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Regarding ‘landslides’ and first-past-the-post, Thomas More may benefit from reading:
‘Labour election result most distorted in history’:
I am looking forward to seeing in the Weekly Worker a more SPGB-orthodox reply to Mike Macnair (re SPGB / ‘petty-proprietor classes’ / ‘forced collectivation’) than what is provided in this week’s issue by by SPGB-sympathiser Louis Shawcross of County Down.
If it were just semi-Turnerist (?) it would be one thing, but then he had to go on to: ‘externally generated frequencies that have been developing since at least the 1950s, which can plant thoughts and perceptions in the minds of people (see the work of Neil Sanders, to give but one)’.
Unless I missed it, I have not seen in the election-threads mention of the Septics (i.e. the David North brand of Trotskyism).
They’re standing two candidates. One in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire. One in Holborn and St Pancras.
Here’s the party’s election manifesto, but there’s nothing much in it that you wouldn’t otherwise have seen on their site:
The civil war in anarchism over Ukraine is not in the least new news. From February of 2022–
‘British Anarchism Succumbs to War Fever’:
https://libcom.org/article/british-anarchism-succumbs-war-feverAnd here is the most recent installment from just three days ago. In it, the term ‘Natopolitan anarchist’ is liberally applied.
‘War on Anarchism — A response to two articles by Wayne Price in the anarchist journal Black Flag.’:
https://libcom.org/article/war-anarchism-bill-beechIn case anyone wants to read it, the 2004 Weekly Worker article to which imposs1904 refers is here: https://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/533/100-years-of-solitude
And here is the verdict of the ICC. (Not the court!) Aside from blowing its own trumpet (and banging others over the head with it) just a bit, it provides useful information.
https://en.internationalism.org/content/17524/activism-barrier-political-clarification
Following the pre-congress CWO article whose url is given above, there has now appeared a post-congress comment. Its first paragraph is about the organisational/venue chaos. The second two paragraphs are of political content:
‘From a political point of view, the real divide that emerged was between the activists who were looking for immediate solutions on how to stop the war, and those with a class struggle orientation who had a more long term perspective and understood wars, as a product of the capitalist system, can only be ended by the mass struggle of workers.
However, it wasn’t all a waste of time. Over the week, many good conversations were had (particularly in smaller groups, in pubs, cafes, etc.). Experiences were shared and links were made between organisations and individuals from many different countries. Above all, seeing internationalists of various tendencies join forces to basically improvise their own congress was heartening. We all tried to make the best of a bad situation and it drew us closer together. In that sense, we are glad we went.’
Excellent letters from Adam Buick (2) and Robin Cox (1) in Weekly Worker issues 1491 (AB) and 1493 (RC/AB).
Today is Thursday and there should be a new WW. Let’s hope someone will feel provoked into responding to them.
And here is the ICC’s review of that same Saito book:https://en.internationalism.org/content/17488/critique-saitos-degrowth-communism
Can I look forward to the Keith Scholey talk on the SPGB and the Spanish Civil War being put online?
Recent interview with 87-year-old Israeli anarchist Ilan Shalif:
https://libcom.org/article/interview-israeli-anarchist-ilan-shalif
In case it might be of interest, I see that Vygotsky-enthusiast Andy Blunden last year published a book titled ‘Activity Theory — A critical overview’, the table of contents of which is here:
DJP wrote: ‘It’s a shame Reich re-wrote his early books to incorporate his later theories. I wonder what the first edition of Mass Psychology was like. I don’t think it has been translated into English?’
It seems not, and the original (ie pre-orgone) Mass Psychology of Fascism has only recently become available again (freely, at that) in German: https://www.psychosozial-verlag.de/2940
imposs1904:
Here, Lew recommended a specific, free VPN:https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/forum/topic/bbc-licence-fee-set-to-be-axed/#post-225675
‘German guiltwashing in times of genocide’:https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/2/27/german-guiltwashing-in-times-of-genocide , in which:
‘The message of the guiltwashers is clear: Germany alone is exceptional in its stance against anti-Semitism. Germany alone is fit to judge anti-Semitism. Germany, in opposing the exceptionalism of the Nazi era, is today exceptional once again but, of course, in a different and supposedly progressive way.
The sheer lack of self-awareness would be amusing if it were not so tragic and if its consequences were not so disastrous. Various Jewish authors and scholars have repeatedly pointed out the anti-Semitic nature of this guiltwashing approach.
“We have a form of anti-Semitism … that is not even addressed as anti-Semitism, and it is the collective silencing of Jewish voices that do not abide by the dominant discourse in Germany,” Emilia Roig, a Jewish French scholar and writer, said at a December event in Berlin.
According to Jewish writer and researcher Emily Dische-Becker, a third of those who have been “cancelled” in Germany for alleged anti-Semitism (i.e. expressing solidarity with the Palestinians) have been Jews, including descendents of Holocaust survivors.’
