Socialism |

George Walford: The (Anarcho-) Socialist Party (46)

July 25, 2013

SOME BACKGROUND This party (with its companion parties) claims to be the only socialist, Marxist, revolutionary movement. It declares that socialism cannot be established until an overwhelming majority has accepted its case, but since it was founded in 1904 its membership has failed even to keep up with the increase in the world population. It… read more »

George Walford: Breakaway!

August 21, 2014

SPANNER, a New Journal for New Thinking Issue No. 1 [address], 52 pages, occasional illustrations, £1 SPANNER claims to be A New Journal for New Thinking; the list of contents runs: The Green Wave, Common Ownership, That Frame of Mind (discussing the principles of a socialist society), Neo-Connectionism (on artificial intelligence), The Road to Socialism, Standing… read more »

George Walford: NOOMP

July 19, 2013

Resistance to the Poll Tax has encouraged the less thoughtful reformers and revolutionaries to believe that at last the people are starting to move in their direction. As one journal, Counter Information, puts it: The Poll Tax need not be a single issue campaign. We do not live in a vacuum. Anti-Poll Tax groups whether… read more »

George Walford: Socialist Understanding

August 21, 2014

The Socialist party of Great Britain (not to be confused with the Labour Party) is a small organization to the left of Left. It holds that modern industrial society is divided into two classes, a large working class the produces but not but does not possess, a small capitalist class the possesses but does not… read more »

George Walford: On Defining Socialism

May 31, 2013

Many of the important words have more than one meaning, and socialism is no exception. One definition gives it as common ownership and democratic control. At the lowest it means redistribution of income in favour of the poor, and Neil Kinnock has now repudiated even this minimal version, committing the Labour Party against any massive… read more »

George Walford: Takeovers

August 21, 2014

Takeovers come in various sizes, and the attempt by Boris Yeltsin and his supporters to take over the USSR is one of the biggest yet. His autobiography [1] is much what one would expect, but it does raise a few striking points. After graduation in civil engineering Yeltsin was offered a job as foreman on… read more »

Erik Grigg: Who Does Own the Means of Production?

May 25, 2013

SOME BACKGROUND This party (with its companion parties abroad) claims to be the only socialist, Marxist, revolutionary movement. It declares that socialism cannot be established until an overwhelming majority has accepted its case and declares war on all other political parties. Since it was founded, in 1904, the world population has increased by thousands of… read more »

George Walford: Greedom?

May 24, 2013

“Socialist Spain is not the only country to pursue policies of Thatcherism without Thatcher. Communist Vietnam is reported to be practising Thatcherite monetarism and advocating the importance of the market, while proclaiming Marxist-Leninism …” (Freedom 27 Jan 90) These two have to be added to the list of countries proclaiming economic collectivism while practising individualism…. read more »

George Walford: Anarchist Extracts

May 24, 2013

George Woodcock’s Anarchism; a history of libertarian ideas and movements (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books 1962) is one of the standard books. It sometimes gives the impression that the author’s ideas are in the condition of a supersaturated solution, wanting nothing but a tap for them to crystallize out as systematic ideology. Here we present some of… read more »

George Walford: The (Anarcho-) Socialist Party (44)

May 15, 2013

PRO OR ANTI? This party claims to be propagating socialism but spends nearly all., its time and energy attacking capitalism. The eight Principles, for example, do not mention socialism except, indirectly, in No. 8. It is a tendency which began to appear at an earlier stage of ideological development; Karl Marx’s principal work was not… read more »