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 »
On the piece HOMO? HOMA? HOMESS? in IC30: Whatever the readers of IC may suggest it seems likely that homo sapiens, old- fashioned and mannered to modern ears, will soon go into the trash-can, to be replaced by a trendy new phrase that includes females. Changing words to include both sexes is becoming commoner. Why? Because… read more »
This letter left us with ambivalent feelings, and after a time we began to see why. Although written as a whole, it falls into two parts. The first consists of the ideas Austin would have us accept. These are not to be swallowed unquestioningly – he would not want that – but they are all… read more »
Dear George, We received your #29. Let’s talk together on these topics. 1. On page 17 you ask if Lord Acton, as a religious person, could have applied his famous remark to the concept of an all-powerful deity. If there is in this world an inverse correlation between powerfulness and purity, would not an all-powerful… read more »
While we serenely analyse the behaviour of parties and movements, where does IC stand? Every issue makes it clear that we are opposed to the (A-)SPGB (and, though this is less emphasised, also to other “purist” anarchists and anarcho-socialists) and that locates us on the side of existing society in all its variety and with… read more »
In IC30 we quoted Walsby’s mention of the response – it can almost be called a mechanism – that tends to maintain conformity among the great bulk of the people in a state. He said: If… there arises a comparatively strong, critical faction… which threatens the group with dissension and disruption, the mass suggestion will increase… read more »
There is an abiding temptation to confuse change with progress, and a recent book by W. Paul James and William Tatton-Brown, Hospitals, Design and Development (London, Architectural Press) draws attention to one example of the fallacy. What we have come to think of as the old-fashioned hospital ward, with a line of beds down each… read more »
The orthodox theory of competition assumes that each trader in a given field will attempt to excel the others in the satisfactions offered, thus attracting more custom and making greater profits. The customers also benefit, receiving greater satisfactions. It is a troublesome, risky and expensive model for traders to follow, and being sensible people they… read more »
Here we continue our series of reprints of Walsby’s articles from the Socialist Leader, begun in IC27, with copy supplied by Ellis Hillman. This is from the issue of 29 April 1950; it completes the article “Dogmatic Nonsense” which appeared on 15 April 1950, reprinted in IC30. – GW Further to my previous letter, we… read more »
Louis Althusser is a French Marxist intellectual, and they don’t come any more intellectual than that. The TLS tells us his Essays on Ideology (London, Verso, 1984) is “the work of an acute intellect and contains extended passages of originality and brilliance”. Tribune: “Althusser demands patience from the reader but he rewards it with his… read more »