alanjjohnstone
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Yes, I think Marcos was commenting on what you, Wez, was commenting on me
me – Wez, was Marx a strict stageist? Did he not suggest an alternative future for Russia based on the evolution of the Mir.
Wez – Are you suggesting that Marx would have supported the Bolshevik programme in the name of socialism?
Anyways, it is all hypothetical. We simply don’t know what Marx would have thought. When it came to actual events, we know Marx was not always true to his theory.
At the time there was not a lot of objective information coming out of Russia. Many like Luxemburg and Pannekoek and Gorter were sympathetic to Lenin – Luxemburg had her criticisms, for sure, but she was murdered before seeing the full outcome. Pannekoek and Gorter (in his letter he still called Lenin comrade) and the German Left (KAPD) were able to witness the progress of the Revolution and come to a more skeptical conclusion about the claims by Lenin.
What Marx or Engels would have thought is a debate for the pub.
We are often accused of not having firsthand knowledge to make a judgement but we should remember some comrades did make it to Russia.
” [ Bill ] Casey was expounding the S.P.G.B. position and as the Bolsheviks had just gained control in Russia, he lost no time in analysing the position. Probably aided by articles in the “S.S.”, he became a caustic critic of the “Neo-Communists.” He was delegate to represent the Seamen at an International T. U. Conference in Moscow. This, being one of the earliest “Missions to Moscow” was beset with difficulties all the way. Passports were forged; passages were “stowing away,” Dutch, German, Polish and Russian frontiers had to be “hopped.” Guides were often un-reliable; “go-betweens” were often in the pay of both sides; sometimes both had to be discarded until bona-fides were definitely established, a delicate job under the conditions then prevailing on the continent. The ultimate arrival in Moscow, after much suffering, danger and perseverance, was hailed as a masterpiece of undercover work. Once at the gates of the Kremlin, most delegates became insufferable Bolshevik “Yes-men” whereas Casey and his co-delegate, Barney Kelly (another adherent of the S.P.G.B.) soberly tried to obtain a truthful estimate of the position. A few days sojourn in Moscow drew the following observations from Casey:
“Production was in a straight-jacket, lethargy and indifference permeated the whole economy; the people were entirely lacking in a sense of time. Without the normal industrial development of production and some measure of buying and selling (war-communism was the order of the day) drift and indifference would gradually strangle the economy of the Soviet”.
These observations were greeted with disgust and dismay by the other delegates. However, before they left Moscow, Lenin introduced his “New Economic Policy”which, in essence, provided for the very things which Casey opined was needed to stabilize the Russian economy. In contrast to their hostile reception of Casey’s prognostications, the “yes-men” cheered and echoed Lenin’s belated pronouncements. Back in Australia, he submitted his report to Tom Walsh (then a leading Communist and foundation member of the Australian Communist Party), General President of the Australian Seamen’s Union. Walsh rejected the report and refused to publish it on the ground that it criticized the Bolsheviks and the Russian system. ” – 1949 obituary in Western SocialistWhat is missing is whether Casey was in direct touch with the SPGB, expressing concerns.
I always describe our species as scavengers…even today we exhibit such a trait when we rummage around in our fridge for something to eat.
Apart from those unique geographic exceptions cited by ALB, we should remember that when they have been studied, most hunter-gatherers subsist mostly by the gathering side performed by the females (and what non-veg is insectivore) and not the hunting by the males.
I think we can say, we are vegetarians who occasionally enjoy a piece of meat, much like chimpanzees and bonobos.
There has always been caution expressed on vegan diets, Sussex, just as it possesses many benefits.
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/89/5/1627S/4596952
What the real point is – none of us really properly understand what we eat in our choices of food, and the media rarely helps with its constant reports of what not and what to eat and drink.
And accusing the IGFS of bias for being funded by industry is a bit unfair. I doubt there is a university department which does not receive some money from industry.
https://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI/TheInstituteforGlobalFoodSecurity/
An expert has warned that vegans may be missing out on essential nutrients that could lead to malnutrition.
Professor Chris Elliott, director of the Institute for Global Food Safety, has warned that vegans are at greater risk of nerve damage and breaking bonesProfessor Elliott said the vegan trend could become a “major contributor to hidden hunger in the developed world”. Unlike vegetarians, vegans don’t eat dairy products and eggs and he said vegans who don’t plan their diets to include all the necessary vitamins and nutrients could face “serious micronutrient deficiencies”.
