George Walford: An Unaccepted Invitation

In IC12, which was issued in August 1984, there was an invitation to the “Socialist” Party to counter our attacks on them:

One sort of contribution will (until further notice) certainly be printed: anything of up to 1,000 words defending the Socialist Party of Great Britain or expounding its case. We do, of course, reserve the right to reply.

In IC13 that was revised. We now undertake to print any contribution, as above, which carries the imprimatur of the party or any of its branches.

Contributions claiming to defend the party, or expound its case, which have not been approved by the party or a branch, are subject to the usual editorial criteria. So far we have printed everything claiming to be by a member of the party which has been sent to IC for publication.

So if you feel that the material on the “Socialist” Party presented in IC is one-sided, all attack and no defence, it is the party you have to blame. They have chosen not to take advantage of opportunities offered them to make a defence.

On the debate which the Challenge was intended to open the position remains as reported in IC16; we still await the concluding statement from the party.

THE “SOCIALISTS” claim that all can understand their case and that their critics have been unable to do so.

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SPACEFILLERS

THE TLS reviewer says of Christians, Politics and Violent Revolution, by J. G. Davies, that it is sometimes “disarmingly naive.” The phrase seems well chosen – the book includes this sentence:

The most serious danger is the possibility that as a revolution progresses it may come under the control of extremists.

THE VICTORIANS spent their time making things to be sold on antique stalls.

PSYCHIATRIST, laughingly, to patient: “Oh, no, no; no, no, no! Manic depression is quite outside your price range.”

from Ideological Commentary 17, March 1985.