tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post1668565878142909076..comments2024-03-22T19:52:46.571+00:00Comments on SOCIALISM OR YOUR MONEY BACK: Marxist-LeninistPoetry Coalshedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05514953133244910986noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-14506456115584562152008-12-06T20:22:00.000+00:002008-12-06T20:22:00.000+00:00Daveinteresting research! The description "Great B...Dave<BR/>interesting research! The description "Great Britain" just seems to me a bit dated nowadays. To me, it just paints a picture of the Victorian age and the British Empire. Hence my comments about the SPGB's full name, which I know originates from the early years of the 20th CenturyJockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15366928113274588469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-48381328200956949092008-12-06T19:10:00.000+00:002008-12-06T19:10:00.000+00:00Derivation of 'Great'After the Old English period,...Derivation of 'Great'<BR/><BR/>After the Old English period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (circa 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany.<BR/>The term Britain re-surfaces in Early Modern period, in the context of efforts toward unification of England and Scotland. In 1604, James I proclaimed himself "King of Great Britain".<BR/>Sources such as the New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD) define Great Britain as "England, Wales, and Scotland considered as a unit" and Britain as "an island that consists of England, Wales, and Scotland."<BR/>In Irish, Wales is referred to as An Bhreatain Bheag which means, literally, Little Britain. On the other hand, the closely related language, Scottish Gaelic, uses the term, A'Bhreatainn Bheag, to refer to Brittany.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_BritainDave Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01531587692283872631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-73806294649665101552008-12-06T00:29:00.000+00:002008-12-06T00:29:00.000+00:00LondonsocialistI am not so sure as you seem to be ...Londonsocialist<BR/>I am not so sure as you seem to be about this. I think you have possibly missed my point, i.e I was merely speculating about an individual worker (myself, for example) understanding my economic position as a wage slave, but also having a co-existing strong geographic identity (in my case Scotland). I understand the case for socialism - abolishing the wages system - and also have a Scottish identity, Scotland being a smaller entity than England and physically more remote from political power in London. The Socialist Standard is a very good publication, and I am indebted to it for improving my understanding of how this world works. However, the organization behind it in my opinion does have a slightly off-putting title , the Socialist Party of "Great" Britain - it is a name which seems like an imperial hangover from the days of the British Empire! <BR/>And going back to the orginal piece on the blog which suggests socialist theory has been and can be developed (with not everything Marx wrote being endorsed), could the administration of socialism (presuming capitalism does not destroy our planet first) not be based on socialist delegates to relatively-defined geographic areas such as Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England etc?Jockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15366928113274588469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-67120714093747300482008-12-05T22:00:00.000+00:002008-12-05T22:00:00.000+00:00Regarding having more than one identity - you can ...Regarding having more than one identity - you can abstract from your life any way you want - the fact that you have red hair, are a Citroen or Mini driver, from a particular country, smoke, are gay/straight, whatever. But the social driving force that these things are by and large ephemeral to is economic relations - your relation to the means of life, not just survival but all socially produced goods, from bread to XBoxes. All of these other factors are about how we relate to each other within a social world which is the outgrowth of economic activity. For example, nationalism is a particular historical basis for a privileged group's access to the means of production; take it away and you still have privileged access, just now based on birth, job performed, or sheer lottery.<BR/><BR/>Marx was speaking at a time when working class movements were little developed and had to ride the coattails of the capitalists - bear in mind that the Labour Party did not leave the Liberals till 1906, for example. These capitalist movements were usually nationalist, establishing modern discrete polities from feudal ex-empires whether Ottoman, Austrian or Holy Roman. Garibaldi's crusade in Italy was a classic case in point. Historically socially progressive - if there's nothing else on the cards. But now nationalism is a regressive movement - an attempt to put the achievements of the working class back in the box and mobilise the workers as a political adjunct to capitalists of a particular area.<BR/><BR/>SJWSimonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05382748769955701707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-68021599131450720592008-12-05T09:14:00.000+00:002008-12-05T09:14:00.000+00:00No, being a socialist and a nationalist, ie have a...No, being a socialist and a nationalist, ie have a "strong" national identity, are incompatible. But that doesn't mean that a socialist cannot like and enjoy the culture of the part of the world where he grew up, eg socialists from England liking to follow cricket. But then the thing about culture is that you can enjoy that of other parts of the world too, eg there's nothing to prevent someone from England liking Indian cooking or, for that matter, listening to the bagpipe. Culture and "nationalism" are to be distinguished. Culture OK, Nationalism Not OK.Mondialistehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06840315496347318803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-14866124681269719412008-12-03T12:58:00.000+00:002008-12-03T12:58:00.000+00:00interesting piece. Regardng Marx and the struggles...interesting piece. Regardng Marx and the struggles of small countries eg Ireland etc, I see the SPGB is opposed to national liberation-type struggles, a departure from some of Marx's comments. On identity, would you say it is possible to have a understanding of our class position (as wage slaves), a class identity, but also if you are from, say, Ireland/Wales/Scotland or other geographical location, a strong Irish or Scottish identity co-existing with a conscious class identity?Jockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15366928113274588469noreply@blogger.com