[alanjjohnstone]

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I know it doesn't specifically mention parliament as an "instrinsically useful function", though personally I'd have thought a central, elected decision-making body would be …

I do have trouble trying to define what would be a central decision making body and its constituency …geographic?… and what then would be the parameters of a geographic area?Or would it be industrial along the lines of the IWW/SLP?I think we may all suffer from a myopic view of the possibiities because we are children of our own time and with a limited imagination. Nor can we account for any developments/adaptations which may occur in the revolutionary situations that will be thrown up. Socialist Courier posted a speculative scenario on administrative structures herehttp://socialist-courier.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/federated-freedom.htmlParliament for me is merely a tool to achieve socialism in the least disordered route and once that has been accomplished its role disappears…but i am not saying that certain department of the State would also vanish…agriculture…health…statistics…etc etc but Parliament as a decision-making entity and therefore by implication also a political civic power will become redundant. 

[alanjjohnstone]

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Gaelic is not going to become one of two official languages if Scotland votes yes, is it? Or is it? You never can tell how silly nationalists can be.

Indeed when the Irish Republic got its independence, there was hopes of a cultural/language revival, with Irish mde a compulsory school subject and a requirement for any government jobs. It failed utterly. 

[alanjjohnstone]

I thought bout a new thread but as this has a title about change i think this article has a few worthwhile observations about social activism and making a revolutionary movement.http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/26046-surviving-the-ups-and-downs-of-social-movements

[alanjjohnstone]

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I don't see why talking about retaining parliament in a thoroughly democratised form should have been a red rag to anybody here

I think the point is, as i said earlier, is that a thoroughly democratised form of social administration would not resemble "Parliament" and therefore the word is superfluous and its usage will tend to offer a misleading impression of what we aspire towards. Your quote from SAPA correctly does not employ the term and we should not either. Socialist "parliaments" would not be a parliament and even putting in the apostropes, ".." , won't make them so. It is a new democratic decision-making structure "…would replace centralised control by governments Such a system would be adaptable, for any purpose,…" I'll stick to the concept of 332 "parliaments",…but they will not be called parliaments….perhaps talking houses…parle-maisons

[alanjjohnstone]

Chomsky on independenceAbout 13 minutes in he is saying little will change because of international finance and an independent Scotland would still be controlled by world capitalismI still find him very erudite and clear thinking…despite a few criticisms of his political practice

[alanjjohnstone]

Since Great Britain is simply an island off the coast of the European penisular of Asia on the Planet Earth perhaps if we determine our name by geography, it should be the World Socialist Party (Solar System , the Milky Way) If we retain the Great Britain i think we will be advisable to add another name to our existing list for election purposes. In a possible future independent Scotland a Socialist Party of Great Britain would be mistaken for a political party supporting the possibiity of Re- union . That would indeed be the point some would seebeing made (and why simply two states and not the whole of the EU where we do possess a different name for EU elections)Labour, Tories, LibDems, even SPEW, as it is,  all have a Scottish tags to their names which they will no doubt revert to in electionsI recollect that Northern Irish and Irish Republic members were both members of the WSP of I and the SPGB despite constitutional differeces. With our current scarcity of members, making an issue out of our name is fairly counter-productive. There are more important things to focus our minds and energies upon, right now Having said that, I would actually argue for a change of name for the members in Scotland and that we were part of the WSM but more for the impetus of making ourselves known in a publicity campaign for our ideas.The No people were out in the High St in Dunfermline today and treated our sticker as a supportive symbol for their campaign since it was a non-Yes…an abstention is as good as a No, the guy answered.

[alanjjohnstone]

i think he has made an assumption that we advocate another form of taxation …just differ on the amounts or application

[alanjjohnstone]

Switch-around…Latest poll….51% for independence, 49% against.Even if the No prevails in the end, i think a decade down the line there will be yet another referendum on the issue, perhaps even sooner, depending on events and circumstances. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Perhaps it was overlooked but i posted a couple of messages a while back upon the indigenous local administrative organisation in parts of Mexico that is being now over-ruled by central governments that are trying to concentrate power into hands of non-local authorities.Talk of "Parliament" or "Congress" continuing frightens me because the changes in democracy will transform it so radically that it simply won't be "Parliament" that is recognisable so why stick to the old terminology, …plus it reinforces an anglophile image! The cautionary note on Supreme Soviet certainly applies to the other institutions, none of which really possesses genuine trust by people.New forms of democracy i think wil arise, or older ones assuming new roles…parish councils, for instance, in parts of England, neighbourhood councils…plus lets be honest…a bunch of councillors do not determine the smooth running of the sewage..(cue for puns on them spouting shit  ), Technical details , technical projects come from the technicians employed and the scale of those determine the vote …and that will always be elastic, not bound by ward or constituency lines. We too must be felxible in what we define as democratic procedures and processes…It will be fifferent strokes for different folks in the diverse make-up of the world…and as world socialists, i return to my initial statement , we don't determine the hows and whys for the planet Earth, nor even for GB. Lbird somewhere on some thread mentions our responsibility to human values…that too transcends the limitations of pinning ourselves down to just a variant of "bourgeois" democratic form and structure which applies only to specific places at  specific time. If we don't accept the need for blueprints, i see no rel reason to offer up support for the present constitutional systems that are somehow simply needs amending, rather than turned into something totally new. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Still rattling the cages but 'fraid it has veered of to replies to Karl Popper and science….thankfully not at the level or depths of you and Lbird so far.http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2014/08/31/yes-fife-in-the-sun/#comment-91909I tried to briefly explain how the referendum officially held to only 2 positions Yes or No and that the abstention/spoiled ballot paper although a legitimate tactic in elections and referendums was not recognised. I may require you to clarify the position better perhaps if that thread develops.

