alanjjohnstone
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Discarding the paternity of Helene Demuth's son Douglas (still disputed by some) the romance of Jenny and Karl i think does stand out as a remarkable relationship well worth the Hollywood touch.But it seems from the link that the movie will concentrate on will be between Karl and Fred.It is surprising that no one bothered to do any decent TV series of the whole Marx family…his daughters are deserving of their own episodes in a drama and Engels and the Burns sisters too….A lot more fascinating than Downton Abbey or whatever the latest period drama happens to be just now. I simply don't accept it the reason is that it is not of interest but instead simply to ensure they are not treated as personalities and individuals since their too human characteristics doesn't match what they wish us to know. Of course beause they did have personal flaws, a biography, warts and all, ..(or in Karl's case boils)…an equally destructive to reputations one could could be made by the media…
Before the moderator declares his own suggestion the winner and closes down the debate on name by suspending all those with other suggestions for deviating from the thread , perhaps it should go to the Off-Topic to continue and leave this one for the more serious discussion.
Labour 2.01- sounds like giving th impression that Corbyns Old Labour Mk2 is an improvement Unnew Labour = Undo Labour?Labour redux…is that a medication for pregnant women ?Empire Labour – a biscuit?Labour's 4th Way…want to explain, NL, why 4th and not 5th or umpteeth?Old Labour Mk2 still got it for me…keep the entries coming in, though
Man killed for supposedly eating beefhttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34398433Less to do with vegetarianism but more to do with Hindutva – right-wing Hindu nationalismhttp://www.countercurrents.org/cc300915.htm
Quote:It is ironic that India is the largest exporter of beef in the world! According to data released by U.S. Department of Agriculture India exported 2.4 million tonnes of beef and veal in FY2015, compared to 2 million tonnes by Brazil and 1.5 million by Australia. India accounts for 23.5 per cent of global beef exports. This is up from a 20.8 per cent share last year.Not bad…front-runner until others get busy with their own imaginative inputBut historically… how many Old Labours has there been?
I'm in a pickle at the blog…what adjective do we use for the current Labour Party…Corbyn's Labour Party sounds a bit paternalist and nespotic…Old Labour isn't quite accurate…Newer Labour is nebulous, newer than what?….New Old Labour an oxymoron…Blushing Pink Labour as in a lipstick colour?….The Left Labour suggests that indeed a transformation has taken place, and that is still to be decided…Any suggestions will be welcome.
Now are you sure, Captain Mainwaring, that it will not be an example of Corporal Jones brandishing a copy of the Socialist Standard and announcing, "those fuzzy-wuzzy Greens, they don't like it up them", while Godfrey goes around clutching a bunch of leaflets asking "what shall i do with these?" and Private Pike saying "sorry, i forgot the lit for the lit table but never mind i also forgot to bring the table, too" Again, to stress, it requires the proper preparation and the right equipment to be effective in making your presence known. A relatively inexpensive new vinyl banner featuring an environmental theme could be purchased in the next two months. London can be the test run for Paris
How can there be any volunteers when the Party has yet to make a call for them, Gnome? How can there be any volunteers when the Party has not been timely in making the arrangements or the preparations? Or at least raising the possibility of the type of participation that may attract members enthusiasm.Our Summer School is well attended, is it not?My own experience in 2005 was that we could interest several members to travel to Edinburgh for Make Poverty History and although some may have fallen by the way-side, most are still involved with the Party. And as you can see from my earlier post…i'm not above bribing members to attend by reducing the financial burden of going …(and think of the duty-free you can bring back for the festive season which will only be a few weeks away, comrades) I e-mailed HO today to put Paris COP21 on the agenda for next week's EC meeting. Let's put your own message into perspective …If the Party can no longer function as a politically active party then as some of those who you criticise have been saying is that it is fated to pass away in due course of time, perhaps sooner than some of us expect. If you think the only "remedy" offered has been to open the door to the religious then i feel you have not been reading the posts that have been suggesting different strategies, and in particular my own, since as you often imply, i am not short of proposals, nor reluctant to express them. I'm willing to question some our sacred cows and challenge accepted views just to provoke much necessary discussion. We share a common concern for the future of the Party, Gnome. Many of us do. The first thing to do is accept that we also hold varied opinions on the cause and are not agreed on the cure. And i am welcoming any debate that try to address the problems but ADM exchanges is simply not suffice to delve deeper into the roots of our failure to achieve any claim to success except that we have "survived". But you and i both accept…the class war won't be won unless we can put boots on the ground…When an opportunity arises where that can make a small impact we should try our best to shift into a higher gear. Pay the fare, pay the hotel, pay for the food so to join in what will be perhaps an unprecedented street party, joining folk from all over the world in a carnival atmosphere, mixed with some serious politicking and picketing…who wouldn't want to volunteer…A dowdy drab Labour Party conference is no comparison …But nobody wishes to sign up for the unknown and take a leap in the dark, not sure what the cost will be for them or what is expected of them.It is not just a half dozen or so volunteers that we need but all the banners, the flags, the new leaflets, t-shirts with slogans and badges and stickers. If we get the volunteers, equally important is we need to give them the tools for them to use.Otherwise if let down or disappointed by the logistics, they will have good excuse not to offer their services in the future. (obviously they shouldn't think things will go 100% to plan, nothing ever does)
