robbo203
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In the 1970s we confidently proclaimed that socialism would be a world of abundance on the basis of modern technology. Since the recent advent of eco-pessimism with Greens and Christians telling us we have been consuming too much even under capitalism we have been less confident about this.
Abundance is a function of both supply and demand. Demand cannot be deemed infinite or unlimited as the economic textbooks would have it because if that were the case, abundance and, by extension, socialism, would be inherently unrealisable. We would be perpetually living in a condition of scarcity which reinforces and rationalises the continuation of capitalism. It therefore follows that as socialists we need to conceptualise demand as something limited and reasonable, a cultural construction informed by such things as concern for the environment as well as the needs of others.
Consumerism is not about workers “consuming too much” or being “paid too much”. God forbid that we should even think this in a world in which tiny handful of billionaires own as much half of the world’s population combined. Obviously I fully support militant working class trade union action to get as much as they can in the way of wages out of a system that screws them over. What they dont get the super rich parasites get in what is, after all, essentially a zero sum game
The ruling ideas are the ideas of the ruling class. Consumerism is an aspect of this ruling class ideology and is bound up with other aspects of this ideology such as our celebrity culture and the pathetic fawning over the lives of the rich and famous in trashy magazines like Hello or celebrity-oriented TV shows. So we have workers fantasising about a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption, an otherworldly existence of luxury yachts and stately homes which they will never get to see let alone savour, except perhaps on a TV screen. How often have we been told that socialism is impossible because “what if everyone wanted their own luxury yacht or Porsche car?”
In this respect consumerism is thoroughly reactionary. It focusses on the individual, not our class, and it encourages us to emotionally identify and bond with – even imitate to the extent that this is possible – the class that exploits us. By all means let us organise to take back some of the fruits of our labour stolen from us but it would be very wrong, I think, to confuse this with consumerism which means something altogether different…
My objection was to those in the North who say they want to “undevelop” here. Maybe they are only objecting to the consumerism and waste of capitalism but in that case the word “undevelop” is unfortunate as, to most people as well as me, it suggests turning the clock back in some way. The word “degrowth” is even more unfortunate as it suggests a cut in people’s personal consumption.
If “de-growth” suggests a cut in people living standards then presumably “growth” means an increase in living standards . But this does not necessarily follow. For instance “growth” in capitalist terms can mean an increase in economic inequality and, at the same time, static or declining living standards for the majority.
In the literature, “economic growth” simply means an increase in GDP as the summation of the value of all monetised activities occurring within a particular nation state and within a particular time frame. If I employed 1000 labourers to dig a giant hole and then to fill it in again, in practical terms I would have achieved nothing useful but I would nevertheless have contributed to GDP – Gross Domestic Product – and, by extension, to allegedly increasing the living standards of the population (which is measured by dividing GDP by population to arrive at a per capita figure).
However since most economic activity carried on in the formal capitalist economy is completely socially useless from the standpoint of meeting human needs – like our giant hole – and, moreover, is a massive and growing drain on the human and natural resources of the planet, the concept of “growth” and by extension, that of “living standards” is virtually meaningless from a socialist standpoint. We should not encourage the kind of thinking that goes with them
I dont think anyone here would not be in favour of “using modern technology rationally to satisfy people’s needs” but we do need to broaden our conception of needs. We need the exponential increase in the disposal of plastic waste brought about in the name of raising people’s living standards like we need a hole in the head. We should not be reluctant to say this for fear of affronting that holy cow of capitalism – the pursuit of endless growth. We should be much more vigorously unequivocal about opposing capitalist growth and in favour of human-centred approach to development that acknowledges and acts within the constraints of our physical environment
The productivist outlook of Marx and the promethean talk of “increasing the productive forces of society” belongs to the 19th century when it was at least understandable. But the productive potential for socialism has been around for at least century and we should adjust our thinking – and our language – accordingly.
