Socialist Party Head Office
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Manchester branch report:
“A Manchester branch member distributed 95 antiwar leaflets at a smaill-ish demo in Bolton today.
Another member had intended to attend but was prevented from doing so by rail service disruption.”James, we are having a leaflet done to give out at demonstrations and meetings about the war. If you would like some to distribute can you contact Head Office: spgb[at]worldsocialism.org to let us know how many.
A sympathiser has sent in this contribution to this discussion:
I am Keir Starmer
a politician I may be
but I’m more a smarmy charmer
of that its plain to see
I’ll say whatever sounds good
to get myself on top
But 3 years of my team
and the country will go pop
I’ve got no new ideas
plans or strategies
I’m helping these right wing tories
bring the workers to their knees
A vote for me is a vote for business
of that you can be assured
The clue you see is in my name
I’m actually a Lord
So dont expect no changes or improvements
to your life
It’ll be much more of the same thing
lots of trouble and
lots of strifeDamian McCarthy
James, as you are in the Londoon area can you contact Head Office (spgb[at]worldsocialism.org) about leafletting the Uxbridge constituency during the by-election there on 20 July. We are not contesting but London branch wants to distribute the Party’s “It’s not the Tories or Labour that’s the problem. It’s capitalism” leaflet. It would be between now and 19 July if you are able to help.
[Transferred from Comments Section]
The UK government is making a huge issue out of the fact that refugees keep coming in ‘small boats’ across the English Channel. They bemoan that it’s costing £6 million per day to accommodate them. This is a problem that’s entirely manufactured by the government. First, because the only reason refugees are coming in ‘small boats’ is because the government has refused them entry by other safe means. So many lives could have been saved and could still be saved, if only refugees could apply safely for refugee status. This avenue has been denied by the government. Second, because if the Home Office had it’s house in order, refugees would be processed within a few weeks – not years – of arrival. Thus avoiding the cost and despair of putting them in the cost and anguish of sub standard accommodation. Let’s not forget that something like 90% of refugees are legally eventually permitted to stay. The result of the government’s incompetence (?)is that refugees from war, torture, persecution and death are treated like prisoners, to be sent to container ships/cheap and dodgy rooms until deportation. At huge cost to the taxpayer apparently (that’s another subject). I’m just leading up to this point: if a so-called ‘liberal democracy’ is incapable of treating refugees with compassion, is it a system worth supporting? Another point – who profits from this inhumane treatment of refugees? Here’s a clue – not you or me. (It’s given that it doesn’t profit the refugee.) And finally, I cannot help but compare the government’s treatment of today’s refugees with capitalism’s historic treatment of slaves, servants and workers.
PaulaA comrade has sent Head Office this email:
An interesting perspective on Ukraine sent from a friend in Australia
No wonder Russia wants to get their hands on it (again)Today, here is how Ukraine ranks in Europe and the world:
1st in Europe in proven recoverable reserves of uranium ores;
2nd place in Europe and 10th place in the world in terms of titanium ore reserves;
2nd place in the world in terms of explored reserves of manganese ores (2.3 billion tons, or 12% of the world’s reserves);
2nd largest iron ore reserves in the world (30 billion tons);
2nd place in Europe in terms of mercury ore reserves;
3rd place in Europe (13th place in the world) in shale gas reserves (22 trillion cubic meters)
4th in the world by the total value of natural resources;
7th place in the world in coal reserves (33.9 billion tons)Ukraine is an agricultural country:
1st in Europe in terms of arable land area;
3rd place in the world by the area of black soil (25% of world’s volume);
1st place in the world in exports of sunflower and sunflower oil;
2nd place in the world in barley production and 4th place in barley exports;
3rd largest producer and 4th largest exporter of corn in the world;
4th largest producer of potatoes in the world;
5th largest rye producer in the world;
5th place in the world in bee production (75,000 tons);
8th place in the world in wheat exports;
9th place in the world in the production of chicken eggs;
16th place in the world in cheese exports.Ukraine can meet the food needs of 600 million people.
