tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360280822009-07-13T14:09:09.476ZOur aim is to build a movement working towards socialism , a democratic society based upon co-operation and production for use , a world community without national borders. An end to buying and selling and money , where goods will be voluntarily produced and services voluntarily supplied to meet people's needs. People will freely take the things they need. The Socialist Party of Great Britain is an organisation of equals with no leader and there are no followers.grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00537849684816752973noreply@blogger.comBlogger569125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-54200182849274486532009-07-13T13:10:00.006Z2009-07-13T14:09:09.490Z

Twenty-four years ago today Bob Geldof asked "..why do people starve on one side of the world while on the other people are paid not to produce food, or "surpluses" are allowed to rot?" He said that no-one had yet answered that question for him satisfactorily. And he still does not have a clue. The contemporary article below, taken from the September 1985 Socialist Standard, explains why such

hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-2335981523335595452009-07-13T09:23:00.003Z2009-07-13T09:51:14.765Z

The aim of this talk is to explore the effects of a particlular form of technology on the state of society. It will examine the concepts of robotics and artificial intelligence; the concept of the technological singularity; what such an event would mean for the labour market; and, because of the central role of the labour market to capitalism, what this would mean for capitalist society as a

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-53515435023264128202009-07-12T07:06:00.006Z2009-07-12T07:43:41.321Z

This evening there will be a talk and discussion about social revolution and technological change. The venue is our Head Office at 52 Clapham High Street, London. Below you can read a not unrelated essay, taken from a collection of 40 titled A WORLD TORN APART. Do you too get annoyed at unsolicited and unwelcome calls from telemarketers? Not only do they call at the most inconvenient moments

hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-47326248591880242032009-07-12T00:16:00.004Z2009-07-12T00:37:26.831Z

The Sunday Herald runs this story :-Shortly after midnight on December 3, 1984, a cloud of poisonous gas escaped from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the city. It has been dubbed the "Hiroshima of the chemical industry". Investigations into the 1984 disaster revealed that something had gone fundamentally wrong with a tank that stored methyl isocyanate. During the early hours of December 3,

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-64928347426815790652009-07-11T22:32:00.006Z2009-07-12T00:00:08.863Z

The global economic crisis can be an opportunity for positive social change, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said "This economic crisis suddenly awakens us to the fact that this system is not working. When the system is not working that is the best time to undo it and redo it in a new way," he said. "The financial crisis on top of the food crisis, the energy crisis, the environment crisis

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-28851720136830238482009-07-10T05:46:00.005Z2009-07-10T06:10:41.828Z

As the “alliance of the willing” prepares to withdraw from its six year military occupations of Iraq concerns remain regarding the stability of the state they leave behind. Cracks are again appearing in the shaky political amalgam of Iraq’s various Kurdish, Arab and Turkoman ethnic groups.In the country’s northern “Kurdistan” claims are being made to a range of disputed areas considered by some

hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-79030547949853005812009-07-09T07:37:00.008Z2009-07-09T08:19:22.159Z

Capitalism and consumerism have brought the world to the brink of economic and environmental collapse, the Prince of Wales has warned an audience of industrialists and environmentalists at St James's PalaceA SPGB membership application A form will be shortly despatched to Prince Charles Ooops , perhaps too prematurely , it appears .Charles said that without "coherent financial incentives and

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-67489736411040833782009-07-08T10:12:00.003Z2009-07-08T10:19:35.720Z

Sunday, 12 July 6.00pmTitle is "Here come the Robots? Speaker: Bill Martin. Chair:Jacqueline Shodeke"Is the Socialist Party wrong? Is a social revolution actuallyunnecessary? Does the increasing pace of technological advancementmean that capitalism will abolish itself? Exploring the theme of thetechnological singularity in the light of Marx's version of the LabourTheory of Value, Bill

prolerathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01698202497017246060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-3701256509512341752009-07-07T07:23:00.005Z2009-07-07T07:56:18.528Z

A £1m permanent memorial to the victims of the 7 July 2005 London bombings is to be unveiled in the city's Hyde Park. Fifty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured when suicide bombers detonated backpacks on board three Underground trains and a bus. What we said and also here and here tooAn extract"It’s a tragic irony of humanity that the statues and memorials for military murderers are

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-68953806516937507152009-07-07T06:16:00.004Z2009-07-07T07:13:21.829Z

There is no evidence that new arrivals in the UK are able to jump council housing queues, an Equality and Human Rights Commission report says. The prime minister told MPs he wants to allow councils in England to give additional preference to locals over migrant workers , pandering to prejudice .After five years, when many immigrants are able to get residency and become entitled to government

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-23889556975352305212009-07-06T15:26:00.004Z2009-07-06T16:04:31.037Z

We are told When President Barack Obama flies into Moscow today for meetings with Kremlin leadership, at the top of his agenda will be reducing the number of strategic nuclear weapons capable of destroying life on EarthSuch statements should be taken with a pinch or two of SALT, as Rosa Luxemburg, writing during the War to End All Wars, observed: "All demands for complete or gradual disarmament,

hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-54250343517528232612009-07-05T20:25:00.007Z2009-07-05T22:03:51.000Z

From The New Scientist :-So many accounts of human behaviour emphasise conflict. Robert Sussman from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri believes the popular focus on violence and warfare is disproportionate. "Statistically, it is more common for humans to be cooperative and to attempt to get along than it is for them to be uncooperative and aggressive towards one another," he says. And

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-1229668365909273772009-07-05T04:05:00.004Z2009-07-05T04:19:44.603Z

