From 1815 to 1836 British newspapers had to pay taxes or duties on every sheet they printed, on each advertisement they contained and on every pound weight of paper used. From 1820 to 1836 both printer and publisher had to to enter into recognizances of £300 and also find sureties for the same amount, and… read more »
Sir: You say [IC50, From Hegel-San to Niat] that “nothing is absolutely true.” Is that right? I am assured by my scientific friends that there are two absolutes; the speed of light and absolute zero. This seems to be beyond question. At another level, however, the matter may be mostly semantic. We still have to… read more »
Robert Michels: The socialist theory has arisen out of the reflections of philosophers, economists, sociologists, and historians. In the socialist programmes of the different countries, every word represents a synthesis of the work of numerous learned men. The fathers of modern socialism were with few exceptions men of science primarily, and in the second place… read more »
Systematic ideology has now been around for over half a century. Those critically accepting the theory have not become a large and powerful group and do not seem likely to do so. When examining the (A-) SPGB IC points out that nearly everybody who has heard its case has rejected it, and there is no… read more »
SEEN FROM OUTSIDE FactSheetFive #41 says of IC “This political journal is a chewy nugget indeed, as it tries to expound the ideas of ‘systematic ideology.’ Their basic tenet is that there is a hierarchy of ideologies, with progressively fewer people at each step; they spin this out into fascinating discussions of everything from history… read more »
BEYOND POLITICS An outline of systematic ideology by George Walford 160 pages Paperback £2.95 Clothbound £9.95 For subscribers to IC and members of the (A-)SPGB paperback price is £1.95 BEYOND POLITICS shows that the influence of ideology extends beyond political parties and movements. In all our purposeful activities, whether playing with the children, practising a… read more »
Robert Michels’ book, Political Parties, a sociological study of the oligarchical tendencies of modern democracy [1], first appeared in 1911, and quickly became famous [2]. The English translation has been available since 1915 (there were also Italian, German, French and Japanese versions) and in those seventy-five years nobody, so far as I have been able… read more »
Should the school be adapted to the child or the child to the school? An inclination in either direction is notoriously linked with political outlook, and this suggests a connection with the underlying system of major ideologies. Zvi Lamm, a professor of education in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has cut across these roundabout associations,… read more »
One of the less intelligent everyday remarks is that we cannot predict the future. In fact we not only can but are constantly doing so, and could not live sensibly otherwise. For the most part our predictions remain unexpressed in words, but they appear from our actions. Every time we make a plan, buy anything,… read more »
Systematic ideology presents the major ideologies as following the same broad outlines in all advancing societies. This view sometimes meets the objection that in the East, and especially in India, development has followed a different course, spiritual rather than technological or materialistic. “The mystic East” is a key phrase. This article provides, from Indian sources,… read more »