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George Walford: The (Anarcho- ) Socialist Party (56)

August 13, 2014

Readers will recall that in 1991 the (A-)SPGB, following standard procedure for extreme eidodynamic groups, split in two. They had done this often enough before, but this time both fractions were large enough to survive. We now have two (anarcho-) socialist parties, each of them repudiating the other. IC55, differentiating them as SW4 and N12,… read more »

George Walford: Repudiation

August 10, 2014

S.i. identifies the ideology underlying anarchism as that of repudiation. Two examples: In fact, we regard the notion of Marxist and Anarchist traditions as only holding back revolutionaries today who hold on to either of them – an important element in the development of revolutionary ideas is the rejection of past ideas… revolutionaries today need… read more »

George Walford: The Managers

August 10, 2014

Half a century ago James Burnham saw that the Marxists, calling on us to admire their splendid revolutionary robes, were in fact naked. His book, The Managerial Revolution, [1] showed that socialism had not replaced capital- ism anywhere and had no reasonable prospect of doing so; instead, the managers were taking over. By managers Burnham… read more »

George Walford: Ideology in the Reviews (56)

August 21, 2014

MICHAEL Gossop reviews Solomon H. Snyder: Brainstorming; The science and politics of opiate research. (Harvard UP) and Ronald K.Siegel: Intoxication; Life in pursuit of artificial paradise (Simon & Schuster). Both authors point out how drug control strategies can do more harm than good. Snyder describes how the American campaign to eradicate the use of opium… read more »

George Walford: Meet Systematic Ideology (56)

August 8, 2014

(Revision of May 1992) IDEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY announces itself as a journal of systematic ideology (s.i.), 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 undergoes continuing revision. Si. starts from observation of the limited success achieved alike… read more »

George Walford: The (Anarcho- ) Socialist Parties (55)

August 8, 2014

Readers will recall that the (A-)SPGB last year divided themselves, after a long dispute, into two parties, one based in Head Office, SW4 (this retains control of the premises, the Socialist Standard and most of the funds), the other in N12. Both retain the original Object and Declaration of Principles. As one result of the… read more »

George Walford: Doing the Splits (55)

August 7, 2014

IC has been running items under this heading, drawing attention to the increase in divisiveness towards the eidodynamic end of the ideological range. The first two of the present selection are particularly fine; one gives vigorous expression to what happens, the other shows its practical importance: “Why is it that right-wing bastards always stand shoulder… read more »

George Walford: The Road to Braziers

August 7, 2014

Harold Walsby, originator of the theory now known as systematic ideology, included among his many interests the adult education carried on at Braziers – officially Braziers Park Integrative School of Social Research. He lived there for a time, and a sketch he made of the main building appears as a heading to this article. Braziers… read more »

George Walford: Spiritualism

August 6, 2014

Spiritualism flourishes, socialism languishes. Martin Gardner reports that nearly all the first-rank American publishing houses have been knowingly issuing books of occult rubbish. [1] He quotes Ruth Brandon on the endlessness of the task of exposing their fraudulence; any success gets swamped by new publications and the mass goes wallowing on. The book trade magazine,… read more »

George Walford: William Morris

August 17, 2014

In Freedom of 14 December reviews of two books, one by William Morris and the other about him, occupy a full page. Thoughtful, informed and informative though they are, both of them display one surprising omission. Look at these quotations: “RICH SCUM . . Thought – terminate ’em!’ (Class War); “the rich will always save… read more »