imposs1904
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
” . . . but then people can list less Green Party politicians than they can famous Belgians.”
If that isn’t a giveaway for someone who doesn’t watch football, I don’t know what is. Shame on you, sir.
The 10,000th post on the blog:
Some new (old) material added to the archive section of the WSPUS website:
Robin,
Not sure why Stefan’s personal website should be listed as the main website for the WSPUS. I’m sure that would be a mistake.
Yeah, a bit of anger wouldn’t go amiss. I’m a bit sick and tired of the reasonableness of the election material, appealing to the ‘niceness’ of people. A bit too Kumbaya for my liking. A lot of people are angry right now, and they’ve every right to be so.
Is it too much to hope that the text for the election manifesto will be a bit spikey for a change? If nothing else, just to have a change of tone. See if it catches people’s attention more.
To use an old pop music analogy – which I’m sure I’ve used before – less Beach Boys ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice‘ and more MC5’s ‘Kick Out The Jams‘.
William Morris was a famous ‘Cuk’, so I’m not a fan of the term. Even as a joke.
I prefer the observation that Change:UK is almost like ‘Chuk’, which practically spells out ‘Chuka’. I think it highlights his narcissism.
Back in the day when Labour MPs would write to the Socialist Standard to engage in a debate about socialism and materialism:
Another one from the archives that’s just been scanned in. From a 1953 issue of the American socialist journal, The Western Socialist, ’30 Years of Scottish Bombast’.
An article written by a Scottish SPGBer for an American readership. Note in the article the opportunistic Anti-Americanism of the British Communist Party, and its leader Harry ‘Pollute’:
Link: ’30 Years of Scottish Bombast’
The Twitter hashtag #OnThisDay is telling me that Tony Benn died on this day in 2014.
From the January 1980 issue of the Socialist Standard, an interview with Tony Benn. The timing is interesting because this period would have been the height of ‘Bennism’ and Corbyn, if nothing else, is a political heir of Benn:
Finished scanning in the August 1931 issue of the Socialist Standard.
Of especial interest in this issue is the detailed report of a debate between the SPGB’s Alex Shaw and the Communist Party’s Peter Kerrigan in Clydebank. Though Kerrigan may not be a well known name nowadays, for many decades he was a leading member of the Communist Party in Scotland and, at the time of the debate, was the CPGB’s Scottish Organiser. That such a ‘leading’ member of the CPGB was prepared to debate a SPGB representative suggests that the SPGB were making enough of a nuisance of themselves in Glasgow and the West of Scotland, that the CPGB had to take them seriously.
In the same issue there are details of Alex Shaw being physically attacked after another meeting in Clydebank. It appears the SPGB were stepping on various political and religious toes at this time.
LINK: August 1931 Socialist Standard
Content includes:
– The Socialist Party and War: The Socialist attitude to war.
– Letter: The Value of Emotional Appeals.
– Letter: A New Reader Asks Some Questions.
– Movements Abroad: Socialist Party of Australia and the Socialist Party of New Zealand
– Editorial: The German Crisis
– Brutal Attack on A Speaker: Socialists physically attacked.
– A Tribute From An Unexpected Quarter: Labour Party careerism
– The Socialist Party v. The Communist Party. A Debate: SPGB’s debates the CPGB’s Peter Kerrigan.
– A Great Thought for To-day: J. H. Thomas, the Labour Party and divine intervention
Just finished scanning in the January 1924 issue of the Socialist Standard. Published in the aftermath of the 1923 General Election, and just before the incoming first Labour minority government, Details below:
LINK: January 1924 Socialist Standard
Content includes:
– After The Poll: Report on the 1923 General Election
– Socialism and Ethics: William Liebknecht
– The Reward of Genius: The tragedy of Johannes Sophus Gelert
– Tom Mann Retracts!: Tom Mann and the General Strike
– Rates, and Rates of Wages: The cost of living for the working class.
– Items of Interest in the Election: Winston Churchill and Ben Tillett
– Editorial: Election Reflections
– Where the Labour Party Fails: Labour Party reformism.
– The Capital Levy: The Labour Party’s economic policy.
– On Reading: S. P. B. Mais
– By The Way: British Capitalism in recession.
I’m sure there’s something for everyone.