What matters now, increasingly, is the demand side of supply/demand equation and we should not be seen to be inadvertently encouraging, or giving succour to, the consumerist ideology of capitalism and its existentially empty, not to say environmentally irresponsible, quest of consumption for the sake of consumption. Like the proverbial snake eating its own tail, this is not going to get us anywhere
These peoples were completely debunked at the WSM forum and then I was told to block them, and one of them was invited by me to the WSM forum, and now all the shit falls on me.
So who told you and why did you chose to comply with the wishes of this individual (s) anyway since this goes against the democratic tradition of the WSM in inviting criticism from ALL opponents? We are not some Stalinist organisation and we are not selective in extending the democratic principle of free speech to our opponents. If we can’t deal with criticisms of opponents in healthy debate then that sends out the message that our case doesn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to such criticism and that we prefer to hide behind a wall of censorship to conceal this weakness.
As a socialist, I fundamentally reject this way of doing things as a matter of principle
Maybe this is just a question of language again, but to talk of “domination” raises the question of who is doing the dominating. The working class, men and women, are definitely dominated by the capitalist class including female capitalists but do males dominate women in the same sort of way? The term is best used for actions by a state.
I dont think anyone is suggesting males dominate women in the same way as the working class is dominated by the capitalist class. But that does not mean, of course, as a broad generalisation that there is not some way in which you can say “males dominate women” in capitalism. If there were not it would be difficult to explain why something like, for example, the gender pay gap should even exist. Demanding equal pay – a trade union issue as you say – doesn’t quite address the point since this has to do with equal remuneration for the same kind of work done. The gender gap has more to do with the fact that women tend to be pre-dominant in certain lines of work that are relatively low paid rather than others and the gap would not disappear even if men doing these same jobs were paid exactly the same (which I think they have to be by law anyway, no?)
But yes I agree that what we are talking about probably does boil down to a question of language. The actions of a state and the overt or threatened use of force is indeed an example of what the term domination can mean but it is not the only way in which this term can be usefully understood. For instance, one could say “the news was dominated by the story about the royal marriage” or the “city skyline is dominated the construction of this new high rise building”. Here the term domination has quite different connotations
Talk of a “male dominated class society” does not necessarily have to mean what you think it means if you move away from this conception of “domination” as exclusively denoting the actions of a state involving the use of force Class domination is indeed the basis of capitalism – no question about that – but it meshes with and amplifies other forms of domination that form part of lived reality of workers under capitalism.
The problem is that by seeing everything through the lens of class – crucial though it is to our understanding of capitalism – you are in effect denying or suppressing those other aspects of the lived reality that many workers experience – like the discrimination that women or black workers experience in their daily lives. This creates a conceptual gap between us and these workers who we want to appeal from our exclusively class-based perspective when really what we want to do is accommodate their concerns and acknowledge the discriminations they are subject to WITHIN this perspective. But we dont really do this or we dont really do it enough. Its almost like saying to these workers that the discrimination they face in their daily lives doesn’t really matter. Its like a whole layer of lived reality has been stripped out of the discussion as far as these workers are concerned and this makes it much more difficult for them to relate to what we are saying.
Perhaps this is the reason why we have so few female and black comrades within our ranks and perhaps, also, this is was what prompted Lancaster branch to put up that motion for conference . Dont get me wrong – class is the master key (if I can put it in these pseudo-sexist terms) in our analysis of capitalism. The only real and lasting solution to all these kinds of discriminations is the abolition of capitalist class society. But we dont do ourselves any favours by downplaying or ignoring the important role these discriminations play in perpetuating this society. A good enough reason to confront them head on and proactively and vigorously oppose them
I don’t think those behind the motion want to admit non-socialists or reformists but, to be perfectly honest, I do think they want to attract women who think that capitalism should be defined as a “male-dominated class society” and that “capitalism and patriarchy are aspects of the same thing” (the terms in inverted commas are from their own circulars).
