Prior to writing 1984, George Orwell wrote these letters to George Walford. George Walford (1919 – 1994) was a student of systematic ideology. – Trevor Blake CAN 3751 27 B Canonbury Square Islington London N1 30.6.45 Dear Mr. Walford, Many thanks for your letter of 26th June, and for the pamphlet “The Intellectual and… read more »
Winner, 2014 George Walford International Essay Prize. 1. Introduction “Perhaps,” begins an essay by George Walford, “we should pay more attention to science fiction.” [1] He proceeds to analyze the novel Soldier, Ask Not by Phillip K. Dick. In Dick’s novel, the evolution of the human race causes it to split onto different planets, the… read more »
Winner, 2013 George Walford International Essay Prize. In an evolutionary context, a belief in the supernatural is costly. Evolutionary cost refers to anything that reduces an individual’s eventual reproductive success from what that individual would otherwise achieve. Such cost includes unnecessary practices that either neglect or consume resources that otherwise could be used provision oneself… read more »
Reprinted from here with the kind permission of the Socialist Party of Great Britain under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs copyright license. The Socialist Party of Great Britain Object The establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and… read more »
Reprinted from here with the kind permission of the Socialist Party of Great Britain under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs copyright license. The group that formed around Harold Walsby and his ideas probably represents the most unusual breakaway from the Socialist Party in its entire history. During the Second World War this group developed a fascination… read more »
The letter below was sent to the Socialist Standard on 16th February 1977. It has not been printed. It has not been acknowledged. The Editors The Socialist Standard London (Intended for publication) Dear Editors, Robert Barltrop’s article “Question of Intelligence,” in the Socialist Standard of December 1976, has just been brought to my attention. The… read more »
Dear Comrade, You say you will remain a Socialist because you: “hate and are sickened by the present order of things.” You also say that struggling against this present order of things is “a matter of personal integrity, of feeling that we are ourselves. Success is not necessary to make struggle or rebellion worthwhile or… read more »
The object of The Walsby Society is to develop and make known the work of the late Harold Walsby. The Society has no formal membership, no funds, no Constitution. People who take part in its work do so on their own initiative, on their own respensibility and at their own expense. Harold Walsby worked in… read more »
You have been asking us these questions; they have cropped up at every branch we visited. Here, then, are our answers, once for all, set out for easy reference. Don’t waste our time by asking them again. WHO ARE THE S.S.A.? The Social Science Association was founded by ex-members of the SPGB with the aim… read more »
The study of ideologies, those constructions of mingled rational and emotional concepts, of social theory and demagogic appeal, by which political groups seek to persuade the ordinary man into accepting their doctrines, is in an extremely embryonic state, and so far there has been no adequate and systematic study of this subject. Mr. Walsby’s little… read more »