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I don't think Syriza can be fairly accused of "betrayal". They sought election on an anti-austerity programme and got a mandate from the electorate to try to negotiate less onerous terms from the EU. Most of those who voted for them will have done so to strengthen their negotiating hand in this (much as trade unionists vote for strike action in the government-imposed strike ballots here). They won't have been expecting Syriza to bring about revolutionary or even radical change in Greece just some mitigation of austerity. It's the leftists, inside and outside Greece, who have illusions on this score and are accusing Syriza of betrayal but of what they, not the Greek electorate, expected of them. Of course the Syriza government can't end austerity. Withdrawing from the EU and setting up a state-capitalist siege economy (which most of the leftists want in effect) wouldn't end austerity either. In fact, it would probably make it worse.

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stuartw2112 wrote:

It was a car crash, but would an SPGB candidate really do any better under that kind of questioning? After all, you're proposing, not 500,000 new homes, but social housing for the whole planet. How much would that cost?

It wouldn't cost anything in monetary terms. Just the materials, energy and people's time, of which plenty will be available once the artificial scarcity and organised waste of capitalism has been ended. Are you saying, Paxman, that this couldn't be done and that millions of people must continue to live in shanty towns? Next question.There's also this of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rjv71HyAPg

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Here's another car crash interview:http://www.lbc.co.uk/incredibly-awkward-interview-with-natalie-bennett-105384#KBiswSjQ6LtMIy9D.97That's what happens when you claim to be able to reform capitalism so as to benefit people. It's just not credible. Even "Revolution, the only solution" is more credible or at least less incredible.Pity they don't go for TUSC in the same way (their reform promises are even more extravagant than the Greens'). Maybe they will. If not, we can do it.

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For the benefit of Latin scholars in Oxford here's our message:

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Here's a TUSC election clip for Alan to comment on and suggest we do something similar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfsNNcha6pU&feature=youtu.beThe content is very vague and doesn't say much.

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Excellent talk and discussion yesterday afternoon in Clapham, London, at which the various meanings of "conspiracy" were dissected. From now on I'm going to follow the speaker's conclusion and talk about "cover-up theories" rather than "conspiracy theorists" since it is the cover-up aspects that those who go in for this thing emphasise. The point was also made that even if an alleged cover-up was uncovered that wouldn't affect capitalism and in fact that most cover-up theorists think that present system would be ok if there were no cover-ups, i.e. no bad guys in charge.The  talk and discussion were recorded and so should be available to a wider audience in due course.

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I thought they always took the Muslim side. They seemed to have forgotten that the Muslims in Crimea wanted to stay part of Ukraine because they felt they'd get a less worse deal there than as part of Russia.

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Ironic and amusing information in this interview with a German historian on which country was the biggest debt defaulter of the last century:http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/economic-historian-germany-was-biggest-debt-transgressor-of-20th-century-a-769703.html

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Here's a message received at Head Office from somebody in Japan:

Quote:

To socialist party of GB: Break off relations with Rothchilds promptly 21 Feb., 2015 tatsmaki (Japan)     According to a space information from the Creators of the Space blocks control world, the Socialist Party of GB is a tool bribed for the purpose of self-protection of Rothchilds being shapeshifters of draconians of the Draco to avoid sanctions by the Creators. Draconians of the Draco are the official emblem of London city. They are bosses of leptilian-humanoids of the Lizard being the dictator-ruler of the USA. They are invaders-rulers of the Earth since the ancient times.     The GHQ of draconians and leptilian-humanoids in Agarta of inner world of the Earth was liquidated by the Creators on Aug. 17, 2014. But Illuminati, G20 leaders, ruling layers of each nation and activists elements of it's various fields are continuing wrongdoings all over the world.       The Socialist Party of GB has raised a slogan of "Abolish money! ", but it is not for social justice and is for such an ugly selfish purpose of Rothchilds.     The Creators gave them an order so that the Socialist Party GB breaks off with Rothchilds promptly and becomes the independent political party of the British people.      The Earth will be disappeared from our Space as the last general cleaning of the Earth in 2015 by the Creators.

