alanjjohnstone
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And while Danny is there, make sure you get him to ask for a few quotes on producing future videoes…..i reckon they will be fairly reasonably priced…perhaps…..never pass by a the possibility of a bargain , comrades…http://www.susu.tv/aboutus/commercial-projects/
Now posted on Socialist Courier Blog, Vin.http://socialist-courier.blogspot.com/2014/04/capitalism-and-working-class-hero.html
i linked to it on this website so i hope it broadens the audiencehttp://www.countercurrents.org/johstone270414.htm
"starting to make a left voice credible again by making it a part of the national consciousness,"I think Adam has made a point several times of crediting Occupy and Russel Brand with bringing revolution back into vogue. Other members have full-heartedly agreed with him My opinion? Perhaps Fox News by describing everything Obama has done as "socialist"!!But for a time i thought there was indeed a real movement for real change, not so much because of high-profile individuals but by what i was hearing around me and it began with the Liverpool Dockers/Reclaim the Streets when my union branch would send folk, the 2003 Iraq War when i found i didn't need to convince people it was a war for oil, 2005 anti-G8 and Make Poverty/Capitalism History- talk about a broad church grassroots organisation…it literally was!!!… Occupy, …And yes, LU, Look back at some of my posts here and Libcom and you'll see long before LU i was linking to a trend to reallign on the Left,As for what i think would be good result…simply knowing that more people are aware of our existence, much less vote for us …even if it is only our name !! The better result would be people actually aware of what we stand for, even partly…And the cream would be if they learned how we are different from the Left !!!!If we had the resources a gallop poll of before and after just to see if publicity is gained would have been marvellous.
http://penarthnews.wordpress.com/ A resident of Penarth has been nominated to stand as a candidate in the forthcoming elections for the European Parliament – to be held on May 22nd . He’ s Richard Cheney of 14 Wordsworth Avenue Penarth who will be one of four candidates contesting the election on behalf of the Socialist Party of Great Britain. [with his photo]
Canterbury Times link for election statementhttp://www.canterburytimes.co.uk/Socialist-GB/story-21023599-detail/story.htmlNow blogged. Await the other paper's link . Try and record the BBC interview.
These might be of interest, criticism of this article http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7f000b18-ca44-11e3-bb92-00144feabdc0.htmlhttp://ftalphaville.ft.com/2014/04/25/1836542/martin-wolf-on-funny-money-creation/http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/04/26/where-martin-wolf-goes-wrong-with-modern-monetary-theory/
I am minded by something Hal Draper said: "To engage in class struggle it is not necessary to 'believe in' the class struggle any more than it is necessary to believe in Newton to fall from an airplane…."Thankfully, i don't think i need to understand all this and all the other previous debates to be a socialist. so i'll just let you all get on with it and i'll do my own thing for my own reasons that certain circumstances have led me to believe be right, morally or not.Cue for a Bananarama song :- "It ain't what you do it's the way that you do itIt ain't what you do it's the time that you do itIt ain't what you do it's the place that you do it"The MCH in a song??
If there is not a plan to set up a blogsite as we have with http://spgb.blogspot.co.uk/can i suggest one is created so it can be linked to from various discussion lists and as a useful place for up-to-date info for non-members."Hungry kids have been forced to rely on charity for food during holidays because they can’t get free school meals at home"http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/hundreds-hungry-kids-relying-charity-7037339
i would suggest that if WSM members do take up the challenge but they do so as individuals and not as official party spokes-persons as Adam's message cautions us against. Membership of WSM can be mentioned indirectly in a variety of obique references but does not have to be made the main issue. The idea that we cannot engage in discussion and disagree as comrades, i think is an odd one. It is just a matter of choice of language and a sympathetic attitude. Our intent is not to detract from Zeitgeist's object which we can fully endorse and support( which can be made clear in the challenge) but to improve TZM's effectiveness by suggesting a better approach of achieving their aim and highlighting a fatal flaw. No matter how admirable the goal, if there is not a viable way of reaching it, then it fails to be anything other than utopian. This criticism can be expressed in a way that need not be adversorial.
