HollyHead
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SussexSocialist wrote:Given FREE bikes or cars even, with all responsible for maintenance and care, I am sure they would all flourish but then in a socialist world who is going to be rushing to work anyway?!
<<Puzzled Expression>> Are you suggesting that there will be no work in socialism? HH
stevead1966 wrote:The best communist historian ? It is no compettition but there are Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawn, even AJP Taylor was once a communist !If I remember correctly A. L. Morton (A People’s History of England) is straight forward and easy to read and well worth a look at. (The CPGB overtones need to be ignored.) Leo Huberman Man’s Worldly Goods is clear and well written. (The last chapter in which Russia / the Soviet Union is given a glowing write-up can be missed.) There are several critical / liberal left / materialist / “class struggle” historians eho provide a bracing antidote to much conventional “great men” historians. Some of them (marked with a * ) make for difficult reading at times:E. H. CarrTimothy MasonPhillip FonerRodney HiltonChristopher Hill*David RoedigerGeorge Fredrickson*E. LeRoy LadurieGeorge RudeEugene Genovese*Perry AndersonEric WilliamsGotz Aly All must be read critically of course Several Party members speak highly of Howard Zinn (A People’s History of the US). It’s on my “Must Get Round to Soon” list.
I’m tempted to say “Told you so” … but apart from propagating socialist ideas and analysis not very much.
alanjjohnstone wrote:So a reading of that would infer that nuclear energy is safe if proper procedures are followed.No. I think the inference is that nuclear energy could be safer than it currently is. The official report found that: “The Tepco Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident was the result of collusion between the government, the regulators and [private plant operator] Tepco, and the lack of governance by said parties. They effectively betrayed the nation’s right to be safe from nuclear accidents. Therefore, we conclude that the accident was clearly “manmade”…”http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18718486
Quote:It wasn’t after all the actual technical process out of control, nor an individuals human error causing it but a systematic culture of cutting corners on safety by both the company and its supposed overseers. Socialism would not have a disposition towards such lax standards would it when profit motive and running cost factors are removed from the equation.Yes.All energy production involves risk (even in socialism).
Bloomberg NewsFukushima Disaster Was Man-Made,Investigation FindsThe Fukushima nuclear disaster was the result of “man-made” failures before and after last year’s earthquake, according to a report from an independent parliamentary investigation. The breakdowns involved regulators working with the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to avoid implementing safety measures as well as a government lacking commitment to protect the public, the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission said in the report. The March 11 accident, which set off a wave of reactor safety investigations around the world, “cannot be regarded as a natural disaster,” the commission’s chairman, Tokyo University professor emeritus Kiyoshi Kurokawa, wrote in the report released yesterday in Tokyo. It “could and should have been foreseen and prevented. And its effects could have been mitigated by a more effective human response.” The report said the commission found evidence of “collusion” between Tokyo Electric and regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, to avoid implementing new safety regulations.[My emphasis.]http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-05/fukushima-nuclear-disaster-was-man-made-investigation-rules
According to the Spring 2003 issue of the American army journal Parameters:
Quote:Since at least the mid-1990s, there has been a widespread view among Korea observers that, because of severe economic decline, food shortages, and related problems, regime survival has replaced reunification as Pyongyang’s most pressing objective. Further, these observers argue, despite its rhetoric, North Korea realizes that reunification through conquest of South Korea is no longer possible. There are also some who argue that the North Korean leadership has recognized the need to initiate substantial change in order to survive in the international community and is embarking on economic reform, reconciliation with South Korea, and reduction of military tensions.http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/Articles/03spring/hodge.pdf Just like any other capitalist state in fact.
I don’t consider Clarkson to be at all controversial.A buffoon yes. But all too often he simply plays to the gallery by mouthing common-or -garden prejudices. Now if he were to call for the abolition of the wages system that would be controverial.
Methinks our correspondent doth protest too much. “I am comfortably well off and wish for nothing.” Not even an end to world hunger and the threat of ecological disaster? Well poor braindead old you.
Whatever the shortcomings of the TZM it’s clear from the posts and discussion on their now defunct forum that there are plenty of thoughful, concerned, people out there wanting a real change. The question is — where do they go now that PJ has gone in for dummy spitting? How much personal contacts were made between the contributors I wonder? And what might become of those?
