Bijou Drains
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He writes – “For my own part, I’ve been an anti-Marxist as long as I can remember but never bothered to look carefully at his writings.”
Kind of says it all really
My oh my, whatever next, Sylvester the Cat to enter the fray with his latest cartoon “I hate Mises to pieces”???
To me it’s not about life having a meaning, it’s about life having a purpose, i.e. being part of a movement that can help create a situation where so much needless misery is avoided and where all of the world’s people can have an opportunity to thrive.
I always think that becoming a class conscious socialist is a bit like the pill dilemma in the matrix, take the blue pill and remain in capitalist inspired ignorance, or take the red pill and see the world as it really is, well I took the red pill and there’s no going back!
robbo, is it possible that my interventions are driving people away from the forum?
I don’t think it is either.
Mind you, I don’t see people flocking to the forum to seek out the latest episode of L Bird v The SPGB, as a sort of parallel universe version of the Colleen Rooney v Rebekah Vardy spat, either.
I can only give a personal view, I enjoy the forum very much. I check it at least four of five times a day when I have a chance. It is probably the only place in the world where I see discussion that actually makes sense. I find it a huge boost to my morale to know I can have regular contact with fellow socialists.
I’m convinced that there are factors that predispose individuals to join (and this is something the Party needs to seriously research).
I think there are lots and lots of factors which predispose individuals to join the party. However what predisposes one in not what predisposes another. The latest idea of buddying up to Extinction Revolution, is a different cover version of a song that’s long been heard. In the sixties it was CND, in the seventies it was Rock against racism and the anti fascist movement, in the eighties it was anti poll tax, in the nineties it was the anti globalisation movement, in the 2000s it was Occupy, now it’s XR.
I think some members think there is a magic bullet out there, that if we just approach such and such a group they will heed our call, join the party and hey presto, mass party.
Yes there will be some workers who are involved with XR that might be open to our case, I think the vast majority are so involved in their single issue view of life that they will dismiss us without a second thought. I do think however, by putting up a case which counters the XR view of things we have more chance of attracting sceptical, questioning workers, who have a feeling that something ain’t right, but also have a feeling that XR ain’t that right either.
I think you should have done a bit of research before nailing “No body’s driving” as a fellow traveller who is a good example of who we should be targeting, here is a quote from what he/she has written about the need to avoid being dragged into the morality debate, which actually demonstrates the kind of regimes she/he favours when discussing the conditions in which decisions are made and what a Socialist Society must recognise:
“Further, it must organize itself taking into account these conditions, and provide a response based on a realistic analysis rather than a moralizing rejection of these conditions. A socialist society cannot survive by merely morally decrying the conditions it faces, it must recognize them as they are and act accordingly. The Soviet Union did not enter the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact out of a preference, but because it was seeking to delay war as long as it could so it could continue in the development of its productive capacity and survive as a socialist society. The Communist Party of China did not enter an alliance with the Nationalists during WWII because it desired this in a generalized manner, but because this was called for by the conditions of Japanese imperialist invasion. We socialists cannot simply act according to what we want to do in a generalized way, we must act according to what is necessary in a particular context if we seek the victory of socialism.We socialists cannot simply act according to what we want to do in a generalized way, we must act according to what is necessary in a particular context if we seek the victory of socialism.”
Are these the kinds of ideas you want to associate yourself with, I know I don’t. Doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference between what No Body’s driving has to say and what Stalin had to say.
I think the clown you have identified as a useful fellow traveller illustrates exactly why we should not get ourselves too excited about whatever new kid is on the block
Robbo “No one is suggesting we have to see eye to eye with fellow travellers on everything. The salient thing is that they and us have the same goal.”
No doubt an individual expressing the following viewpoint, could be classified as a fellow traveller, as their goal is the same as ours:
“The principle of Communism, is that in a Communist society each works according to his abilities and receives articles of consumption, not according to the work he performs, but according to his needs as a culturally developed individual. This means that the cultural and technical level of the working class has become high enough to undermine the basis of the distinction between mental labour and manual labour, that the distinction between mental labour and manual labour has already disappeared, and that productivity of labour has reached such a high level that it can provide an absolute abundance of articles of consumption, and as a result society is able to distribute these articles in accordance with the needs of its members.”
