[alanjjohnstone]

Can i mischievously suggest that we apply LBird's workers' democracy to gravity, have a democratic vote that concludes gravity does not exist and then suggest he jumps from a top of a high building to prove that science is purely ideological and gravity does not exist if we vote it doesn't…  You know i'm only joking LBird…i'd miss you if you were gone…but i might be the only one it seems from the feelings of the forum. 

[alanjjohnstone]

While the SOYMB blog is an official propaganda medium not every posting on it is an official party statement, Vin.We frequently cite news items and other sources for information purposes only, very often forgoing any comment since it would be rather repetitive to add the likes of every concluding paragraph reading " But with socialism this would not be the situation because…blah blah blah" when quoting facts and figures and statistics or highlighting some public event. For example, we don't give the full party case on the cause of wars in regards to say the Yemen but merely try to shine a light on certain features of it to expose the hypocrisy of diplomatic responses to the inhumanity of the war. Similarly with Syria. The blog's main purpose has been to attract attention to the Party but not always to put forward the Party case on every topic it covers. We aren't a socialist encyclopedia. The only controversary the blog has had, has been its negative attitude towards GM foods, not on the science or safety, but more on the politics of Monsanto/Gates and the economic effect it has on certain sectors of agriculture. There are winners and losers and the blog often sides with the losers. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Not sure how refelctive this analysis appears since there was a lot ot take in but it does make interesting reading but it does centres the up-coming crisis on the West and the banks again rather than China's fall in growth.http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/10/the-return-of-crisis-everywhere-banks-are-in-deep-trouble/

[alanjjohnstone]

Oh, i know there are those here who are not impressed by Chomsky but he has been talking about Sanders, too. 

Quote:

“Though he happens to use the word socialist, it just means New Dealer.” Chomsky considers Sanders a New Deal democrat, which in today’s political spectrum is way off on the left. President Eisenhower would look like a radical leftist in today’s spectrum, literally…On earlier occasions Chomsky has said that the Sanders campaign is valuable for flagging some important economic issues, but the senator wouldn’t be able to do much even if he is elected president – “which was unlikely in the system of bought elections” — for Sanders would be alone with virtually no Congressional support …Today’s Democrats, Clinton-style Democrats, are pretty much what used to be called moderate Republicans…"

http://thewire.in/2016/01/31/chomsky-interview-the-us-is-one-of-the-most-fundamentalist-countries-in-the-world-20491/

[alanjjohnstone]

The blog has certainly not been neglecting Sanders and his version of "socialism"http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2016/02/sanders-is-no-socialist.htmlhttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2016/01/sanders-de-cyphered.htmlhttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2016/01/sanders-is-no-eugene-debs.htmlhttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2015/06/bernie-sanders-is-no-saviour.htmlNor did we forget Clinton –  "pragmatic progressive" candidatehttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2016/02/saving-capitalism.htmlhttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2016/01/who-pays-pipercalls-tune.htmlhttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2015/08/wasnt-me-guv.htmlOthers on the US elecion are ready and ready to be posted at later date. We have understanably ignored the Republicans until they decide on the demagogue they wish to put up for president. But perhaps the above may form part of the content of a new website. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Asia has the jitters again…http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/09/panic-situation-as-asian-stocks-tumble-amid-fears-of-new-global-recession. 

Quote:

“The ‘fear factor’ in markets has morphed from being about an emerging market hard-landing and collapsing oil prices to being about the extent of the slowdown in the developed world and the ability of central banks to reflate asset values yet again,” said analysts

[alanjjohnstone]

Shouldn't that be placed in the rubbish bin…or shall we discuss and debate if ALB talks shite as an off-topic subject?

