Mike Foster
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#IWantARevolution is ‘trending’ on Twitter following Keir Starmer apparently saying that this isn’t what people want. Unfortunately, for a lot of people on Twitter, “I want a revolution” seems to mean “I wish Corbyn was PM”.
I’d say that a socialist society would still need places to detain people who should be separated from the rest of the population, including some paedophiles and murderers. These places would be more like hospitals than prisons, with an emphasis on rehabilitation, and their remit would be decided democratically. Similarly, some people may have to be monitored in the community, more from a ‘medical’ perspective than from an ‘enforcement’ one, in a democratically-managed framework. A socialist society would promote people’s development in ways which would mean that very few people would end up requiring such interventions, hopefully.
As for whether a paedophile could be a member of the Socialist Party, they may understand the political and economic ideology, but their disorder involves unhealthy and damaging relationships, which I’d say don’t fit with a socialist mindset.What’s the difference between state capitalism and free market capitalism?
In state capitalism, people exploit other people. In free market capitalism, it’s the other way around.I agree with that we/the WSPUS should try to arrange a debate, as well as publishing a response.
It’s good that our views are getting critiqued wider afield, but not so good that the criticism is based on a misinterpretation!Three of us met up in Oxford for yesterday’s Cop26 rally, which had a mile-long route along one of the main roads into the city centre. Where the march ended, there were a few speakers from fringe groups as well as mainstream parties, calling for ‘climate justice’ (whatever that means) and futile appeals to those in charge. There were plenty of Extinction Rebellion banners, along with those from left wing and green groups. This newspaper article https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19699884.oxford-activists-bring-traffic-halt-cop26-climate-march/ estimates around 3,000 people were there, which seems a bit high, and if true means that we gave leaflets to around 10% of those attending. Fingers crossed we’ll get some decent responses!
Tomorrow (20th) is the deadline for Summer School bookings! There are only a few places left, so any bookings should be made soon.
And here are details of the other session being held at this year’s Summer School:
Richard Field’s talk is titled ‘Socialist Recipes’
Marx was famously shy of writing recipes for future cook shops, and since no one of us is in a position to legislate for the actions of others we can appreciate his reasons. Yet is this refusal a realistic possibility for us today? Fellow workers constantly demand explanations of how a future society will work and will not be put off by a shrug of the shoulders or a few generalised remarks about common ownership. How should we answer? There is no inevitability in the matter. Humanity makes its own history, and socialists in the process of building a post-capitalist society will make choices based on what they believe to be possible and desirable. The success of the socialist project will rest in some measure on the choices made. So what arguments can we make now to ensure a positive outcome?For more information, including how to make a booking, see earlier messages on this thread. The deadline for bookings will be on 20th July (or before if all the places go). Hopefully the event can run without any Covid-related restrictions, and I’m liaising regularly with the venue about this.
Here are details of another session at Summer School:
Leon Rozanov will ask ‘Do utopias and works of sci-fi offer appealing visions of a socialist world?’
Science fiction literature and films often show how people see the future of our civilisation. But what they most often portray is a failed, utterly cruel or a dying world being ruined by either capitalism, environmental degradation, or some mix of the two. When there is a rare utopia among a swarm of dystopian cyberpunk, it usually presents a primitive pastoralist / agrarian society with some features of anarchist or socialist principles but no real vision of socialist cooperation on the worldwide scale. Are there any works of fiction that offer a vision of an appealing and realistic future socialist society where one really wants to start living right away? Let’s try and find out.Another Summer School session can be confirmed!
Glenn Morris will present ‘New News From Nowhere’:
In 1890 William Morris wrote the utopian novel ’News from Nowhere’ in which a one William Guest fell asleep and awoke in a socialist society. Ignored and denounced by some Marxists as being too backward looking as it tended to shun technology over an agricultural lifestyle, it nevertheless painted a contemporary picture of a life without money, property and class. Although a huge subject to explore, were it to be covered thoroughly, Glenn will focus on a few areas of what life in a socialist society might look like today over 100 years since Morris’ novel.For more information, visit https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/summer-school-2021/
Please note that the deadline for bookings is 20th July.I’m happy to confirm details of another Summer School session.
Carla Dee will facilitate an evening of ‘Town Planning For Socialist Living’
What could a town high street, village or city look like in a post-capitalist world? What would or wouldn’t be needed and wanted? This is your chance to be designers and planners of our new world – all you need bring to this session is your imagination.For more details of the event and how to make a booking, please see my previous post.
I’m pleased to announce one of the sessions at the ‘After the Revolution: Life in a Socialist World’ Summer School, being held on 6th – 8th August at Fircroft College in Birmingham.
Paddy Shannon will speak on ‘Socialist Decision Making And The Rule Of 3’:
For a hundred years and for a dozen practical reasons, the World Socialist Movement has favoured delegate democracy as the decision-making model most likely to be adopted in a future socialist society. But that was before modern online communications made direct democracy a real possibility. But though attractive in theory, it sounds like chaos in practice. Who would get to vote on what, and on whose say-so? Would people end up in so many meetings and votes every day that nothing ever got done in reality, the ‘death-by-democracy’ scenario predicted by some opponents of socialism? One can envisage a mountain of rules and exceptions the size of Everest in order to make such a system workable, especially if practised across the globe. But actually the entire thing might be managed by the application of just three rules a small child could understand, backed by the same ethical principle that applies across every other sphere of socialist life: from each according to ability, to each according to need.Further sessions will be announced soon! The event will also include an exhibition, exclusive publication and bookstall. Hopefully, the weekend will be able to run without any restrictions due to the pandemic, but this will depend on the situation at the time. Details of how to make a booking can be found here: http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/summer-school-2021/ Please note that the closing date for bookings will be 20th July, or earlier if all places are filled. If you have any questions, please email spgbschool [at] yahoo.co.uk
