Summer School 2019
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Bookings for Summer School will close at the end of this coming Saturday (the 20th). So if anyone else wants to come along, make a booking here: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/summer-school-2019/
Summer School kicked off this year with a talk by Edmund Griffiths with the title ‘Be Realistic: Demand The Inevitable’.
Edmund Griffiths
This talk looked at the notions of the impossible and the inevitable in a range of belief systems, including (but not limited to) socialism and other political belief systems. Why are people attracted to ideas that seem to be either impossible or inevitable? Or put off by them? What does it mean to campaign for something that might be impossible, or inevitable? What happens when assessments of impossibility or inevitably change? How do people believe that an impossible thing is true anyway? Or that an inevitable thing may never happen? Besides socialism, the talk touched upon impossibility and inevitably in contexts such as liberalism, capitalism, flat earth, Scottish independence and fairies at the bottom of the garden.
The talk was recorded.
He seemed to enjoy anticipating giving it,
https://twitter.com/EdmundGriffiths/status/1157302268095602693
and then doing it as, much as the audience.
https://twitter.com/EdmundGriffiths/status/1157416448182095874
First talk of Saturday was given by Janet Surman – ‘Living In Capitalism As A Socialist’.
Janet Surman
Profit is the backbone of capitalism and originates from a plethora of resources, the greatest and most easily attainable of which is the global human resource, to be found in any village, town or city anywhere on the planet. The capitalist system is well known for waste as a necessary part of maximising profit and there is no greater waste than that of the human potential trapped in non-productive, non-useful work.
The session took a look at the human misery attached to jobs, to work that many don’t really want to do but have to do to survive and also looked at the opposite position when human potential can be fulfilled to the satisfaction, and pleasure even, of billions of individual human beings.
Again this session was recorded and will be made available on this site in due course.
The third session of Summer School was a talk given by Howard Moss – ‘Team Human’: Can You Live A ‘Socialist’ Life In Capitalism?
Howard Moss
Someone recently wrote a book called ‘Team Human’ which emphasised that humans are social creatures who are most happy and fulfilled when working together for common goals. But how do we stay human in the vast antihuman infrastructure that is capitalism which constantly undermines our capacity to work together and connect with one another?
Despite the powerful forces that set us against one another (employment, nationalism, monetary gain), people are at their happiest when associating together in, for example, clubs, societies, family groups and social and political activities, which involve working with and helping other human beings. Socialists do this too. They belong to local clubs, community groups and trade unions. But how do they – or should they – react to being asked to go further and be associated with campaigns which involve, say, lobbying governments to improve conditions in particular areas, signing petitions calling on political parties to support certain changes in the law, or being members of or giving money to charities which seek to remedy deficiencies in social provision (e.g. housing, health care) or to save people from the consequences of sudden disasters, natural or man-made?
The Socialist view is that time spent in attempts to reform capitalism is time wasted. But on a human, day-to-day level, Socialists often find it difficult just to stand by and do nothing. So how do we cope with the constant dilemmas thrown up by wanting to spend our time helping to create a truly associative social system, yet constantly being called upon to help patch up the contrary arrangements fundamental to capitalism?
The full audio content of this talk, including discussion period, will be available soon.
On Saturday evening members and sympathisers got together to share their stories. Those who participated were invited to describe their first contact with the SPGB, how the encounter affected their day to day life, anecdotes and memorable experiences, etc., as well as ‘predicting’ how the revolution will come about.
This session was facilitated by Carla Dee.
Carla Dee with (on the right) Mike Foster who organised the Summer School…
… and just a few of those who took part.The final session was given by Bill Martin – ‘Ye Olde Worlde Revolution’.
Bill Martin
In 1264 the Baron’s war (which historian Adrian Jobson characterises as the First English Revolution) saw a wide-scale attempt to inhibit the power of the monarchy. It was a revolt in which the burghers (bourgeoisie) of London played a significant role. This struggle saw the birth of the English Parliament, but it would be a further 400 years until the final constitutional curbing of the power of royalty lead to the social dominance of the capitalist class in England.
This talk looked at the life and activity of the bourgeois revolutionary Thomas Fitzthomas, who led that primitive revolt against the English monarchy. It described how the bourgeoisie developed as a revolutionary class, and how they struggled within a still vigorous feudal system. It addressed how the knowledge of the capitalist revolution arms the imagination of the socialists of today, but also haunts the ideas many have of revolution. It looked at the role of ideas and self-image in the making of a revolutionary class, and the role of ongoing class struggle in the cause of revolution.
The audio recording of this talk, as with the earlier ones, will be made available on this website at some point.
Thanks for the updates and the photos, Dave. I was really happy with how the weekend went, and from what people were saying, it sounds like everyone had an enjoyable time too. There’s always a relaxed and positive vibe to Summer School, and this year was no exception. My thanks go to Edmund, Janet, Howard, Carla and Bill for their thought-provoking presentations, and to everyone who came along. There were around 40 of us there, including quite a few non-members and those for whom this was their first Summer School. Hopefully it won’t be their last! I’ll put together a more detailed report for ADM, and start to look into Summer School 2020…
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