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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: Freedom to Oppress

August 13, 2014

Political movements vary in many ways but all of them, when in power, promote freedom. To meet the inevitable protest head-on: Nazism promoted freedom of action for anti-Semitism. To demand merely freedom, unspecified, is like asking for more without saying of what. For the demand to be capable of realisation we have to specify which… read more »

George Walford: Happy Families

August 10, 2014

Under this head the Socialist Standard (February) quotes an official report that of the 589 people accused of killing in Scotland 1986-90, only 193 were strangers to the victims. (Rape and child abuse, also, take place mainly between victims and aggressors known to each other). Yet there are people around who want us to exchange… 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 (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: 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 »

George Walford: Contradictions

April 28, 2014

Ideological development through the series can be presented as a series of stages in a continuing attempt to define the assumptions held, and as the definitions become sharper so self-contradiction becomes more direct. At one extreme statements made by the expedients display neither precision nor integration; the two poles of potential contradictions, seldom clearly distinguished,… read more »

George Walford: The (Anarcho-)Socialist Party (52)

April 21, 2014

The founders of communism have been caught with their predictions down. In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels declared, in the Communist Manifesto, that the proletariat, being a class, would become a political party, and they clearly meant a party working for communism. What they foretold hasn’t happened, it gives no sign of being about… read more »

George Walford: The (Anarcho-) Socialist Party (51)

January 15, 2014

THE SOCIALIST Standard (March 1991) quotes, with approval, a “socialist” saying that the only thing lacking for the building of “socialism” is “the intellectual factor.” Claiming to be materialists, claiming the conditions of production to be the final determinant of social behaviour, they also say that (what they regard as) the crucial decision, the choice… read more »

George Walford: Doing the Splits (51)

January 14, 2014

Freedom, the anarchist fortnightly (23 February), reported that British opposition to the Gulf War (it came mainly from eidodynamic movements) fell into disarray. A meeting of the umbrella committee “degenerated into a series of bitter disputes and separate meetings,” the leftist groups involved pursued “their private sectarian battles,” and there was no agreed polity nor… read more »