[ALB]

So, back to Wilhelm Reich and the Mass Psychology of Fascism which Danny translates as the "Mass Psychology of Capitalism" ?

[ALB]

Young Master Smeet wrote:

Socialist Economic Bulletin is Socialist Action, i.e. Ken Livingstone and friends, who are the group around Corbyn, so this is close to inhouse thinking of the Labour leadership (as suggested also by the bklog post that follows this one). 

I see what you mean as the blog ends:

Quote:

For now though, this weakness puts the British economy in a uniquely vulnerable position in the global slowdown. So it is no exaggeration to say that under current circumstances the need for state-led investment to rescue the economy and living standards from renewed crisis is more acute in Britain than elsehwere in the G7 economies. When John McDonnell says, “our mantra is investment, investment, investment,” this is exactly what is required to stave off renewed economic weakness.

Is it? What's the point of even state-led investment if there's no profitable market for the products?And of course the more of what is produced is invested the less there is for consumption, but that's the way capitalism works. In fact, it's what it's all about and why it can't be reformed to give priority to meeting people's needs.

[ALB]

Meanwhile Osborne backs down from cutting tax relief for the rich:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35732604They really are the party of the rich. I've never understood why so many who are not rich vote for them (though, I know,  most people don't). But there you are.

[ALB]

Nice headline but I don't know how reliable the interviewee is:http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160306/1035851666/syria-crisis-oil-talks.html

Quote:

The Syrian crisis is nothing but a "game for control over oil riches," where religious and other issues are only used as a pretext, according to William Engdahl, a political analyst for the opinion website New Eastern Outlook. In an interview with Sputnik, William Engdahl, a political analyst for the opinion website New Eastern Outlook, gave his thoughtson the Syrian gridlock, which he sees as a conflict over the country's oil riches, with religious and other issues only being used as a pretext.

According to his wikipedia entry Engdahl is a supporter of the nutty and dubious Larouche movement. Which would make him a bit of a conspiracy theorist and so not that reliable. Not that that necessarily means that there is nothing in what he says here.Russia's English language radio and TV station do interview some odd people.I'm not sure "oil riches" is the right word for Syria's oil whose extent and state is aptly typified by the illustration with the article — a nodding donkey. .I don't suppose there are many of them in Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Iran. Syria as a possible route for rival pipelines that's more credible. In any event, it's not about religion. That is, as he says, just a pretext, though quite an effective one to get people to "martyr" themselves on either side. 

[ALB]

Reminder: here's the definition of "Apocryphal":

Quote:

Writings or statements of questionable authorship or authenticity.

You can say that again, especially as the story was only made up earlier this week by a member of the most despicable Leninist sect in Britain.But what's interesting is the case of Nick Wrack. I think he will only have joined the Labour Party because a majority of his group (the Independent Socialist Network)  voted to do this, against his advice. Here he is last September putting a (good) case against  joining Labour (or, in his case, rejoining):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQHmEj5Ja7g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2jH3kCeIQk The bit at the end of the first one is particularly good about those who join ending up distributing leaflets for Labour candidates at national and local elections.

[ALB]

I don't think you can just blame De Valera for Rome Rule. The other lot who ruled before him (he came to power only in 1932) started the process. He didn't "transform" the new  Irish State into a theocracy, though he could be said to have consolidated it with the Irish Constitution of 1937. It was never anything else.  After all, one of the first acts of the independent Irish State was to abolish divorce (with only WB Yates voting against).

[ALB]

Yes, Home Rule did turn out to be Rome Rule for forty or so years though, another irony, literal Home Rule, in the sense of devolution within the UK as opposed to political separation, would have mitigated perhaps even avoided this (certainly its worst excesses).On the other hand, the presence of a bloc of non-Tory, Catholic Nationalist MPs in Wesminster would have changed the course of British politics too.It's all changed now of course. Ireland is just another more or less secular and socially liberal capitalist state. You can't hold back progress for ever, just delay it.

[ALB]

When Mason was in Workers Power Osborne was in the Bullingdon Club, so they've both got pasts to live down, though Osborne always was a Hooray Henry while Mason was  never a revolutionary Marxist only a Trotskyist.

[ALB]

imposs1904 wrote:

Paul Mason posted this on his Facebook page about five years ago.

That can't be right. More like five days? For example, his book on Postcapitalism only came out last year.

[ALB]

I agree it's unfair to call Bakunin a bomb-throwing terrorist. I don't suppose he ever threw one. That phase of anarchism (which was real) didn't begin till a decade or so after his death in 1n 1876.

[ALB]

For those who can't access the link, here's what it said:

Quote:

Teenagers will soon be able to study anarchy as part of the government’s A-level reforms.The political philosophy syllabus will include anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin, the bomb-throwing 19th-century Russian revolutionary regarded as the grandfather of terrorism, and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the radical French thinker who suggested that property is theft.The decision to include anarchism comes after ministers climbed down in a row over feminism.

[ALB]

You sound enthusiastic enough about this month's issue that you might even be persuading North London branch to sell it in pubs on the Holloway Road The habituals there might find it a welcome change from An Phoblacht.

[ALB]

Charlessroyal wrote:

The "Universal Basic incomw: Something we can all agree on?"is an effective article. The Canadian Government gave a lot of money to several families living in a small town in Manitoba. And I agree with that too. 

You mean this article? It's noti something we can agree with as we disagree with the concept of a monetary income, i.e with people having to buy what they need. We are in favoiur of a society of common ownership and democratic control where people wouldn't have "incomes" but have free access to what they needed. There are also some reformists who argue that even under capitalism it is better to let people have some things free (eg health care, transport, phone calls) rather than give them money to buy tthese services.

[ALB]

Tim Kilgallon wrote:

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to form coalition? does this mean the Civil War's finally over?

Something will be over when these parties drop their silly names, i.e Tribe of the Irish and Soldiers of Destiny. At least Ourselves Alone means something even if it's quite impractical.

[ALB]

Here's a good leaflet on a typical "Save the NHS" campaign:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/world-socialist-movement/whittington-hospital

[Author]

Posts