Bijou Drains
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Considering the number of older comrades and those who have health problems, it would be lunacy to go ahead with conference. If we did go ahead it would mean exclusion to those members who did not feel able to attend because of their health and or age, which would hardly be democratic.
” for the UK population to gain herd immunity, a large enough number of people — 60 per cent of the country, 40 million people, in the words of the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance — will need to contract the virus and then recover.”
But not everyone will recover. If the death rate is 3% then 1.2 million won’t. Even if it is only 1 percent some 400,000 won’t. These will be the number of us herd who will have be sacrificed to achieve “herd immunity”.
“I don’t know if achieving herd immunity is the government’s aim or if the figure of 6 out of every 10 people having to get the virus and recover is valid, but if so it appears that the government is being advised by a mad professor.”
I think I smell the influence of Dominic Cummings and his fruitcake mates.
Reported today, divorce rates in China have spiked after the lock down there.
I also wondered about the way in which some people are panic buying toilet roll. In my local supermarket all of the shelves were cleared.
I took a slightly different view and loaded my trolley with spirits, wine, cider and beer. let’s face it you can always wipe your arse on the curtains, but how would I manage 4 weeks locked in with my beloved, without some gargle.
To be fair she seemed to share the same sentiment and ensured there were several litres of vodka and brandy purchased. Must be my scintillating conversation. 😥
The herd immunity theory that the government are relying on is the idea that immunity has a rather large flaw.
It relies on the idea that millions will get the virus and develop immunity to future outbreaks. This itself is reliant on the idea that there will be no mutations. The common cold has no vaccine against because it mutates regularly and infection with one strain gives no immunity against another.
Mutation is more likely the higher the number of times an organism reproduces itself.
The current government strategy is based on high numbers of reproductions of the virus, which increases the risk of mutation.
On the plus side, we in the SPGB have been isolated and distanced for many years, so it won’t be a new experience.
On a serious note I do think we need to consider postponing annual conference, we have a number of members who have health vulnerabilities and we don’t want to endanger any members.
Alan Johnson wrote A global recession?
“analysts warned the outbreak could wreak economic havoc on a scale not seen since the 2008 financial crisis.”
On the bright side shares in undertakers and coffin makers are on the up, might dust down my black suit and tie and apply for a job. With my miserable phizzog I should be a shoe in.
Good news that there’s another Trotskyist International, there’s just not enough of them:
Current
- Committee for a Workers’ International (Refounded) (CWI)
- Coordinating Committee for the Refoundation of the Fourth International (CRFI)
- United Secretariat of the Fourth International (USFI
- Fourth International (ICR), also called FI (La Verité) or FI (International Secretariat)
- International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)
- International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) (ICL-FI), previously the International Spartacist Tendency
- International Marxist Tendency (IMT), previously the Committee for a Marxist International
- International Revolutionary Left, formed by various breakaway sections of Committee for a Workers’ International
- International Socialist Alternative, formerly Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI)
- International Socialist Tendency (IST (post-trotskyist))
- Internationalist Communist Union (ICU)
- International Workers League – Fourth International (IWL-FI)
- International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI)
- League for the Fifth International (L5I)
- League for the Fourth International (LFI) [split from (ICL-FI)]
Trotskyist Fraction – Fourth International (TF-FI) - Workers International to Rebuild the Fourth International (WIRFI)
Defunct or Inactive
- Bolshevik Current for the Fourth International
- Collective for an International Conference of the Principled Trotskyism
- Liaison Committee of Militants for a Revolutionary Communist International (LCMRCI), 1995–2004
- Organizing Committee of Principist Trotskyism (Fourth International)
- Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), 1974–2019 – split into Committee for a Workers’ International (Refounded) and International Socialist Alternative
- Committee for the Fourth International, 1940-
- Communist Organisation for a Fourth International, 2003–2007, currently inactive
- Coordination Committee for the Construction of the International Workers Party (KoorKom) – dissolved into International Workers’ League in 2002
- Fifth International of Communists
- Fourth International (International Committee (FIIC), 1980–1981
- Fourth International Posadist
- Group of Opposition and Continuity of the Fourth International
- International Centre for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International (CIRQI)
- International Centre of Orthodox Trotskyism
- International League for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International (ILRFI), 1973–1995
- International Liaison Committee of Communists (ILCC)
- International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency (TMRI), 1965–1992 – rejoined the Fourth International (post-reunification)
- International Trotskyist Committee for the Political Regeneration of the Fourth International
- International Trotskyist Opposition
- International Workers’ Committee
- International New Course
- Leninist-Trotskyist Tendency (LTT), 1991–1997
- Liaison Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International (CERCI) 1988–1997
- Organizing Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International (CORQI), 1972–1980
- Organizing Committee of Principist Trotskyism (Fourth International)
- Permanent Revolution
- Revolutionary Workers Ferment (Fomento Obrero Revolucionario, FOR)
- Trotskyist International Liaison Committee, 1979–1984
- Tendência Quarta Internacionalista
- Workers’ Voice (formerly Revolutionary Trotskyist League, formerly Revolutionary Trotskyist Tendency)
Seems like there’s more internationals than there are Trotskyists!
