The concern of many people about the effects of globalisation is
justified.
Globalisation enables international companies to manipulate their
worldwide use of the cheapest and most defenceless labour to plunder
natural resources, to buy off local power groups and by-pass or corrupt
The UK government has announced that it intends to recommend the
downgrading of cannabis from a Class B to a Class C drug.
This would mean possession of it would be treated as is possession of
steroids and diazepam(which can be obtained legally) - making it unlikely
to be punished by prison.
REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALISM VERSUS LEFT-WING REFORMISM -- AN HISTORICAL
ACCOUNT
Saturday 17 November 11am - 4.30pm
Friends House, 173 Euston Rd, NW1, (opposite station)
11-12.15 Labouring in Vain - a brief history of Labour Party reformism
1.15-2.30 Leninism in Practice - The Russian
Book Reviews
Unholy Wars Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism,
299 pages, John K. Cooley, Pluto Press
This new edition of a book first published in 1999 provides a first rate
insight into the US relationship with militant Islam during and since the
Cold War and provides much
ALTERNATIVE TO WAR IS NOT PEACE, BUT
The refrain of war supporters, in every war, is Well, what would you do
instead?, whenever they are confronted by opponents. The typical
responses to this challenge fall into three general camps:
1) Woolly liberals who favour 'talking' and negotiation
UNNECESSARY RESISTANCE ?
Can we imagine a world in which resistance would be unnecessary since
there'd be nothing to resist - a world without oppression or poverty?
Why not?
The Earth already possesses enough resources to properly feed, clothe and
house every single man, woman and child on
BOOK REVIEW
Zinn on History by Howard Zinn, Seven Stories Press, New York, 2001.
You may be familiar with the work of the radical American historian and
activist, Howard Zinn. It includes the witty, humane play Marx in Soho, as
well as his magnificent Peoples Histories, of the United States and
BOOK REVIEW
Obsolete Communism. The Left-Wing Alternative. By Daniel Gabriel
Cohn-Bendit. AK Press, 2001. £12.
Books written by participants in events are always interesting if only
because they are part of the documentary evidence as to what happened. The
book by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who was
WAS IT SOCIALISM THAT DIED ?
Socialism has never been tried.
When it is tried it must be established globally.
World socialism can only be brought about democratically.
These three points are vital to any kind of an understanding of what
socialism means.
The idea that socialism has been
The comparison of capitalism and socialism
I've arrived at the following 20 points of contrast:
Production for profit -- Production to meet human need
Employment (employers- employees, unemployed and retired) -- Work (all
those fit enough volunteer services as preferred and needed)
Activities
WHO WE ARE
The Socialist Party is like no other political party. It is made up of
people who have joined together because we want to get rid of the profit
system and establish socialism.
Our aim is to persuade others to become socialists and act for themselves,
organising democratically and
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
The idea that human beings are naturally selfish, greedy or lazy cannot
survive a moment's critical thought
How often do we hear it said It's only human nature?
And mostly about some gross piece of behaviour as if it couldn't be
avoided?
Curiously, it is not often said about the best things
George W. Bush has said that the best way to keep peace is to redefine
war on his own terms. Our own war against Bush and his ilk, the class war,
needs no redefining.
Whatever the post-Taliban set-up in Afghanistan one thing is a forgone
conclusion. Any new government will have to be ready to
The events of 11 September have had many repercussions foremost amongst
them being a deepening of the financial insecurity pervading much of the
world economy. Nowhere has this been exemplified more than in the major
industrialised states at the heart of the capitalist system.
After the
The onset of recession across the developed world should really come as no
surprise in the capitalist economy bust inevitably follows boom just as
night follows day.
It would be fair to say that currently even the more astute of the various
business analysts and journalists who are paid to
The World Trade Organisation represents the interests of the capitalist
class and is a product of the lessons they have learned for protecting
their system
The World Trade Organisation is not to blame. Capitalism is. Although the
WTO has emblazoned itself in everyone's consciousness as the
Vast areas of the world, the post-colonial zones are still dedicated to
low value yielding primary products such as mono-crop agriculture and
mining. Most of the increased trade remains between the industrialised
manufacturing centres. The top five exporting states (EU, US, Japan,
Canada, China)
The call for a Tobin tax - a tax on financial transactions - is not
anti-capitalist, as some in the anti-globalisation movement seem to
think
It is all very well being against something but if this is to be anything
more than permanently protesting against some never-ending problem you've
got
What would happen would be the same as happened in Japan over interest
rates. The government there thought that what has been discouraging
investment was not low profit prospects but too high interest rates. So
they reduced short-term interest rates to zero but nothing happened.
They learned
It was good to hear of the anti-war demonstrations that took place
recently in cities around the world. It is heartening that many workers
are refusing to accept this latest march towards bloodshed, despite the
war propaganda blitzkrieg we have been subjected to.
However, we would say that
__
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A brief look at the Guardian's recent 'Giving List'
The Guardian issued a supplement entitled The Giving List detailing
which companies in Britain gave most and least to charity. It comes as no
surprise that business donated £0.68bn whilst the general public gave
£4.3bn. The business of
As vilification of the Taliban regime gears up, with the western leaders
taking the moral high ground (and conveniently forgetting the assistance
they gave to the Taliban and islamic extremism in general), another
example of state repression continues unnoticed.
That is the situation in Chechnya
A brief look at the Guardian's recent 'Giving List'
Among all the league tables and the sport of naming and shaming there is a
comparative newcomer the Giving List. In the US since 1996 a league
table known as the Slate 60 of the top American philanthropists has been
published on the
No, not the hate-filled hijackers and murderers who killed thousands of
our
brothers and sisters in New York last month.