Annie Lennox has hit out at the exploitation of young female stars by the "vile and unscrupulous" record industry. The 54-year-old singer claimed the welfare and well-being of vulnerable female artists was being sacrificed by uncaring executives in their pursuit of profit.She said:"People are very nice, they are all smiling, and everybody's interested in you, but basically they are looking for

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-53882773829160638502009-07-04T04:57:00.003Z2009-07-04T06:09:24.506Z

The BBC reports the political left must stop "holding up egalitarianism as the ideal", Communities Secretary John Denham told the Fabian Society . Basing fairness purely on "society's response to those in greatest need" risked being unpopular, he said. Denham said that the numbers within society who signed up to the traditional egalitarian view were "simply too small to construct a strong,

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-68386591632004314452009-07-03T07:43:00.003Z2009-07-03T08:07:20.816Z

India could achieve growth of 7% in the current year and more in coming years if the right reforms are made, a report from the finance ministry said. Among the reforms suggested was the reform of subsidies for fuel, food and fertiliser.But then we read 30-year-old mother Pushpa lives with her ailing in-laws, five children and her husband in a crowded slum in east Delhi. Pushpa's husband earns

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-4991874555223456942009-07-03T07:36:00.003Z2009-07-03T07:42:22.897Z

People living longer sounds good - But not for capitalismThe world's 65-and-older population will triple by mid-century to 1 in 6 people, leaving governments struggling to support the elderly."The 2020s for most of the developed world will be an era of fiscal crisis, with a real long-term stagnation in economic growth and ugly political battles over old-age benefits cuts," said Richard Jackson,

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-57505200775007167672009-07-01T19:18:00.003Z2009-07-01T19:37:57.287Z

This essay first appeared Socialist Standard of July 1986 and marked the 70th anniversary of the Somme campaign.A favourite expression among the High Command on both sides of the conflict in 1916 was, "at all costs". Falkenhayn, the German commander-in-chief, ordered that Verdun must be taken, and Joffre ordered that it must be defended, "at all costs". Haig was to use the expression later, in

hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-76525185818368550582009-06-30T09:57:00.000Z2009-06-30T09:58:00.446Z

The SOCIALIST PARTY OF GREAT BRITAIN has consistently maintained that the 'left-wing', despite their claims to being socialist are, in reality, reformist rather than revolutionary organisations, with no more than a sentimental attachment to the working class. In the first of a series of articles providing a searching analysis of the left, we begin with the historical origins of leftism. Future

grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00537849684816752973noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-31830154600767697332009-06-28T09:28:00.006Z2009-06-28T10:46:27.238Z

To-day is the anniversary of the death of the anarcho-communist Alexander Berkman , who died this day in 1936 from suicide .A review of his book ABC of Anarchism can be found here As a communist-anarchist, Berkman advocates a system without commodity-production or any “price system”, wages or payment of money. “This”, he says, “logically leads to ownership in common and to joint use. Which is a

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-6017785922432213752009-06-28T08:13:00.004Z2009-06-28T08:40:17.665Z

Top secret War Office papers have revealed a strange and macabre weapons project tested by the Allies during World War II. Lethal clouds of tiny poisoned darts were to be tipped with mustard gas to kill enemy troops without damaging nearby buildings or equipment. Research scientists thought clouds of poison darts, blasted from canisters high above the battlefield, could be even more lethal

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-71130645199103837782009-06-28T06:26:00.004Z2009-06-28T06:59:16.587Z

For about 94,000 of the 100,000 years of human history, people lived and organised themselves as hunter-gatherers without a centralized leadership apparatus. Hunter-gatherers began the transition to early chiefdoms and embryonic states between 3,000 and 6,000 years ago. Only in the previous 100-500 years have there been state-level polities.The World Socialist Movement doesn't have a leader, and

hallblithehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103491398870023498noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-31369826388519999512009-06-27T01:38:00.005Z2009-06-27T06:06:07.021Z

The thinly veiled recruitment drive that is "Armed Forces Day"Militarism is an inevitable effect of capitalist domination and the struggle for markets and profit, and so long as the workers are ruled by a master class, so long will their masters use them as cannon fodder. The only solution of the question of militarism from the proletarian point of view is the abolition of capitalist exploitation

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-31352086687650913402009-06-26T05:22:00.004Z2009-06-26T05:33:11.077Z

Ready-To-Use-Foods have become the cornerstone of humanitarian aid projects around the world. They contain a high-energy food crammed with high-protein peanut, milk, sugar, oils and fortified with extra vitamins and minerals.The sachets have revolutionised emergency feeding in humanitarian emergencies because they can be eaten directly from the packet, do not require refrigeration or mixing with

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-39511933360342908822009-06-26T02:27:00.009Z2009-06-26T03:59:36.511Z

The Government should stop building prisons and invest in treatment for addicts and effective health and social care, campaigners have said.On June 12 , the prison population in England and Wales was 83,001 - a 38% increase since the Government came to power in 1997, and that at the end of April, 82 out of the 140 prisons in England and Wales were officially overcrowded.On arrival in local

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36028082.post-64190567402367876882009-06-24T15:18:00.005Z2009-06-24T16:42:01.888Z

"Foreign Secretary David Miliband Foreign Secretary David Miliband has conceded that the Iraq war inquiry would be able to apportion blame for what happened "How very generous of him , indeed !!But regardless of the findings of this inquiry , the Socialist Party know full well where the blame for the war should be directed - the capitalist system itself and its inherent and vicious competition

ajohnstonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874891810770297962noreply@blogger.com0