Socialist Party Head Office
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
"On the Record" who have prepared this oral history of Speakers' Corner have sent us a number of complimentary copies of their booklet on this. If anyone would like a copy we will send them one in return for postage costs (50p second class stamp if in the UK or international reply coupon if abroad). Write to: 52 Clapham High St, London SW4 7UN or email spgb [at] worldsocialism.org
Here are the words of the pre-WW1 Party song. We haven't been able to find the music:"THE WORLD FOR THE WORKERS".A SONG OF REVOLUTION.Words & Music by H J NeumannYou toilers of the world, arise!To bravely speed the day,When all your forces organiseKing Capital to slay,And from the master class you'll wrestThe powers of the State,Which, wielded in your interest,Your class emancipate.There sounds above the class war dinThe battle-cry we use:Unite! you have a world to win,Your chains alone to lose.Your lot in life is darkest gloom;You sow and others reap.And want and mis'ry are your doom,While idlers treasurers heap.Why have they riches, you distress,Though you all wealth have wrought?It is because the few possessThe earth while you have nought.There sounds, etc.While you an idle class maintainFor pittances you'll toil.To own your products you must gainPossessions of the soilAnd of all means the workers needTo found the Commonwealth,And thus enable all to leadFull lives of peace and health.There sounds, etc.Arise! the message to proclaim,The message full of cheer;That Labour's freedom is your aim,That brighter days are near.To men exhausted by the fray,To women in despair,To children wanting food and play,To all the message bear.There sounds, etc.COPIES of the above four-part song–S., A., T., B.–(which will be sung by a choral party at the Annual Social on April the 9th), complete with pianoforte accompaniment and Tonic-Solfa setting may be obtained, price 3d, or post free 3 1/2d, through the branches or from the Head Office."
Dr. Charles Smith, who runs The Alfred Russel Wallace Page http://tinyurl.com/q6cqnqt comments: Thanks for writing, and the tip. I am glad that this piece has found its way to the socialist readership, and agree largely with the *general* points you make. However… Unless you have some new information I don’t, there are a lot of—too many–factual errors in what is written below, as well as a number of dubious conclusions on specific matters (for example, where did you see that Wallace met Bates at a “social reform” meeting—does Bates say this? Bates had little or no interest in politics, and Wallace said he thought they met in the town library at Leicester. Wallace says nothing that I know of about any interests in social issues while he was at Leicester). I can live with a bit of literary license, but Wallace did not, for example, lose *all* his Amazon collections, nor was he penniless on his return, because of a substantial insurance policy—he even had time and resources for a while to vacation in France. Please don’t ask me to comment individually on all the inaccuracies I perceive, as it would take more space than the essay itself! Well, maybe I’m just being too picky, but it seems a pity to make some good points (especially in the last paragraph) and surround them with a caricature of factuality—this is at best lazy, and at worst counter-informative. And in Wallace’s case, the facts are just as interesting as any inaccurate embroidery. All of this leaves me with mixed feelings… CHS. P.S.: Despite his early experiences with Owenists, Wallace did not consider himself a socialist until his reading of Bellamy in 1889. He was not interested in Marxist socialism, though he seemingly knew about it at least as early as the time of Marx’s death in 1883.
Comment received at Head Office:
To PB… Liked your review of Pinker's nonsense book..lol.. you should read the new collection by Douglas Fry called
"War, Peace, and Human Nature".. there are a few essays which debunk Pinker
from a scientific perspective.Vin, there's a second-hand paperback copy of The Making of the English Working Class amongst the books on sale at our Head Office. Price: £5. You can have it for this plus postage and package, say, another fiver (it's a hefty tome of over 900 pages), say, £10 in all. Just send a cheque (made out to "The Socialist Party of Great Britain") to our address.
