Bijou Drains
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
“…I can’t make any of youse give a political answer to these political questions…”
Do you think that’s true, if so who voted for it?
“‘That’s the problem, matey, there is no truth, only perception.’
If that were ‘true’ then there could be no lies either – and we all know that to be ‘untrue’, don’t we Bijou?”
I think you’ll find that that’s your perception of the truth.
This leads to the question can a lie exist without its opposite the truth, can black exist if there is no white?
Before you know it we’ll be discussing the interpenetration of opposites, and you know where that leads…………….. insanity (or perhaps sanity).
“but won’t tell us which elite would produce truth”
That’s the problem, matey, there is no truth, only perception.
Schekn Itrch- You state “When given freedom, society spontaneously self-organises into wild capitalist structure with its propensity for ever increasing inequality and capital accumulation.”
This is a sweeping statement, with huge implication, yet you provide nothing to back it up. When has society ever been given freedom? From a Socialist viewpoint freedom can only come when the ownership of the means of production have been socialised and have become common property. I can think of no instant in history where this has happened.
You also put forward the idea that there is something Natural about capitalism. Considering the fact that anatomically modern humans began to emerge around 100,000 years ago and that capitalism began at the earliest in the late 15th Century (a very early estimate)m can you explain why this “natural” proclivity of humans took so long to emerge. It sounds to me like you are talking about a rehash of the long debunked theory of “human nature” as a barrier to Socialism.
Alan
I have happily gone along to Sid James’s Park since 1970, and a week on Sunday I will attend again fully expecting that our new man Steve Bruce (aka Mrs Doubtfire) will bring silverware galore to the shores of the Tyne.
This Saturday I will watch the Gaelic Football full of confidence that the glorious Mayo team will crush Donegal in the All Ireland Championship and go on to win the Sam Maguire, overcoming the “curse of ’51.
Following every local and national election that the SPGB stand in I wait anxiously for the results, ever hoping that the long awaited electoral breakthrough will come.
I’m a supporter of Newcastle United, Mayo GAA and the SPGB. I have to be optimistic, the alternative is bloody suicide! 🙁
I think there is part of the conspiracy theorists that seeks adulation and respect from being an initiate of secret or forbidden knowledge, kind of a “everyone else can be dismissed as they don’t have the secret insight I do”. A bit like a poundstrechers’ version of a Freemason.
Jesus Alan, you do your best to find the negative in any situation. Someone posts something bright and cheery and you shoot it down with your arrows of despair and hopelessness, sitting there on your bucket, with your black dungarees on complaining “I nivver get ony fun roond here!”
Going back to the original topic, judging by the activity on here and the interesting debates about a range of topics, clearly not. I think the forum is beginning to get back to being a bit more like it was before it was hacked. It’s certainly more active and more interesting than many of the forums of the “left”
I think the word you are overlooking in my statement is the word “just” as in “not just”, i.e. do this as well.
I think what Dave is saying, and he might correct me on this, is that we should not be getting a badge press for HO when we struggle to get the Standard posted out. Given the choice of posting out to members and sympathisers a magazine full of high quality Socialist articles and news about the party or producing a few badges with necessarily limited information on them, I am pretty sure which way the majority of members would vote.
As to badges, I don’t wish to comment on the fashion sense of the average Scot, the kilt does that for me. 😉
We are all agreed that we need to get some activity going in the Party. The apparent success of the recent social event in Lancaster was a demonstration of that.
HO is a tremendous resource for the party. As you say it has a history which could be used to publicise what is going on there. However to me, and London based members can correct me on this if I am wrong, the London/SE based membership is overwhelmed with the current work load and adding more is not going to improve morale.
I would love to be able to go to HO once a week and help out, but it would involve a 600 mile round trip and God knows what in rail costs.
A more feasible way for regional members to help out with HO would be to have set times for us to turn up mob handed and get some graft done.
I don’t think it is for us to decide what those involved should be doing, rather it should be decided upon by those involved, with guidance given by the London based comrades and party committees who have a knowledge of what will work on their patch.
There are also, as far as I can tell, a number of inactive members and ex members in the London area, who might be motivated to get involved if there was something planned on this basis.
Alan – Although you regularly call for more organised activity, your response when I suggest a format for more organised activity, which can utilise the support of regional members, is to go off on a tangent about your own personal hobby horse of badges and flags. I cannot for the life of me see what the use of having a group of non socialists walking around with SPGB flags would be. If any one came up to them and asked them what the flag meant, what would they answer? As to badges, the trend for wearing badges to publicise a political viewpoint went out with punk rock. Nowadays the sight of someone wearing sloganised badges is a sign either of a nutter or a train spotter.
You also stated that I am of the view that we should not attend large events, which part of the statement: “I’m not saying we shouldn’t have a presence at such events, but that in addition to this we need to plan in proper activity for the party which is run on our own agenda and which will fit into our own electoral strategy.” were you reading??
My proposal was a simple, low cost suggestion. We identify two weekends for comrades to gather around the head office area. One in the winter to undertake practical work at HO and one in the summer to look at what propaganda events we can undertake in the area of HO, as an aid to electoral activity in that area.
To move the suggestion along, can I suggest that we look at the weekend of 1st and 2nd February 2020 as a weekend to do work in HO?
“I can go for that. And if, as you suggest we centre activities around HO, it could be seen as an Open Day with free stuff to give away, a movie night, a Street Party by the Socialist Party.”
There are all kinds of things we could do, we could blitz a whole constituency with leaflets, we could do street stalls, like you say, a movie night, get the caterers in a put on a buffet, get a one off licence and open a bar up, etc. and if none of that works try something else the following years. In effect this is what momentum have been doing on a bigger scale and it appears to have worked so far for them.
“The party’s most fruitful periods has always been when it was part of a larger broader social-cultural movement.”
and what fruitful period was that???
I think there is very little evidence to back such a broad and sweeping statement.
“I would suggest that your proposal should coincide any party get-together with some national protest or demonstration and there are usually a number that we can target. ”
I would suggest the opposite, what we need to do is go out and create our own activity, not just hook ourselves on to the coat tails of whatever is the latest trend on the left. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have a presence at such events, but that in addition to this we need to plan in proper activity for the party which is run on our own agenda and which will fit into our own electoral strategy. We might not be a big party, but we can be a big party, for a short space of time, in a small area. If we chose the area around HO, that would fir in with where we are likely to stand candidates at coming elections. Do that every year over a five year election cycle and that creates the impression of a big party in a small area. We could plan out in advance what dates we want to use for the weekend and get high profile debates or meetings organised in that time.
I also think that the idea of a group of comrades coming together in the January period over a weekend and working in head office, in accordance with what the premises committee see as priorities (whether that be painting, decorating, cleaning, fixing, etc.) would give a greater sense of belonging to members based out in the regions.
Genuine story
In 1985 I was seeing a lassie who was studying at Oxford. I was visiting her in Oxford for the first time, it was on a Monday night in March (I have a feeling I had been at a Islington Branch get together over the weekend before).
On this particular Monday night I was out in Oxford having a few sherbets with said Lassie, when reports came in that the Bullingdon Club were causing trouble at a pub up the road.
My initial reaction was to get stuck in. It has to be said that along with most of the NE Branch at the time, I was fairly handy in pub car park. Sadly being in lurve, I was persuaded that it was better to walk away from a possible fight by the lassie in question.
Got to say I have regretted missing the chance to chin Boris and Cameron for many a year. Not even a happy ending, she ditched me for a politics student from Birmingham. 🙁 🙁
