Report of public discussion with TZM
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On 22 July 38 people attended a meeting in Hammersmith, London, between the Socialist Party, as part of the World Socialist Movement, and the Zeitgeist Movement.
There was agreement that the only framework within which the main problems facing humanity could be solved was one where the resources of the Earth had become the common heritage of all and so wealth could be produced and distributed without the need for money. We call it “world socialism”. ZM call it a “resource-based economy”.
In the first session, on what was wrong with the present economic system, both speakers agreed that it had a built-in tendency to uncontrolled “growth” which was having a detrimental effect on the environment. Dick Field, for the Party, explained this tendency as being due to the competitive struggle for profits between capitalist firms leading to the accumulation of more and more capital out of the profits they extracted from the workforce. Francesco, for ZM, argued that it was due to the need to pay interest to banks on money they had created, the money to pay which could only be found by borrowing more from the banks; so we were debt-slaves. Although ZM did not advocate monetary reform to mitigate this, he personally was in favour of it as a transitional measure towards a money-free society.
In the discussion Party members challenged the view that banks had the power to create money out of thin air.
In the second session, on how to get from here to there, Adam Buick, for the Party, said that a gradual evolution was not possible; there had to be a decisive and more or less rapid break with capitalism, to be brought about by the political action of the majority in society acting in their own interest. Steve Duffield, for ZM, said that ZM saw its role as to inform people of the situation, confident that they would see what the solution was. ZM was not a political party and did not advocate reformism or electoral action. People could begin to change things now by changing their lifestyle to rely less on money and consumerism.
In the discussion, ZM members challenged the view that the new society could be voted in. Party members replied that what was important was to have a majority in favour and that it would be foolish to try to change society while leaving political power in the hands of the minority who benefited from capitalism. The vote was merely a tool to use to win political control.
Photos of the meeting here:-http://www.meetup.com/The-Socialist-Party-of-Great-Britain/photos/9841972/
Film of the meeting here:-http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF6964B75F7B0F16C
gnome wrote:Film of the meeting here:-http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF6964B75F7B0F16CAnd now added to our video page – http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/video
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