tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post3879457893341306951..comments2024-03-27T09:14:27.496+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Activism vs Labourism?Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-10935770768783035772021-07-15T12:04:25.749+01:002021-07-15T12:04:25.749+01:00In terms of political and civil liberties, the UK ...In terms of political and civil liberties, the UK ranks 1st. Citizens in the UK experience total freedom. The majority of countries where citizens enjoy extensive civil and political liberties are representative democracies where civil servants are directly elected by citizens to advocate for their needs and wants. Free countries are often sustained by healthy economies and highly functional governments. UK businesses rank 2 in terms of economic freedom. UK citizens are considered largely free to make economic choices. While the government has some control over trade, citizens are still able to control their own finances and property. Corruption can exist, but it does not hinder economic growth or freedom on any major scale. In terms of journalistic freedom, the UK media is in a 2. In the UK, journalists are generally allowed to express a wide variety of opinions and a number of news sources are operational. However, the government can reprimand or disapprove of certain topics or publications. This is considered a satisfactory situation.Jasur Urunboyevhttps://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2020/06/activism-vs-labourism.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-8466072251273160132020-08-03T02:43:19.594+01:002020-08-03T02:43:19.594+01:00«Brushing things under the carpet seems to be the ...«Brushing things under the carpet seems to be the response. I hope I am wrong. Internal action should be taken regarding the conduct of these individuals.»<br /><br />«I would be reasonably sure that action will happen, and these "heroes" will be given promotions, opportunities, consultancies and will be taken care of by their sponsors for defending thatcherism from "communist infiltration" of New Labour.»<br /><br />The recent rewarding of the "brave whistleblowers" against "racism and antisemitim" plus large payments seems to have sadly confirmed my guess.Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-70118594843776738642020-06-25T12:36:04.880+01:002020-06-25T12:36:04.880+01:00«* New Labour MPs elect the party members, each MP...«* New Labour MPs elect the party members, each MP having one vote to confirm or reject the application of any new member.»<br /><br />With mandatory reselection of party members every year, of course, because party members after all have no mandate from voters, which we have been told is always personal from voters to MPs.Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-53202776769216901182020-06-24T21:01:53.226+01:002020-06-24T21:01:53.226+01:00«if public sector workers/ civil servants were on ...«if public sector workers/ civil servants were on record as saying the things, or taking the actions (at work) that the internal report documents, they would lose their jobs.»<br /><br />Under the present type of government they would probably get commendations and promotions for their vigorous fight against "communist infiltration" of the civil service.<br /><br />«Brushing things under the carpet seems to be the response. I hope I am wrong. Internal action should be taken regarding the conduct of these individuals.»<br /><br />I would be reasonably sure that action will happen, and these "heroes" will be given promotions, opportunities, consultancies and will be taken care of by their sponsors for defending thatcherism from "communist infiltration" of New Labour.Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-1120438803865612462020-06-24T20:56:06.214+01:002020-06-24T20:56:06.214+01:00«When Members of Parliament don't want Party M...«<i>When Members of Parliament don't want Party Members to have any real influence then that tells you what they think of you.</i>»<br /><br />if you remember One-Man-One-Vote was pushed for many years by the Mandelson Tendency clique, because they felt that would eliminate the influence of the "communist" trade unions on Labour, and that a decisive switch to thatcherism as New Labour would draw in a number of affluent, property owning, upper-middle class members (the sort who are also members of the National Trust, the WWF, the LibDems :->, ...) who would outnumber the existing "trot" members and guarantee a permanent majority to the Mandelson Tendency entrysts, while the trade unions and the "trots" would be excluded. The plan seemed to start working in 1997-2010 as the number of "trot" members and "communist" trade unions affiliates dropped precipitously.<br /><br />When finally OMOV was enacted the thatcherites were hugely surprised by the several hundred thousands of "secret trots" who then became members and elected Corbyn to the leasership; they were outraged that these "secret trot" "entrysts" seemed to be 60% of members and had a sinister plot to take over "their" party.