“Bone health is a concern for long-term vegans. Vegans are consistently reported to have lower intakes of calcium and vitamin D, with resultant lower blood levels of vitamin D and lower bone mineral density reported worldwide.” Writing for The Conversation, he said bone fracture rates in vegans are almost a third higher than those who have a diet that also consists of meat. He added that levels of omega 3, iodine and vitamin B12 were also lower, and said: “The symptoms can be serious and include extreme tiredness and weakness, poor digestion and developmental delays in young children. “Untreated vitamin B12 deficiency can cause irreversible nerve damage.”
Read more at: https://inews.co.uk/news/leading-a-vegan-lifestyle-can-lead-to-malnutrition-due-to-lack-of-nutrients/
Dave, isn’t it time that we gave very serious consideration to re-structuring ourselves and our companion parties into a fully functioning World Socialist Party and use the many cyber tools available to administer it.
Online on the internet, i think many outside the UK have shown how active they can potentially be. Increasingly it is becoming easier to organise via computers and telephones.
I recall years back our literature maintained the fiction that there was a Socialist Party of Australia when it was defunct. WSP of Ireland no longer has even a paper existence. The WSPNZ is half a dozen stalwart comrades, the WSP(India) is the same, and the SPC has only one active branch in Toronto. In the UK most of our own branches are always at risk of being inquorate with a handful of members turning up at meetings. I have no idea why London has 3 separate branches (ok, travel is difficult and expensive across the capital but many provincial branch members make similar complaints)
As our numbers dwindle globally, surely we can adapt and adjust the WSM to make it more effective.
“Fears are growing about the state of the global economy after a slump in Chinese manufacturing output growth and a dramatic slowdown in business activity across Europe and the US.”
Maybe this is the signal of the arriving slump
“should anyone in the US interested in socialism contact the SPGB”
Perhaps better would be the Socialist Party of Canada, being geographically closer.
Hurry now to have “man’s best friend” on the menu before those food extremists ban it.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-46553064
Never knowingly ate dog or cat or horse or many other delicious tasting animals but once watched some poor Cambodian migrant workers roasting a rat on a spit over an open fire.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/israel-allowed-criminalise-bds-181211090832254.html
Proposed US legislation, known as the Israel Anti–Boycott Act, would criminally penalise individuals, including companies or their employees who participate in international boycotts of Israel and the occupied territories.
How long would it be before foreign companies who boycott Israel that does business with the US become criminalised?
In addition to the proposed federal legislation, 26 US states have enacted anti-BDS laws, with legislation pending in 13 states.
Sen Cory Booker is a co-sponsor of the anti-BDS bill. “We’ve seen the alarming rise in anti-Semitism in the United States and across the world in recent years manifest itself in many deeply concerning ways, including in the actions of foreign governments targeting Israel and the Israeli people,”
Once more despite so-called guarantees in the IHRA anti-Israel is conflated with anti-Semitism.
Who is Netanyahu’s friend and who is his enemy
https://www.dw.com/en/hungary-europes-champion-of-conspiracy-theories/a-46689822
Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are more prevalent in Hungary than we thought. That was a bit of a surprise to us. For instance, 44 percent of respondents agreed with the statement: “Jews want to rule the world.” Moreover, 49 percent agreed that Jews want to take control of the world’s financial institutions. 51 percent of those people we spoke with are convinced that US investment billionaire George Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew, has a plan to bring masses of refugees to Europe.
IMF issues warning on the US-China trade war
“China has many reforms that it could carry out that would be in its own interest and in the interest of countries around the globe. But China feels they can’t take those steps, as they put it, with a gun to their head, in the midst of trade tensions…Trade barriers if they are sustained could lead to a fragmentation of the global economy. If this [trade dispute] leads to stalemate, China may decide to reorientate its economy not to trade with the US. To accept sustained trade barriers … could lead to a slowdown [for the global economy],” he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/11/imf-financial-crisis-david-lipton
The IMF thinks so
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/11/imf-financial-crisis-david-lipton
David Lipton, the first deputy managing director of the IMF, said that “crisis prevention is incomplete” more than a decade on from the last meltdown in the global banking system.
“As we have put it, ‘fix the roof while the sun shines’. But, like many of you, I see storm clouds building and fear the work on crisis prevention is incomplete.”
Lipton said individual nation states alone would lack the firepower to combat the next recession, while calling on governments to work together to tackle the issues that could spark another crash.
