During the past two years socialists have suffered some of their worst disappointments. From the time of Robert Owen apparent achievements bad often proven hollow, but with first the Russian Revolution and later the victory of Mao and his comrades, with one country after another coming under the rule of bodies flying the Marxist banner… read more »
Myths will doubtless always be with us, but the influence of the one which bulks so large in Marxism, presenting class as the fundamental determinant of political affiliation, weakens almost by the day. Reviewing the Cambridge Social History of Britain, 1750-1950, David Cannadine notes that through the 1950s and 60s it flourished among the intellectuals,… read more »
RATIONALISTS complain that less attention is paid to them than to the exponents of religion. Perhaps if a rationalist were to get himself crucified and buried, and rise again after three days? MARIE Sara, a Parisienne and the only top-ranking woman bullfighter, has killed fifty of the animals The Brigitte Bardot Foundation regards her as… read more »
Revision of January 1990. IDEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY announces itself as an independent journal of systematic ideology, but it does not claim final knowledge of this theory; the formulation that looked like the ultimate last month needs alteration now, and the account given here will be subject to continuous revision. Systematic ideology is the creation of the… read more »
This is the Second Part of a reply by Mersyside Branch, to IC‘s criticism of the Party. Part One appeared in IC47. In contrast to the “simplicity,” “contradictions” and “black and white” nature of the Socialist Party’s arguments, IC variously describes the positions that it takes on social, political and economic matters as sophisticated, complex,… read more »
Beyond Politics presents a view of evolution in which the outcome is not merely the final term but the whole system leading to it. Thus the outcome of biological evolution comprises not merely humanity but the whole range of species with their interactions, the outcome of ideological evolution not just any one ideology but the… read more »
Careful reading of this issue of IC will reveal, here and there, gentle reminders that Beyond Politics, an outline of systematic ideology, by George Walford, was published on 1 September and can now be bought. THe necessary information is set out on the back page of this issue of IC. Several copies were sent out… read more »
So far as productive and distributive facilities go, famines are no longer unavoidable catastrophes. They are not, in that curious phrase, “acts of God,” If not deliberately caused by human agency they are least allowed to happen, and not altogether at random; in Western Europe, North America and Australasia famine no longer looks like a serious… read more »
Nobody has yet claimed that systematic ideology has all the answers; if it had, then all human problems would be solved and IC could close down. Yet knowing that further answers are needed is one thing; finding out what they are, or indeed what the unanswered questions may be, another. One approach is to look… read more »
In Denver teenage girls are paid $1 a day not to get pregnant. MPs could be freed of their party chains by introducing the secret vote to Parliament. Should all estate agents be put out of business (and their staffs out of jobs) by having conveyancing done between buyer and seller through a computer at… read more »