Email received from General Secretary of the Bakers Union who was sent a copy of the article:
Quote:An excellent piece that sums up the situation fairly. The dispute clearly demonstrated what can be achieved when workers stick together against a brand name or indeed any employer.The dispute not only inspired confidence amongst those 210 brave workers, it also wakened the sleeping giant of the trade movement who rallied around to ensure that our members were not starved back to work. We also hope that this dispute will inspire others to take similar action in defence of their terms and conditions. Another really fantastic outcome, besides the obvious victory, has been the support that those members at Wigan have dedicated themselves to giving other workers in struggle. Long may it continue.RegardsRonnie Draper,General Secretary,Bakers Food & Allied Workers Union,Stanborough House,Great North Road,Welwyn Garden City,Hertfordshire, AL8 7TAFor Members interest
Hundreds of anti-austerity campaigners will occupy Westminster Bridge today
(5th November) to express anger at what they believe are failed government
economic policies alongside more than 40 parallel protests taking place across
the UK as part of the "Bonfire of Austerity".The direct action, supported by more than 25 groups including trades unions
and pressure groups, will see giant energy bills set on fire to highlight
growing living costs and falling wages which are amongst the sharpest in
Europe.Earlier in the year the Peoples' Assembly brought thousands of campaigners to
Central Hall in Westminster where delegates said "We do not accept that
government’s austerity programme is necessary. Austerity does not work: it is
a failure in its own terms resulting in neither deficit reduction nor growth
[…] it is unjust, immoral and undemocratic. Alternatives exist."In September the Peoples' Assembly coordinated the 'Save our NHS' protest that
saw more than 50,000 people outside the Conservative Party conference in
Manchester.What: Bonfire of Austerity, burning energy bills on Westminster Bridge along
with campaigners from many groups, including trades unions, political parties
and pressure groups.Where: Westminster Bridge, London
When: Gathering at 6pm today (Tuesday, 5 November). Fireworks and burning of
energy
bills at 7pmFor interviews call: 07412019623, 07872481769, 07970126249
Further details about the protests and Peoples' Assembly at
http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/For anyone who is interested –
Embargo: For immediate publication
Attention: news, political and planning correspondentsAnti-austerity campaigners to hold ‘Bonfire of Austerity’ protests & civil
disobedienceAnti-austerity campaigners will tomorrow (Tuesday 4 November) join a national
day of protest and civil disobedience by holding protests and direct action
across the UK.Campaigners will highlight the human cost of the government’s cuts programme
which has seen many local services decimated, jobs lost, wages frozen and the
benefits which supported some of the neediest in our community drastically
reduced.40 towns and cities will see ‘Bonfire of Austerity’ events, including a mass
occupation of Westminster Bridge in London where campaigners will ceremonially
burn their energy bills.Peoples' Assembly co-ordinator Sam Fairbairn said, “This government chose to
punish those least responsible for the economic crisis whilst letting the
bankers carry on as before. It might be back to boom time in the City of
London, but most households round here are struggling with frozen wages and
soaring energy bills.“Cameron’s self-defeating austerity is still sucking the life out of places
like London – but there’s a growing movement fighting back. Through the
National People’s Assembly Against Austerity, we’ve brought together many
groups, from NHS campaigners and pensioners to trade unionists and those hit
by the bedroom tax. This firework night we’ll be holding a Bonfire of
Austerity where Cameron’s policies will be going up in flames – over the
coming months we’ll be working to make sure the actual policies disappear
almost as quickly.”The wave of protests has been called by the People’s Assembly Against
Austerity, with journalist and campaigner Owen Jones saying, “We're going
through the longest fall in workers' pay-packets since Queen Victoria sat on
the throne. The Big Six energy companies are holding the country to ransom,
and drive millions into fuel poverty. The Tories are building a Britain of
food banks, legal loan sharks and zero hour contract workers. Millions
languish on social housing waiting lists. In years to come, many of us will be
asked what we did to stop this horror show. That's why it's time to tap into
our country's proud tradition of protest and civil disobedience, and make loud
and clear our demand for an alternative to the failure of austerity."What: Bonfire of Austerity, burning energy bills on Westminster Bridge along
with campaigners from many groups, including trades unions, political parties
and pressure groups.Where: Westminster Bridge, London
When: Gathering at 6pm on Tuesday, 5 November. Fireworks and burning of energy
bills at 7pmFor interviews call: 07412019623, 07872481769, 07970126249
The sender is a single person. The email was signed and has been posted exactly as we received it with the exception of the name. He knows us and has emailed before.
