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While the EC met to deal with routine business, 4 comrades ran a stall, in shifts, outside Head Office in Clapham High St from 11am to 5pm. They reported more interest in politics, no doubt because election day is approaching. The last "Only Sheep Need Leaders Mug" was sold. Pity there weren't more as the Tories were up the road, handing out leaflets for their candidates in Vauxhall and Streatham pictured with "strong and stable" Theresa May.Two others went to Clapham Junction again, which is in the Battersea constituency (Clapham High Street is half a mile outside it). They too reported more interest and political discussion compared with last time, mainly with Labour supporters who, in view of the opinion polls, were on a roll. Two canvassers for the Independent candidate, Chris Coghlan, passed by. His leaflet proclaims "Opposing Brexit. Standing for a new centrist movement". He seems to expect to repeat Emmanuel Macron's exploit in France, not that it would amount to anything worthwhile if he did.

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Election curiousity. This is not the first time, apart from in the 2015 general election, that we have stood against Corbyn. We did in the 1977 GLC elections but it was not Jeremy but his brother Piers standing for the IMG. He got 219 votes. We got  101.

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alanjjohnstone wrote:

The respected member Robert Barltrop believed his local community would benefit from his personal contribution. He stood as an independent.

Barltrop was a member of Radwinter Parish Council, near Saffron Walden in Essex, but this was in the 1960s during one of his periods outside the Party. His situation could be considered even more anomalous as he was then moving in anarchist circles but I suppose that raises one of the issues at stake here — are parish councils part of the machinery of government or more residents' committees? In any event, some are more politicised than others with the main capitalist political parties standing for them.

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Ok, my apologies. It does seem to be April this year. I was confused because the first item on the Seaham Community Party's facebook page is dated 2016.I, too, emailed you, in February (the 5th to be precise) asking if you were prepared to stand again for the Party  in the Durham County Council elections as you had done on many previous occasions (with my help in getting your manifestos printed at Head Office and sent to you) but got no reply. I am afraid that I can only conclude that your priority was to get elected as a local councillor but that you felt you had a better chance as a candidate of the Seaham Community Party than as a Socialist Party one. Sad, very sad, after 36 years as a staunch Socialist.As a reminder of the past, here is the part of the manifesto you drafted when you stood for Durham County Council in 2005:

Quote:

Durham County Council election, Thursday 5 May 2005To the voters of Deneside Wardfrom THE SOCIALIST PARTYCandidate Steve ColbornWhat matters – profits or people?In Deneside and Seaham as a whole, things have been made very much worse over the past 20 or so years with the closure of three collieries. Collieries that have been closed not because no-one wants coal but because we are told it cannot be produced profitably. No profit – no production! That's the basic economic law of capitalism.For over a century millions of pounds worth of coal has been extracted from these mines. The cost has been high. Hundreds killed and thou­sands injured as a direct result of their employment with thousands more still suffering today as a result of industrial disease. And what has been our reward?Insecurity for ourselves and an insecure future for our children and grandchildren. A lack of amenities that all ought to enjoy after a hun­dred years of sacrifice. They even tell us that, with the closure of the mines, there can be no more swimming pool. Even though a majority of us are in favour of building a new one, the council has decided no.Why? Is it because the councillors and council officials are uncaring people? We are sure most of them genuinely want to help others. So why are they against improving local amenities? They say they haven't got the money. True, but why haven't they got the money? Because the government won't give it to them. But why won't the government give it to them? Because it hasn't got the money either, and can't get it because its job is to run the profit system and under the profit system businesses must not be taxed too much or the economy will slow down. It's 'no profit – no production' again.

You were of course also our candidate in Easington at the last general election, only two years ago. 

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Vin wrote:

The party has a long history in Seaham in the North East of England and it  seems we have an elected SPGBr at the local elections there, polling more votes than a Labour candidatehttp://www.durham.gov.uk/article/12696/Parish-council-4-May-2017-election-results#Deneside Ward of Seaham Parish

Found this explanation of Councillor Colborn's action on the Seaham Community Party's Facebook page from April last year (so it had been long planned without telling us):

Quote:

