imposs1904
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ALB wrote:We're not in it, but then we say we're not "left". So we can't have our cake and eat it, though of course we should be in it. We have of course asked for a review copy.There's a discussion on why we're not here. Go to post 96 and following. There's also this ditty about us (message 100)Quote:(To the tune Bonnie Dundee) If you think the treatment of workers is wrong, Oppose any measure that helps them along; Don’t join up with Labour, don’t join the CP, But fight the whole lot in the SPGBIf you want to live in a world without war, Don’t go on the march, don’t sit down on the floor; Don’t join the Committee, don’t join CND, But fight the whole lot in the SPGB.(Composed R Condon, c. 1963)
I knew Richard Condon at the time. He was then, like the rest of the IS Group (which later became the SWP), in the Labour Party as this ditty reflects. There's a letter from him defending being in the Labour Party in the June 1963 Socialist Standard. He later became a Eurocrat (where I came across him again).
That June 1963 letter – with reply – from Richard Condon has now popped up on the Socialist Standard Past and Present blog:Link: CND and SPGB
imposs1904 wrote:Before there was wikipedia and spartacus.net, there was Bill Waters 'Backwaters of History' series in the Socialist Standard: Link: Socialist Standard September 1953: The DiggersLink: Socialist Standard October 1953: The Babeuf ConspiracyLink: Socialist Standard December 1953: The SpartacistsLink: Socialist Standard January 1954: The Austrian Civil War 4 down . . . another 6 or 7 to go.Fifth in the series. Link: Socialist Standard February 1954: Peasants Revolt of 1381
Before there was wikipedia and spartacus.net, there was Bill Waters 'Backwaters of History' series in the Socialist Standard: Link: Socialist Standard September 1953: The DiggersLink: Socialist Standard October 1953: The Babeuf ConspiracyLink: Socialist Standard December 1953: The SpartacistsLink: Socialist Standard January 1954: The Austrian Civil War 4 down . . . another 6 or 7 to go.
They do all eventually end up on this website (in the Socialist Standard archive), and I'm sure if and when Rob puts this latest article on the website, it will be included in the newsletter.
jondwhite wrote:imposs1904 wrote:Writing from the other side of the Ocean, a better functioning WSPUS would be nice. After all, 2016 isn't that far away and that will be the hundredth anniversary of the formation of the WSPUS.And, yes, I know that the WSPUS will only function better if members like my good self get off my arse and do some actual activity.It would be more than nice, it is a historical imperative.
Another article from the 1970s Socialist Standard series, 'Why I Joined The SPGB'Link: July 1975 Horace JarvisI'd question some of the details of the article, but it's interesting nonetheless. If I see any more from the series, I'll post them up.
Writing from the other side of the Ocean, a better functioning WSPUS would be nice. After all, 2016 isn't that far away and that will be the hundredth anniversary of the formation of the WSPUS.And, yes, I know that the WSPUS will only function better if members like my good self get off my arse and do some actual activity.
Cheers for the reply. I'm half-hoping that PD will spot see my post, and that she might have more information.It'd be nice if someone stuck a tape recorder – showing my age – under John Lee's nose and got him to do a wee anecdotal rundown of his history in the Party.
I don't usually get poetry but some interesting stuff by a comrade F. W. Webb which appeared in the Socialist Standard during the First World War: October 1914: The Lust of WarFebruary 1915: To The Princes of the ChurchFebruary 1916: In Time of WarMay 1916: To the Advocates of MilitarismDecember 1918: The Call
If there had been a Yes vote in the Scottish Referendum, it would have been Salmond but, as is, it was Farage's year. Piketty, Brand or Klein don't even come close.
I found a couple of the clips of Fall of Eagles, featuring Patrick Stewart as Lenin. I've not watched them, so apologies if they overlap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93cdeMAY3cAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urSaGebApQs
I'm guessing you're referring to Trevor Griffiths's Absolute Beginners which was a self-contained episode within the 1974 BBC series Fall of Eagles series. Absolute Beginners was a dramatisation of the 1903 split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks at the RSDLP second congress in London in 1903. There are clips of the episode on YouTube but I'm not sure if the full episode is available online.Griffiths, I guess, is best known for co-writing the screenplay to Reds, which was Warren Beatty's hollywood blockbuster about John Reed and Louise Bryant.