E-mail received at Head Office from a sympathetic member of the public:I write in relation to Russell Brand's interview with Jeremy Paxman and its surprising spin-off.As you almost certainly know, Russell Brand said in that interview, we need a revolution to rid ourselves of a political system well past its sell-by date and the corruption it had brought. He also said that pure socialism is the only way out of our troubles.What you may not know however, is that this was the subject of last night's phone-in on LBC radio.I listened in between 11 pm and midnight during which I listened to about a dozen callers. To my surprise, every single one was in favour of Russell Brand's beliefs.The LBC anchor man said in summary after about fifty minutes of angry — but also often highly intelligent phone calls, "this confirms my feelings which is that there is a tide of anger and demand for real change growing in Britain".Sir/Madam, having read the review of the Brand — Paxman interview in the "Independent" newspaper, I think it really possible that Russell Brand hit a nerve. He said what is in the hearts and minds of millions of British people: that they have had enough of this crypto-fascism that it bringing so much misery to many millions, young and old.It is said there is nothing so irresistible as an idea whose time has come. So far,the SPGB has been little more than a protest party. Surely the time has now come for you to blossom forth as a powerful political party with a full Marxist/Leninist manifesto and, with the aid of the internet etc, take it to the people?Also, I suggest you ask Brand to be your spokesman. He has what it takes to get the Socialist message across especially with the younger generation who are riddled with depression and hopelessness.
Written comment received at Head Office from comrade Kephas Mulenga:I refer to the editorial which appeared in the Socialist Standard September 2013. I had trouble in visualizing the editorial concerning Israel as an aggressor in the Middle East. It is hard for me to believe that Hamas is not an affront to political settlement in Palestine. Its refusal to merge with the PLO was not touched upon.The ideology of Zionism like apartheid is only believed in by those who hold state power — the military generals. Not every Jewish citizen of Israel is Zionist at heart — they are merely workers, Indeed Jews and Arabs live side by side in Israel and Palestine. Zionism is a matter of nationalism. It is a political opportunity of the ruling elites to defend their racial and political prejudices against Hamas and the PLO.I feel that the editorial should have condemned both Hamas and the political elites in Israel for having failed to find a political solution for the long-waged war. Your depicting of Israel as a conderella state seems like a wanton supporting and taking sides between Arabic and Jewish nationalism. Israel is not notoriously a political counter-weight to the setting up an independent Palestinian state. It is true that Zionism is a racial rhetoric and so are the political sentiments of Hamas.Our appeal must concentrate on the Jewish and Palestine workers to shy away from the political intentions of both the rulers of Israel and Hamas. But the plain fact is there for everyone to see — that condemned Israel as the aggressor even without consideration of the deeper and long-lasting anti-Western political or nationalist grievances being waged by Hamas both against Israel, Lebanon and Egypt.
Comment from a Socialist Party member who is not on this forum:Militant have always been ‘working class underconsumptionists’ rather than crude underconsumptionists like Luxemburg. It always enabled Grant to argue for a radical Keynesian programme like the one he developed in the 80s with Andrew Glyn.It also led him to obsess about stock market crashes like in 1987, which led to a big disagreement within Militant incidentally. It was all about fictitious capital not being able to be reinvested profitably because of a maldistribution of income in society. It always seemed to be one of the nuances of difference between him and Healy, who was always arguing of course that capitalism ‘had reached its limits’ and was about to imminently collapse.
It is Rule 1 here on this site:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/party-rules-amended-conference-2009
