Socialist Standard Past & Present Blog

[imposs1904]

On this day in history in 1938 George Orwell’s memoir from the Spanish Civil War, The Homage to Catalonia, was published.

Posted below is a link to a selection of articles and book reviews from the Socialist Standard covering both Orwell and the Spanish Civil War:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/04/i-hoped-he-liked-me-as-well-as-i-liked.html

[imposs1904]

SPGB politics turn up in the strangest of places. (Joking.)

Stumbled across this old article by Howard Moss the other day. I remember reading it originally back in 1990/91. So long ago. Where has the time gone? More importantly, where’s my hairline gone?

I thought list members would find it of interest.

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/05/anarchism-no-state-no-market-by-howard.html

[imposs1904]

During the discussion period of Keith Scholey’s talk on the SPGB and the Spanish Civil War last Friday, I mentioned an article from 1937 on the conflict which appeared in the New York journal, The International Review. The people involved with the IR were the same people who, amongst other things, first translated Martov’s The State and the Socialist Revolution into English and published the pamphlet Bolshevism by Rudolf Sprenger.

The article is well worth a read if you’re interested in the period and the complexities of the situation on the ground. Though there is definitely an overlap of sorts with our position in places in the article, it is the case that ‘Roberto’ was probably writing from a Council Communist position:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2006/09/spain-turns.html

[ZJW]

Can I look forward to the Keith Scholey talk on the SPGB and the Spanish Civil War being put online?

[imposs1904]

“Those who are experienced in such matters tell us that all brands of cornflakes taste the same. It has also been said that they all conform to a standard of nutrition which results in the package having more food value than the flakes. It is rather like this in the political field. The parties which are likely to get into power in this election all offer the same low level of social nutrition and politically they all have the same flavour. Their only difference is in their presentation – their packaging – and this is where they are in competition, their programmes and their leaders dressed, decorated, obscured so as to bear little relation to their true character.”

Lovely piece of writing from ‘Ivan’ (Ralph Critchfield) from the June 1987 Socialist Standard, when covering that British General Election. Nothing’s really changed.

Full article here:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/06/snap-crackle-pop-1987.html

[imposs1904]

Just scanned this in. A wee poem that appeared in the June 1955 Socialist Standard in the aftermath of the May 1955 General Election.

Spring Song after the Election (1955)

Another Election has come and gone.
The tumult’s ended, the shouting’s done.
Tweedledum’s lost, and Tweedledee’s won.
Loud sing cuckoo!
Lib., Lab., Con.,—and C.P. too,
Made up a right reformist crew,
Dispensing the usual vote-catching brew.
Loud sing cuckoo!
Liberal and Tory, C.P. and Lab.,
All full of promises, all full of gab.
Labour with ’Erbie, Tories with Rab,
Loud sing cuckoo!
Sugar and soft soap again the rule.
Kissing the babies, playing the fool,
Nice glossy photos to make the girls drool.
Loud sing cuckoo!
Candidates handsome, candidates plain,
Candidates pleasing with might and main,
All to keep capitalism running again.
Loud sing cuckoo!
All the old catchcries out once more,
Canvassers knocking at every front door,
First they’d been seen since the barney before,
Loud sing cuckoo!
Street-comer meetings, things of the past,
Democracy’s symbol’s a radio mast.
Now its the “ telly ’’—with all star cast.
Loud sing cuckoo!
Millions of workers put down their crosses,
Applauded the “gains,” regretted the “losses,”
Fine difference it made, they still work for bosses,
Loud sing cuckoo!
So the farcical game goes on.
Tweedledum’s lost and Tweedledee’s won.
Another Election has come and gone,
Loud sing cuckoo!

Stan Hampson

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by imposs1904.

[imposs1904]

19,000th post on the blog:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/07/editorial-progress-1907.html

• This reply was modified 5 months ago by imposs1904.

[piers]

Well done, huge amount of work. There are currently 19,921 Socialist Standard articles on this site, so not far off parity.

Piers

[imposs1904]

That’s good to know about the Standard stats on the Party website.

I’ve still a while to catch up, though. I’m guessing of the 19,000 posts on the blog close to a thousand won’t be from the Standard. They’ll be from the old Western Socialists and other assorted WSM journals, there’ll be excerpts from pamphlets, adverts for meetings and other less conventional stuff tangentially connected to the SPGB.

I also have to mention that a chunk will be the MySpace Weekly Bulletins that Rob and yourself would put together, and which I would crosspost over here.

Good old MySpace. The origin story for the blog all those years ago.

[imposs1904]

The late Ralph Critchfield – ‘Ivan’ in the Socialist Standard – really was a terrific writer.

An excellent article of his from 1965 on the Labour Left that’s just been scanned in. Totally on point:

http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/11/confusion-on-left-1965.html

[imposs1904]

I’m just scanning in the November 1981 Socialist Standard, and I think this is a terrific article from that issue:

Are socialists utopians? by Clifford Slapper

http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/11/are-socialists-utopians.html

I never knew that passage from Chaucer.

[imposs1904]

Following on from Friday’s Zoom meeting about the Life and Times of the Socialist Standard, here’s a link to The Place Where I Live articles from the mid-1980s that I mentioned in the meeting:

October 1983: Black Country blues by Ron Cook (West Bromwich)
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2015/07/black-country-blues-1983.html

February 1984: Mancunian monument by John Critchfield (Manchester)
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/mancunian-monument-1984.html

March 1984: From market town . . . by Les Dale (Basingstoke)
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2015/10/from-market-town-1984.html

January 1985: On Moscow’s hit-list by Pieter Lawrence (Tatsfield, Kent)
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2015/09/on-moscows-hit-list-1985.html

February 1985: Where there’s muck . . . by Richard Cooper (Yorkshire Dales)
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2016/02/where-theres-muck-1985.html

May 1985: Glorious Aldershot by John Armstrong (Aldershot)
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2015/07/glorious-aldershot-1985.html

August 1986: Capitalism in the Peak District by Carl Pinel (Peak District, Derbyshire)
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2016/12/capitalism-in-peak-district-1986.html

All interesting articles. Worth a read.

[imposs1904]

The late Ron Elbert really was a funny writer when he turned his mind/pen to it.

From the WSPUS journal, the World Socialist Review, in 1993, the short story, ‘Talking about a revolution. No apologies to Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin or Mao!’:

https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/12/talking-about-revolution-no-apologies.html

[h.moss@swansea.ac.uk]

Yes, what a good idea for a story.

[h.moss@swansea.ac.uk]

Yes, the ‘Place Where I Live’ articles really are worth a read. I’d forgotten about them, but the are all, among other things, so well written and so well observed.

[Author]

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