<br /><br />Which reminds me of an old poem by "trot" B Brecht:<br /><br />"<i>After the uprising of the 17th June<br />The Secretary of the Writers Union<br />Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee<br />Stating that the people<br />Had forfeited the confidence of the government<br />And could win it back only<br />By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier<br />In that case for the government<br />To dissolve the people<br />And elect another?</i>"<br /><br />and therefore I propose here two much more "progressive" versions of OMOV:<br /><br />* New Labour MPs elect the party members, each MP having one vote to confirm or reject the application of any new member.<br /><br />* For leadership elections a literal application of OMOV, with that "One Man" who has the "One Vote" being Peter Mandelson.<br /><br />:-)Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-14031456801008445052020-06-24T09:49:11.141+01:002020-06-24T09:49:11.141+01:00Blissex, I wouldn't trust Ralph Nader as it...Blissex, I wouldn't trust Ralph Nader as it's highly likely that he's a Big Oil stooge:<br /><br />* He made his name by campaigning against the Chevrolet Corvair, which was one of the most fuel-efficient American cars of its day,<br />* He later became an ardent opponent of nuclear power,<br />* The financial operations of his non-profit “public interest” agencies are kept secret, so he could easily be on the take from oil interests,<br />* He threw the 2000 US Presidential election to George W Bush by splitting the vote against him.<br /><br />Note that he's the son of Lebanese immigrants to the US who owned a restaurant serving a largely Arab clientele, and he often recounted in his biographies how his political stances were inspired by the discussions he heard in that restaurant.<br /><br />While Beirut was primarily known as the financial capital of the Arab world (until Lebanon was wracked by civil war, which ultimately resulted in Beirut losing that crown to Dubai), it doesn't take a bright spark to know the origin of most of the money deposited in Beirut banks.George Cartyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12170378024031141482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-69733279283202488932020-06-24T08:12:28.641+01:002020-06-24T08:12:28.641+01:00When Members of Parliament don't want Party Me...When Members of Parliament don't want Party Members to have any real influence then that tells you what they think of you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-52957631849616022772020-06-24T07:48:08.355+01:002020-06-24T07:48:08.355+01:00I agree if public sector workers/ civil servants w...I agree if public sector workers/ civil servants were on record as saying the things, or taking the actions (at work) that the internal report documents, they would lose their jobs. The 'leaking' of that report (with named individuals) does not negate its contents, (that is what was said and the actions taken by a few Labour staff). Brushing things under the carpet seems to be the response. I hope I am wrong. Internal action should be taken regarding the conduct of these individuals. A statement should be made to this effect, without individual names being mentioned. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-35655106934739643082020-06-23T23:07:49.684+01:002020-06-23T23:07:49.684+01:00«subs paid the salaries of senior party officials ...«<i>subs paid the salaries of senior party officials working diligently to prevent Corbyn becoming prime minister</i>»<br /><br />My strong guess is that those subs were one of the major reasons why the Mandelson Tendency entrysts and their allies and sponsors outside the party were so determined to get rid of Corbyn:<br /><br />* During the New Labour takeover membership (and votes) fell drastically and New Labour (and later Progress etc.) became fairly poor and dependent on large donations from business and finance sponsors, something that was very welcome by committed thatcherites, as they deplore both contributions by "trot" members and by the trade unions.<br /><br />* When the Labour wing of Labour got briefly back the party with Corbyn, the huge rise in membership subs not only financed it well, but made it independent of wealthy corporate and individual sponsorships, something that is politically unacceptable, as "who pays the piper calls the tunes".<br /><br />«<i>a refund of my subs which were used fraudulently by the Labour party to lose the election?</i>»<br /><br />Your subs can continue to make the party independent of wealthy sponsors, and even if the Mandelson Tendency entrysts are ideologically opposed to parties that are independent of wealthy sponsors, once they have independent funding they will probably be tempted to be more "uppity".