alanjjohnstone
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A lengthy article that attacks the basis of Ike Pettigrew's claims of scientific validity for his racism.https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/02/the-unwelcome-revival-of-race-science
Quote:Race science is bad science. Or rather, it is not science at all.Our hostility clause certainly does appear unique and it has always been subject to regular debate within the Party. It can justifiably be put down to the 19th-century social democrat roots of our Party since it stems from the early members experience of the SDF and the Socialist League. William Morris together with Aveling, Eleanor Marx, Belfort Bax and other members of the SDF, resigned and issued a statement giving their reasons, for "a body independent of the Social Democratic Federation". Yet they added: "We have therefore set on foot an independent organisation, the Socialist League, with no intention of acting in hostility to the Social Democratic Federation”. The main weakness, as some saw it, of the Socialist League, was that it "had no intention of acting in hostility" to the SDF. When the Socialist Party was formed, its members made sure our Declaration of Principles would include a hostility clause against all other parties (such as the SDF) who advocated palliatives, not socialism.When it was drawn up, the early members envisaged the party developing rapidly into a mass party, and not remaining the small educational group that we have been up to the present. And in that context is our party is not going to do any election or parliamentary deals with any other political party, either to get elected or to obtain reforms. Basically, the hostility clause applies to political parties, organisations aiming at winning control of political power. In the eyes of those who drew it up, it was about the attitude that a mass socialist party should take towards other political parties.The hostility clause doesn't mean that we are hostile to everything. There are a whole range of non-socialist organisations out there, ranging from trade unions to community action groups which we are not opposed. Nor does the Clause 7 read"If you are not in the SPGB, you are automatically anti-socialist." There are, and always have been, socialists outside the party in the sense of people who want to see established, like us, a class-free, state-free, wage and money-free society based on common ownership and democratic control with production solely for use not profit. We should recognise this. Okay, we consider that they hold a mistaken view of how to get there but clearly they are not in the same category as openly pro-capitalist groups. So what about the anarchists? We are not opposed to them because they represent some section of the capitalist class. We are opposed to them because we disagree with their proposed method of getting rid of capitalism rather and that opposition doesn't need to go as far as “hostility”.A better attitude to them is to engage them in comradely debate to try to convince them that the tactics they favour to achieve socialism are mistaken and they should join us. Of course, we think that the tactics anarchists espouse such as insurrection (no longer popular among the anarchist these days) or a general strike (which still retain much of its appeal) is dangerous to the working-class interest and we openly we say so, opposing them. We disagree with the way they are proposing to or fellow-workers as a means to establish socialism — and, of course, they are against what we suggest. The SPGB and the anarchists agree to disagree. Comradely disagreements. We aren't challenging one other's socialist credentials. And our opposing respective views are put forward to our fellow-workers and in the end, it will be they who will decide what to do. The socialist movement must be a working-class movement. It must depend upon the working class initiative and intelligence. Until the requisite knowledge is equal to the task there can be no emancipatory liberation for the workers. We do not seek to substitute the party for the class or see the party as a vanguard leading the masses to the Promised Land.In 1904 we raised the banner for such a single, mass socialist party and proclaimed the party as the basis or embryo of such a party (Clause
. Not only did the working class in general, or in any great numbers, not "muster under its banner" but neither did all socialists. So we were left as a small propagandist group and continue to be. And that is what we must address. That's my view, anyway, heretical or not. Turn of the century…21st that is…The bulk of the issues before i re-joined and i saw only a few of the later produced issues.
I forgot all about the magazine "Revolution" that was produced by the Party, mostly circulated for Party members, which printed letters which were published.