Steven Colborn Good to finally get on this page. Don't usually do face book, prefer doing debates and public meetings but they don't seem to happen nowadays, so needs must, as they say!LikeShow More Reactions· Reply · 2· 12 April at 18:30Paul Jorgenson Thought you used to stand in elections for the socialist party, curious why the change.Like· Reply · 1· 24 April at 08:28Greg Bewick He is with the National Socialists now 24 April at 08:56Steven Colborn I had a conversation with Barry Taylor and we discussed the merits/demerits of the situation, as it pertains to "Seaham" and what was needed for its population. It is fine to have a long term goal of changing society, for the betterment of everyone but it was/is (as I considered it) and probably most people do as well, an aim for the future.The ethos of the SCP is something that can be achieved, now! There are aims, within the sphere that the SCP operates, that I feel my background can help. After all, 5 years as a Tenant board member of East Durham Homes, 36 years immersed in the political arena and a Degree in Politics/Sociology as well as, over the years, assisting various people in their efforts to navigate the convoluted mess that passes for civilisation, has afforded me perspectives that I feel can be useful.Other than that, at 55 years old, with a progressively debilitating neurological illness, I may not have that much more time to contribute to a town/people that I hold dear!As with everything else I have done, it is not about the pecuniary benefits for myself (I feel councillors should be unpaid, as was the case years ago) but about can "I" make a difference! I feel I can.That, in essence, is why I have done, what I have done! No change whatsoever but a chance to do something good/worthwhile "now"!Like· Reply · 3· 24 April at 09:11Steven Colborn Greg Bewick Did you consider what you were typing, when you typed it Greg? The terms National/Socialist are mutually exclusive! (One cannot be one and also the other).Were you also aware that "National Socialists was/is a term forever linked to the German National Socialist Party of Hitler and his ilk, the NAZI party? Are you suggesting I am a NAZI?LikeShow More Reactions· Reply · 24 April at 09:31

So we have been implicated and will need to say something at some point.

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This was a first attempt by one of the trainees. Give them a break.

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Another possibility: if there's an anti-Tory coalition it could be under some other Labour character than him.

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It would be like the Wilson Labour government elected in 1964. They abolished prescription charges but within a couple of years were forced by economic circumstances to bring them back again. So any improvements that there might be would be temporary, very temporary.Having said that, I don't think Labour will win. What might happen is that the Tories don't win, i.e there's a hung parliament. It seems it going to depend on how many young people, overwhelmingly anti-Tory, turn out to vote. A sort of repeat of the first 1974 general election which Heath called on the subject of "who governs?" and got the answer "not you".But of course in the end it doesn't really matter as governments don't and can't control the way capitalism works. In the end they have to go along with its priority of profits first as this is what keeps the capitalist economy going round.

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The second part is here:http://sapiencia.eu/la-politica-del-marques-de-sade-2/

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Not necessarily. If, for instance, the councils or committees were chosen by lot (as are juries in common law countries and as suggested in the book by Van Reybrouck reviewed in the February issue)) then they would be composed of a cross-section of the population who would then have the time to study the various aspects of a question in more detail.If it comes to elections I can think of a number of reasons for voting for somebody other than that they are an "expert" of some sort, e.g. sensible, level-headed, able to understand a problem, etc.

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Just had confirmation that our Election Communications to be distributed free by Royal Mail in Battersea and Islington North were safely delivered to the postal centres by our printers this morning.As from tomorrow, Royal Mail will begin to distribute 60,000 to households in Battersea and 57,000 to households in Islington North.Those for Swansea West have already begun to be distributed.

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Yes, Balham High Road, right at the southern most tip of the constituency, proved to be a good choice, better than Clapham Junction where we were on Saturday. For a start, nobody refused a leaflet saying "I'm Conservative". A number of discussions, divided between those who said vote Labour or at least Anything But Tory and those who said that all politicians were arseholes and not worth voting for and that the Labour Party were just Tories in disguise. Even met someone who knew the Party when at Southampton university thirty years ago and was surprised — and pleased — that we were still going and took a few "I'm Voting for World Socialism" stickers. He didn't think much of the Labour Party either unlike a young woman sporting a "J.C. for P.M" badge (on the assumption, that is, that J.C. didn't mean Jesus Christ).

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rodmanlewis wrote:

Apart from lumping us in with the left, it's not surprising that there are so few so-described parties contesting what is a flash election.

I don't think that's the reason. It's more political. Both TUSC and the CPB, which normally stand candidates even if usually in safe Labour seats, took a deliberate decision this time not to stand against any Labour candidate as a show of support for Corbyn.

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One of the advantages of keeping Head Office open during the campaign is that on one day (10 May) we were interviewed on Corbyn by a journalist on the leading Danish newspaper Berlingske. Here is the article that appeared on 14 May:https://www.b.dk/globalt/labour-leder-holder-fast-i-den-umulige-flirt-med-magtenAlso reproduced here:https://www.pressreader.com/denmark/berlingske-tidende/20170515/281663959933652Anybody here who can read Danish to tell us what it says?

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Political advertising is not allowed in Britain so we've asked if they want to interview our candidate.Incidentally, "Anti-Duhring Batallion" is (or was) a member of SPEW:http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/16798/29-05-2013/socialist-party-youth-organisers-meeting-sunday-30-june-1030am-430pm-londonMaybe, since then, he's made the breakthrough into the big time, following in the footsteps of Mark Steel.

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