Roy Hattersley, Deputy-Leader of the Labour Party, has written a book entitled: Choose Freedom; the Future for Democratic Socialism (London, Michael Joseph, 1987). The remarks which follow are based on a long extract printed in the Observer of 4 January 87. The theme appears in the first sentence: ‘Britain is no more equal a society today… read more »
The mystics have long insisted on the need for recognition of the dark side, and one achievement of the past century has been to link this intuition with the methods of science, producing rational studies of the irrational. One example appears in Aldous Huxley’s studies of consciousness-changing drugs (mainly, in those innocent days, peyoti) but… read more »
‘Ban the Bomb.’ An excellent slogan; short, direct, alliterative, unforgettable. What does it mean? The claim of the state to a monopoly of violence has never been universally accepted and there are now many non-state groups using violence, some of them able to operate across the world. Terrorists are notoriously disinclined to do what the… read more »
Of the promises made in the early days of IC at least one has been kept: that it would appear irregularly. Do you want to see it more frequently? This is more likely to happen if you send in material; either original work or relevant quotations (but please understand if we are not able to… read more »
(Reprinted by kind permission of CAUSA UK LTD., to whom the address was delivered). The particular hat I am wearing for this address is that of Council Member of the Science Fiction Foundation, at the North East London Polytechnic, a body established there since 1971, and in the inception of which I was involved. [see… read more »
COMING ATTRACTIONS In IC27 we shall be reprinting another article by HAROLD WALSBY, entitled: ‘What is the Answer?.’ Written in 1951 it draws attention to a problem facing purist ‘socialists’: Have their numbers kept pace with the increase in world population? THE LETTER in this issue from Austin Meredith takes off from the suggestion, made… read more »
Ideological Commentary announces itself as “an independent journal of systematic ideology,” but we do 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. The theory was created and largely developed by the late Harold… read more »
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 or supporters will be printed if they are cogent, interesting and concise, and if space permits. If you want your letter to appear… read more »
Dear Editor, I found the Outline Sketch of Systematic Ideology to be, superficially at least, quite an interesting pamphlet. However, closer investigation revealed that behind the words there was little of substance. Also, the reasoning contains several flaws. On page 29 appears: A purely eidodynamic society could not do so [i.e. survive]. Every society, if… read more »
Dear Editor, There is some good news about publishing-for-profit, and some bad news. The good news is, as you have noticed in IC23, that for-profit publishing filters submitted writings for whatever will be of interest to masses of readers. The bad news is that for-profit publishing filters submitted writings for whatever will be of interest… read more »