Life expectancy for people in England and Wales aged 65 at the beginning of 2018 has shortened by two months compared with a year earlier. This was the same amount for men and women, according to data from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ closely watched Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) which is the model used by life insurers and pension schemes to help them calculate pension payments. The research found that over the last six years, life expectancy has improved on average by 0.5 percent a year for men and by 0.1 percent for women. “Mortality is expected to continue to improve, but the model suggests this is likely to be at a slower rate in the next few years than in the first decade of this century,” Tim Gordon, chairman of CMI Mortality Projections Committee, said in a statement. Companies using data showing a slowing rise in life expectancy can wipe millions of pounds from their pension deficits.https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-longevity/life-expectancy-in-england-and-wales-shortens-research-idUKKCN1GD3DI
Thanks, Matt. It was what i was thinking of and as we can see in 2016 when it was last used there were a total 7 messages for the whole year.It was a useful site but sadly not given the exposure it should have had.Should it be kick-started back into use or discarded?
Quote:Letters to the local press, or specialist publications, especially on topics of direct interest to their readers on the otherhand are proven to be far more successful.There used to be a Party web-site for the circulation of letters to the media but it fell into disuse from lack of interest.The SOYMB blog, however, would be interested in receiving details so any published letter can be placed on the internet.
Momentum has its own offices in east London, more than 30,000 members, and is financially independent, with 90% of its donations coming from membership fees and individual donations, not unions.https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/28/momentum-bid-for-key-labour-post-exposes-tension-with-unite“Our agenda is transforming the party. There are going to be places where Momentum and the unions disagree,” one source said. “What we want to make sure, first and foremost, is that the party is run collectively.”Union officers on the party’s ruling NEC do not speak as one voice, with Unison and Unite regularly at odds, but none wants to see their bloc’s influence diminished.“It was very clear then that the union-controlled NEC wants democratisation of the party as long as it suits them,” a source said. “It was democratisation from the top down – it should come from the bottom up.”
By replacing manual labour with lasers, Levi's will be able to finish a pair of jeans every 90 seconds, instead of just two to three pairs an hour. Levi's said the new process is less "labour intensive. The number of steps involved in the finishing process will drop from 18 to 20 steps to about three CEO of Levi Strauss called the process "the future of jeans manufacturing." http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43217596
Seems it being right-wing is also about your nosehttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/28/hate-body-odour-youre-more-likely-to-have-rightwing-viewsPeople who have a greater tendency to turn their nose up at the whiff of urine, sweat and other body odours are more likely to have rightwing authoritarian attitudes, research suggests. Social discrimination against others is rooted in a primitive urge to avoid catching diseases from unfamiliar people or environments.“We think that authoritarian attitudes might, at least in part, be rooted in biology,” said Dr Jonas Olofsson, co-author of the research from Stockholm University and the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study.Anecdotally, i have to confess i have heard a number of racists ascribe their dislike to foreigners to the smell of curry and garlic
"Should we drop the air of respectability and shamelessly go out of our way to shock to make our points?"ALB – NoJondwhite – Agreed, NoOh, well, Gnome…perhaps we are to continue to be condemned as the "Small Party of Good Boys", unable to shake off that perception of ourselves that even though we stand for the end of wage-slavery, we shy away from rattling the chains.Mike, can you offer more details of our citation …something i can copy and paste for the blog
Quote:As long as you knew your theory of value and had a handle on the MCH you were in a position to analyze anything. And they were right.It is rather frustrating that even if we did concentrate on the theoretical aspects of Marxism (and related it to real-world circumstances) – there is nobody out there listening to us. When was the party's analysis last cited by an academic or intellectual (i use the word loosely)? It seems that from recent events it is foreign visiting journalists who seem to appreciate the Party's status rather than any of the British media. The BBC as has been pointed out doesn't even mention us in their history of British socialism documentary, not even in the passing. We have to do something about being treated as an irrelevancy, where we are no longer even a foot-note. Either we have to by-pass the media and build our own presence…or we need to approach them head-on. Our media committee despite their best efforts has not produced satisfactory results by playing the press release game.Our Twitter account seems to have had the occasional impact with its inflammatory comments. It appears when we reflect the Class War vitriol we get noticed. Should we drop the air of respectability and shamelessly go out of our way to shock to make our points?
If you fail, try and try again.“Last Men in Aleppo”Another movie on the White Helmets at the Oscars and a critical reviewhttps://countercurrents.org/2018/02/27/syrian-white-helmets-oscars/