[alanjjohnstone]

Nope but it is full socialist terminology and language but reading between the lines it leads to a conspiratorial interpretation of politics rather than a MCH one.Full of devious plots by the capitalist class, from this Agenda 21, to Zionist plots and false flag terrorism and not forgetting the banks create money. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have all stated that they are  ready to commit ground troops to Syria to fight Islamic State. Thousands of mercenaries have been recruited by those countries in recent years and some now fighting in Yemen. The Russian RT media report a Turkish troop build up on the border.   Maybe it is my cynical self that the timing of this is when the Syrian government army with Russian air-support are now in a position to re-take Aleppo and defeat much of the opposition, including Al Nusra, the Saudi's personal proxy army in Syria. Is it really going to be a war to defeat ISIS or to offer a protective shield to their jihadist allies. If the petro-nations go in, how long before the French demand NATO enters the fray. Germany and Netherlands has already join the air war adding to the Brits and the French. Even Ukraine is suggesting that they send in a force. Already the fact that the US and UK are supplying war material to the Gulf States in the Yemen war is going uncontested by the supposed international community whatever that is enboldens their intervention. Rather than the abortive peace talks offering a glimmer of hope, actions on the ground seem to suggest an escalation of the war.     

[alanjjohnstone]

I aleady placed a caveat on the division of labour that we will not all be pilots but will accept that some are more qualified then others to make certain decisions. But i do think we be brought up to multi-task much more than we do presently. What we propose is that the whole system of money and exchange, buying and selling, profit-making and wage-earning be entirely abolished and that instead, that instead community as a whole should organise and administer the productions of goods for use only, and the free distribution of these goods to all members of the community according to each person’s needs.Since money would not exist, and wealth could not, therefore, be measured in terms of money, no person could say that he or she owned a share of such-and-such value in the people’s means of production. The main features of the World Commonwealth are really quite simple, so I’ll proceed to sum them up for you in a few sentences.Firstly, the new social system must be world-wide. It must be a World Commonwealth.The world must be regarded as one country and humanity as one people.Secondly, all the people will co-operate to produce and distribute all the goods and services which are needed by mankind, each person willingly and freely, taking part in the way he or she feels they can do best.Thirdly, all goods and services will be produced for use only, and having been produced, will be distributed, free, directly to the people so that each person’s needs are fully satisfied.Fourthly, the land, factories, machines, mines, roads, railways, ships, and all those things which mankind needs to carry on producing the means of life, will belong to the whole people .Suppose that the new social system were to start tomorrow; the great mass of people having already learnt what it means, and having taken the necessary action to bring it about.Everybody would carry on with their usual duties for the time being, except all those whose duties being of an unnecessary nature to the new system, were rendered idle, for example, bank clerks, salesmen, accountants, advertising and insurance agents etc. These people would, in time, be fitted into productive occupations for which they considered themselves suitable wirh appropriate re-training if necessary.When people first hear of how radically different society is being proposed, with all work being voluntary, and free access to whatever we need, most immediately view this as bizarre and impossible. Unsurprising, given that we have spent our entire lives being brainwashed and conditioned by the education system, by the media, by politicians and employers, into swallowing capitalism’s propaganda that this is the natural way of things. For those who can get beyond the initial shock of first hearing about moneyless real socialism, by simply comparing what both the present and new system offer the majority of us, it should be obvious that outdated capitalism must be scrapped and replaced with the real socialist alternative.Although money will disappear in socialism this does not mean that there will no longer be any need to make choices, evaluations and calculations. Our argument is that these evaluations and calculations, including those conceding the non-monetary "cost" of objects in terms of the effort and materials used to produce them, will be done directly in kind, without any general unit of account or measurement, neither money nor labour-time. Wealth will be produced and distributed in its natural form of useful things, of objects that can serve to satisfy some human need or other. Not being produced for sale on a market, items of wealth will not acquire an exchange-value in addition to their use value. In socialism their value, in the normal non-economic sense of the word, will not be their selling price nor the time needed to produce them but their usefulness. It is for this that they will be appreciated, evaluated, wanted… and produced. So estimates of what is likely to be needed over a given period will be expressed as physical quantities of definite types and sorts of objects. Decisions apart from purely personal ones of preference will be made after weighing the real advantages and disadvantages and real costs of alternatives in particular circumstances. The belief that without money nothing can work is flawed. The truth is that production is carried out by people not money. Problems are solved by human beings, not money. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Quote:

By definition, capitalism doesn't waste resources. The whole idea of capitalism is to reduce expenditure as much as possible.