<br /><br />BTW my usual quote as to how the "third way" arose in the USA and later in the UK:<br /><br />https://theintercept.com/2017/06/25/ralph-nader-the-democrats-are-unable-to-defend-the-u-s-from-the-most-vicious-republican-party-in-history/<br />«RALPH NADER: <i>Do you want me to go through the history of the decline and decadence of the Democratic Party? I’m going to give you millstones around the Democratic Party neck that are milestones.<br />The first big one was in 1979. Tony Coelho, who was a congressman from California, and who ran the House Democratic Campaign treasure chest, convinced the Democrats that they should bid for corporate money, corporate PACs, that they could raise a lot of money.<br />Why leave it up to Republicans and simply rely on the dwindling labor union base for money, when you had a huge honeypot in the corporate area? And they did.</i>»Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-53633535173815283452020-06-23T18:31:00.287+01:002020-06-23T18:31:00.287+01:00What advice does Phil have for me, who now learns ...What advice does Phil have for me, who now learns that his subs paid the salaries of senior party officials working diligently to prevent Corbyn becoming prime minister (not to mention all those disgusting personal comments about fellow members and MPs.)<br /><br />Should I claim a refund of my subs which were used fraudulently by the Labour party to lose the election?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-17976094899321471362020-06-23T15:46:16.483+01:002020-06-23T15:46:16.483+01:00Lefties have been trying to influence Liarbour fro...Lefties have been trying to influence Liarbour from within for 100 years. What a waste.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-91071613835798313392020-06-23T13:30:09.691+01:002020-06-23T13:30:09.691+01:00«Regardless of how dubious a position might be - g...«Regardless of how dubious a position might be - going authoritarian on law and order, throwing tenants under a bus, unconvincingly waving the flag of St George - if it wins votes, it's good. Well, we know it's not good if Labour wants to hang on to its base. But this is largely invisible from an instrumental point of view because it's votes, not members, and certainly not the invisible assembly of classes and class fractions underpinning the party that matter.»<br /><br />But also because the Labour party is not just a vehicle for content-free electoral success, but it is based on some values. Of all people it was R Hattersley who expressed this very well in 2001-06-24 in "The Guardian". my usual quote:<br /><br />http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/jun/24/labour2001to2005.news<br />«<i>It has been a difficult four years for the Labour Party's unrepentant social democrats. One by one, the policies which define our philosophy have been rejected by the Prime Minister. [...] In fact, success has emboldened the Prime Minister to move further to the Right. [...] Tony Blair discovered a big idea. His destiny is to create a meritocracy. Unfortunately meritocracy is not the form of society which social democrats want to see. [...] Now that the Labour Party - at least according to its leader - bases its whole programme on an alien ideology, I, and thousands of like-minded party members, have to decide if our loyalty is to a name or to an idea. [...] A Labour government should not be talking about escape routes from poverty and deprivation. By their nature they are only available to a highly-motivated minority.<br /><b>The Labour Party was created to change society in such a way that there is no poverty and deprivation from which to escape.</b><br />[...] The certain knowledge that the Conservative Party would be a worse government than Labour is not enough to sustain what used to be a party of principles. [...] At this moment Labour stands for very little that can be identified with social democracy. [...] Or, believing that the party does not belong to Tony Blair, we could rise up against the coup d'état which overthrew the legitimate philosophy.</i>»Blissexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-49378306363131568792020-06-23T10:00:19.862+01:002020-06-23T10:00:19.862+01:00MPs whining about having to be reselected by membe...MPs whining about having to be reselected by members. Just like it has always been the case for councillors. No big deal. Not a hardship. No jobs guaranteed for life. Not about the left or the right. Just about the real world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-17727730005837166032020-06-23T06:40:42.611+01:002020-06-23T06:40:42.611+01:00Thousands of left-wingers have left the Labour par...Thousands of left-wingers have left the Labour party? That one must have passed me by, would you happen to have a source for that? TIAJimbohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17882323280846712158noreply@blogger.com