Periodicals |

George Walford: To Start You Thinking

January 28, 2013

Margaret Chisman, Opening the Mind’s Eye; Exercises in Truth, Beauty and Goodness. London, Institute for Social Inventions, 1988, wrappers, pp 40, illus., £2.50 A series of 59 exercises which ‘will give social permission to explore, discover and discuss various outlooks, ways of life, belief systems, mores, morality and aesthetics.’ To give one (slightly abridged) example:… read more »

Harold Walsby: What Makes the Socialist Tick?

January 28, 2013

(Here we continue reprinting the articles Walsby contributed to the SOCIALIST LEADER, from copy supplied by Ellis Hillman. This one appeared in the issue of January 5, 1952 – GW.) How do people become socialists? What is it that enables some people to see with striking clarity that capitalism cannot function in the interest of… read more »

George Walford: Editorial Notes (34)

January 28, 2013

WHAT AM I BID FOR LENIN’S BONES? We have long been pointing to the evidence that the USSR (with China not far behind) is moving towards a system which resembles capitalism more closely than communism as Marx envisaged it. Sotheby’s have now capped our efforts by announcing their first sale in Moscow for July 7th…. read more »

George Walford: New Readers Start Here (34)

January 28, 2013

Revision of June 1987. Ideological Commentary is devoted to the development and exposition of systematic ideology, a theory originated and largely developed by the late Harold Walsby. We do not claim final or exhaustive understanding of it; the formulation that looked like the ultimate last month needs alteration now, and the partial account given here… read more »

George Walford: The (Anarcho-)Socialist Party (33)

January 26, 2013

IC holds out a continuing invitation: We undertake to print any statement of up to 1,000 words carrying the approval of this party, or one of its branches. Letters from individual members will appear if they are cogent, interesting and concise, and if space permits. If you want your letter to appear unedited or not… read more »

George Walford: War or Peace?

January 26, 2013

Since 1945 no major power has used warfare to subjugate another; tensions which in the past would have led to a head-on collision have been kept under control. The change has been ascribed to the presence of nuclear weaponry, raising the stakes to an unacceptable level, and that is doubtless a factor, but we cannot… read more »

Elizabeth Hope: Divisiveness

January 25, 2013

What is it breeds divisiveness? Disraeli’s hold one-nation dream? Churchill’s clear far-sightedness? Thatcher’s people-power theme? Is national unity more cleft By powers of the right – or left? By Bevan’s ‘Tory vermin’ scream? Or Bernie Grant’s ‘good hiding’ steam? Or Labour’s pledge to soak the rich with avaricious nose a-twitch? From class divisions Labour spoke…. read more »

George Walford: Togetherness

January 25, 2013

When the left began to take part in British municipal government the enthusiasm of its supporters for setting up communal services earned its activities the title of ‘gas and water socialism.’ The Labour Party, during its periods of office, moved national life in the same direction. Education, sanitation, medicine, fuel, transport and, for a great… read more »

George Walford: Progress of Reason

January 25, 2013

We are constantly being told that society as a whole progresses towards ever higher levels of rationality, but some of the revelations occuring in the wake of the American TV-religion scandals go to support a different view. One of the movements involved is ‘PTL’ – variously interpreted as ‘Praise the Lord’ or ‘Pass the Loot’… read more »

George Walford: Shakespeare Too

August 21, 2014

In several issues of IC we have quoted passages, expressing observations and insights forming part of s.i., by writers who were unaware of the theory. Now we can add Shakespeare to the list. The hunter-gatherers, and the non-political people (the expedient or protostatic group) in our own society, largely confine their area of moral responsibility… read more »