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According to this, the Trump administration is pursuing the same policy of restoring manufacturing as long advocated by the trade union movement and Labour Party leftwingers here.
The Green Oarty candidate in Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction has launched his campaign. He is promising cleaner air but has stopped short of promising more sunshine:
In this week’s Weekly Worker Mike Macnair accuses some of his critics of SPGBism:
“This was a friendly discussion in spite of the significance of the differences. However, I think – and this is merely my own opinion – that there is some danger of a ‘negative dialectic’ in which we in the CPGB understate the radicalism of our Draft programme, while, on the other hand, the TAS comrades drive themselves, in opposition to it, towards the position of the Socialist Party of Great Britain that all that can be done is to make propaganda for socialism until there is a clear majority for immediate general collectivisation. We need at least to try to avoid this dynamic.” (https://www.weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1532/minimum-demands-are-maximal/)
If you read TAS’s (Talking about Socialism) own account of the meeting you will see why Macnair made this criticism:
The WW are criticised for not saying that, on winning control of political power, the working class will immediately abolish capitalist ownership of the means of production and for drawing a misleading distinction between socialism and communism.
Let’s hope that the “Talking About Socialism” group do see where the logic of their criticism should lead them. I doubt that Jack Conrad and Mike Macnair will agree to drop their basically Leninist position.
Local online news site comments on the by-election in Lambeth:
We were outside Herne Hill overground station this morning distributing leaflets and back copies of the Socialist Standard to make our presence known.
This is going to be a hotly contested election between Labour and the Greens (who once had a councillor elected for the ward) and so should attract some local publicity.
The Labour people have already been out distributing leaflets.
“The question of Free Trade or Protection moves entirely within the bounds of the present system of capitalist production, and has, therefore, no direct interest for us socialists who want to do away with that system.” (Engels, 1888)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1888/free-trade/index.htm
This, from the sane period, is good too, especially the title:
Tariff Reform, Free Trade or No Trade? The fiscal fraud exposed
We’ve been opposing the idea that tariffs can somehow better the condition of the working class right from our start. Here’s a pamphlet from 1912 on “Socialism versus Tariff Reform” when the Tory party was advocating tariffs to protect British capitalist industry.
Interesting observation by columnist Janet Samuel in yesterday’s Times with reference to the last time Trump imposed tariffs, in 2018-19:
“Back then, the tariffs were not actually paid for by consumers. As far as one can tell from the data, they were paid in two ways: first, US importers accepted lower margins on goods bought from abroad, and second, the dollar rose in value, boosting US spending power almost by exactly as much as Trump had put on tariffs.”
Thus confirms a point made above that in the first instance tariffs are paid for by the business importing goods from outside and that this will hit their profits; which depending on the nature of the good and market conditions they may or may not be able to pass on to consumers. In this case, apparently they couldn’t.
Here’s the official list of candidates standing in Folkestone West and Folkestone East of Kent County Council.
The Homeland Party appears to be a fascistic party, according to Wikipedia;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_Party_(United_Kingdom)
Here is the official list of candidates standing in the local by-election in Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction ward of Lambeth Council in London. As can be seen, here too we are up against the usual suspects and TUSC:
Here is the official list of candidates standing in Stroud Central of Gloucestershire County Council. As can be seen, we are up against the usual suspects plus TUSC.
https://www.stroud.gov.uk/media/pwdaal4v/stroud-central-division.pdf
After Rumania and Turkey, another NATO country practises “democracy” by banning the main opposition candidate for President from standing — France. As in Rumania the banned candidate is less opposed to Russia than the current office-holders.
The facade that NATO is defending democracy against undemocratic Russia is beginning to crumble.
Interesting development in Gaza : some ordinary people there rejecting the rhetoric of “national resistance” in favour of being able to get on with their life in peace.
https://www.newarab.com/news/palestinians-gaza-hold-rare-protest-against-israel-and-hamas
