ALB
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I'm afraid he's not. He accomplished his feat ten years earlier in what we know as the Little and Sad by-election but at least we didn't finish bottom.
Good work Alan ! The lead letter attacking us and Marx together, though I see you've met your match in making short contributions.I'll write something about the absurdity of the claim that Marx was not against commodity production, when his criticism of this is the essence of his economic writings and even of his philosophical stuff about alienation. For him, capitalism was the highest form of commodity production, where everything including human labour power becomes a commodity. So the abolition of capitalism is the abolition of commodity production and all that goes with it (markets, money, wages, etc). "Market socialism" is an oxymoron and so are those who advocate it.I'll leave to Robbo (hope you're reading this, Robbo) to deal with Sharpe's (and von Hayek and von Mises's) claim that you can't organise the production and distribution of wealth rationally without having recourse to markets.
This (scroll down to 2016 and ignoring the appeals to vote for the Democrats) mentions various referendums taking place this year in the US in which some socialists might not be inclined to write "Socialism" across the ballot paper and might even get some anarchists to abstain from abstaining:
Quote:Of the various ballot measures, the one I’m most fervently supporting this time around is California’s Proposition 64, which will legalize recreational marijuana. Similar propositions are on the ballot in four other states (Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada) and the polls are looking favorable in all of them.I always thought that the media were exaggerating (the pro-Brexit ones gleefully) when over the weekend they were sensationalising that this EU deal with Canada had fallen through because of the opposition of pig farmers in the French-speaking part of Belgium. That was never going to happen.
Because he pledged he would provoke a by-election if the government went ahead with Heathrow expansion. He made such a fuss about this during last year's election (he's my MP or, rather, the MP for the constituency I fall into) that if he didn't he'd be completely discredited. He needs to restore this after his disatrous campaign to become mayor of London during which he played the anti-Muslim card.
He's being officially appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. As if with his billions he needs a sinecure.
Just sent this letter to the local paper:
Quote:I see that the Tory party is not going to contest the by-election provoked by Zac Goldsmith's resignation and is to give him a free run as a Nimby candidate. But if they want it to be a referendum on Heathrow why don't they stand Simon Nayyar who was their candidate in nearby Feltham and Heston at last year's general election? In his election address he listed as one of his priorities: "Supporting Heathrow's growth to secure prosperity for our constituency and country" and declared "I strongly support Feltham and Heston's desire to see Heathrow grow". So much for the view that it is only the LibDems who promise different things in different places.As Richmond Park constituency (Richmond and North Kingston) falls into our West London branch's patch we'll be discussing our activity in it at our branch meeting next Tuesday. We won't be contesting of course (since the party's stopped standing in by elections after being beaten by Mr Blobby) but we'll certainly be doing something, leafletting, maybe a few street stalls (but let's hope it doesn't fall in mid-January).
Just noticed this in today's papers:
Quote:… Left Unity, a hard-left party proscribed by Labour, revealed that it would consider a motion to disband itself when it met for its annual conference this weekend. The move is being considered to encourage members to campaign from within the Labour Party.Let's hope they do it as that will reduce the number of confusionist groups. And let's hope that SPEW follows them in this direction too.
According to our ex-member nuclear energy is or can eventually be a renewable source:
Quote:Numerous books exist about the science of nuclear energy that may act as antitodes to public misinformation. A good one is Prescription for the Planet (2008). It discusses not only the integral fast reactor, which can recycle and generate vast amounts of energy safely from all existing nuclear waste (the buildup of which is often the primary reason for opposing nuclear), but also the plasma converter that has the potential to solve our garbage problem.In any event, we are where we are. Despite not knowing at the time how to deal with the waste (and still not yet being in a position to do it in practice), nuclear power has been developed and exists. There's no point in closing them all down in socialism since even when not used to generate electricity the nuclear reaction will still continue. If global warming gets out of hand (not identified as a potential problem in 1990) it might turn out to be lucky that nuclear energy was developed.
One of our leaflets that aroused some interest as something different was the manifesto we put out in the South East Region for the 2014 Euroelections. It read:
Quote:Make this world oursIn socialism the planet will be like the one you know, but also very different. There is no money. There is no war. There are no rich people. There are no poor people. There are no leaders. All decisions are shared. All responsibilities are shared. Instead of competing to survive, people cooperate to live.This is Earth, under new management. Ours.You now have no bills to pay, no rent, no mortgage, no debts. Everything is free, nothing is for sale, and neither are you. But you want to help, just like others do. There are a hundred things you could do, a thousand more you could train to do.You might have chosen to drive a bus or a train, fix plumbing, coordinate a data network, plough a field, teach a child, organise an event, study engineering, cure a disease, brew beer, rehearse a play. You might choose to work four hours a week, or fourteen or forty. What you do makes everyone better off. That’s your recompense, and it’s better than money. It’s job satisfaction. It’s fulfilment. It’s a life on your own terms, a life worth living. It’s why you make the commitment to work.This is Earth, as it could be in the near future. It won’t be created by the politicians of capitalism. It will created by us, all of us who now produce everything, working together. We can say ‘We want this’. Then we organise to make it happen.Against our combined communications the billionaires can do nothing. Together we can force referendums, elections, votes and take control of nation states. Then abolish property laws and the agencies that enforce them and take control of factories, land, services. It can be democratic, peaceful, and effective. We take control. We take our lives back.This new Earth is not Utopia. There are problems, issues, arguments, accidents, mistakes, false starts or blind alleys. But cooperative management solves the problems as today’s arrogant leaderships never did.If you agree with this you can let others know that this is what you want by voting for the Socialist Party/World Socialist Movement list.We're not supposed to feed trolls, Tim, but your approach might tempt him into getting a second warning. And then we only need a third and he's out.
You missed this one from our self-styled "UserExperienceResearchSpecialist":http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/events-and-announcements/free-kittens#comment-35841
