imposs1904
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
alanjjohnstone wrote:John McGovern and Guy Aldred cited. Sadly no mention of the SPGBGame of Two Halveshttps://books.google.co.th/books?id=RCTpCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT21&lpg=PT21&dq=archie+macpherson+ilp+politics&source=bl&ots=WydsTgn8Cq&sig=PmYFgmQGFbuysLE0uedT60rgvns&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ4dqlvdraAhWBo48KHX3YALoQ6AEITjAF#v=onepage&q=archie%20macpherson%20ilp%20politics&f=false
I bet I'm the only person on the forum who has actually read that book. I knew from the book that he was from an old ILP family. And, of course, the ILP's McGovern was the MP for Shettleston all through from their disaffiliation from the Labour Party in '32 up until McGovern rejoined the Labour Party at the tail end of the forties. That means that the ILP beat the Labour candidate at the '45 landslide Labour election, so you can understand how deep rooted the support was for the ILP and its candidates in Shettleston, Bridgeton (Maxton's seat) and Camlachie in Glasgow all through the thirties and forties.What I thought was funny about Archie mentioning the SPGB in the podcast was that he intially just gave out the intitials SPGB, and then he made a point of saying the SPGB stood for the Socialist Party of Great Britain.
Found this old short story of George Bernard Shaw's which dates from 1905 in the PDF of a short story collection by Shaw. (Published in the '30s.)I thought I'd post it on the blog because 1) I enjoyed it. 2) I'd like to think that Shaw was having a dig at the impossibilists of his day. (Yes, I know the 'impossibilist' position is more nuanced than Shaw makes out but since when was it necessary to be exact when throwing out political barbs at your opponents?)Link: Death of an Old Revolutionary Hero by George Bernard Shaw (1905)
No, Alan, it's confirmation that we don't currently have any party members who are political scientists/historian hacks who have carved out a wee niche churning out papers, essays or book chapters on the minutiae of the Party history. (There's a gig there for someone if they want it.)I like books like this. I'm interested in books like this, but I also recognise that a lot of it is little more than a circle jerking exercise on the part of academics bleeding dry their Phds, so they can get that chapter in a book like this . . . or get that seat on the Historical Materialism panel . . . or get that online article on the Jacobin website.I'm not beating myself up over something as trivial as this.
There's a follow up volume to this book by the same editors:Link: Waiting for the revolutionNo idea if we made the footnotes this time.
Condolences to you and your family, Raymond, on your sad loss. I met your Dad a couple of times about 15/16 years ago, and he was a good guy.all the best.
Apologies moderators. I'm banning myself from this forum before I get the obvious ban. And, Gnome, you're still a snide cunt.
The actual cost would be minimal. If put in place it would actually reduce the workload at Head Office because people would be purchasing the electronic version of the book online directly from the website. No need to pack it up and mail it out. How do we go about it? I'm in the same boat as you.
Congrats to all involved in its production.One question, though: Should it not also be available to buy as a digital download? It'd be great if people opt for the hard copy, but nowadays we have to take into account that a lot of people read books on kindles, computers and smartphones.Why not look into making this available in all the usual formats – pdf/epub/mobi – and maybe selling it as a download via paypal for, say, four quid. (Have the price of the hard copy + postage.)I would say the same for all the recent pamphlets that have been produced or reprinted.
Just so people know this thread isn't just about blowing smoke up the arse of the Socialist Standard, I bring before you the worst article I've ever scanned in for the blog. (And I've scanned in a lot over the last few years.)And it's from one of the Standard *star* writers from back in the day:Link: A Blogger's Trauma
Another year lined up. 1974 was all about 'The Cruyff Turn' . . . two elections in one year . . . and Abba winning the Eurovision Song Contest:Link: "Forget it, Jake, it's Claphamtown."
A couple of excellent book reviews by Adolph Kohn from 1930:Link: Leon Trotsky's My LifeInteresting wee tit bit about Kollontai in America. I never knew that . . . Link: Riazanov's annotated edition of the Communist ManifestoExcellent commentary by Kohn on the myth of Marx and the 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat'
