ALB
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Discussion on us on this bulletin board arising out of our leaflet in Clapham and Brixton Hill:
https://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/18311/clapham-brixton-hill
Talking about Karl Vidol, the TUSC candidate in Southgate and Wood Green (above), a comrade who is an elector there has sent him the following email;
Dear Karl Vidol.
I am writing in response to your Election communication.
It says “VOTE SOCIALIST”, but nowhere is that term, or socialism, defined (see below). It seems to be treated as a word to describe a political flavouring, rather than a revolutionary concept. The term socialism has, unfortunately, has had many associations, most of them unpleasant, although the left usually haven’t shied away from them. You would think that if you were seeking a “socialist” vote you would offer the voters a concise definition to focus on, rather than the usual cat’s-lick-and-a-promise presented by capitalist parties.
You appear rather coy in referring to the working class, but use “working-class people” instead. The gap between rich (capitalist) class and the rest increasing is predicated on the accumulation of wealth by the capitalist class, so there’s nothing new there. The rich get richer because we—the working class—allow them to do so, not because they keep us in physical chains or deny us the vote.
Most political parties vie with each other to administer capitalism. Some, like the left, claim they are doing it in working-class interests, some are blatantly capitalist. The result is the same, unless a complete change is contemplated, capitalism will continue to roll on as usual. Of course, there may be good times, but capitalism offers no certainty. Meanwhile we are cursed with war, poverty, and worse, destitution, environmental degradation, dictatorships, and we know some of the latter the left supported in the past.
If you want to rid the world of the evils that capitalism visits upon it, then offering the working class reforms that may or may not improve their situation, and could be taken away is not the answer.
Why have you picked on Gaza for your outrage, when there are many other conflicts happening round the world?
I have never been let down by the governing parties, recognizing that their role is to run capitalism for the benefit of those who own most of the world—the capitalist class. Governments may try to persuade you that they run the country in the interests of all, but that is not their function. That doesn’t mean that some politicians may believe that they are serving the interests of all. All it means is that they have absorbed the capitalist ideology (false consciousness) that only lets you see the world as it seems, not as it is.
You say, “…a new way of running the economy to benefit the majority, not just the billionaires.” So, billionaires will still exist in your “socialist” society? This seems to be the fact, because you talk about “For real workers’ rights”, implying that the capitalist class will still be around. You also talk in national terms, but socialism can only be achieved on a worldwide basis, a world of common ownership and democratic control of the means of production, without state control. A society introduced by a majority vote of the working class, not imposed upon them by an all-knowing elite.
The only way for “every possible improvement for working-class people” is to introduce a society where the term working class would have no meaning.
“If the system can’t afford that, we need to change the system.” What change?
J. V. (Wood Green)
Apparently the hustings in Folkestone on Monday 17 attended by all 8 candidates was a sell-out;
Came across another wishy washy Workers Party candidate’s manifesto. This one from Lewisham West and Dulwich East (where I have a proxy vote for a comrade in Australia):
Note the pledges to give preference to veterans and small businesses.
He won’t be getting our comrade’s vote.
To check whether or not all WPB candidates were in effect standing as well-known local independents, I looked up that of Heiko Khoo, a long-time Hyde Park orator advocating Militant Tendency Trotskyism from his platform, who is standing for them in Putney.
His manifesto is more what you would call leftwing, but note the hints of conspiracy theories about vaccination and abolishing cash:
Another left-of-Labour candidate whose election manifesto can hardly be described as radical. This from the Workers Party candidate in Battersea in London;
Of course it is a good thing that these opportunistic reformists don’t mention socialism.
The leaflets for distribution outside the two constituencies we are contesting arrived today. 3000 or so were sent on to branches and individuals who pre-ordered. Some 400 were distributed in Battersea (which we contested in 2017). A Labour poster was spotted. These are no longer just in red but now incorporate in one corner the colours of the Union Jack, confirming that party’s even further degeneration.
Everyone i’ve given the Standard to has rejected our message.
That could have something to do with your overall approach. If you say to someone “switch off your smartphone, o dumbed down one, brush up your Latin, read this if you can understand it, it will raise your cultural level”, it is not surprising you get a negative reaction.
Voters in Clapham and Brixton Hill have been invited to contact our candidate through this:
https://voteclimate.uk/constituencies/clapham-and-brixton-hill/ppcs/e14001175-billmartin
A number have done so and are being sent this link:
https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/climatechange/keypoints#10
You mean that the people you have talked to about socialism have expressed a “dread” of it? I don’t believe you.
… turn away in dread …
That’s a rather odd way of putting it as it implies that they know that there is an alternative to capitalism but are afraid to do anything about it. But most of them probably don’t know there is an alternative. It’s not a question of not wanting to hear about it but of not even having heard about it.
The ostrich analogy is not entirely inapt as they do stick their heads in the sand but not for the reason supposed. Similarly people are not acting to get rid of capitalism but not for the reason you suppose.
The 47,700 “election communication” from our candidate in Clapham and Brixton Hill for free distribution by Royal Mail were delivered this morning to their Hounslow centre. They will be sent out tomorrow to the various distribution offices covering the constituency and will presumably be dropping through letter boxes soon after.
This was interesting:
“Mr Newman said those choosing to selectively avoid the news also often do so because they feel “powerless”.
“These are people who feel they have no agency over massive things that are happening in the world,” he said.”I don’t think this means that people are behaving like ostriches. They are accepting the reality that there are “powerless” and just getting on with their lives. We shouldn’t suggest that they are simply being stupid.
One of the things that happens when you contest a general election is that the candidate gets inundated with emails from pressure groups and single-issue campaigners with requests to say where you stand on a particular issue. Our candidate in Clapham and Brixton Hill has had emails asking, among other things, to support the decriminalisation of sex work and to take action against the cost-of-living crisis.
They are being sent the following standard reply:
“The Socialist Party is standing a candidate in this election solely on the basis of creating a world of common and democratic ownership of the productive wealth of society, so that we will no longer need buying and selling and will instead produce to meet the needs of all members of society.
We are not standing to administer or govern in a capitalist society.
If elected, and we do not have the majority we need to make this fundamental transformation of society, our candidate will vote on issues as agreed by the members of our party based upon the interests of the working class under capitalism.”An interview with Jeremy Corbyn, billed as “a socialist MP”:
https://jacobin.com/2024/06/jeremy-corbyn-independent-parliament-election