Just a quick response. You are right, capitalism is all about cost-cutting as individual enterprises…by externalities  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExternalitySociety carries the cost-cutting that business impose upon others. It also expects society to subsidise its growth. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Quote:

That doesn't sound like a very nice world to live in, I'll be honest. It's lovely to own things.

According to William Morris a socialist from the 19th C it is even more lovely to use your own two hands , some simple tools …and create your own lovely things. He was a person who took pride in the handicraft traditions of earlier ages rather than what we would do these days, buy a flat pack from IKEA…usean Allen key and think we built our book-case ourselves. I think we will always appreciate nice things and socialism is not about doing away with personal possessions. As you can see from this thread, there is no simple black and white yes or no answers to many of your questions. We have been brought up to accept the status quo as practically sacred…natural and something that has always been and will always be, but social systems change, peoples' ideas change, our concepts of how we want to live changes, our world-view changes, we acquirre more and more knowledge and gain more and more actual experience. Socialists are anti-capitalists but, believe me, we understand the benefits it has provieded society over its life, but we simply have come to understand that it is now out-lived its own usefulness and we should now proceed to the next level, a higher civilisation called socialism. Yes you have brought to the thread something we must never forget – explaining ourselves to those who have not really engaged with the idea of socialism, particularly our own interpretation. But it takes two to tango. We can do our best to answer your questions in our own individual ways but it is also down to you to follow up and educate yourself. We have already suggested exploring this website and the archives. But there are many others out there that express socialist ideas in their works. In my attempt, i have quoted from the past to suggest that we are not the sole proprietors of the socialist ideal but carrying on and taking forward what others have begun. Maybe we are dreamers as John Lennon and many others have said both for and against us but as Lennon also said, we are not the only ones and some day we hope you will join us.I'm sure your comment that

Quote:

But what if I said 'no'? What if I was told "It's your turn to do the road works" and I said 'no'? I weighed up my options, looked at all the things I could be doing instead of roadworks, and went "no, I don't want to do roadworks.

doesn't actually describe you as a person, a subborn obstinate obstructionist.But as i said in an earlier reply, we can support free-riders but a more positively turn  we don't need everybody to pitch in. We can let the poets and the painters, the writers and the musicians, all the arts in fact, have all the time they require to bring culture and their individual expression to to thie world…if they so wished. The pessimists think over-population is a problem but every person in the world is an extra pair of hands and an additional brain. If the pot-holes on the road is such a problem then i am sure you will bake your pie tomorrow. Or you can simply offer some pie to the road-workers for their lunch. As i said, we don't condemn you to a life on the road-gang as capitalism does. More and more division of labour will dissolve (not enttirely disappear, though i am guessing) Marx said a free person should be able to “hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic.” He foresaw that the separation of town and country merging into one. On the forum it has been highlighted that plumbers have voluntarily installed water filters to mitigate the damage capitalist cost-cutting has done in the city of Flint.I know it is a bad example but recall in a war, how people are willing to sacrifice not just their standard of life but even their lives for something they believe in…So in the words of the Grateful Dead, Spanish Inquisition, Keep on Truckin' and keep on studying and learning…everybody on this forum is doing the same, none of us are sitting back believing we know it all…even if at times that seems to be how it seems. ..know-it-alls  

[alanjjohnstone]

Coincidently, the Lancet has an article on traditional/spiritual healing in regards to mental health.Free registrationhttp://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(15)00515-5/fulltext

Quote:

ConclusionsDespite the limitations of the published literature, it seems reasonable to conclude that many people, especially those with less severe complaints and positive expectations, derive subjective benefit from attending their chosen traditional or spiritual healers. Value seems to exist in attending a traditional healer for those who choose to do so and who find the process meaningful. This benefit might occur without a concomitant improvement in symptoms. The effective component of healing is often unclear, although intensive regular social interventions generally achieve superior outcomes to brief single interventions. That said, little evidence is available to suggest that traditional healers are effective in changing the course of major psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Additionally, harms could be associated with traditional healing, which we have not reviewed here. For patients who have cultural and spiritual beliefs not in line with those of conventional psychiatry, the possibility exists for more holistic care, and potential synergies, if collaboration between healing systems is facilitated. This topic should be an area of active research.

[alanjjohnstone]

Simply to repeat the message i sent on Spintcom having not notied this post.

