imposs1904
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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.
“It is true that the Greens only stood a paper candidate. No leaflets and just one letter in the local media. They didn’t seem to want to win.”
Kind of cynical when you think about it.
Fair play to the comrades who worked on the campaign.
I won’t lie. I’m a little disappointed that we weren’t able to get more votes than the guy from Phoenix Nights.
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
Genuinely shocked that I haven’t posted this before. This would be my walk on song for the darts.
Cardiacs – Is This The Life
There’s not enough German hi-energy euro-pop on this thread.
Posting this unironically. This is a stone called classic.Anyone recognise the tune they’ve *cough* lifted.
This is an interesting long read from the London Review of Books from 2010 on the evolution of the RCP. I know the article is nearly 15 years old but it does give a lot of interesting background on them:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v32/n13/jenny-turner/who-are-they
Talking about the futility of reformism, I just stumbled across this wonderful passage from a 1914 Socialist Standard article by F. Foan:
“It is part of the policy of the rulers in every country to encourage those who deceive and confuse the workers as to the meaning of Socialism. One section is telling us that Christianity is Socialism, another that the State must own the means of life, another that we must buyout the capitalists. These are easily seen through; the worst frauds are those who lull the workers into apathy by telling them Socialism will come by evolution, and that even now we are in the transition stages.
Socialism can only be established by the deliberate and conscious action of the working class utterly disregarding the interests of those who oppose them. Before they can arrange or control the details of their own lives they must own and control the means of wealth production. To gain possession of these, they must first control the physical power that protects the capitalist class in their ownership. This is only possible by means of a working-class organisation that will control the political machinery. When the armed forces, through the machinery of government, are controlled by the working class, they can enter into possession of the means of wealth production without bargaining or compensation.”
He totally nails it.
From here:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2024/10/a-few-comparisons-1914.htmlIf it’s referring to Live 8 (and Keane) it must be a really old quote.
In more recent years the silly sod labelled Corbyn a communist.
I guess Manchester Branch didn’t do any paper sales in Burnage back in the day.
