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 »
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 »
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 »
Social and political affairs present a scene of confusion, but systematic ideology claims to perceive underlying regularities. Prominent among these stands the tendency for movements to be smaller in proportion as they value co-operation above competition, the material welfare of the community above the freedom of individuals to accumulate possessions. It is a rule with… read more »
SOME BACKGROUND IC undertakes 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 at all, please say… read more »
For clear thinking and reliable conclusions logic is the thing. Emotion, rhetoric, even ideology may be useful in the political struggle, but when we want to get at the truth of a matter, rather than to win an argument or an election, what we need is logic. Logic provides the standard by which thinking, and… read more »
Quentin Crisp wrote How to Become a Virgin. Whether he would call himself an anarchist we have no idea, but he has come up with a phrase that hits off, with grace and economy, the relationship between government and anarchy: “The function of government is to create a walled garden in which anarchy can flourish.”… read more »
REVOLUTION is supported mainly by the working class, but so is reaction and – even more important – so is apathy. SIR ROBERT MARK, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, defined a good police force as one that employed fewer criminals than it caught; he noted that the Met did not then meet this criterion…. read more »
George Bernard Shaw was perhaps more successful as a character than as a thinker, but he did put the ideas and experiences of the socialist movement of his time with a clarity rare in political writing. He produced no full-dress autobiography but many fragments and contributions to biographies, and Stanley Weintraub assembled some of these… read more »
Conrad Hopman, The Book of Future Changes – living in balance in the electronic age. London: Institute for Social Inventions 1988. A4, 153 pages, perfect bound in glossy wrappers. The edition said to be limited but the number of copies issued not given. £9.95 (£14.95 libraries and institutions). Conrad Hopman’s title echoes that of the… read more »