Ukraine is an industrialized country:
1st in Europe in ammonia production;
2-е Europe’s and 4th largest natural gas pipeline system in the world (142.5 bln cubic meters of gas throughput capacity in the EU);
3rd largest in Europe and 8th largest in the world in terms of installed capacity of nuclear power plants;
3rd place in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of rail network length (21,700 km);
3rd place in the world (after the U.S. and France) in production of locators and locating equipment;
3rd largest iron exporter in the world
4th largest exporter of turbines for nuclear power plants in the world;
4th world’s largest manufacturer of rocket launchers;
4th place in the world in clay exports
4th place in the world in titanium exports
8th place in the world in exports of ores and concentrates;
9th place in the world in exports of defence industry products;
10th largest steel producer in the world (32.4 million tons).Report from Glasgow Branch:
On Thursday 4th of November I met up with comrade Peter Hendrie to collect pamphlets for distribution to this end comrade Hendrie had already been active in his home town of East Kilbride. On Saturday morning, I teamed up with comrade Andy Malone and we proceeded to distribute pamphlets and discuss the party case around Glasgow’s George Square. Unfortunately, due to the incessant rain this confined our activity to the partial shelter afforded at the entrance to Queen St Station. (Police wouldn’t allow distribution inside) but after two hours of relentless rain, we reluctantly headed home.
On Monday we had the pleasure of meeting up with fellow members at the Queen St location which comrade Paul Edwards, also in attendance, had secured for the party. Well, done Paul!
The Gazebo provided a welcome shelter from the still relentless rain but we still managed to dispense pamphlets and also engage people in discussion. Tuesday finally brought some relief from the rain, as did Wednesday, when we were more active in the surrounding streets, and after we finally packed up in the afternoon, we retired to a nearby hostelry where our travelling comrades had a well deserved meal, before we all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. In conclusion, with limited resources, we gave a good account of ourselves and it was a pleasure discussing with other people who were surprisingly willing to listen to our unique case, even on occasion buying a Standard!
Kent & Sussex Branch report:
In the areas of Folkestone we are contesting, most of 18,000 election leaflets have now gone out ahead of the postal vote distribution. The wording of the leaflet can be found here.
A second leaflet will be printed to go out nearer polling day.
Volunteers to assist are most welcome (but must observe Covid precautions) up to election day on 6th May (including bank holiday Monday).Please call Rob on 07971 715569 or email spgb.ksrb[at]worldsocialism.org
Reply by the article’s author to the original question.
It is certainly the case I did not define ‘what constitutes an individual’. When writing an article of a 1000 words or so for a magazine, defining all the terms used is not possible. Had this been a chapter in a book or a pamphlet, then perhaps such a more definitive course could have been pursued.
I presumed, and still do presume, most if not all reader have a working understanding of what the word ‘individual’ means, even if it is not always precisely the same. If the working class does not consist of millions, billions indeed, of individuals, then this suggests a person is little more than a component.
There is surely a dynamic between the material forces affecting the working class as a class and how individual workers respond to those forces. The dominant ideology of the ruling class does much to compromise workers’ responses and people don’t always react in predictable or expected ways.
The material conditions for the working class to consciously act of itself, for itself have existed for quite some time. However, in accordance with Marx I believe, it is people who make history, not the material conditions in themselves. This requires conscious action based on workers knowing what needs to change, why it needs to change and what is the purpose and goal of change.None of this suggests ‘magical praxis’, nor some esoteric substitution, for the struggle of ideas. Indeed, if the working class is to merely act without knowing why it is acting that is certainly anti-intellectual, the by-passing of the intellect. And the class can only know if its constituent parts, the individual workers, know: by what other method can the present prevailing ideology be understood, prevailed upon and overthrown?
The process of change will not entail a single blueprint everyone will simply follow. There will be debates, plans, counter-plans, successes and failures and all the messy arrangements and compromises contributing to the unfolding of a socialist future. I sincerely hope all who contribute to that process, the billions around the world, do so from a basis of knowledge, of knowing. My use of the word gnostic was rather tongue in cheek, but it does encapsulate the notion of profound understanding, an understanding forged through the class struggle around the prevailing material conditions.
D.A.
Critisticuffs has sent us their take on the election result and Trump’s refusal to concede gracefully as is usually expected:
https://critisticuffs.org/texts/never-gonna-give-you-up-trump-and-what-elections-are-for
“Having said which…’the birth of a biosecurity state guaranteed to mean the loss of civil liberties, wholesale’. Eh what? Was the email to HO from a party member?”
No, from somebody whose mailing we happen to be on.
Email received at Head Office, an example of the conspiracy theories circulating about this.
