Category Archives: Socialism

The Buddha’s parable of the burning house – Brecht

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Sean Thompson

Guatama the Buddha taught The doctrine of greed’s wheel to which we are bound, and advised That we should shed all craving and thus Undesiring enter the nothingness that he called Nirvana. What is it like, this nothingness, Master? Every … Continue reading →

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Orthodoxy and the Left

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Sean Thompson

A few days ago I wrote about how the SWP’s leadership, who endlessly go on about the need to ‘defend the IS tradition’, have over the years coarsened and stultified the organisation’s politics and practice to the point that they … Continue reading →

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As soon as this pub closes

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Sean Thompson

Thanks very much to my old comrade Richard Kuper for reminding me of this extremely irreverent, but  detailed and devastatingly accurate overview and history of the British left from the late ’80s. He suggests that it is still relevant in … Continue reading →

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My Clause IV moment

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Sean Thompson

To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and … Continue reading →

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Being Green

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Sean Thompson

A few days ago there was an interesting discussion on the Socialist Unity blog (I say interesting; lengthy and fractious more like) about a post from a young comrade in York University Green Party entitled Can the Green Party become … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Green Party, Left regroupment, Socialism, Theory | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Poor old Lenin

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Sean Thompson

One of side effects of the scandal currently engulfing the SWP is that it seems to have stimulated a rash of debates about the nature and relevance of ‘Leninism’. In particular, the SWP’s Central Committee and its supporters portray its … Continue reading →

Posted in General grumpiness, History, Lenin, Socialism, Theory | Tagged | 2 Comments

More in sorrow than in anger

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Sean Thompson

Marx famously wrote ‘History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.’ In the case of the ongoing implosion of the Socialist Workers Party, the quote should be reversed. The collapse and fragmentation of the Workers Revolutionary Party in 1985 … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Left regroupment, Socialism | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Tony Benn on democracy

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Sean Thompson

If you meet a powerful person – ask them five questions: What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid … Continue reading →

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