Part of the World Socialist Movement
November 6, 2018
“Recessions,” “Slumps,” or “Crises,” as they are variously referred to, are now accepted as a quite regular part of economic life. Politicians now rationalise such crises, describing them as a “necessary pain” to be endured every so often. Ultimately, it is the economy that controls politicians and not the other way around. What is an …
“It’s a nice idea but it will never happen” is one of the most common responses to the suggestion that it is in our interests to work towards building a socialist society. The assumption is that socialism will rely upon everybody being altruistic, sacrificing their own interests for those of others. But socialism would actually …
The extent to which malnourishment and death from starvation still pervades human society is made clear by statistics, such as the following: In 1994, the United Nations estimated that one eighth of people were actually starving.(1) “Millions are constantly hungry; while others suffer from deficiency diseases and from infections they would be able to resist …
Should we vote in a new government? Or should we link up with the struggle to usher in a democratic society? We are being asked to elect a new government through what is said to be a democratic process. It is true that the vote, together with other hard-won rights such as the rights of …
Contents What is human nature? The facts of life How did we get here? Anti-Social Darwinism Genes for everything? Behaviour and socialism What is human nature? Socialists want to see come into being a new system of society based on the common ownership and democratic control by all the people of productive resources, with …
How often do we hear it said “It’s only human nature?” And mostly about an anti-social piece of behaviour, as if it couldn’t be avoided? Curiously, it is not often said about the best things that people can do. On hearing that someone has risked their life to save another, for some reason we are …
Is a change in the basis of society from one of minority class ownership to one of common ownership against human nature? Are human beings naturally lazy, aggressive, hostile to one another? Or are we by nature friendly and co-operative, ready to help others when they are in trouble and share what we have with …
Socialism will be a society based upon production for use. But what does this mean? How could this work and what part could be played by information technology in socialism? When describing the new society they are working for, socialists frequently encounter the question of “how will it work?”. Questioners often assume that only with …
The organised slaughter has begun. It is now clear that this was always the intention of Bush, the nominal head of US capitalism, and his British counterpart, Blair. They cynically allowed the diplomatic wrangling to go on at the UN so as to buy them time to get their forces massing on the borders of …
“What the Pentagon has done with this is sound military conceptual planning.” This was the US Secretary Colin Powell commenting on the leaked 50 page Pentagon report entitled: “Nuclear Posture Review”—proof, if ever it was needed, that the lunatics have finally taken over the asylum. What was so special about this “Review”? It contained contingency …