Money Free Party

[davo]

gnome wrote:

alanjjohnstone wrote:

It seems it is not the content of the message which is 99% similar but the presentation of the message is where we suffer from.Or am i on the wrong track?

I don't think you are on the wrong track.  From my experience two things stand out as off-putting to many (most?) people. 1) Our use of the terms 'socialism' and 'communism' and the connotations they still have.2) Our recognition of the class-based nature of society.Should we cease to use these terms or abandon our analysis of capitalism?  I think not.  But therein lies the dilemma…..

 I agree. You may start off with a discussion on a moneyless society as a "novel idea" (to most people anyway),  but sooner rather than later you will need to put the case for socialism grounded in scientific analysis and defend the definition of socialism. This shouldn't be hard to do – simply point out that if there is money, then it is not socialism.

[alanjjohnstone]

I think the core problem is convincing people that they can initiate change and things don't need to be the same and that our electoral strategy can work. I think that is much harder than actually persuading them that moneyless socialism can work . The big issue is always…how do we get there? How is it going to happen?And  with so many other "socialists" with their own particular roads to socialism i can't blame people for being confused and sceptical of our own solution.We have to make fellow workers optimistic that socialism can be achieved.  I think we had more hope and people had more confidence a hundred years ago than they do now. In the sense of being positive about the opportunities and chances of socialism being established, i think we have not advanced and are even further away from it.  

[Anonymous]

..and people are not daft. I often use," a post-capitalist, production for use, free access society", and get,".. isn't that what they tried in Russia", back. This still allows me to deal with the question of what socialism/communism is and is not, but using 'post-capitalism' in itself,  doesn't allay justifiable fears.

[Anonymous]

Brian wrote:

alanjjohnstone wrote:

Sad that our companion party, the WSP(NZ), has almost disappeared from the political scene.The MFP certainly demonstrates that there is an audience in New Zealand for our message.Is our problem not one of the content but how we transmit our ideas? I recall at one conference Cde, Johnson of Swansea Br. repeatedly regaled us with references to the USP…Unique Selling Point…That we have to discover what is in our publicity and campaigns resonates with our audience and results in a receptive hearing. I think we are still struggling to identify the core elements of our propaganda that offers opportunities for us to build upon. 

The anecdotal experience from my venture on Quora is suggesting the USP in order of preference are:1. A moneyless society2. The corruption of democracy.3. The cause of war.This seems to suggest that people are slowly but surely coming around to the idea that money is the cause of global problems. The human nature argument rarely shows it's ugly face, but the confusion over the meaning of socialism or communism relentlessly continues unabated.  After 3 months on Quora what I'm finding is the number of views my answers are attracting is way beyond my expectations.  Over 100,000 views, 900 up votes, 29 followers, and endless comments.Just imagine that instead of 3 regular socialist contributors on Quora what an impact 10 would have!

@Brian, I have a number of questions and answers to questions related to socialism that could be easily added to quora.  Do you have 15 minutes to pick from a collection of postcards the one that you think would be best for using quora to promote your views on comunism? Here's my collection to pick from and let me know which one if your favorite choice for addign to quora please. . . https://goo.gl/QswLlN

[Anonymous]

Scott Andrew is standing as the MFP candidate in the Palmerston North constituency in the forthcoming New Zealand General Election on 23 September.  For those with Facebook accounts:https://www.facebook.com/VoteForSanity/videos/200907913780893/?hc_ref=ARRiRnHrCDtgzQorxNh4b7zixT-L-jzghSqAXaaE1QceLqqj-VLNdM90SDJOrf6d-Wk

[Author]

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