Create a false emergency and then offer a vaccine as the only solution. It’s a false emergency as Covid-19 only has a 0.23% infection fatality rate – on a power with flu. Of course, flu has mysteriously disappeared from view this year which begs the question whether we are mistaking Covid-19 for flu or lumping flu cases together with SARS-CoV-2 cases and thus hyping the figures. A vaccine is not the only option, and neither is it the panacea we are told it is. At least two recent scientific studies have shown the efficacy of using Vitamin D or Vitamin D analogues as a treatment for Covid-19. Similarly, with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), several recent studies show low dose HCQ is an effective treatment against Covid-19. But these conclusions are lost in the corporate scramble to make huge profits and herald the birth of a biosecurity state guaranteed to mean the loss of civil liberties, wholesale, and in the guise of protecting us. It’s always for our own good, is it not? Even if it ends with us all being loaded onto cattle trucks, we’ll believe it’ll be for our own good!Comment from comrade DAP who is not on this forum:
Yes, he hasn’t read that passage that says that as soon as money becomes inconvertible the position is effectively reversed!
While some of the other things he says are not that controversial, this is also odd:
‘Contrary to Adam Buick’s conception of inflation, all prices do not rise simultaneously, and in particular the price of labor power, wages, rises more slowly than commodity prices, improving business profitability.’
Firstly a general rise in the price level doesn’t mean every price rises at the same time or indeed at the same rate. In slumps in particular, some prices can still fall against the general trend.
But it’s the last part of that sentence that’s really odd – does he have any empirical evidence for it? Despite setbacks in recent times, we all know real wages have risen enormously since the inception of capitalism. But have commodity prices kept pace in real terms? There’s been a long term increase in average real commodity prices (presuming this is what he means) but it’s well behind long-term real wage growth in most advanced countries from what I’ve seen, though admittedly it’s difficult to get exact comparative data. Similarly business profitability (rate of profit?) hasn’t increased over the long-term, even if the accumulated stock of capital has increased hugely.
A Socialist in New Zealand has asked to circulate her comment on how coronavirus pandemic has been dealt with there. She is referring to a talk and discussion on “Covid and Civil Liberties” on Discord last Friday.
Great talk this morning, thank you. Sorry I had to miss a bit of it because my phone rang and I had to answer it.
I was on the speaking queue and was disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to tell you all about how New Zealand is coping with the pandemic.
It was alarming and saddening to hear how people overseas have resisted the lockdown and see it as a restriction on their freedom. Don’t they want to be kept safe? It is also very upsetting to hear about how some governments have imposed very strict and aggressive penalties on those who break the lockdown.
We never had anything like that over here. I think the difference is because of the way the Prime Minister and the director of health, Dr. Bloomfield, handled the situation and kept us all well informed every evening on the television. We were told to be kind to one another and help our elderly neighbours with shopping etc. We were told that we could go out for walks during the level 4 lockdown but had to keep social distancing and wear masks. People living alone could have another person in their “bubble” as long as that person was not mixing with anyone else. People who were struggling financially, like small-business owners to had to shut down for the duration were given Government subsidies to tide them over.
“Help” and “kindness” are the key words to describe our level 4. Our Prime Minister, Jacinda, told every child in New Zealand that the Easter Bunny was an essential worker but that he might not be able to get to everyone’s house this year. She suggested that we all draw pictures of Easter Eggs and put them in our windows to wish our neighbours a Happy Easter. She also told all the children that they could go out for walks with their parents and play on the sports fields as long as they didn’t get too close to another family. She asked everyone to put a teddy bear in their window so that children could spot them when out having a walk.
We went into level 4 lockdown before we had any fatalities and therefore we have fared better than most other countries.
My daughter’s partner, who is from Argentina, works for the Argentine embassy. When we went into lockdown there were 400 Argentinians stuck here. They had come over here for a summer holiday and then couldn’t get home. They had run out of their holiday money and couldn’t pay for food or accommodation. The Argentine government put money into their accounts to tide them over until we were out of lockdown when a plane was arranged to take them all from Auckland back to Argentina.
We are in level 1 now which means that most things are back to normal. There are some isolated cases in Auckland and Christchurch but they are contained in hotels which have been set aside as isolation units. We are being very careful not to let the virus escape around the country. Our borders will remain mostly closed but if overseas visitors want to come in they have to pre-book a place in one of the isolation hotels where they will have to stay for 2 weeks before they can start their holiday.I hope you can please circulate this information to those who were listening in to the talk this morning (Friday evening for you), as I would like them to understand how we are handling the pandemic in New Zealand.
Regards,
MOGGIE