For some Corbyn is really about nostalgic past and Marxism Today is the route map…all our yesterdays…http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/sep/29/marxism-today-forgotten-visionaries-whose-ideas-could-save-labour
Let's put this into perspective, Gnome, can we?The decisions taken at this Paris COP21 summit are being touted by many reasonable observers to be the most important ever taken by the world's ruling class and quite possibly may determine whether the human species exists on this planet or not according to again many respected experts……and the Party cannot arrange for volunteers to get on a train at Victoria Station and go and present our case for the future survival of mankind in what may well turn out to be the most diverse cosmopolitan protest in history, in a city a few hours away from our HO……and some members persist in claiming we have no problems per se in the way we educate, organise and agitate for socialism But as i said in my earlier message, if we can't do the job properly, let's not do it al all….After all, there will be many colourful and dramatic street events that will perhaps over-shadow our presence so we have to do the best we can. …and fully accept whatever consequences that may arise to our credentials as a World Socialist Movement that the detrimental effects of global warming cannot motivate or mobilise ourselves as such to bring to the forefront the social, political and economic causes of it. Albeit we will have excellent but mostly unread analyses in our magazine and on our blog but we not compaign and go that extra mile (okay,200 miles) to draw attention and gain an audience for our ideas. And some say those of us who despair, who are dismayed, who are disappointed by the Party's present manner of propaganda and publicity are Cassandras and Moaning Minnies and Private Frasers…We have the dosh, subsidise the trip, make it inviting and attractive that we have to turn away people wishing to put their names down for it. Lets add a tour to the Paris Commune's Montmartre bistros and bars for the evenings when the demostrations and meetings have dissapated for the night.
From the Andrew Marr interview
Quote:"If you are poor in Glasgow or you are poor in Birmingham – you are poor. If you need a house in Glasgow or you need a house in London – you need a house, and so there is the class politics issue of it,” he said. "That is the message I am taking when I am campaigning in Scotland just as much as I am campaigning anywhere else. Flags don't build houses."http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34357047Apostates and the persecution by family and the Muslim communityBut it got me thinking…can you reject your Jewish religion if you are defined ethnically as a Jew. Same with Sikhs.
Digging up the grave by McDonnell
Quote:“If you look at our capitalist system, one of the definitive analysts of how it works – not whether it is condemned, or whether it is right or wrong, just the mechanics of how it works, when it was formed and how it would be developed – actually was Marx. "If you look at most of the institutions that are teaching economics today. Marx has come back in to fashion because people have gone back to his analysis of just the basics of how the system works. “People might disagree with his conclusions about what to do with the system, but actually to understand how the system works he comes up with some interesting analyses that have been built in to traditional and fairly classical economics.”Looks like nobody is interested in this thread, it seems, so i'll argue with myself.What sort of overall approach should our strategy be? Using religious imagery, do we go to Paris announcing that capitalism cannot solve or mitigate climate change and proclaim the end of the world unless we "repent" and adopt socialism…a "we are doomed" ladened message, that many believe is rarely receptive by the public but it seems from the experience of some religious cults, it does attract an audience. A "Socialism or Barbarism", message?Or do we go to Paris proclaiming "Heaven on Earth" is possible, that with socialism we can have an ecological paradise in the world where we are close to a utopia, where we can merge tradition with technology and not just halt the environmental destruction but reverse its effects.A return to the Garden of Eden even if we know there was not such an idyllic period in history but again history of thought shows that reverting to some mythical past also works to make converts.Or offer a Star Trek futuristic promise of inventions like replicators and we do know from great works of literature that sci-fi predictions and prophesies also gains us a hearing. I am always drawn to Sylvia Pankhurst's introduction to 1923 Socialism article as the basis of our case, and hope it appears somewhere in our COP21 campaign literature (it, too, i notice, is worded in religious terms)
Quote:Socialism means plenty for all. We do not preach a gospel of want and scarcity, but of abundance. Our desire is not to make poor those who to-day are rich, in order to put the poor in the place where the rich now are. Our desire is not to pull down the present rulers to put other rulers in their places. We wish to abolish poverty and to provide abundance for all. We do not call for limitation of births, for penurious thrift, and self-denial. We call for a great production that will supply all, and more than all the people can consume. Such a great production is already possible, with the knowledge already possessed by mankind. To-day production is artificially checked, consumption still more so.https://www.marxists.org/archive/pankhurst-sylvia/1923/socialism.htmIt puts us at odds with the Capitalist Fixers and most of the Green Reformers – an independent and class analysis.If slogans are an easy way to put across ideas i think ours should beA World to Win – A Planet to SaveSharing the World – Sparing the Planet(other suggestions welcomed)I hope that October's EC meeting begins the process and that the various committees pick up the baton and begin to run with it before it is too late and we are rushed into some sort of ad hoc make-shift participation in Paris and miss out on an opportunity.If we don't endeavour to make a 100% effort, i'd rather we don't even make an appearance so to not waste our money, time and resources. As i say, the time to organise is now. To-day, Capitalist Misery -To-morrow, Socialist Joy – It's Your Decision(another slogan suggestion)