But objectively speaking is it not the case that there IS discrimination under capitalism. For example in terms of the gender pay gap. I dont think it is unreasonable to talk of a “male-dominated class society” in this sense providing it understood that the primary factor in the equation is class – the domination of one class (which of course includes both men and women) by another. Subsumed within the broad framework defined by class domination there is a tendency for males to “dominate” females such as expressed in such forms as income distribution etc
Gender discrimination is derivative from or enabled/buttressed by capitalism and the way in which class interreacts with all sorts of other contingent factors in the context of capitalist society. But it does exist and its does have a real impact on the lives 0f the working class women. It would be foolish to just sweep it under the carpet and pretend it doesn’t exist
My guess is that the aim of those who proposed it was to try to attract “feminists” in a much narrower sense than your definition (of anyone, man or woman, who stands for equal treatment of men and women).
I am not quite sure what you mean by this , Adam. You are not surely suggesting a sort of entryist strategy is being employed to “attract” feminists, in your narrower sense, into the Party , whether or not these be genuine socialists?
Clearly that is nonsense. Let’s start with the basic commonsensical proposition that all comrades on both sides of this debate are revolutionary socialists not reformists. There is only one individual here who seems to have succumbed to some kind of ridiculous conspiracy theory and believes otherwise even to the point of recommending that some members of SPGB should support a capitalist politician like Kamala Harris. Good thing this individual is not a member of this Party because that is a most outrageous thing to say about fellow socialists.
I think critics of the Lancaster motion read far too much into it. I interpret it simply as an attempt to signal a more robust proactive approach to combating sexism which, as socialists, we MUST do just as we MUST combat racism and nationalism and anything else that seeks to divide workers. If adopting such an approach results in more female workers joining the Party then that is a good thing, surely. The gender imbalance in the Party is worrying and I dont think one can plausibly deny that it has an off-putting effect as far as some women are concerned even if others might not be put off by it.
I think adopting a more robust proactive approach to combating sexism can help even if only at the level of the kind of image we project as an organisation. Image matters. The problem is that some comrades tend to take an over-rationalistic or super-rationalistic approach to the matter and we see this in this thread. The world in their eyes should follow the contours of a neat and tidy little logical syllogism. If X happens then Y must result. But the world is not like that. The world is messy and unpredictable and people are not mere logic machines but have feelings as well, often very irrational
I am not averse to the idea of clarifying and improving the wording of the Lancaster motion but lets stop with this silly conspiratorial nonsense that the intent of the motion is somehow to transform the SPGB into something other than the 100% revolutionary socialist organisation it is. Such insinuations are grating and demoralising and completely unbecoming of fellow socialists
The problem is that because of the badly worded resolution that was put forward we now leave ourselves open to the accusation that we are reformist.
Unless we can be found to be actually advocating reforms then there is zero chance of this happening. or to be more precise zero chance of such an accusation being sustained. Since nobody in the Party is advocating reforms that I know of your problem is a non problem. I wouldn’t worry about it. The only person in the entire world who seems to think we have gone reformist is active on this forum
If, as seems to be the unanamous opinion of everyone in the Party, the party has always stood for gender equality, and that Feminism can be defined in those terms, and further that was the meaning intended by the resolution, what was the point of the resolution.
If the point was merely to clarify what the party’s position is, can we expect further resolutions to conference stating the bleedin’ obvious, like it “is possible for a Socialist to be a Democrat”,
Or how about “is it possible to be a socialist and sexist”? Perhaps that was the point of the resolution – to ensure that such a possibility does not exist as far as the SPGB is concerned. Or do you think there is no trace of sexism in the Party at all?
There is no need to give a lecture or to file a court case to demonstrate that this resolution about Feminism is totally wrong because it is open to too many interpretations, for me, it is simply a resolution for open reformism and collaboration with bourgeois reforms
This is complete bullshit. I have challenged you several times to provide clear and concrete proof that the Lancaster motion is, in your words, an invitation to open reformism and collaboration with bourgeois reforms. You have conspicuously declined to provide any such substantive evidence preferring instead to pompously intone that “There is no need to give a lecture or to file a court case to demonstrate that this resolution about Feminism is totally wrong” So you evidently consider yourself exempt from , or above, the need to provide any hard evidence to back up your ridiculous assertion about the supposed reformist intentions of some members How is this not indicative of the very elitist thinking you claim I exhibit?
