Left Unity.org / People’s Assembly
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jpodcaster wrote:TV broadcast? When is it being shown?
The BBC have informed us that our Party Election Broadcast will be shown on Monday 12 May at 22.35 on BB1 (Wales) and at 23.20 on BBC2 (Wales). Presumably this will be after the local news.ITV (Wales) has indicated they will be showing it on Tuesday 6 May but haven't yet confirmed or given a time.The BBC have also told us that it will be on BBC online the day after. So we will be able to use it in the rest of the campaign in South East Region as well as in Wales.Almost certainly it will be uploaded to YouTube as well.
gnome wrote:ITV (Wales) has indicated they will be showing it on Tuesday 6 May but haven't yet confirmed or given a time.They have just confirmed that it will be broadcast after the News at Ten, only on ITV (Wales) presumably after the local news, but maybe you can get that in the West Country.
jpodcaster wrote:TV broadcast? When is it being shown? As a former Green Party member I found their election broadcast last night a bit cringeworthy to be honest …Out of interest what would you consider a success in terms of % vote for the SPGB in the SE and Wales? I know its more about contacts and raising awareness but genuinely interested in what you would consider a 'breakthrough'?A "breakthrough" in terms of votes is not even part of this election campaign strategy. Nevertheless, this election campaign is a breakthrough in respect of reaching a far wider audience than anything we have done previously. How many responses we achieve in terms of: internet clicks; postal enquiries; attendance at meetings; etc, only time will tell.However, we are aware from past experience with the election campaigns we've run in the North East and elsewhere that once you hit the election trail you have to stick with it and sustain our efforts. Hence, our current focus on contesting elections in London.Hopefully, the comrades in Wales will be the next to apply this strategy by contesting some of the seats in the Welsh Government elections and also some local elections where our limited resources are not stretched to the extent of unsustainability.
If this is a breakthrough of some kind, and I hope it is, and if you get a positive response, and I hope you do, then the people you'll have to thank are those who are starting to make a left voice credible again by making it a part of the national consciousness, particularly in the mass media. So, Owen Jones, to take probably the most important example; the late Bob Crow, to take another; and, to a much lesser extent but maybe significant extent, Left Unity. You're welcome!
You're having a giraffe aren't you, Stuart ? Nah, this is all our own work and we've got nothing to thank the 'left' for.In fact if it hadn't been for the confusion, diversions and machinations caused by the 'left' over all these past years we'd have been much further down the road than we are today.For the unequivocal socialist case see here:http://www.canterburytimes.co.uk/Socialist-GB/story-21023599-detail/story.html
I don’t suppose it’s possible to settle the dispute by appeal to the evidence, as I don’t suppose there is any. But my view – that a general population-wide openness to left ideas,in part created by the work of voices in the mass media, leads to openness to all left ideas more generally – seems more reasonable than yours (that about 50 people slogging away over 100 years are finally seeing the fruits of their labour). Also, didn’t the SPGB exist before the left, as defined by you, even got started? That would seem to speak against your idea that you’d be doing just fine if it wasn’t for them.
stuartw2112 wrote:That would seem to speak against your idea that you'd be doing just fine if it wasn't for them.Not at all. Don't forget the Labour Party came into existence just two years after the SPGB was formed and In 1918, under the influence of the Fabians, adopted a new constitution that included the now rejected Clause Four. This clause in fact committed it not to socialism, but to state capitalism which was the real aim of the Fabians. But the seeds of confusion had been sown and for many, many years the Labour Party referred to itself as a 'socialist' party.Then there were the events of 1917 in another part of the world which contributed, and still does, to an immense misunderstanding about what socialism actually meant.No, we have nothing to thank the 'left' and the bogus 'socialists' for; absolutely zilch.
"starting to make a left voice credible again by making it a part of the national consciousness,"I think Adam has made a point several times of crediting Occupy and Russel Brand with bringing revolution back into vogue. Other members have full-heartedly agreed with him My opinion? Perhaps Fox News by describing everything Obama has done as "socialist"!!But for a time i thought there was indeed a real movement for real change, not so much because of high-profile individuals but by what i was hearing around me and it began with the Liverpool Dockers/Reclaim the Streets when my union branch would send folk, the 2003 Iraq War when i found i didn't need to convince people it was a war for oil, 2005 anti-G8 and Make Poverty/Capitalism History- talk about a broad church grassroots organisation…it literally was!!!… Occupy, …And yes, LU, Look back at some of my posts here and Libcom and you'll see long before LU i was linking to a trend to reallign on the Left,As for what i think would be good result…simply knowing that more people are aware of our existence, much less vote for us …even if it is only our name !! The better result would be people actually aware of what we stand for, even partly…And the cream would be if they learned how we are different from the Left !!!!If we had the resources a gallop poll of before and after just to see if publicity is gained would have been marvellous.
Well, if that's your view, you're welcome to it. You do know what it sounds like to a neutral observer though, don't you? It's the kind of thing people knock on your door to tell you. I just hope you don't put anything of the kind into your election broadcast, and focus instead on your criticism of capitalism and vision of the alternative.
jpodcaster wrote:Bit of a liberal use of the word 'some' there Jon – 1 or 2 at most?
Anyone know why there are no SPGB candidates in the South-West constituency for the Euros?
jondwhite wrote:Allow me to try and stop the going round in circles of the old favourite semantic song 'Do you know 'one true socialism'? No but if you hum it I can try and play the tune'.It looks like with the left in disarray, as I predicted on page 36 (post #357) some lefties are considering voting SPGB.http://www.theleftvote.org.uk/?page_id=473http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/left-candidates-in-the-may-elections.323112/Well, maybe it was a bit of a liberal use of the word, but today's Weekly Worker have announced they are calling on workers to vote SPGB.http://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/1008/cpgb-aggregate-left-strategy-and-election-tacticsTheir article says 'a critical vote for the SPGB in Wales'.http://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/1008/eu-elections-trying-to-vote-internationalist
Which begs the question – will the SPGB be rejecting this call on the grounds that they only want votes from committed socialists?
Quote:Well, maybe it was a bit of a liberal use of the word, but today's Weekly Worker have announced they are calling on workers to vote SPGB.http://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/1008/cpgb-aggregate-left-strategy-and-election-tacticsTheir article says 'a critical vote for the SPGB in Wales'.http://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/1008/eu-elections-trying-to-vote-internationalistClause 7 of the Declaration of Principles states 'That as all political parties are but the expression of class interests, and as the interest of the working class is diametrically opposed to the interests of all sections of the master class, the party seeking working class emancipation must be hostile to every other party.'The SPGB does not want votes unless you understand and want what the SPGB wants, especially if you are organised into a political party for a different political objective.See my letter in the same issuehttp://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/1008/letters
Without side-tracking the thread, there is an opportunity in the letters page for someone to challenge another correspondent on socialism/communism who made this statement:"the problem is that the Stalinists chose to designate the outcome of the proletarian revolution as ‘socialism’ "We all know that Lenin in State and Revolution, who redefined the terms, not Stalin, who understood them perfectly well back in 1906 in his Socialism and Anarchism article.I'm already engaged in an active exchange of letters in the WW so cannot really respond but it is worth pointing out as a simple clarification/correction.
Can someone explain the procedure for responding to the letters page. Each time I click on 'respond to this letter' another window (labelled Account Wizard) appears requesting me to set-up an account. What should I do next?
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