So according to the “let’s snuggle up to Fellow travellers viewpoint, we should be snuggling up to Joseb Besarionis dze Jughashvil or to give him his more well known name Joseph Stalin
Just completed reading through the online pamphlet and would like to add my compliments to the author, a well written and well researched pamphlet, written in the accessible style traditionally used by the real Socialist Movement, well done Comrade.
Hopefully it will persuade a few more to take the red pill not the blue pill
Alan
It’s not that anybody thinks the party is in a vibrant healthy place with growth all over the world and the prospect of a Socialist Society by a week next Wednesday. We have substantial difficulties, we need to adapt to a different way of political activity, however we are starting to make progress.
For instance the weekend at the Wigtown Book Festival appears to have gone very successfully (report by DC to follow) and some ideas for future events have been derived from it. I personally welcome your Eeyore like take on things and would miss the way you bring us all down to earth at times. I would also remind you that Eeyore and Tigger became great friends because they recognised each other’s flaws 😀
Alan wrote – “Wigtown book festival is an example where members from Home Counties will travel hundreds of miles to attend and no doubt indulge in the hospitality of the local licensed hostelries…”
I’m going and as far as I recall, Tyneside is not part of the home counties.
Great oaks, from little acorns, etc.
I know you get pessimistic at times, Alan, however it is not all doom and gloom. Ideas, such as the one I put forward are percolating within the party and I’m sure will result in positive activity. It is reported that attendance at Annual Conference was very healthy this year, the Summer School is well attended and very influential, I have seen a small but steady stream of new members arriving, some of whom have started using this forum, the mail outs of inserts has been productive and electoral activity, which was subject to regular hiatus, is now a programmed in regular and seemingly on going activity. I think that is very positive.
In addition the Standard is going out regularly and the layout and content is as good, if not better than ever.
This forum is not as lively as it was prior to the hacking of our sites, however activity is building up, with a slow growth in usage. As a positive, compared to the previous incarnation, at least the level of debate is far more friendly and productive that it had been, constant moderation disputes are a thing of the past. I think the other thing the forum does, which should not be underestimated, is that it keeps members in touch with each other, I have no regular face to face contact with party members, but I check on this site on a daily basis and the political debate (and to be honest the odd bit of laddish humour :-P) help keep morale up, etc.
So all in all, Alan, I would say that the glass is half full! 🙂
Alan – I’m glad your an admirer of Reich, I have a second hand Orgone Accumulator I can let you have at a very good price, for cash I could let you have it for maybe £1,500. I could have a few more available if I can get down to Office World and convert a few more large metal filing cabinets.
I think such an approach to human personality is fatally flawed by it’s reductive simplicity. It is similar to the way in which the snake oil salesmen of “Psychometric Testing” put forward the introvert extrovert spectrum as a particular trait, without taking into account a whole host of issues. For instance if I was at the opera with a whole bunch of opera buffs, I’d be fairly introvert (or more probably in the bar), whereas at a football match with my mates I’d probably be far more extrovert.
Similarly the idea that we would all fall into a servile or masterly personality type in all aspects of our interactions and behaviour is so unlikely as to be impossible. Some of us might be more servile in some situations and others more masterly in others (I’m using your descriptors at this point to keep to the original argument, not because I see them as valid personality descriptors), but people vary across a number of different settings. not only that your original question suggests there are only two approaches to human interaction, servile or master, what about people who are assertive, what about people who are passive aggressive, what about people who are openly aggressive, what about people who are sarcastic, etc. etc.
Without going too much into the theory of personality (which in itself has large holes in it) & essentially in answer to your what if, which states “What if there is a passive desire in some people to be servants, and a servile attitude dominates their unconscious, and also there are others who have a passive desire to be masters,” I don’t think it is worth worrying about because human personality doesn’t work like that, we are not two dimensional people and we don’t live two dimensional lives.
