. . Angel Community
Centre, Raynham Rd, NI8. Corres:
17 Dorset Road, N22 7SL.

South London branch
  1st Tues.
7.00pm. Head Office. 52 Clapham High St, SW4 7UN.
 Tel: 020 7622 3811

West London branch
  1st & 3rd Tues.
8pm, Chiswick Town Hall,
Heathfield Terrace (Corner Sutton Court Rd), W4.
Corres: 51 Gayford Road,
London W12 9BY

Pimlico
  C. Trinder, 24 Greenwood Ct,
155 Cambridge Street, SW1 4VQ.
Tel: 020 7834 8186

Midlands

West Midlands branch
  Meets every two months on a Sunday afternoon (see
meetings page for details. Tel: Tony Gluck 01242 235615

Northeast

Northeast branch
  Contact: Brian Barry,
86 Edgmond Ct, Ryhope, Sunderland
SR2 0DY. Tel: 0191 521 0690.

Northwest

Lancaster branch
  P. Shannon, 10
Green Street, Lancaster LA1 1DZ. Tel:
01524 382380

Manchester branch
  Paul Bennett, 6
Burleigh Mews, Hardy Lane, M21 7LB.
Tel: 0161 860 7189
Manchester Branch website
Bolton
 Tel:  H.McLaughlin.
Tel: 01204  844589

Cumbria
. Brendan Cummings, 19 Queen St, Millom, Cumbria LA18 4BG

Carlisle
  Robert Whitfield.

tel: 07906 373975

Rochdale
  Tel: R. Chadwick. 01706
522365

Southeast Manchester
  Enquiries:
Blanche Preston, 68 Fountains Road,
M32 9PH

Yorkshire
Hull
  Keith Scholey, 12 Regina Crescent,
Victoria Ave, HU5 3EA. Tel: 01482 444651

Skipton
. R Cooper, 1 Caxton Garth,
Threshfield, Skipton BD23 5EZ.
Tel: 01756 752621
South

South/SouthEast
Southwest

 South West branch.
Meets every two
months on a Saturday afternoon
(see meetings page for details)
   Tel: 01202 257556.
Bristol
  Shane Roberts, 86 High Street,
Bristol BS5 6DN.
Tel: 0117 9511199

Canterbury
  Rob Cox,
4 Stanhope Road, Deal,
Kent, CT14 6AB

Luton
  Nick White,
59 Heywood Drive,
LU2 7LP

Redruth
 Harry Sowden,
5 Clarence Villas,
 Redruth,
Cornwall, TR15 1PB.
Tel: 01209 219293

East Anglia

East Anglia branch
meets every two
months on a Saturday afternoon
(see meetings page for details).

Next meet Saturday, 14th November, 12.00 til 4.00PM.Quebec Tavern
93-97 Quebec Road Norwich NR1 4HY
Here is a link to a map.
http://www.ukpubfinder.com/pub/21675

David Porter, Eastholme,
 Bush Drive,
 Eccles-on-Sea, NR12 0SF.
Tel: 01692 582533.

Richard Headicar,
42 Woodcote, Firs Rd,
 Hethersett,
NR9 3JD.
Tel: 01603 814343.

Richard Layton,
23 Nottingham Rd,
Clacton, CO15 5PG.
Tel: 01255 814047.

Cambridge
  Andrew Westley, 10
Marksby Close, Duxford, Cambridge
CB2 4RS.
Tel: 07890343044

Northern Ireland

Newtownabbey
  Nigel NcCullough. Tel:
028 90852062

Scotland

Edinburgh branch
.1st Thur. 8-9pm.
The Quaker Hall,
Victoria Terrace (above Victoria Street),
 Edinburgh.
J. Moir. Tel: 0131 440 0995
  Edinburgh Branch website:
Lothian Socialist Discussion Group
.4th Wednesday of each month  7.30pm
ACE 17 ,West Montgomery Place,
 Edinburgh EH7 5HA
For more info contact Jimmy or Fraser

Glasgow branch
. 3rd Wednesday of
each month at 8pm in
 Community Central Halls,
304 Maryhill Road, Glasgow.
Richard Donnelly,
112 Napiershall Street,
 Glasgow G20 6HT.
Tel: 0141 5794109.
Glasgow Branch website
Ayrshire
  D. Trainer, 21 Manse Street,
Salcoats, KA21 5AA. Tel: 01294
469994. E-mail:

Dundee
  Ian Ratcliffe, 16 Birkhall Ave,
Wormit, Newport-on-Tay, DD6 8PX.
Tel: 01328 541643

West Lothian
. 2nd  Weds in
month, 7.30-9.30. Lanthorn Community Centre, Kennilworth Rise, Dedridge,
Livingston. Corres: Matt Culbert,
 53 Falcon Brae, Ladywell, Livingston,
 West Lothian,
EH5 6UW.
Tel: 01506 462359

Wales

Swansea branch
. 2nd Mon, 7.30pm,
Unitarian Church, High Street. Corres:
Geoffrey Williams,
19 Baptist Well Street,
Waun Wen,
Swansea SA1 6FB.
Tel: 01792 643624

Cardiff and District
. John James, 67
Romilly Park Road,
 Barry CF62 6RR.
Tel: 01446 405636
Contents
Features


  • The fall of “communism”: Why so peaceful?   
    • Twenty years ago the Berlin Wall came down, symbolising the collapse of state capitalism in Eastern Europe.
     
  • The Myth of Soviet “Socialism” 
    • Vladimir Sirotin from Russia explains how that country was never socialist.

  • Workers State? Pull the other one 
    • How could anyone have seriously argued that the workers ruled in Russia?

  • Joining the killing machine 
    • The campaign to win the young to war has come a long way from the ‘Your Country Needs You’ poster with the pointing finger of Kitchener used in the ‘First Great War’.

  • Afghanistan – lying about dying
    •  The pressure to misinterpret the deaths, as the bodies come back, as
    nobly purifying is a cynically orchestrated propaganda exercise intended
    to justify the war.
    Regulars
    Editorial
    Socialism was never tried

    Letters

     Contact Details
    Meetings

     Cooking the Books 1
    Out of control

    Cooking the Books 2
    Free is cheaper?

    Cartoons
    The Irate Itinerant

    Free Lunch


    Pathfinders
    Gullibility travels
    Material World

    Pieces Together

    Tiny Tips

    Book Reviews
    Che Guevara; Voodoo Histories;
    Trouble with Capitalism; Enough

    50 Years Ago
    The Darwin Centenary

    Greasy Pole
    TV Debates

    Voice from the Back
    Hunger Amidst Plenty; A
    Horrendous Future; Hypocricy In
    The City and more.







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    Socialist Standard Online edition                              November 2009