ALB
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That video of the Makhnovist song is rather disturbung with its gloriying the killing of the enemy. But that’s what you have to do to motivate your troops. Who is “Mother Anarchy” anyway, some substitute for “God”?
As well as the war between NATO and Russia, a civil war is going on the same area today between those who consider themselves Ukrainian and those who consider themselves Russian. But not with men on horses and rifles but with tanks and bombs.
It is also shows how utterly irrelevant today is the experience of Russian revolution and the civil war that followed. It is not a model to follow in any respect.
I see that the Supreme Court had to deal with the legal “right to self- determination” and cited other Courts’ rulings to conclude that this did not apply to Scotland.
They cited a Canadian Supreme Court ruling that held the right to self-determination under international law only existed in situations of “former colonies or where a people is oppressed” and that Quebec did not meet the threshold of a colonial people or an oppressed people. The British Supreme Court (presided over by a Scottish law lord) concluded:
“The same is true of Scotland and the people of Scotland.”
Obviously socialists agree but then we don’t think that there is such a thing as a “right to self-determination”, though I suppose the rulers of existing capitalist states might find the concept useful to decide who can join (and who can’t) join their club.
I see that some Tory MPs too think that it was a Labour budget, only of course they absurdly brand it as “socialist”:
Actually, TM, that might be a better use of your talents — writing for the Socialist Standard again. You can send them handwritten if you like, but we’d prefer them in digital form.
There is some parallel between us and socialism and the SNP and Scottish Independence, in that both are or could be single aims. And the situation you speculate about could arise and will arise in the case of the SNP.
I doubt whether the SNP will fight the next UK general election on the single issue of Scottish independence. They will also appeal for votes on the basis of their record in office and on reforms to come. And I doubt very much whether they will say: Don’t vote for us if you don’t want Scottish independence.
That’s good news. Not that the SNP will try to make Scottish separatism the one issue in the next general election — election manifestos don’t mean anything — but that there’s not going to be another Scottish referendum. That would only divide the working class there and set one section against another.
The European Court of Human Rights (so called) in Strasburg has nothing to do with the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg of course. Still, English Nationalists like him don’t like the one in Strasburg any more than the one in Luxemburg.
I thought you were going to comment on Starmer who used to champion the free movement of labour becoming a Brexiteer on immigration. Another hypocrite. Or perhaps he didn’t believe that either but is just an unprincipled, careerist politician.
It looks as if, after the missile incident in Poland, Ukraine is continuing on its way to becoming a rogue state. They now seem to be shelling the nuclear power station at Zaporozhye with the intention of provoking an incident so that there will be outside intervention.
The fact the IAEA is not prepared to say who is doing the shelling (they must know) suggests that it will be Ukraine because if it was Russia that would be proclaimed from the rooftops.
It all goes to show what a state will be prepared to do if it feels it’s existence is at stake.
200,000 ! Actually, those figures refer to the number both killed and injured. Still 200,000 killed or wounded is horrendous enough. No wonder there are mass graves all over the place.
And all just to decide into whose sphere of influence the territory of Ukraine and its resources should come or to which state parts of it should be part of.
What an indictment of capitalism and a condemnation of those who support either side urging the killing, wounding and destruction to continue.
Those in charge of the Russian state clearly don’t care how many of its subjects get killed or wounded. But that’s par for the course. The various rulers of Russia never have. But those in charge of the NATO member-states are just as bad if not worse — they don’t care how many Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are as long as none of theirs are. All they have to is to keep arming the Ukrainian state while prating on about “justice” and “democracy”. The cynical Bastards.
I am afraid the workers’ movement in Britain produced songs of a rather lower standard than in the US. Here’s what they used to sing at weekend schools of the Labour Party youth section in the 1960s:
It looks as if a future Labour government is heading for a head-on clash with the unions who still think that a government has an alternative to giving priority to profits over wages and that the resulting austerity is just a political choice rather thn a capitalist ecoomic necessity.
PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka said:
“These cuts aren’t inevitable or a necessity, this rotten government is making a political choice that makes you and your family worse off.”
Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said:
“As for the Labour Party, they appear to have accepted the economic premise of the black hole rather than challenge it. That is a mistake.”
“As a country, we must now begin a discussion on how to do things differently. We need different rules and to make different choices. We need an economy that works for all.”These union leaders may be good negotiators over wages and working conditions, but when it comes to politics and economics they are null. If Graham ever became prime minister and tried to make the capitalist economy “work for all” she’d last an even shorter time than Truss.
Instead of demanding that the government try to make capitalism work in a way it just can’t, like “for all”, why don’t they realise that it can’t — the first step to coming to undetstand that socialism is the only way out.
If they can’t or won’t do that, they should stick just to negotiating better (or less worse) wages and working conditions and not pronouncing on politics or economics. That way they won’t sow illusions (or maintain the Labour Party’s illusions of yesteryear) amongst workers.
This is hilarious too. The US Congress has passed an Inflation Reduction Act as if inflation (understood as a rise in the general level of prices) could be stopped by an act of parliament any more than by an order from King Canute.
Actually, the Act has nothing to do with reducing rising prices (let alone inflation in its proper sense of depreciating the currency) but is a name chosen for vote-catching purposes.
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/inflation_reduction_act_one_page_summary.pdf
Labour’s response has not been to criticise the proposed changes as it’s what they would have done. Instead they are arguing that the present situation, where people’s real living standards are falling and are expected to fall more, is the result of Tory mismanagement of the economy over the past 12 years. They would say that of course but it assumes that if there had been a different government or a different policy this wouldn’t have happened. Does anyone believe that? Do they believe it?
It’s the old illusion that governments can control the way capitalism works, when experience after experience as well as theory shows this not to be the case. It’s not the Tories who are to blame but the capitalist system. As the Labourites will find out if they win the next general election in 2024.
As the title of one of our leaflets says, The problem is not the Tories, it’s capitalism. A new version may have to be prepared for after 2024 headed: The problem is not Labour, it’s capitalism.
What exactly is it that you want to achieve? Is it to get the government to do more to reduce the amount of money you personally have to pay for light and heating (to what it was in April this year)? If it’s that and you think you have a 50/50 chance of getting it then it’s you who are living in cloud cuckoo land.
