In IC 3 we noted the theory that personality determines belief, and pointed out that if it be accepted then it follows that those who believe this theory do so because of the personalities they have, and not because of any intellectual or scientific validity the theory may possess. We did not claim it as… read more »
Descriptions of the future we are to expect from rapid development of technology – computers, silicon chins and so forth – tend to present it as a time in which everything will be done for us. The great problem is expected to be the large numbers of people with nothing to do. But have you… read more »
After the second performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in Berlin in 1829, there was a party for the performers. The wife of one of them, Therese Devrient, was sitting between Mendelssohn and a man who kept urging her to drink and showered her with inane and flirtatious compliments, until Therese, bored with his prattle,… read more »
It is sometimes suggested that people take the political positions they do because of their personalities. Thus Adorno and his colleagues have suggested that fascism is particularly linked with “the authoritarian personality” and Eysenck has suggested that adoption of this or that position is connected with one’s “tough-” or “tender-mindedness.” One way of testing an… read more »
The article “The Anarchist Police Force” contains the usual inaccuracies and generalisations of articles of this nature. There is an abysmal ignorance of the anarchist anarcho-syndicalist movement in Spain in this, country and its history (pre-organisational; years of struggle; civil war; after; today). But superficial Marxist observers have some flip answers. All agree that in… read more »
It is of course in order to use a reply to an article as a chance to put one’s own case over. But the conventions require that the “reply” should at least pretend to be relevant to the main theme of the original, and Mr. Meltzer has not made much effort in that direction. The… read more »
MEMORIAL LECTURE FOR 1980. A circular was recently sent to Supporters asking for their reactions to the proposal that George Walford be invited to deliver the Annual Harold Walsby Memorial Lecture for 1980. All replies supported the proposal, except one. That one reply questioned the “cost-effectiveness” of these Lectures and suggested alternatives. The Walsby Society… read more »
Systematic Ideology is a field of study originating in, and developing from, the work of the late Harold Walsby, whose book The Domain of Ideologies was published in 1947. Ideologies and their Functions describes the development of Walbsy’s theory, interest in which has been maintained by his friends and followers, and the relevance of that… read more »
TEACH (Technology, Education and Change) is a new pressure group concerned about the impact of microprocessors and other technologies on education. We hope in the next issue of IC to have an article giving an account of its work. In the meantime, if you want to knot more, write to: Colin Mably, S.L.U., [ADDRESS]. TEACH… read more »
Sir Anthony Blunt has confessed to being a Marxist and a Soviet spy. Sir Anthony is (or was) a Cambridge don, Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures and a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. Another one of those Working-class Communists. from Ideological Commentary 3, December 1979.