George Woodcock’s Anarchism; a history of libertarian ideas and movements (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books 1962) is one of the standard books. It sometimes gives the impression that the author’s ideas are in the condition of a supersaturated solution, wanting nothing but a tap for them to crystallize out as systematic ideology. Here we present some of… read more »
ON THE DEFINITION OF IDEOLOGY Sir: I would like to suggest an amendment to the s.i. definition. Ideology is false consciousness. Quoting Engels: “Ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker consciously, it is true, but with a false consciousness. The real motive forces impelling him remain unknown to him; otherwise it simply would… read more »
Fifty-five years ago the atomic bomb was a fantasy and the greenhouse effect was what ripened your tomatoes. The newspapers said there was another war coming, but it would be over in a few months because the Germans didn’t have much oil, and after it things would be better. The bad old days were coming… read more »
HEGEL was a humourist. Must have been, since Terrell Carver writes of his “post-humorously collected lectures”. The remark comes from Friedrich Engels, his, life and thought (MacMillan 1989 p. 71) and apart from one transposition of Hegel’s Christian names is the only misprint in the book. ENGELS to Marx: “What the proletariat does we know… 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 »
Annual subscription (6 issues) £2. All back issues from No. 1 (October 1979) are available, two of them in photocopy. The early ones are smaller and thinner than the later, and less elegantly presented. The set £10 post free. The figure in brackets following your name on the envelope is the number of the issue… read more »
At the Islington Branch meeting on Thursday 11 January Phil Kelly, Editor of Tribune, debated with the Party (in the person of Ralph Critchfield) the question: After Thatcher, What? The evening would perhaps be best described as a missing of minds, for they certainly didn’t meet. Mr. Kelly, as a member of the Labour Party… read more »
PRO OR ANTI? This party claims to be propagating socialism but spends nearly all., its time and energy attacking capitalism. The eight Principles, for example, do not mention socialism except, indirectly, in No. 8. It is a tendency which began to appear at an earlier stage of ideological development; Karl Marx’s principal work was not… read more »
The superficiality of much opinion research and of the journalism reporting it, even in the heavier newspapers, sometimes takes one’s breath away. In the Sunday Times (14 Jan 90) Rufus Olins writes up a research project carried out over 18 months by an advertising agency. Studying children aged 12 to 15, the investigators concluded that… read more »
“The notorious sectarianism of the anarchist movement did not appear to be transcended… by any obvious sense of bonhomie, mutual interest or collaboration.” (After noting that the movement is constituted of “half a dozen discrete entities”): “This raises the question of what, analytically, is the common ground between anarchist groups apart from a recalcitrant attitude.”… read more »