Also, come to think of it, just what rights do L and W have? It is acknowledged on wiki to have been a 3 -way joint venture by Progress Publishers in Moscow, International Publishers in NY and L and W but wasn't it all done under the auspices of the Marxist-Leninist Institute. So are the translators getting their share of royalties? I doubt it, very much. Nawwwww…i believe L and W got the copyright as a subsidy from the CPSU just as the CPGB was subsidised by the purchase of large orders of unsold and unread Daily Workers. Russian gold paid for by the surplus value of the exploited Russian proletariat therefore L and W have no moral claim to copyright, just a technical legalistic claim…
L and W's sob-story defence here and its just nasty sectarians who hate them who are complaininghttp://www.lwbooks.co.uk/collected_works_statement.htmlJust how is restricting access to university libraries placing the collected works in the public domain, i wonder?
Perhaps BrianJ or another comrade with closer acquaintance with ZTM could submit an essay concentrating on the lack of political/class content of its arguments which makes it unachievable and therefore idealistic and utopian in the Marxian sense…as it lacks the Marxist/socialist argument of the working class being the motor for the requisite change. 3 months to write it (closing date 31/7 so i'll bookmark it and who knows, perhaps i might get around to doing something. But as i often stated , i'm not an original creative writer, simply a cut and paste plagiarist so i will check out suitable bits and pieces from our discussion lists to r-edit into the socialist challenge. But the concept of this challenge is a good one. I would suggest we use it in conjuction to our essay competition i keep suggesting.
The logo is an admirable improvement and i will be using it in future . Indeed, it is a pity it was not depicted on the election leaflets. But why those dots duplicated from the older version? A whole world image http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sKdi_X_CxmA/UVigd_d0VsI/AAAAAAAAIRs/16gO6zgwsfk/s1600/maps+-+Mollweide+projection.jpgWhy a revolving 3D image for our websites? And also why not for our videos? Members will know that i have been a persistent proponent of an official logo, whether incorporating a globe or not.But as part of the WORLD SOCIALIST MOVEMENT , not including one in the design certainly doesn't emphasise our global perspective and aspirations. There are literally hundreds of globe designs to choose from and a bit imagination when it comes to add-ons can turn it into an effective representation of ideals.
Some more UK statsThe 2013 British Social Attitudes Survey reported that 48% of respondents claimed they did not belong to a religion. The proportion of people who described themselves as belonging to the Church of England was just 20%, down from 40% in 1983. Church of England's own figures, 800,000 people would have attended a service on a typical Sunday in 2012. This is approximately half the number that attended in 1968. In 2011 there were 51,880 weddings, 139,751 baptisms and 162,526 funerals conducted by Church of England clergy. In 2011, about one third of England's 20,000 state-funded schools were faith schools, of which 68% were affiliated to the Church of England schools and 30% were Roman Catholic. In a 2006 Ipsos MORI poll, "religious groups and leaders" topped the list of domestic groups that people said had too much influence over ministers. A 2013 Lancaster University study of British Catholics suggested they were wildly at odds with their spiritual leaders on matters of personal morality. According to the survey, only 9% would feel guilty using contraception and just 19% would support a ban on abortion. More favoured allowing same-sex marriage than were opposed. The 2011 census suggested there were 14.1 million people of no religion compared with 7.7 million a decade previously. This represented a rise from 15% to 25% of the population. It also showed an increase in the number of Muslims, with the proportion of the population in 2011 standing at 4.8%, or 2.7 million, up 2% or 1.5 million in 2001. The Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish and Sikh faiths all registered increases. There were 817,000 Hindus in 2011, a rise of 264,000 since 2001. The Jewish faith also rose by 3,000 over the last decade from 260,000 to 263,000.
