Recent events in Eastern Europe have led some Western commentators to suggest that revolutionary communism is now on its last legs, the West German Embassy, for example, speaking of Marx and Marxism both being nicely buried. [1] The communists do not agree. Dr. Chater, editor of the Morning Star, still regards the coming of communism… read more »
Eggwina – beg pardon, Edwina – Currie calls Shelter an organisation which “just moans and shelters nobody” (Sunday Times 19 Nov 89). She does not go far enough; Shelter deprived many people of the homes they might have enjoyed without its activities. It was largely responsible for a change in the Rent Acts during one… read more »
A recent book by John Rowan describes the late Harold Walsby, creator of systematic ideology, as a Hegelian. The title is not one to be ashamed of and Rowan doubtless intended no derogation, but by presenting Walsby as a mere follower of Hegel it does suggest an unduly low estimate of his achievement. More may… read more »
The greens tell us that the peoples living in close contact with nature act with restraint, treat their environment caringly and take no more than they need. The anthropologists present a different picture; as their knowledge of the early people has grown they have increasingly come to see them as careless destroyers; not deliberate vandals,… read more »
The ideological mode of domination-submission appears in various connections, some of them less easy to recognise than others; the power wielded by the universities, for example, comes mainly from this source although it is easily (and often) mistaken for a consequence of superior rationality. In a letter to the Editor of the TLS Nicolas Walter… read more »
Richard Pipes helps to dispel the fog of misunderstanding and misrepresentation that makes revolution look like nothing more than spontaneous mass upheaval. [1] He notes that the French revolution, first of the modern ones, did not use the word until fifteen months after the fall of the Bastille, but the Russian revolutionaries “travelled with Baedekers,”… read more »
Since 1979 spending on criminal justice has leapt from £2 to £5 billion; an increase of 50 per cent in real terms. The number of police has increased by 13 per cent and of prison staff by 50 per cent; 49,000 prisoners are now managed by 33,000 warders. 28 new prisons are being prepared, with… read more »
A NEWSPAPER headline cries: “Marx gets the workers united – against him.” [1] So what’s new? Since Marxism first appeared practically all workers, by their actions if not their thoughts, have supported its opponents. [1] (Sunday Times 11 Feb 90) OLIVER IN SKIRTS The feminists will have gained their point when men wear skirts as… 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 »
SOME BACKGROUND This party set out in 1904 to get a majority for ‘socialism’ – more accurately described as anarcho-socialism. the world population has increased by thousands of millions while the number of ‘socialists’ remains in the hundreds – of people, not millions. Further from their majority than when they started, they believe they are… read more »