[alanjjohnstone]

[alanjjohnstone]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-was-shot-down-by-the-us-military-former-airline-ceo-claims-9939710.htmlWell, the US does have previous form for shooting down civilian aircraft…but where is the evidence? 

[alanjjohnstone]

We are a political party with a clearly defined goal. We have a collective knowledge (or consciousness) based on the party's actual history and its past experience which combines with current debate and discussion to give us an agreed political perspective.  We are not lone wolves or lone voices in the wilderness. We are not messiahs nor prophets nor evangelisers. And we seek and organise to go beyond being mere advocates and propagandists. We come together with the understanding that political action is required to evoke social change. Propaganda is simply the first part of the revolutionary priocess to acquire sufficient support for the second phase…challenging capitalism on the political arena (and industrial field some will also add, but that is another topic, altogether.)Brand may contest Farage's views on Question Time or on his Trews videos or his tweets but until he moves on to the actual political battlefield he leaves Farage a free hand to grow stronger and entrench UKIP's position and possibly acquire the political power to implement their policies. Your remark –  "he's got more people talking about revolutionary politics than us lot here" reminds me of  ex-member and ex-Edinburgh Br secretary, Bill Knox, who in his biography of James Maxton wrote “a special kind of orator who inspired human beings to struggle for socialism…which influenced thousands of young people to become socialists”.The Socialist Standard review of his book simply asked…..where are these people now? I think it is fair to speculate, in a few years time, where are those talking about politics via Brand chosen to go…what road have they gone down…which turnings have they taken. Don't get me wrong, i don't want to neglect or ignore Brand. He has, as you say, offered us an opportunity to try and interact with his audience and we should do our utmost to do that.For me the question is how do we that…how can we offer comradely criticism and suggest something different that builds on the foundations Brand may have begun. We have to offer the bridge from cynicism about capitalism to activism to change it for socialism.    

[alanjjohnstone]

The new globe is certainly an improvement on our other versions and to advertise the SPGB very appropriate. However when we begin to participate in global social movements such as being suggested by the proposed two excursions to France, i think we should have, as Vin suggested,  specific World Socialist Movement banners with a suitably themed slogan.I go for one i already suggested…"A World to Win, A Planet to Save" but open to many others …The Canadian Party and i think New Zealand and India …have that "One World One People" logo  http://www.worldsocialism.org/canada/I don't see why is should turn into a controversy. Each branch should request funding from the EC for their own banners and decide their own design. I know some might say this go against the logic of uniform identity but i'm for diversity for Individual branches. The websites, the Standard, the election leaflets and pamphlets i fully agree should carry our national registered emblem whatever that turns of out to be and it should incorporated into the different branch banners designs. But branches should have the freedom to emphasise different aspects of the party's case as they deem fit on a banner. 

[alanjjohnstone]

More unpalatable facts about industrialised food procductionhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/21/life-inside-america-food-processing-plants-cheap-meat

[alanjjohnstone]

Doesn't VV have a few personal anecdotes from way back about the personality cult around Cliff the Guru 

Quote:

Cliff was pontificating in the parlour. He was sat like a king on a throne with a semi-circle of young people literally sitting at his feet. Among them was John Palmer, later European editor of the “Guardian”, and Cliff was telling them, “When the workers are armed then you have the embryo of the workers’ state”.

http://socialist-courier.blogspot.com/2007/03/when-harry-met-tony-showdown.htmlIf there is someone who the party has to get down on record as oral history is Glasgow's VV. 

[alanjjohnstone]

There was a SPGB group based in Aberdeen university during the 70s but fell from EC favour and some were expelled as part of the Libertarian Communist group. They produced a leaflet on the student grant campaign which was deemed reformist, if i recall.This was a more worthwhile contribution on Leninism that i republished on my personal blog http://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2006/12/marx-versus-lenin-what-kind-of.htmlI think if it is possible to register as a student society and access facilities and perhaps funds, if there are a number of students who are SPGBers, they will form a society or discussion group under the ausices of the university or student union rules but i think they will also be a branch too if it has enough members. I would hope that if there were a few members in the same wokplace they too would form some sort of informal group alongside a more official party branch. 

[alanjjohnstone]

i couldn't actually force myself to read all of this. An unrepentant sinner who has learned actually very little from his experiences. 

Quote:

Not for one minute do I regret having joined IS and sayed with the organisation for so long.

Like a true SWPer, its not the politics of it that were at fault but a series of organisational wrong-turnings and a failure of the leadership which replaced the troikaa of Cliff, Harman and Hallas and he turns opportunism into a virtue. His concluding abc seems to me to totally self-deceiving wishful thinking rather than the reality of actual SWP practice and theory.Not impressed at all by his soul-searching or his analysis of IS/SWP history. He and they won't be missed if they as i hope disappear entirely from the political scene 

[alanjjohnstone]

Farage popularity at a new low but nothing to do with Brandhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farages-approval-rating-hits-record-low-as-popularity-suffers-in-wake-of-ukip-sex-scandal-9932931.html

[alanjjohnstone]

