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This is what happens if you put a foot wrong when mentioning the H word::http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-2929834/Trident-base-compared-Auschwitz.htmlBut what was actually wrong in itself with what he said?

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Speaking the day after the world marked 70 years since the end of the Holocaust, the peer made clear that Plaid would be "tremendously opposed" to shifting the base from Faslane naval base to Pembrokeshire.Asked whether the move would have some positive benefits, such as bringing jobs to the area, Lord Wigley – a former leader of the party – replied: "Look, this week we have been remembering what happened in Germany before the war, no doubt there were many jobs provided in Auschwitz and places like that but that didn't justify their existence and neither does nuclear weapons justify having them in Pembrokeshire." Challenged as to why he was comparing a Trident base to the notorious death camp, he replied: "The number of people that will be killed by Trident will be infinitely more."

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So the AWL are the last Trotskyist group standing saying, like they all used to, "Vote Labour till Doomsday". Sorry, just remembered, the "Socialist Appeal" lot do as well.

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This is what our pamphlet  Are We Prisoners of Our Genes? has to say about altruism:

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Nor does socialism require us all to suddenly become altruists, putting the interests of others above our own. In fact socialism doesn’t require people to be any more altruistic than they are today (a behaviour which is greater than biological determinists like to admit and which presents them with the insoluble theoretical problem of how a gene for such behaviour, which they have obliged themselves to believe in, could have evolved). We will still be concerned primarily with ourselves, with satisfying our needs, our need to be well considered by others as well as our material and sexual needs. No doubt too, we will want to “possess” our toothbrush, our clothes and other things of personal use, and to feel secure in our physical occupation of the house or flat we live in, but this will be just that—our home and not a financial asset.Such “selfish” behaviour will still exist in socialism but the acquisitiveness encouraged by capitalism will no longer exist. Under capitalism we have to seek to accumulate money since the more money you have the better you can satisfy your material needs, and as an insurance against something going wrong (like losing your job) or as something to hand on to your children or grandchildren. People are therefore obliged by their material circumstances to seek to acquire money, by fair means or foul and if need be, when push comes to shove, at the expense of others. This is why capitalism has earned the name of “the acquisitive society”.Socialism won’t be an "acquisitive society" and won’t need to be, as everybody will be able to satisfy their material requirements as of right and without needing to pay money. In fact, because productive resources and the social product will be owned in common there won’t be any need for money; just products—useful goods and services—ready to be distributed for people to take and use. And, because people could always be sure that the stores will always be stocked with the things they need, there would be no incentive to grab and hoard; that would be an irrational and pointless behaviour in the new social conditions.

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stuartw2112 wrote:

 That it will achieve *nothing* to alleviate the suffering of the Greek people  ("reformism doesn't work"), however, is almost certain to be proved entirely wrong. If "history" won't convince you of the folly of this argument, perhaps contemporary affairs will.

Actually our position is a bit more nuanced than'nothing'. This is what we said on our blog item 'The return of leftwing reformism' about it:

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The Syriza government might, by taking some of the measures outlined above by Milios, be able to mitigate a little the ‘humanitarian disaster’ in Greece where there’s been a massive increase in destitution leading to, among other things,  an increase in mental ill-health, suicides and the infant mortality rate. But it won’t be able to boost the accumulation of capital.

So, yes, the new Syriza governnment maybe able to reorganise austerity a bit to ease the fate of the hardest hit a little, but it won't be able to spent its way out of the crisis. We'll see who contemporary affairs makes a fool of

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Headline in today's Times: "Greece sends in Marxist to haggle with eurozone". Later on the article says more accurately:

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Mr Varoufakis, described as a Keynesian with a touch of Marx

Actually, that's a good description of many academics and leftists who call themselves Marxists. They are really leftwing Keynesians.

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And of course Russia, Moscow, the Bolsheviks, etc weren't "socialist" but state capitalist. But by the sounds of it you'd be against even the mildest milk-and-water social reformism and no doubt in favour of selling your grandmother for medical research.

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Our candidate in Oxford West & Abingdon has received the following invitation:

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Dear SPGB. Over the weekend 7/8 March, people living in Cumnor are organising a clean up on the roads in our area. This is an annual event and this year we propose to invite all the candidates standing in the General Election in May 2015 to participate. I have been asked to get in touch with all the candidates and I wondered if you could give me the email address for Mr Mike Foster who I understand will be the Socialist Party candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon.

As we say that it's the "case not the face" that counts, maybe he can plead this and some other member go along.

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SocialistPunk wrote:

Hi Adam,Was wondering what you mean by the religious connotations of the word holocaust? 

Some orthox Jewish theologians regard it as a term that only applies to Jews, that The Holocaust (which a capital T) was some sort of punishment their god gave them for some reason. It was originally a Greek translation of a Hebrew word in the old testament for "burnt offering". Since we reject Judaism along with all other religions as a load of superstitious nonsense best to avoid using one of their concepts.

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jondwhite wrote:

Is Costas Lapavitsas a Marxist?

I think he would say he was. He has certainly written a lot about Marx. As has the man just appointed Greek Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis. Here he is on Marx:

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Marx was right: capitalism cannot be civilised by means of some benevolent government that applies the right dosage of fiscal and monetary policy at the right time.

But there follows a big But:

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Having said that, I genuinely believe that a Crisis is not the time to construct alternatives to capitalism. As we used to put it in an earlier, more confident, ‘era’, times of Crisis are not revolutionary times. As the 1930s amply showed (and the last few years have confirmed), the only political forces that exploit a Crisis are the xenophobes, the anti-semites, the misanthropes etc. Retrieving Keynes’ insight is, in this sense, an essential ingredient for (a) overcoming a Crisis which is incapable of generating something better than capitalism, and (b) giving humanity a chance to develop further Marx’s point about the need for a less wasteful, more rational way of producing and distributing surpluses.