Quote:

Having read the report, i can't say i was overly impressed by the work-shop or any conclusion, if any, it reached. Please don't take this criticism personally and it is not to diminish the effort put into it and purpose people wished for it.  I simply do not think it added to the discussion anything more than what we already knew and failed to present clear recommendations for the EC and branches and individuals to take as demonstrated by the number of rhetorical question marks used in the report, plus exacerbated by the lack of priority or importance in the suggestions it did make. I'll find it difficult to imagine the EC doing little more than remarking "noted" and moving on to next business. People are aware that my position is "Let a 1000 flowers blossom" and support a diverse strategy of campaigning and that "no one model fits all" . Or in other words "horses for courses"…But that does require defining a certain amount of models and pin-pointing specific appropriate circumstances to apply them to get us off the starting line and towards the first fence to jump

[alanjjohnstone]

Well as i said in the beginning, the screen-name certainly does you justice.Can you tell me a CEO who was elected by his or her work-force rather than being appointed by a board of directors acting on behalf of investors? No, they are not comparable but yes it is debatable that some CEOs may well be technically the same as wage-slaves bound by golden chains, in the sense that they can be hired and fired. However, most CEOs, the vast majority, are in the  capitalist class themselves, a large proportion of their salary being in the form of stocks and shares along with their enormous basic salaries where they can afford to invest elsewhere. Politicians are appointed and political influence and power is bought. They are part of a political party machine, who are vetted by a committee to ensure they are "suitable" candidates where upon a whole campaign is financed to get them elected with much of the cash coming from donors in various ways, some very opaque such as financing a members supposed researchers. Even i don't need to tell you that prime ministers go cap in hand and touching their forelock to such people as Rupert Murdoch for their endorsement. (as an aside, your throwaway remark that 18 is too young to vote has been exposed as a fallacy when Scotland had a vote on the most important question of independence and lowered the age to 16)  A politician is not a delegate but a representative. He is not elected to carry out your instructions but to act on behalf for you as he thinks fit.  Your next two questions over-lap and imho seem to reveal that you hold your fellow men and women in low esteem, that the only thing that motivates people is pecuniary self-interest. People behave differently when they are in different situations…there is nothing innate about behaviour, we change when the world around us changes. Most inventors, artists have usually died in poverty. Or they are now part of a R and D team, paid a salary and have no intellectual ownership over a new device or application. The company benefits. Have you thought of the numbers of people who do voluntary work, from the little old lady in your local charity shop to those on gap-years helping out abroad on aid work. For sure, they receive something in return… self-esteem and respect from peers but what is usually lacking is any cash reward. Work and employment are not synonymous terms and i tried to explain that with reference to hobbies. I could have used the example of those who achieve job satisfaction over pay-scales or and the self-employed who enjoy being their own boss. When we talk of working conditions in socialism we are not equating it with capitalist working conditions. We will see a great reduction in the working week, the introduction of automation and relationships within the factory or office changing to one of equality. Work will for the first time in history become voluntary. We do possess the technology even today to provide for practically all the needs of every person on the planet. We can even carry the burden of the idle and lazy. Unpleasant social tasks, the 3-D, dirty dangerous and demeaning, if a machine can't do it will be shared out amongst the community, not imposed upon a person as a livliehood for the rest of his or her life. But the demand for luxuries will diminish because when everything is available to everyone, there can no longer be excuses for conspicuous consumption…to prove your status by showing of your possessions. Certain things may well be shared as in the example of car-pools and time- share apartments…We'll book our weekend on the yacht and wait our turn. Look in your shed at all those tools which are only used occasionally. Even in capitlaism, hire-companies recognise we don't need to own every thing.i think we have to be honest with you, socialism will not work if no-body works, society would fall apart. Part of our case is that socialism cannot be imposed but that people have to democratically decide they want socialism and are prepared to help make it work. This pre-supposes that it cannot be led by a minority but come into existence only via a mass movement who have a profound change in outlook so it is our belief that it is inconceivable that with this desire for socialist change on such a large scale it would not influence the way people behave. Ask yourself this, would having struggled so determinedly to bring socialism about, would people be so ready to jeopardise the new society they helped to create by sabotaging it?  

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