Mike Foster
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Count me in, with another vote for the Rubin text. I think the length of this text is about right, to start off with anyway. I think we should be wary of discussing whole books, especially something as weighty as Capital, where chapters or sections should be discussed in more digestible chunks.I tend to prefer as few limits or moderation as possible. So, I think some of the suggestions made above might restrict the discussion a little. In particular, I don't think we need to restrict membership or have too much active moderation of responses. We should probably post a few ground rules as a permanent thread on that section of the forum, though, such as reminders about relevance of comments, avoiding personal abuse etc. Hopefully common sense will guide most people.In terms of timescales, I think two weeks would be about the right length of time for a particular text to be discussed, with comments allowed right from when the thread opens. Perhaps threads about texts could be started on the 1st and the 15th of each month? A week or so before the start of a new text, the moderator would open a new thread to ask for suggestions and votes for the next one to be discussed. We'd then have that week to make suggestions or vote for a text someone else has suggested. A thread for an old text could be left open after its fortnight in the spotlight, in case anyone wants to add to it afterwards. After a while, we should have an interesting bank of threads about different texts. It would be nice to occasionally discuss films or TV programmes as well as written texts (as long as they would be able to elicit enough meaty discussion, which might be a rarity).
I like the idea of a separate forum section for discussing texts. I'm not sure if it should be called 'Socialist Book Club', though, as this might suggest restricting it to 'socialist' books. Some texts worth discussing might not merit the 'socialist' tag. I don't think we need a separate committee to set the texts, though. It would be fairer for anyone to make suggestions, and the first five or so received are then voted for. After a few days the text with the most votes gets discussed.
Thanks for the other suggestions. I tried to download the Perlman text at work, until a message came up saying that 'militant and extremist' websites were blocked!I'm very rusty on Hegel, so I'll try to make it to your talk on the 20th, Steve. I haven't got very far with Lukacs yet, and it'll be interesting to hear his definition of 'reality', following on from what you said.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'd forgotten about Perlman, so I'll look into his pamphlet. Lukacs gets more disappointing the more I read of his stuff. In the later preface to History and Class Consciousness he says that he rejected most of what's in the book, which doesn't inspire much confidence
Thanks for the interesting discussion and suggestions of texts. I remember reading the one about the SWP a few years ago, and it's very thorough and detailed. As others have said, the link between vanguardism and reformism seems to be in the patronising way that vanguardists think that reformism is the limit of working class understanding. Also, a vanguard isn't going to argue for anything beyond maintaining a society with leaders, as they would be arguing themselves out of a position of power. Truly revolutionary organisations advocate transferring power to the working class as a whole rather than another elite.
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I’ll look into other venues. There’s possibly Newman College, too, where we held a Summer School ten or so years ago. I’m not sure how many boxes it ticks, though, as it’s less straightforward to get to.I haven’t heard any more about the bloke at Harborne Hall, but I’ll try to find out.I hadn’t forgotten your great suggestion, Ray, and what I had in mind was closer to your ‘relationships’ idea. Perhaps ‘sexuality’ isn’t a broad enough theme to stretch to five talks, but ‘relationships’ is. Then, there would still be room for a talk about same-sex relationships, which I think should be included. Thanks for the idea!
Summer School’s over for another year, and hopefully everyone who battled their way through the rain to get there had a good time. I certainly did. Thanks very much to the other speakers for giving such clear and thought-provoking talks, and for taking the time and effort to put them together. The discussion after each session was lively and interesting, too. It’s not often enough that we get the chance to chat and chew over ideas together. Roll on 2013’s summer school (although I need a bit longer to recover from this one before I can think about next year’s!). Thanks are also due to Dave, for helping out with the publicity.
If you’d like to book a place, please let me know before the end of the weekend, as the venue have asked for a list of attendees. Many thanks.
There’ll be a debate about the Occupy Movement between Stair (SPGB) and Ian Barker (Occupy Norwich) at the Birmingham Summer School. Let me know if anyone would like more informaiton about coming along, or see here:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/event/summer-school-6th-8th-july-2012-birmingham
Sounds like an interesting agenda! I’m not sure yet if I’ll drive or get the train, but I’ll have a think and let you know, Paddy.
Here’s another reminder of this year’s Summer School. please let me know if you’re interested in attending.
There are some works I’d include on the list, such as E M Forster’s ‘The Machine Stops’ and John Christopher’s ‘Tripods’ quadrilogy. And if they qualify as sci-fi (which they probably don’t, although they have some sci-fi elements), Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ and Anna Bowman Dodd’s ‘ The Republic of the Future’.
Does anyone have any contacts with potential speakers within the Occupy movement? I’ve sent a couple of e-mails to them asking about this for Summer School, but haven’t had a reply. I might have more luck if I can get in touch with a particular person. Rather than posting personal details on an open forum, could anyone e-mail me at spgbschool@yahoo.co.uk. Thanks.P.S. The publicity campaign for Summer School will be starting fairly soon…
Hydra Books in Bristol run events several times a month and host meetings as well (including those of the IWW and AF). It might be worth seeing if they would host an ‘introduction to the SPGB’-type event. I’ll ask about it when I’m there on 5th January. On that evening there’s a ‘meet the author’ event, where ‘Clive Hendry’ will be discussing homeless hostels and trying to flog copies of his book.