When I became the moderator of the WSM, Robbo also said that the forum was in decline because I was the moderator, but the dirty job was offered for many months by the prior moderator and nobody wanted to take the position and I did it and I had to confront a lot of problems, the forum was already in decline before I joined it, and I was able to send the invitation to many militants in others countries who joined the forum but most of them did not speak English
I am not saying you did not put a lot of effort into running the WSM forum. You did and I applaud to you for that. But this is not my criticism. My criticism is that you did not run the WSM forum in a particularly democratic manner – but rather in a Stalinist fashion by arbitrarily banning certain individuals whose views you did not approve of. It is this I contend that accelerated the decline of this forum further. The irony is that you have in the past accused certain members of the WSPUS of behaving in a Stalinist fashion when that is exactly how you have behaved!
I would prefer to be a member of a Marxist/Leninist forum which are open for discussion and they do not delete your messages, and I receive many invitations from them. If I treated so badly the members of the WSPUS why I have received an invitation to participate in their activities?
As explained in my response to Bijou nobody has deleted your post and nobody has suggested that it be deleted – only that it be deleted from the “President Biden” thread and be transferred to this sub-forum along with the other posts including my own that were transferred here. If you feel more comfortable joining a Marxist-Leninist organization dont let me stop you. Go ahead and do it That you should even mention this speaks volumes in itself. What is your angle in saying this – emotional blackmail or something?
If you have received an invitation to participate in activities of the WSPUS despite your past record of insulting some of their members as “Stalinists”- and I assure you I have all the evidence I need to back up this claim – perhaps that suggests a willingness on the part of the WSPUS now to forgive and forget your past misdemeanours and to urge you to cooperate with them in growing the WSPUS. Which begs the question – why have you not accepted their invitation if your allegiance does lie with the WSM as you say?
Also as you have stated Marcos is not now a member of the Party, so he is in a position to put forward opposition based on his view of what we mean by feminism. You may need to rethink saying that his comment should have been “deleted”. Are you suggesting that we should delete criticism of our Party from the Forum, just because we don’t agree with it?
Bijou
What I actually said was “This post (by a non member of the WSM) should also have been deleted or transferred to this thread like the others to maintain consistency”. Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear but what I meant was that Marcos’ post which set out to insult a majority of the Socialist Party who voted in favour of the Lancaster motion by suggesting they should give their support to a capitalist politician like Kamala Harris should have been deleted – along with mine – from the “President Biden” thread and transferred to this thread if one was going to be consistent in moderating this forum
After all, it was that post of his that stirred up all this shit to begin with by referring, however obliquely, to this debate on feminism in the Party . Whilst I dont believe in silencing opponents of the Party at all I do find it astonishing that no member here, apart from myself, has seen fit to challenge this individual over his deeply offensive and obnoxious slur on the socialist credentials of a sizeable fraction of the socialist membership. Why is this? Are we supposed to treat Marcos with kid gloves for some particular reason that does not apply to rest of us mere mortals? Why are some here apparently more willing to jump to his defence than members of their own party who he has just maligned? Its incredible, frankly.
The right to criticise cuts both ways, you know
Oh and just for your information when Marcos was once moderator of the WSM yahoo group I clearly recall he banned certain individuals from the group because he did not like their opinion being aired on that forum as it got in the way of the socialist message, as he saw it. One of these was the anarcho-capitalist, David McDonagh (who recently passed away). I was bitterly opposed to Marcos’ undemocratic decision at the time which went totally against the entire spirit of the WSM’s approach to democratic debate.
So please dont talk to me about deleting criticism of our Party from the Forum, just because we don’t agree with it? I have no problem at all with criticism of the Party being aired on this forum or elsewhere whatsoever and by whomsoever – Marcos, LBird or anyone else . You would do better to direct that question at Marcos himself
Clearly not everybody who calls themselves a feminist can be a member of the Party even if they also call themselves “socialists” or “Marxists”.
I would go along with that and with clarifying what the term feminism means but ALSO the term “reformism” which is often sloppily bandied about.