Apologies for the late arrival of the Feb EC minutes on the forum, this was due to the fact that to support my family I have to sell my labour power and, as part of the exploitation process, I have to travel many miles throughout the UK.
Trying to be as eco conscious as I can be, I mainly use the northern rail network, and as a consequence have spent the last four days being fucked about by said “network”, heartless bastards, the lot of them!
(although I may change my judgement of my fellow workers when I have had time to rest, drink beer and reflect)
It may just be me, and AJ may have more information on this, but is it a requirement of British transport legislation that every British train has a minimum of at least one drunken Scotsman aboard at all times?
no, but we do need to get rid of golf:
There are about 35,000 golf courses in the world (about 50% of which are in the USA).
Each course takes between 60 and 90 hectares depending on location, safety margins, and facilities, an average of roughly 75 hectares.
That’s a total land area of about 2.6 million hectares or just over a million acres. Equivalent to a square whose side is 160km or 100 miles.
About the size of Massachusetts, USA. A little smaller than Belgium but bigger than Wales or Israel!
It’s part of the Sinn Fein claim is to make sure they keep their link to Connolly and the Citizen’s Army’s legacy, using the starry plough as an insignia and all of that. When the Officials and the Provos split, it was the Officials who were more openly left wing, they ended up splitting with some in the Workers Party and some in the INLA political wing the IRSP (sometimes known as the I rob shops and post offices, with the INLA as I never left anything). Sinn Fein still have some leftist leanings, but not as pronounced as the pre 1970 Sinn Fein/IRA
I know the Irish Labour Party is a pretty pathetic organisation but hasn’t it been the junior partner in various coalition governments?
6 times since the war, but always as a very, very junior party, and always with Fine Gael who are possibly the slightly more right wing of two centre right wing main parties, (strange for a “socialist” party to be in coalition with a party that had traditional links with O’Duffy’s Blueshirts.)
Probably the most radical of parties in coalition would have been Sean McBride’s Clann na Poblachta, which was part of the 1948-51 coalition. That coalition was brought down by church over Clann na Poblachta’s health plan for free health care for mothers and babies, because it was “communistic”. You can always rely on the Catholic Church to look after its flock, they were probably worried someone would find out what the nuns were up to in Tuam!
Alan – “Did your proposed voluntary deep-clean project which if I recall was due about this time happen, BD? Or is another call required?”
It didn’t, this time. However I have been talking to Cde McPharter, who has recently retired and he is keen to accompany me to carry out the task. I thought it best to liaise with the new premises committee about a time and date, I thought after conference would be best, delegates can be messy buggers!
It’s interesting that the proposal put forward that we have
“worker co-ops alongside conventional private and state capitalist workplaces.”
is actually quite similar to the economy of the Republic of Ireland.
The farmers’ co-ops have a large presence in rural areas, and retail co-ops are also quite well represented.
See the link to show this:
http://icos.ie/find-your-co-op/
There are state controlled industries (ERB one of the main electricity suppliers is 95% state and 5% worker owned) Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann/Irish Rail, are all state owned.
On top of this there is a welfare system which is probably more generous than the UK and a health care system, which although not as well developed as the UK, is quite substantial and per capita health spending is not a kick in the pants of the UK spending.
I often use this argument for the reluctant Labourists, who say, well I vote Labour, but only because they gave us the welfare state and the NHS.
If these things were not part of the ordinary development of capitalism and generally in the interests of capitalism, why have they developed in the ROI, which has never had a Labour and arguably which has never had even a left leaning government?
Forgot to add BD that there haven’t been dead flies in head office window for decades. When you saw one it must have been when you were down to see Newcastle last play in the Cup Final.
Last time I was down was Easter about three years ago, idiot that I am I forgot to check that conference was actually on on Easter weekend, which it wasn’t. Had hotel booked for two nights, non refundable, so went to see Kingstonians play at home (AFC Wimbledon play there so at least I got another one off the list of 92) and then got pissed on my jack in a Hotel in Kingston upon Thames!