[alanjjohnstone]

http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2014/08/31/yes-fife-in-the-sun/#comment-91909Rattled a few more cages on the Bella Caledonia website ( since according to a famous quote nationalism is a poison, shouldn't it be re-named  Belladonna Caledonia)

[alanjjohnstone]

http://www.wsws.org/WSWS is very successful with its reporting gets linked to by many other websites that are not Trotskyist and sometimes could be described as simply left-wing radical.It has a formula of presenting itself predominantly as a socialist news service rather than purely party promotional (the parent of WSPS is the Socialist Equality Party) with in depth analysis. I have mentioned that the blog committee is exploring various possible futures and WSWS ability of many of its articles being picked up by radical activist websites is someting we may think well worth aspiring to-wards.Some wish the blog to reduce its content to a couple of blogs daily (if that), and i would say there is some merit in that suggestion  – But only if the blog posts are of exceptional high standard with unique research and analysis that WSWS can sometimes provide. The present bloggers are not trained snipers, none with academic marxist economic, philosophic pedigree, who can take out a target with one shot…hence our reliance on the old fashioned blunderbuss strategy in the hope that some of the widely-dispersed shot hits the target.The Standard cannot carry too long, wordy articles but a blog can so it can become a theoretical tool that theStandard as a broader, more popular magaine doesn't try to be. I think this was decided as a conference policy to drop more Marxist technical articles and aim for the more general reader.This leaves scope for a blog to fill that gap. We could be blogging on the Production for Use Committee research, for instance…but we aren't because they aren't giving us information on its progress and their findings to date but i am sure they are uncovering plenty of data that can be used in propaganda. I thik the sae can be said for other aspects of the socialist case. The blog doesn't necessarily require to edit down submissions to 1,500 words and miss out all the citations lists or quotes. Our blog just need to format them a bit better, that is all, and any graphic design advice on that is welcomed.i think this is part of the "re-branding" of our content and ideas we need…To offer up originality, in which we  present our evidence to combat the prevailing academia/media view on their own ground, to be seen as a place where when someone wants background material , thinks …"ahh…i'll go to that socialist website…they have facts and figures.." (and when SOYMB has been quoted as a source elsewhere, our stats go shooting up so it has an impact on visitor traffic).A change of name would certainly be a decision that would clearly indicate our serious intent on a new, reinvigourated approach to political action but the work in re-designing our image can begin first by re-focussing our presence on the web. 

[alanjjohnstone]

i remember Austin Mitchell being something of the media favourite, always on tv getting interviewed…then he suddenly was off the screen…i simply assumed he left politics or died…your mention of him reminded me of his absence. 

[alanjjohnstone]

Much the same can be said about anti-immigration types.By coincidence, from a soon-to-published draft blog-post on immigration, sitting on my computer

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" A section of the capitalists generally reflect the interests of middle-sized companies which have not invested abroad, who sell on the domestic market and out of fear of competition from the giant multinationals, they wrap themselves up in the patriotic flag and right-wing populism, warning about the immigrant “hordes” threatening our culture and values and demonising them as criminals and terrorists. Such “respectable” politicians (and they are not restricted to UKIP) give aid, comfort and stimulation to neo-fascist thugs. The mainstream of the ruling class largely accepts immigration, since it provides a layer of readily exploitable workers. But when times anc conditions changes, the ruling class may move  to harass immigrants and also to try to bar them"

In the case of Souter, we can, i think, assume an independent Scotland's transport policy will be determined by what is good for Stagecoach and  that there is no chance of renationalising of the railways north of thr border!! Another endorser of Yes  ex-RBS chairman Mathewson also happens to be on the Stagecoach board although it is his RBS credentials advanced..seemingly he's untouched by the RBS collapse although this article accuses him of sowing the seeds of it.http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ian-fraser-mathewson-sowed-seeds-destruction-fred-shred-goodwins-reign-terror-rbs-1455224 

[alanjjohnstone]

Hmmm…didn't somebody predict that Piketty would be forgotten…even on this list.Nevertheless, i came across this article which may revive the debate. http://www.countercurrents.org/parsons280814.htmAfter an intro saying much the same as others have:

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Piketty's analysis has done a great service for progressives, in that it uses comprehensive data sets to discredit the prevailing economic ideology of our time. It is no longer just common sense to presume that extreme wealth is not good for everyone, and that the invisible hand of the free market will never lead to a fairer sharing of wealth among the population.

As we have said , the article talks of going  beyond Piketty but as some here as argued

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But unfortunately, this is not the conversation that has been spurred by Piketty's analysis

Although  "Share The World's Resources" produces itself lots of useful data, it is also limited by a lack of ambition and will settle for co-ops and some form of humane gass-roots capitalism of re-distribution but at least they do consider a world that is not defined by a wealth tax . 

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