That way we will hopefully see no, or less, repetition of the kind of idiotic comments that have recently appeared on this forum such as “that capitalist reform is known as Feminism” or insulting jibes such as “The Feminists of the Socialist Party should support her” (Kamala Harris) which call into question the socialist integrity of many good comrades in this Party and which is something I find infuriating and disgraceful as I am sure any other comrade would, whatever side of the feminism debate he or she may be on…
Adam
I am not sure I would go along with the interpretation you put on the Lancaster motion. It is quite possible to argue how a socialist can be feminist in order then to go on to demonstrate why a socialist must be a feminist. I certainly dont agree with the suggestion that the motion is saying that a feminist who is advocating reforms can be a socialist. The point of the motion was to urge the Party adopt a stronger more proactive approach to combating sexism, something I wholly approve of .
At any rate, the purpose of my intervention in this discussion was less to to discuss the Lancaster motion than to respond to Marcos’ insulting jibe that the “Feminists of the Socialist Party” should support a rank capitalist politician, Kamala Harris. This is totally out of order and I trust that you and all comrades will unreservedly condemn this remark from someone who is not even a member of this organisation and has a history of insulting other comrades particularly in the US where I believe he is based.
Marcos’ comment is directly calling into question the socialist credentials of what after all is a majority of those who voted on the Lancaster motion and to say that I am shocked that no other comrade here seems to have picked up on this would be an understatement
was Robbo who brought the argument it was not me.
Untrue. The post that stirred up this shit was Marcos’s one under President Biden thread (205706) which included the gratuitous insult :
“Her biography sounds like a typical American politician. Nothing new, it does show that any sex and any colour of the skin can serve the interest of the ruling class. The best example is Barrack Obama. The Feminists of the Socialist Party should support her” (my emphasis).
This post (by a non member of the WSM) should also have been deleted or transferred to this thread like the others to maintain consistency
“ENGELS LOVED killing animals.”
Fair enough, MA – Engel’s attitude to foxhunting is not something we would approve of. But I am not quite sure why you brought the matter up. The case for socialism does not depend on Marx or Engels or any particular opinions they may have held on this or that subject
Hi MA
Whilst it is perfectly true that you dont have to be in the party to be a socialist, all things considered it is better to be in than out. Numbers do matter. However irrational it may be – and human beings are both rational and irrational creatures – we do tend to judge the credibility of an idea by the support its attracts. How does one gauge this support outside of the particular organisation promoting the idea you want to attract support for? Unity is strength and atomism makes for impotence and eventually apathy.
So like Alan I would urge you to reconsider. I have never quite understood why subjects such as animal rights should give rise to such heated controversy in the party. I am not saying the matter is not important in itself – its certainly is – but is it important from the standpoint of what the purpose of the party is about?
I dont think anyone here is saying that animals should be treated cruelly. The controversy seems to be more about whether animals should be bred for human consumption. Strong views have been expressed on either side of this debate which is perfectly OK but I think the problem arises when comrades try to formalise or harden their own ideas into some kind of quasi-official “party line”.
There is too much of a tendency towards “Party Line-ism” as it is. The SPGB is not, and never has been, a monolithic organisation, thank christ. There has always been a diversity of opinion on a whole range of subjects. By all means let us have robust debate on these subjects but on the understanding that it is perfectly OK for members to hold differing and conflicting opinions on these subjects.
It is only with respect to the absolute core principles of the party that we can expect more or less unanimity of opinion. These are the principles upon which membership of the party is predicated But even here there is scope for pruning back. (I particularly have in mind the requirement for applicants to not hold religious views. I have long felt that this should apply only to organised religions. It is perfectly possible to hold vaguely religious-cum-spiritual views and for all practical purposes, to think in “historical materialist” terms but this is for another thread and I wont derail this one)
The point is there nothing to stop you as a member putting forward your strong views on the subject of the appalling way animals are treated under capitalism and I for one sympathise very much with what you are saying. But leaving the Party is not going to achieve anything as far as promoting the socialist cause is concerned and in fact will – sadly – do the opposite.
