Readers will recall that the (A-)SPGB last year divided themselves, after a long dispute, into two parties, one based in Head Office, SW4 (this retains control of the premises, the Socialist Standard and most of the funds), the other in N12. Both retain the original Object and Declaration of Principles. As one result of the… read more »
Warre and Peace Thomas Hobbes gained fame with his philosophising and notoriety with some sour comments on societies without government, including this: “during the time men live without a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called Warre, and such a Warre, as is of every man,… read more »
IC has been running items under this heading, drawing attention to the increase in divisiveness towards the eidodynamic end of the ideological range. The first two of the present selection are particularly fine; one gives vigorous expression to what happens, the other shows its practical importance: “Why is it that right-wing bastards always stand shoulder… read more »
Harold Walsby, originator of the theory now known as systematic ideology, included among his many interests the adult education carried on at Braziers – officially Braziers Park Integrative School of Social Research. He lived there for a time, and a sketch he made of the main building appears as a heading to this article. Braziers… read more »
(Reprinted from Ethical Record, December 1991. – GW) The article entitled “Remarks on the Relation Between Brain and Consciousness,” in ER for October, argues against “the old hypothesis that thought or consciousness is an independent active agent in the world.” So far we have agreement; to the best of my knowledge neither thought nor consciousness… read more »
Spiritualism flourishes, socialism languishes. Martin Gardner reports that nearly all the first-rank American publishing houses have been knowingly issuing books of occult rubbish. [1] He quotes Ruth Brandon on the endlessness of the task of exposing their fraudulence; any success gets swamped by new publications and the mass goes wallowing on. The book trade magazine,… read more »
HYPERSCEPTICISM Sir, I wonder if you realise that your extension of systematic ideology to the business of everyday living [1] – the ideologies surrounding a flying brick – marries up with hyperscepticism when it is applied to existence itself? In hyperscepticism the viewer does not accept any proposition as ultimately true. Resonance: NIAT. There is… read more »
In Freedom of 14 December reviews of two books, one by William Morris and the other about him, occupy a full page. Thoughtful, informed and informative though they are, both of them display one surprising omission. Look at these quotations: “RICH SCUM . . Thought – terminate ’em!’ (Class War); “the rich will always save… read more »
This is the full text, minimally edited, of a talk delivered to the South Place Ethical Society at their premises, Conway Hall, on 17 November 1991. The Society (familiar as South Place, or SPES), presents itself and its aims: “Founded in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aim is the study and dissemination… read more »
In order to form any clear ideas about the probable social future we need a rational conception of the course followed in the past, a curve to extrapolate. Beyond Politics presents a stadial conception in which the first major step occurs when the state succeeds the foraging communities, a transition intimately linked with the emergence… read more »