Come to the meeting this afternoon when all will be revealed: http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/event/what-conspiracy-theories-arent-telling-you-head-office-3pm   

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We now know who is financing the TUSC candidates deposits. It's not the RMT. It's the old, practically defunct "Socialist Alliance" from a £100,000 legacy they've received. See:http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-89f6-Socialist-Alliance-gets-100k-boost-to-election-prospects#.VOmOmCwoFqAhttp://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/events-and-announcements/left-unityorg-peoples-assembly?page=56#comment-20919

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gnome wrote:

Not sure if this should be on this thread or on the one about electoral activity but here goes…This from yesterday's Morning Star:

It should probably be on the TUSC threadactually, as here's how they've decided to use the £100,000 donation (see: http://www.socialistalliance.org.uk/?linkId=1&storyId=124 )

Quote:

In practical terms, the Socialist Alliance will donate:§£500 each to the first 100 candidates who are selected and endorsed by a left coalition, such as TUSC, which will help create the largest possible left challenge and thus contribute towards there being national media coverage. The Socialist Alliance National Executive, meeting subsequently on Sunday, decided that it would be TUSC that was identified as that left coalition to receive such donations§£500, if funds allow, for additional candidates to the 100 on that same basis.§£500 to any candidate not part such a left coalition, but who has demonstrated that her/his organisation is willing to work co-operatively at a local level. This could be by simply engaging in discussions to avoid electoral clashes, although we would hope it would be more.§An additional £500 to any such candidate who can demonstrate to the SA NEC, in writing, before the end of February 2015, that they are, or have been, a member of the Socialist Alliance and are committed to its principles§£500 towards any other socialist party/organization/campaign group standing which clearly demonstrates a commitment to unity on the left§If the necessary number of candidates are fielded by a Left coalition such as TUSC, the cost of a fully-professional Party Election Broadcast, up to a maximum of £5,000.

What this means is that it is the old "Socialist Alliance", not the RMT, that is bankrolling TUSC candidates election deposits. I suppose we could have blown our legacy in the same way but wiser counsels prevailed !Anyway, LU missed the boat again. They could have had a slice of the pie too.

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gnome wrote:

Cumnor looks like a lovely little sleepy hollow.  When will the hustings take place there and the other two you mentioned in Oxford East?

The organiser of the clean-up there warned that we'd get nowhere there politically as, just like in the 19th century, everybody there was only either a Tory or a Liberal. No, there won't be a hustings there but there will be (date to be fixed) in nearby, but not so picturesque Botley.One piece of pub-quiz information I picked up in Oxford was that the Green Party candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon, Larry Sanders, is the brother of the US Senator, Bernie Sanders, the only member of the US Congress to call himself a "socialist". He's only a Labour Party type Social Democrat of course, but even that's pretty daring for a US politician.

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A couple of useful days in Oxford. Met the election manager at the Town Hall and got some electoral registers. Found 10 people (actually 11) to sign the nomination papers in Oxford East. With no contacts in Oxford West & Abingdon, two of us went from door-to-door and asking people in the street and got 7 signatures in less than two hours .We got invited in for a cup of tea by an elector with a Vote National Health Action Party poster in their window (turned out his daughter was a surgeon). Should be able to get the other 3 on 8 March in the village of Cumnor in gratitude for our candidate Mike taking part in the annual clean-up there (that wouldn't be vote-catching, only nomination-signature catching). Also got two more invitations to hustings, this time in Oxford East.

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Met the person from "Socialist Resistance" ("house-trained trots", I like it). There is virtually no LU in Oxford but there is a branch of his group. He gave me a back copy of their magazine Socialist Resistance for Summer 2013, i.e after Ken Loach had made his appeal for a new Left party and before LU was founded. There's an article 'UKIP advances [in the May local elections of that year] shame the left' in which the author (Phil Hearse) writes:

Quote:

The failure to construct a left electoral alternative to Labour shames the left, and in particular the leaderships of the SWP and Socialist Party, jointly culpable for the collapse of successive left unity initiatives. Certainly on the kind of unfavourable terrain that existed in yesterday's elections would not guarantee any kind of left electoral   breakthrough. But the left should try to be a growing electoral alternative to austerity, xenophobia and racism. The present practice on much of the left is in fact a form of electoral abstentionism, although at a formal level organisations like the SWP and the SP reject it. Shrugging your shoulders and muttering about the primacy of mass struggle is (at best) a capitulation to syndicalism and spontaneism. The right wing must be fought in elections as well as in the mass struggle, obviously.

I still don't understand why, from their own points of view, the leaders of LU have chosen not to participate in the coming general election. Whatever the reason (I think they mutter only about local, single-issue struggles), they've missed the boat and any chance of getting off the ground. They've given the Greens the chance to become "left electoral alternative to Labour". Maybe because that's where their sympathies lay anyway.

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I see one idea is to give political parties £3 for every vote they get:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058339/Cost-funding-political-parties-3-vote.htmlThat would mean we'd get the £500 deposit back if we got 167 votes (instead of 5% of the votes cast, as now).. Sounds alright (as we can normally do that):  better the State giving us money rather than the other way round (even if the £500 entitles us to free postal distribution, a good bargain anyway).

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