But the point James makes is valid…We have to make the idea of socialism resonate with our audience so they can relate it to their own lives and situation. We have to make socialism an urgency and immediancy. Its a tall order to do and there will be a variety of approaches to take to succeed in that. We are obliged to go further than simply be anti-cuts.  This may mean disillusioning some who may well be sympathetic to aspects of our case but who nevertheless advocate dead-ends. The manner in which we express our criticism is important and also from where we make them. Too often it seems to me we are viewed  as outsiders, rather than participating in opposition to capitalism as part of the working class movement with a legitimate right to air our opinions. I think when we are free to explain our full case we are able to dispel many of the mis-conceptions that exist about our politics. We have arguments that are full of caveats and particular nuances and these are often not emphasised enough because of lack of opportunity. What i would like from James is to hear actual specifics on what working class experiences and campaigns we should be highlighting and providing answers to. And how would he like to hear them presented. 

[alanjjohnstone]

On some thread i think it is stated that Kliman goes against the common belief that workers income has declined and it is all about which statistics to use in definining wage levels and profit.I came across this and not sure if it it supports Kliman's view but it seems to at first glance although the website itself appears to sit on the right-wing and anti-trade unionhttp://www.economics21.org/commentary/inequality-create-productivity-compensation-growth-2014-12-17

[alanjjohnstone]

Will you, perhaps via the election committee, be informing them we will have a candidate standing in Lambeth and that it has been an ongoing strategy for ourselves to contest this constituency. Perhaps reminding them that if they are contemplating not going up against the Green Party, there is even more reason not to undermine a genuine socialist party's campaign. The LU  in Scotland seems even in more disarray than the party nationally.  

[alanjjohnstone]

I just recalled Vin has led the way with flash using John Lennon songs and pictures…perhaps he can provide the link again so we can promote it. 

[alanjjohnstone]

One thing i noticed much to the concernation of perhaps our copyright experts – it uses a commercial movie clip as an introduction…and i'll wager they never got permission but are still able to put out their message. A lesson that we shouldn't be too legalistic in any of our own productions. I have always argued that we should never simply limit ourselves to just  one type of video but to build up a collection with different styles and approaches…serious…light-hearted…angry…documentary-mode…general analysis or on specific issues .The easiest and the cheapest is the simple flash animation…as basic as a series of photos with captions and background music. They can be very effective and convenient to post around the web's discussion lists. Perhaps beyond our own expertise but not a student's capability. All we do is create the story-board and out-source. BTW hows the re-editing of the election video getting on…maybe all our short videoes of hustings and tv appearances can be compiled into one. 

[alanjjohnstone]

I think you once said you liked facts to be shown in pictures, YMS. I think the Independent has obliged you.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/6-charts-that-explain-why-russias-economy-is-in-freefall–and-what-it-means-for-you-9928016.htmlThen the conspiracy theory

Quote:

Here’s what’s happening: Washington has persuaded the Saudis to flood the market with oil to push down prices, decimate Russia’s economy, and reduce Moscow’s resistance to further NATO encirclement and the spreading of US military bases across Central Asia. The US-Saudi scheme has slashed oil prices by nearly a half since they hit their peak in June. The sharp decline in prices has burst the bubble in high-yield debt which has increased the turbulence in the credit markets while pushing global equities into a tailspin. Even so, the roiled markets and spreading contagion have not deterred Washington from pursuing its reckless plan, a plan which uses Riyadh’s stooge-regime to prosecute Washington’s global resource war.

 http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/16/the-oil-coup/And the counter conspiracy –

Quote:

HUDSON: The ruble has indeed taken a dive. But this has not affected the Russian economy very much, because the Russian economy operates on rubles, not on dollars. Putin over the last two years has moved to make the ruble independent of the dollar, just as China and other countries are making their currencies independent of the dollar. So the effect now is that, yes,Russia has fewer dollars, but it doesn’t need dollars because it’s re-denominated its foreign trade in rubles, it’s re-denominated them in Chinese yen. So the Russia-China trade, the Russia-Turkey trade, the trade of all of these non-dollar countries is taking place without dollars. So there’s really no need, particularly, for dollars at all. The effect of the ruble falling is to increase the price of imports to Russia. And so Russia’s response has been, okay, if we have to pay more for our food, then we’re going to subsidize our own growing of food. And Russian farm output has been rising very rapidly to replace the imports that it was making from Lithuania, from France, and from other European countries. Putin was also saying, now we’re going to begin to subsidize our manufacturing. We cannot depend upon the Germans, the French, or the Europeans for their manufacturing. We’re going to depend on China, on Turkey, and most of all on our own manufacturing. And the sanctions against Russia have actually proved to be a godsend, because it enables Russia to do essentially what it would have liked to do but couldn’t do under international law: to subsidize and protect its own industry.

This from here http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article40476.htmMaybe the anti-GM posturing of Russia is explained by this concentration on domestic produce.I really haven't the skill or knowledge to make a judgement about the economics of it all but isn't perhaps the real reason of this is simply the anarchy of the market and unintended consequences of it and not the sinister undertones being given by many. Could we perhaps argue it is a normal disequilibrium of capitalism? I,as i say, await better informed than myself to analyse so i will be checking this thread regularly

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