We'll see if Keynes will be of any use. In the meantime we can quote and quote again the new Greek Minister as being on record as saying:

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Marx was right: capitalism cannot be civilised by means of some benevolent government that applies the right dosage of fiscal and monetary policy at the right time.

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Comment published on a recent letter in the Oxford Mail:http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/yoursay/letters/11712139.General_Election__Why_my_party_is_a_contender/

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Danny Dorling may be interested that another "minor party" candidate will be standing in Oxford West & Abingdon, Mike Foster for the Socialist Party, and with a much more radical programme than the National Health Action Party: not just a free health service but a free access society.

We are also preparing a leaflet to be entitled "Why Danny Dorling should support socialism".See articles and reviews of his books in the Socialist Standard:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2000s/2006/no-1219-march-2006/here%E2%80%99s-successhttp://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2000s/2006/no-1220-april-2006/letters (scroll down to his letter)http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2011/no-1282-june-2011/book-reviews-venezuela-revolution-spectacle-injustic (scroll down to review of this book).

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I like this anecdote recounted in the leader column of today's Times:

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As Britain lost the confidence of international creditors in the mid-1970s, one Labour MP presented to Denis Healey, then chancellor of the exchequer, the left's economic alternative. It comprised big increases in spending, nationalisation and import controls. History records that Lord Healey fell about laughing.

When will leftwing reformists learn that capitalism can't be reformed to work in the way they want, at least not without provoking an economic slowdown — and that the only realistic and workable way-out is socialism, the common ownership and democratic control of productive resources so they can be used to cater for people's needs and not for sale on a market with a view to profit?

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Another silly idea.

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Here's a photo of a Labour Party leaflet pushed through people's letterboxes in Haringey last night:If you can't read it clearly this is what it says:

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Labour's tough new approach to immigrationIt's fair that before drawing on the welfare state, people should first make a contribution to it.That's why Labour will stop people claiming benefits until they have lived here for at least two years.The Tories have lost control of our borders and have no idea who is coming in or out of the country. That's why Labour will bring in 1,000 extra border staff to count people in and out of the country as well as fingerprint checks to clamp down on illegal immigrants.People who rely on public services have a right to expect that staff, like nurses and care workers, can speak English. That is why Labour will make sure that all frontline public sector staff can speak English.

Nasty stuff. Real nasty stuff.But which is worse: People like UKIP who really believe this or people like Labour who only pretend to so as to win votes?

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Here's something about which of our opponents will and won't be standing in Brighton (from here):

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Brighton is an unusual situation for two reasons. Firstly, the entire council is re-elected every 4 years, rather than the rolling programme that exists in most areas. We are also the only city in the country with a Green M.P and a council in which the Greens are the largest single partyNobody on the left that I'm aware of is suggesting standing agamst Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion. Here is a an M.P. who has: turned up to picket lines to support striking Cityclean workers in dispute with the Green council, fought plans for Hove Park school to become an academy, been arrested on an anti-fracking protest and spoken at a rally of striking teachers.The situation in Brighton Kemptown is complicated for several reasons. We understand that the local RMT branch is supporting the Labour Candidate as she has made a commitment to highlight the call for the renationatisation of the railways in her literature. As Clive Heemskerk made clear at the recent TUSC meeting in Brighton, this wouldn't necessarily lead to a veto from the RMT nationally but would mean the local RMT branch couldn't support the campaign.Brighton Kemptown is also a Tory marginal, with a local poll published in October showing Labour on 37% and the Tones on 33%. Were TUSC to secure say 5%of the vote and the Tories were to squeeze in then this would give ammunition to those within the RMT who want to withdraw their support for TUSC. My personal view is that experience suggests a strong left challenge actually bolsters Labours vote by raising the political temperature and cutting across the drift of disaffected voters towards UKIP and the right.The other complication in Brighton Kemptown is that the Green candidate, Davey Jones, is a founder of Red Pepper, supports BDS in Brighton and has signed the local anti -austerity pledge. Supporters of the SWP at the TUSC meeting argued against standing in Kemplown for a variety of reasons, including that 'Davey Jones wants to be the next Caroline Lucas'. I argued for standing, as did the majority of the meeting, but a decision on whether or not to stand was deferred until February.Finally there is Hove. All three Brighton seats are on Labour's list of key marginals but opinion polls suggest Hove is their most likely gain. Both Labour and the Greens have selected candidates for Hove that are from the right and the meeting decided unanimously to stand in Hove at the general election. Outsiders might think Hove is all leafy suburbs and retired colonels but there are large working class estates and socially deprived areas behind the beautiful primrose coloured regency seafront with which visitors will be familiar.The meeting also decided, subject to sufficient candidates being available, that TUSC would stand in every ward. This ought to be possible without standing against anyone who has signed an anti-austerity pledge

Interesting that the SPEW people don't want to antagonise the RMT for fear of losing funding while the SWP appear soft on the Greens. We are not standing in Hove but  they (TUSC) are.

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I expect it's just a negotiating ploy (to show the new government's priority is to get a better deal for Greek capitalism). But they sound a nasty lot.  A bit like a coalition between Left Unity and UKIP here but then the elements  of the "left" and "right" have combined here too to oppose the EU. I wonder what ministries they'll get besides Church Affairs.

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