Bijou Drains
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Looking at the possible outcome of the election, with Electoral Calculus predicting a possible 362 seat Labour Majority (Labour winning 485 seats and the Tories winning just 66), Starmer and his buddies may end up with a more credible opposition within his own party.
Even if a small group of leftist Labourites plus Corbyn, Abbot and maybe Galloway, they could become a bigger number than the Tories and therefore become the opposition but still not threaten a Labour Government.
That might appeal to the anti Starmer wing who are sick of the way that they have been treated. They’d have five years to build a constituency and it would be no risk to them as they wouldn’t be missing out on ministerial positions (they won’t be invited) and they wouldn’t have to worry about their eventual and clearly predictable de selection in 5 years time.
There were 31 memebers of the Socialist Campaign group in the sitting parliament, I know some are retiring, but it may be that there might be enough to get them over the 66 (it might be that the Tories get less than 66, Electoral Calculus have a possible low number of Tories at 34)
How much would it cost us to get Steve Bell to do the Standard one cartoon a month
It would be money well spent
Yet the semi feudal Russian economy of 1917 actually had developed sufficiently (as well as the political consciousness of the Russian people) to achieve a “democratic worker’s state” (their words from their pamphlet – Russia, October 1917: When workers took power).
I wouldn’t reveal that.
To be fair he’s a decent fella (I was going to say kid rather than fella, and then thought I’m 63 and he’s a couple of years older than me, so sadly neither of us are kids!)
I doubt you’ll have heard of him but he’s and his writing partner have produced about a dozen plays that have been quite successful.
Also I wouldn’t want to queer his pitch by outing him as an ex Militant. Although ex trots seem to be pretty much everywhere and doing well (e.g. Keir Starmer), and the SPGB forum is sadly but a small part of the interweb, shit does happen.
BD – “I explained to him that there would be no need, in Socialism we will just put the pumps on the other side of the bar.”
L45 – “In your dreams!”
It works for all inclusive resorts!
The classic Trostskyist idea is that by demanding reforms such as higher minimum wage, renationalisation of whatever is in fashion, etc. etc. it is possible to show that reforms are not possible under capitalism and that this will lead to the workers dismissing reforms and turning to revolutionary ideas.
What has always surprised me is how many of the Trot rank and file actually believe that the requested reforms are feasible and realistic! Trotskys idea that revolutionary thoughts would penetrate the rank and file reformists has actually turned out to be the opposite. The rank and file pseudo revolutionary Trotskyites have been penetrated by reform and it has gone to the centre of their being.
When we had a candidate standing in the Jarrow Constituency, a group of SPGB members were talking to some SWPers about the election. The SWPers were till adament that they would vote for and campaign for the Local Labour candidate, despite the fact that the the Labour Pary candidate was polling around the mid 60% of the total vote and the liklihood of the Tories winning was about the same as Sunderland FC winning the European Cup next year and despite the fact that they had a chance to vote for a real Socialist Candidate!
Another example I remember is being in a bar (quelle surprise), many years ago and explaining, to a very senior member of the Militant Tendency (who is now a successful playwriter) that real Socialism would mean the abolition of the wages system and of money. He genuinely said to me, “that’s a really stupid idea, that woudl never work!! Why would a barmaid chose to spend her night pouring pints to people in a pub”.
I explained to him that there would be no need, in Socialism we will just put the pumps on the other side of the bar.
To be honest, I don’t think I’m a belligerant person, but that’s hard for me to judge, because I’m not really a judgemental person. I will leave that to you (TM) as you seem to be far better qualified in that area.
You possibly had a lucky escape, you might have bumped into my school’s annual trip out to the same site, although I think our outing might have been a wee bit different.
Our trip consisted of ramming 100 kids from the East End of Newcastle and about 6 teachers into a couple of dilapidated trip buses whilst journeying the 30 odd miles on the old Military Road to the Twiced Brewed Inn. When we arrived we were then marched along to Housesteads camp by the two most junior teachers (about 3 miles) and let loose.
Our school had a rather bizarre form of streaming which put the 10 or so “posh kids”, i.e. those who didn’t have head lice, into the top class along with some of the more delicate members of the year group whilst the other two classes were put together from the rag bag of psychopaths, thieves and trainee gangsters (with the addition of me, to make up the numbers) that made up the residue.
I suppose this was my first experience of what could be called Class Warfare. Basically when we got off the leash, the two bottom classes got together with the poorer renegades from the top class and then re-enacted the sacking of Rome by beating the shit out of the “posh kids”. Of course this was at the days when Doctor Marten’s boots, brogues studded with seg nails and bicycle chains were very much de rigueur. Fortunately for me, for the once and only time in my life, I was part of a class that was winning.
We then rampaged through the small gift shop stealing, everything that wasn’t nailed down, and then marched back to the pub. When we got there we were joined by the four senior teachers that had been left behind, who had been drinking themselves into a coma in the Twice Brewed Inn. Finally the whole untidy rabble was packed off into buses again to return to the old Alma Mater.
Strangely my brother, who is five years older than me, thinks that by the time I got to that school “It had all gone a bit f!*+ing soft!”
Ahh school, the scariest days of your life!
“ but the “Scots” of today are of Anglo-Saxon and Norman ancestry”
The small Norman population of Lowland Scotland was absorbed into the “Scots” fairly quickly. The Language/dialect some call Scots is actually based on Old Northumbrian.
Sometimes people tell me that my accent sounds like I’m Scottish. The reality is that actually they sound like me.🤣
‘unconquered Scotland’ forms part of the imaginary ideology of national identity that is worth picking at a few threads of.
Including the fact that it doesn’t go any where near Scotland. It always winds me up when they use the term “North of Hadrian’s Wall” to describe Scotland, not only is there a huge swaith of Northumberland, most of Newcastle and North Tyneside as well as parts of Cumbria north of the Wall, the Border acually runs more or less North to South, large parts of Dumfries and Galloway are further south than Newcastle!!
They can start by changing the name. I’m fairly sure that ruling class fucker didn’t build it. All of the credit and none of the bastard work!
It really annoys me when people say things like “Cardinal Wolsey built Hampton Court” no he didn’t, the fat bastard. The bloody workers built it, like everything bloody else!!!
The CPB argue that the working class need to be led to socialist understanding by being drip fed reforms and think we should con people into socialism, rather persuaded to vote directly for socialism,
The SPGB alternatively, work to persuade people vote directly for socialism without the con trick.
More people vote for the SPGB than the CPB.
Conclusion – The CPB are a bunch of really, really shit con artists
Also if all of the resources, campaigning and hard work of the CPB and the other left wing wanna be con artists, who claim to want socialism but think we need to reform our way there, put all of their efforts into actually creating socialists, perhaps we might see 4-5% of people voting directly for Socialism.
Now that would create quite a bit of publicity and certainly start to give us the opportunity to put the Socialist Case more effectively!
