imposs1904
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“Those who are experienced in such matters tell us that all brands of cornflakes taste the same. It has also been said that they all conform to a standard of nutrition which results in the package having more food value than the flakes. It is rather like this in the political field. The parties which are likely to get into power in this election all offer the same low level of social nutrition and politically they all have the same flavour. Their only difference is in their presentation – their packaging – and this is where they are in competition, their programmes and their leaders dressed, decorated, obscured so as to bear little relation to their true character.”
Lovely piece of writing from ‘Ivan’ (Ralph Critchfield) from the June 1987 Socialist Standard, when covering that British General Election. Nothing’s really changed.
Full article here:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/06/snap-crackle-pop-1987.htmlFaiza Shaheen, who was the Labour PPC for Chingford & Woodford Green before she was politically ambushed by the Labour leadership for social media activity, has resigned from the Labour Party. No news yet if she’s standing as an independent:
I thought this was interesting clip of Michael Crick talking about the vindictiveness of the Labour Right over the selection of parliamentary candidates. No doubt this past week of Starmer own goals will be (temporarily) forgotten come July 5th but I think it does point to a deeper poison within the current Labour leadership. This kind of political-gangsterism will be par for the course for the Labour Government, and once they run out of Labour Lefts to punch down on, they’ll quickly turn on each other.
During the discussion period of Keith Scholey’s talk on the SPGB and the Spanish Civil War last Friday, I mentioned an article from 1937 on the conflict which appeared in the New York journal, The International Review. The people involved with the IR were the same people who, amongst other things, first translated Martov’s The State and the Socialist Revolution into English and published the pamphlet Bolshevism by Rudolf Sprenger.
The article is well worth a read if you’re interested in the period and the complexities of the situation on the ground. Though there is definitely an overlap of sorts with our position in places in the article, it is the case that ‘Roberto’ was probably writing from a Council Communist position:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2006/09/spain-turns.html
All Good Men by Trevor Griffiths from 1974.
By all accounts, Griffiths was heavily influenced by Ralph Miliband’s Parliamentary Socialism:
A wee bit of WSM history from 1973.
‘Socialist jailed in Sweden – “Times” uninterested’ (1973)
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2015/01/socialist-jailed-in-sweden-times.html
Excellent series.
Also check out Griffiths’ ‘All Good Men’, a standalone Play For Today which is on YouTube, which touches upon similar themes relating to the Labour Party but is more about historical betrayal.
The artists formerly known as Socialist Appeal – and now rebranded, relaunched and regurgitated as the Revolutionary Communist Party – have also replied to Mr Gove:
The former Millies response to Gove:
“. . . a very senior member of the Militant Tendency (who is now a successful playwriter)”
I have to ask . . . who is he?
Fascinating interview from 2002:
22 years ago. no need for additional words. whatever your position on the Israel/Palestinian conflict, please listen. https://t.co/zd5OOIITd0
— Olivier Blanchard (@ojblanchard1) May 12, 2024