The other ones - the aviators of the US armed forces, who have completed
what the Soviet military and no end of squalid little Afghan factions
could
not - to level Afghanistan
The weakness of the anti-war movement is that the majority want nothing
more than a return to capitalist peace rather than the overthrow of the
system that causes war
According to the Guardian government ministers were genuinely surprised at
the estimated 40,000 plus demonstrators who turned out
The first war of the 21st Century was how Bush has described the events
sparked off by the suicide and murderous attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on 11 September. A
chilling reminder that, under capitalism, things are going to be no
different this
The West's reaction has been revealing. A grand coalition is being
organised to combat terrorism. But not terrorism in general. The Western
powers are not concerned about the Tamil Tigers or ETA or the IRA or the
various South American guerrilla groups.
They are out to get Islamic
By taking the state propaganda at face value, and focussing on this war as
a singular event, rather than a manifestation of historically arrived-at
social relations, peace protestors are left with nothing more than vapid
hopes.
In ignoring this, they lose sight of the fact that we live in an
The proverbial line has been drawn in the sand and President George W Bush
has told the world either you're with us or you're against us. It's a
catch-all sentiment that is taking hold. Which side are you on, ours or
the terrorists? It's that simple, I've been told on the streets!
The mainstream
Lenin stood for state capitalism and argued that socialist democracy is in
no way inconsistent with the rule and dictatorship of one person. Was
Lenin a Marxist?
Marx and his co-worker, Engels, consistently argued that socialism (or
communism, they used the terms interchangeably) could only
Post-Czarist Russia was a backward poorly developed and largely feudal
country where the industrial proletariat was a relatively small minority.
To suggest that Russia could undergo a socialist revolution (as Lenin did
in 1917) is a complete denial of the Marxist view of history. Indeed,
Capitalism is a sick society and we do not hesitate to say so. Nor do we
hesitate to say that Tony Blair and David Blanket from the Labour
government (or alternatively William Hague and Ann Widdecombe from the
Conservatives) could double the number of police on the streets and
quadruple the
Happy New Year we all said to one another on New Year's Eve. Even though
we meant it sincerely what are the chances of it becoming a reality?
Looking back to the year just passing, 2001 will be remembered for one
really major and horrific event (11 September) plus others whose
significance is
-Well, this is it!
This is what?
-The new year in the brand new century a row of virginal 0s waiting to
be filled in.
So what?
-So . . . so, it's time to take stock.
Of what?
-Of where we are . . . who we are. History.
Bollocks!
The first thing to realise is that
YES UTOPIA ! we have the technology. Ron Cook. Self published.
Available on-line at www.nospine.com. £1, $1.50; or as a 191-page
paperback produced to order by the author for £5 plus postage (£1.50 UK,
£3 overseas). Order from Ron Cook, 11 Dagger Lane, West Bromwich B71 4BT
(cheques, sterling
The euro debate is a dispute between rival sections of the capitalist
class and is of no concern to workers.
On 1 January in 12 of the 15 countries of the European Union new notes and
coins came into circulation. After a shortish transition period these will
replace existing francs, marks,
Who knows what the next year will bring?
Could be better than 2001. It could hardly be worse! Maybe this will be
the year when governments come to their senses and say, That's enough
of war - in future we'll all get on well together and destroy all the
bombs. Multinational companies will stop
For plenty of workers 2002 will be a horrible year.
Many will have jobs they hate, but are desperate not to lose. Others will
have no job and will face another year of the hassle and hardship that
entails. Some will have no homes. Thousands will be living in cold and
damp conditions.
Those
Dogs, specifically the domesticated kind , are nature's sycophants. They
beg. They perform tricks upon command. Their tails wag upon the merest pat
from their masters. They are ever loyal. They know their place.
Dogs do not reject their masters. As a canine Lenin might have observed,
the
Nobody likes a bully unless he has a medal on. Her Majesty's well-paid
bully-boy, ready to blow to pieces any stranger his masters set him upon.
Bullies in uniform.
At least the street bully, thuggish and anti-social as he is, acts from
self-interest. Beat up that old woman frighten
Sunday morning at nine o'clock and the day begins. For some this is the
Lord's Day. Like calves on a day trip to France or Belgium they make their
weary ways in ever-decreasing numbers to the Houses of Ignorance where
they close their eyes, fall to their knees and heave the impotent sigh of
the
Arriving home after a weary day of canvassing for The Extremely Normal
Common Sense Party, Mr Cedric Opinion-Poll climbed out of his Ford
Average, entered his regulation-size, semi-detached house in
Ordinariville, and settled down to read the morning mail. He had left home
early for his day as a
The number 24 bus is not known in the records of classical legend as the
site of miracles. Nobody on the number 24 bus route has ever turned water
into wine (although later at night cans of Fosters have been seen to turn
to urine) and rarely have moving statues been seen occupying the seats
Sitting alone in an Indian restaurant has its pros and cons. The most
obvious advantage is the lack of any polite requirement to share dishes.
Leave such selfless collectivism to Methodist picnics. The confused belief
that socialists favour everyone dipping into the same trough comes from
the
Blah, blah; blah, blah; Blair, Blair. I have decided that a change is as
good as a rest and it is time to commit ourselves to utterly platitudinous
clichés. Away with this talk of bosses, wage slaves and unseemly class
struggles. What politics needs today is a good dose of empty rhetoric
and by
The common belief that prisons are full of dangerously anti-social people
from whom the rest of us must be protected is a lie. It is a lie so
popular that even to question it is deemed to be an act of the wildest
utopianism. We are taught to regard the imprisonment of the few as some
kind of
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